Let all the elders of the land appear,
Pious observe our hospitable laws,
And Heav’n propitiate in the stranger’s cause;
Then join’d in council, proper means explore
Safe to transport him to the wished-for shore 255
(How distant that, imports not us to know,
Nor weigh the labour, but relieve the woe).
Meantime, nor harm nor anguish let him bear:
This interval, Heav’n trusts him to our care;
But to his native land our charge resign’d, 260
Heav’n’s is his life to come, and all the woes behind.
Then must he suffer what the Fates ordain;
For Fate has wove the thread of life with pain!
And twins ev’n from the birth are Misery and Man!
But if, descended from th’ Olympian bower, 265
Gracious approach us some immortal Power;
If in that form thou com’st a guest divine;
Some high event the conscious Gods design.
As yet, unbid they never graced our feast,
The solemn sacrifice call’d down the guest; 270
Then manifest of Heav’n the vision stood,
And to our eyes familiar was the God.
Oft with some favour’d traveller they stray,
And shine before him all the desert way;
With social intercourse, and face to face, 275
The friends and guardians of our pious race.
So near approach we their celestial kind,
By justice, truth, and probity of mind;
As our dire neighbours of Cyclopean birth
Match in fierce wrong the giant-sons of earth.’ 280
‘Let no such thought’ (with modest grace rejoin’d
The prudent Greek) ‘possess the royal mind.
Alas! a mortal, like thyself, am I;
No glorious native of yon azure sky:
In form, ah how unlike their heav’nly kind! 285
How more inferior in the gifts of mind!
Alas, a mortal! most oppress’d of those
Whom Fate has loaded with a weight of woes;
By a sad train of miseries alone
Distinguish’d long, and second now to none! 290
By Heav’n’s high will compell’d from shore to shore,
With Heav’n’s high will prepared to suffer more.
What histories of toil could I declare!
But still long-wearied nature wants repair;
Spent with fatigue, and shrunk with pining fast, 295
My craving bowels still require repast.
Howe’er the noble, suff’ring mind may grieve
Its load of anguish, and disdain to live,
Necessity demands our daily bread;
Hunger is insolent, and will be fed. 300
But finish, O ye Peers! what you propose,
And let the morrow’s dawn conclude my woes.
Pleas’d will I suffer all the Gods ordain,
To see my soil, my son, my friends again.
That view vouchsafed, let instant death surprise 305
With ever-during shade these happy eyes!’
Th’ assembled Peers with gen’ral praise approv’d
His pleaded reason, and the suit he mov’d.
Each drinks a full oblivion of his cares,
And to the gifts of balmy sleep repairs. 310
Ulysses in the regal walls alone
Remain’d: beside him, on a splendid throne
Divine Aretè and Alcinoüs shone.
The Queen, on nearer view, the guest survey’d,
Robed in the garments her own hands had made, 315
Not without wonder seen. Then thus began,
Her words addressing to the godlike man:
‘Camest thou not hither, wondrous stranger! say,
From lands remote, and o’er a length of sea?
Tell then whence art thou? whence that princely air? 320
And robes like these, so recent and so fair?’
‘Hard is the task, O Princess! you impose’
(Thus sighing spoke the man of many woes),
‘The long, the mournful series to relate
Of all my sorrows sent by Heav’n and Fate! 325
Yet what you ask, attend. An island lies
Beyond these tracts, and under other skies,
Ogygia named, in Ocean’s wat’ry arms;
Where dwells Calypso, dreadful in her charms!
Remote from Gods or men she holds her reign, 330
Amid the terrors of the rolling main.
Me, only me, the hand of Fortune bore,
Unblest! to tread that interdicted shore:
When Jove tremendous in the sable deeps
Launch’d his red lightning at our scatter’d ships, 335
Then, all my fleet, and all my foll’wers lost,
Sole on a plank, on boiling surges toss’d,
Heav’n drove my wreck th’ Ogygian isle to find,
Full nine days floating to the wave and wind.
Met by the Goddess there with open arms, 340
She bribed my stay with more than human charms;
Nay, promis’d, vainly promis’d, to bestow
Immortal life, exempt from age and woe;
But all her blandishments successless prove,
To banish from my breast my country’s love. 345
I stay reluctant sev’n continued years,
And water her ambrosial couch with tears;
The eighth she voluntary moves to part,
Or urged by Jove, or her own changeful heart.
A raft was form’d to cross the surging sea; 350
Herself supplied the stores and rich array,
And gave the gales to waft me on the way.
In sev’nteen days appear’d your pleasing coast,
And woody mountains half in vapours lost.
Joy touch’d my soul: my soul was joy’d in vain, 355
For angry Neptune rous’d the raging main;
The wild winds whistle, and the billows roar;
The splitting raft the furious tempest tore;
And storms vindictive intercept the shore.
Soon as their rage subsides, the seas I brave 360
With naked force, and shoot along the wave,
To reach this isle; but there my hopes were lost;
The surge impell’d me on a craggy coast.
I chose the safer sea, and chanced to find
A river’s mouth impervious to the wind, 365
And clear of rocks. I fainted by the flood;
Then took the shelter of the neighb’ring wood.
‘T was night, and cover’d in the foliage deep,
Jove plunged my senses in the death of sleep.
All night I slept, oblivious of my pain: 370
Aurora dawn’d, and Phœbus shined in vain,
Nor, till oblique he sloped his ev’ning ray,
Had Somnus dried the balmy dews away.
Then female voices from the shore I heard:
A maid amidst them, goddess-like, appear’d; 375
To her I sued, she pitied my distress;
Like thee in beauty, nor in virtue less.
Who from such youth could hope consid’rate care?
In youth and beauty wisdom is but rare!
She gave me life, reliev’d with just supplies 380
My wants, and lent these robes that strike your eyes.
This is the truth: and oh, ye Powers on high!
Forbid that want should sink me to a lie.’
To this the King: ‘Our daughter but express’d
Her cares imperfect to her godlike guest. 385
Suppliant to her since first he chose to pray,
Why not herself did she conduct the way,
And with her handmaids to our court convey?’
‘Hero and King’ (Ulysses thus replied),
‘Nor blame her faultless
, nor suspect of pride: 390
She bade me follow in th’ attendant train;
But fear and rev’rence did my steps detain,
Lest rash suspicion might alarm thy mind:
Man ‘s of a jealous and mistaking kind.’
‘Far from my soul’ (he cried) ‘the Gods efface 395
All wrath ill-grounded, and suspicion base!
Whate’er is honest, stranger, I approve,
And would to Phœbus, Pallas, and to Jove,
Such as thou art, thy thought and mine were one,
Nor thou unwilling to be call’d my son. 400
In such alliance could’st thou wish to join,
A palace stor’d with treasures should be thine.
But if reluctant, who shall force thy stay?
Jove bids to set the stranger on his way,
And ships shall wait thee with the morning ray. 405
Till then, let slumber cross thy careful eyes;
The wakeful mariners shall watch the skies,
And seize the moment when the breezes rise,
Then gently waft thee to the pleasing shore,
Where thy soul rests, and labour is no more. 410
Far as Eubœa tho’ thy country lay,
Our ships with ease transport thee in a day.
Thither of old, earth’s giant son to view,
On wings of winds with Rhadamanth they flew;
This land, from whence their morning course begun, 415
Saw them returning with the setting sun.
Your eyes shall witness and confirm my tale,
Our youth how dext’rous and how fleet our sail,
When justly timed with equal sweep they row,
And ocean whitens in long tracks below.’ 420
Thus he. No word the experienc’d man replies,
But thus to Heav’n (and Heav’nward lifts his eyes):
‘O Jove! O Father! what the King accords
Do thou make perfect! sacred be his words!
Wide o’er the world Alcinoüs’ glory shine! 425
Let fame be his, and ah! my country mine!’
Meantime Aretè, for the hour of rest,
Ordains the fleecy couch, and cov’ring vest;
Bids her fair train the purple quilts prepare,
And the thick carpets spread with busy care. 430
With torches blazing in their hands they pass’d,
And finish’d all their Queen’s command with haste:
Then gave the signal to the willing guest:
He rose with pleasure, and retired to rest.
There soft-extended, to the murm’ring sound 435
Of the high porch, Ulysses sleeps profound!
Within, releas’d from cares Alcinoüs lies;
And fast beside were closed Aretè’s eyes.
Odyssey Book IX. The Adventures of the Cicons, Lotophagi, and Cyclops
THE ARGUMENT
Ulysses begins the relation of his adventures; how, after the destruction of Troy, he with his companions made an incursion on the Cicons, by whom they were repulsed; and meeting with a storm, were driven to the coast of the Lotophagi. From thence they sailed to the land of the Cyclops, whose manners and situation are particularly characterized. The giant Polyphemus and his cave described; the usage Ulysses and his companions met with there; and lastly, the method and artifice by which he escaped.
THEN thus Ulysses: ‘Thou whom first in sway,
As first in virtue, these thy realms obey;
How sweet the products of a peaceful reign!
The Heav’n-taught poet, and enchanting strain,
The well-fill’d palace, the perpetual feast, 5
A land rejoicing, and a people bless’d:
How goodly seems it ever to employ
Man’s social days in union and in joy;
The plenteous board high-heap’d with cates divine,
And o’er the foaming bowl the laughing wine! 10
‘Amid these joys, why seeks thy mind to know
Th’ unhappy series of a wand’rer’s woe?
Remembrance sad, whose image to review,
Alas! must open all my wounds anew!
And oh, what first, what last shall I relate, 15
Of woes unnumber’d sent by Heav’n and Fate?
‘Know first the man (tho’ now a wretch distress’d)
Who hopes thee, Monarch, for his future guest:
Behold Ulysses! no ignoble name,
Earth sounds my wisdom, and high Heav’n my fame. 20
‘My native soil is Ithaca the fair,
Where high Neritus waves his woods in air;
Dulichium, Samè, and Zacynthus crown’d
With shady mountains, spread their isles around
(These to the north and night’s dark regions run, 25
Those to Aurora and the rising sun);
Low lies our isle, yet bless’d in fruitful stores;
Strong are her sons, tho’ rocky are her shores;
And none, ah none, so lovely so my sight,
Of all the lands that Heav’n o’erspreads with light! 30
In vain Calypso long constrain’d my stay,
With sweet, reluctant, amorous delay;
With all her charms as vainly Circe strove,
And added magic to secure my love.
In pomps or joys, the palace or the grot, 35
My country’s image never was forgot,
My absent parents rose before my sight,
And distant lay contentment and delight.
‘Hear, then, the woes which mighty Jove ordain’d
To wait my passage from the Trojan land. 40
The winds from Ilion to the Cicons’ shore,
Beneath cold Ismarus, our vessels bore.
We boldly landed on the hostile place,
And sack’d the city, and destroy’d the race,
Their wives made captive, their possessions shared, 45
And ev’ry soldier found a like reward.
I then advised to fly; not so the rest,
Who stay’d to revel, and prolong the feast:
The fatted sheep and sable bulls they slay,
And bowls flow round, and riot wastes the day. 50
Meantime the Cicons, to their holds retired,
Call on the Cicons, with new fury fired;
With early morn the gather’d country swarms
And all the continent is bright with arms;
Thick as the budding leaves or rising flowers 55
O’erspread the land, when spring descends in showers:
All expert soldiers, skill’d on foot to dare,
Or from the bounding courser urge the war.
Now fortune changes (so the Fates ordain);
Our hour was come to taste our share of pain. 60
Close at the ships the bloody fight began,
Wounded they wound, and man expires on man.
Long as the morning sun increasing bright
O’er Heav’n’s pure azure spread the growing light,
Promiscuous death the form of war confounds, 65
Each adverse battle gor’d with equal wounds;
But when his ev’ning wheels o’erhung the main,
Then conquest crown’d the fierce Ciconian train.
Six brave companions from each ship we lost,
The rest escape in haste, and quit the coast. 70
With sails outspread we fly th’ unequal strife,
Sad for their loss, but joyful of our life.
Yet as we fled, our fellows’ rites we paid,
And thrice we call’d on each unhappy shade.
‘Meanwhile the God, whose hand the thunder forms, 75
Drives clouds on clouds, and blackens Heav’n with storms,
Wide o’er the waste the rage of Boreas sweeps,
And night rush’d headlong on the shaded deeps.
Now here, now there, the giddy ships are borne,
And all the rattling shrouds in f
ragments torn. 80
We furl’d the sail, we plied the lab’ring oar,
Took down our masts, and row’d our ships to shore.
Two tedious days, and two long nights we lay,
O’erwatch’d and batter’d in the naked bay.
But the third morning when Aurora brings, 85
We rear the masts, we spread the canvas wings;
Refresh’d and careless on the deck reclin’d,
We sit, and trust the pilot and the wind.
Then to my native country had I sail’d:
But, the cape doubled, adverse winds prevail’d. 90
Strong was the tide, which, by the northern blast
Impell’d, our vessels on Cythera cast.
Nine days our fleet th’ uncertain tempest bore
Far in wide ocean, and from sight of shore:
The tenth we touch’d, by various errors toss’d, 95
The land of Lotus, and the flow’ry coast.
We climb’d the beach, and springs of water found,
Then spread our hasty banquet on the ground.
Three men were sent, deputed from the crew
(A herald one) the dubious coast to view, 100
And learn what habitants possess’d the place.
They went, and found a hospitable race:
Not prone to ill, nor strange to foreign guest,
They eat, they drink, and Nature gives the feast:
The trees around them all their food produce; 105
Lotus the name: divine, nectareous juice
(Thence called Lotophagi); which whoso tastes,
Insatiate riots in the sweet repasts,
Nor other home nor other care intends,
But quits his house, his country, and his friends. 110
The three we sent, from off th’ enchanting ground
We dragged reluctant, and by force we bound:
The rest in haste forsook the pleasing shore,
Or, the charm tasted, had return’d no more.
Now placed in order on their banks, they sweep 115
The sea’s smooth face, and cleave the hoary deep;
With heavy hearts we labour thro’ the tide,
To coasts unknown, and oceans yet untried.
‘The land of Cyclops first, a savage kind,
Nor tamed by manners, nor by laws confin’d: 120
Untaught to plant, to turn the glebe and sow,
They all their products to free Nature owe.
The soil untill’d a ready harvest yields,
With wheat and barely wave the golden fields;
Spontaneous wines from weighty clusters pour, 125
And Jove descends in each prolific shower.
By these no statutes and no rights are known,
No Council held, no Monarch fills the throne,
But high on hills, or airy cliffs, they dwell,
Alexander Pope - Delphi Poets Series Page 128