Nineteen one mother be re-dead, all are dead!
How oft, alas! has wretched Priam bled!
Still one was left, their lofs to recompenfe;
His father's hope, his country's last defence.
Him too thy rage has flain! beneath thy fteel
Unhappy in his country's caufe he fell !

For him thro' hoftile camps I bend my way,
For him thus proftrate at thy feet I lay;
Large gifts proportion'd to thy wrath I bear;
Oh hear the wretched, and the gods revere!

}

Think of thy father, and this face behold! See him in me, as helpless and as old, 'Tho' not fo wretched! there he yields to me,, The first of men in fov'reign mifery; Thus forc'd to kneel, thus grov'ling to embrace The fcourge and ruin of my realm and rece; Suppliant my children's murd'rer to implore, And kifs thofe hands yet reeking with their gore! Thefe words foft pity in the chief infpire, Touch'd with the dear remembrance of his fire. Then with his hand (as proftrate still he lay) The old man's check he gently turn'd away. Now cach by turns indulge the guth of woe; And now the mingled tides together flow : This low on earth, that gently bending o'er, A father one, and one a fon deplore: But great Achilles diff'rent paflions rend, And now his fire he mourns, and now his friend. Th' infectious foftnefs thro' the heroes ran; One univerfal folemn fhow'r began: They bore as heroes, but they felt as man. Satiate at length with unavailing woes, From the high throne divine Achilles rofe; The rev'rend monarch by the hand he rais'd; On his white beard and form majestic gaz'd, Not unrelenting: then ferene began With words to foothe the milerable man. Alas! what weight of anguifh haft thou known! Unhappy prince! thus guardie's and alone To pafs thro' foes, and thus undaunted face The man whofe fury has deftroy'd thy race! Heaven fure has arm'd thee with a heart of steel, A ftrength proportion'd to the woes you feel. Rife then; let reafon mitigate our care: To mourn avails not; man is born to bear. Such is, alas! the gods fevere decrce: They, only they are bleft, and only free. Two urns by Jove's high throne have ever ftood, The fource of evil one, and one of good; From thence the cup of mortal man he fills, Bleffings to thefe, to those distributes ills; To moft he mingles both: the wretch decreed To tafte the bad unmix'd, is curft indeed : Purfued by wrongs, by meagre famine driven, He wanders out-caft both of cearth and heaven. The happieft tafte not happiness fincere,

But find the cordial draught is dafh'd with care. Who more than Peleus fhone in wealth and pow'r?

What ftars concurring blefs'd his natal hour!
A realm, a goddels, to his wifhes given,
Grac'd by the gods with all the gifts of Heaven!
One evil yet o'ertakes his latest day,
No race fucceeding to imperial fway;

An only fon! and he, alas ! ordain'd
To fall untimely in a foreign land!
See him, in Troy, the pious care decline
Of his weak age, to live the curfe of thine!
Thou too, old man, haft happier days beheld;
In riches once, in children once excell'd;
Extended Phrygia own'd thy ample reign,
And all fair Leibos' blifsful feats contain,
And all wide Hellefpont's unmeatur'd main.
But fince the god his hand has pleas'd to turn,
And fill thy measure from his bitter urn,
What fees the fun, but haplets heroes' falls ?
War, and the blood of man, furround tuy walls!
What must be, muft be. Ecar thy lot, nor fhed
Thefe unavailing ferrows o'er the dead;
'Thou canst not call him from the Stygian fhore;
But thou, alas! mayft live to fuffer more!

To whom the king: O favour'def the skies!
Here let me grow to earth! face Hector lies
On the bare beach, depriv'd of obfequies.
O give me Hector! to my eyes reftore

}

His corpfe, and take the gifts: I afk no more.
Thou, as thou mayft, thefe boundless ftores enjoy;
Safe may ft thou fail, and turn thy wrath from Troy;
So fhall thy pity and forbearance give
A weak old man to fee the light and live!

Move me no more (Achilles thus replies,
While kindling anger fparkled in his eyes)
Nor feek by tears my fteady foul to bend,
To yield thy Hector I myself intend:
For know, from Jove my goddefs-mether came
(Old Ocean's daughter, filver-footed Jame),
Nor com'ft thou but by Heaven; nor coin'ft alone,
Some god impels with courage not thy own:
No human hand the weighty gates unbarr'd,
Nor could the boldeft of our youths have dar'd
To pafs our out-works, or clude the guard.
| Ceafe, left, neglectful of high Jove's command,
I fhew thee, king! thou tread it on hottile land;
Releafe my knees, thy fupp.iant arts give c'er,
And thake the purpofe of my foul no more.

The fire obey him, trembling, and o'eraw`d.
Achilles, like a lion, rufh'd abroad:
Automedon and Alcimas attend,
Whom most he honour'd, fince he loft his friend;
Thefe to unyoke the mules and norfes went,
And led the hoary herald to the tent;
Next heap'd on high the num'rous prefents bear
(Great Hector's ranfom) from the polifa'd car.
Two fplendid mantles, and a carpet spread,
They leave, to cover and inwrap the dead;
Then call the handmaids, with affistant toil,
To wash the body, and anoint with oil;
Apart from Priam, left th' unhappy fire,
Provok'd to paffion, once more roufe to ire
The ftern Pelides; and nor facred age
Nor Jove's cominand should check the rifing rage.
This done, the garments o'er the corpie they spread;
Achilles lifts it to the fun'ral bed:

Then, while the body on the car they laid,
He groans, and calls on lov'd Patroclus' fhade:

If, in that gloom which never light must
know,

The deeds of mortals touch the ghofts below:

n

O friend!

Beneath, ftern Neptune shakes the folid ground
The forests wave, the mountains nod around
Thro' all their fummits tremble Ida's woods,
And from their fources boil her hundred floods.
Troy's turrets totter on the rocking plain;
And the tofs'd natives beat the heaving main.
Deep in the difmal regions of the dead,
Th'infernal monarch rear'd his horrid head;
Leap'd from his throne, left Neptune's arm
fhould lay

His dark dominions open to the day,
And pour in light on Pluto's drear abodes,
Abhorr'd by men, and dreadful even to gods.

No more they figh, inglorious, to return,
But breathe revenge, and for the combat burn.

As on fome mountain, thro' the lofty grove,
The crackling flames afcend, and blaze above;
The fires expanding as the winds arife,
Shoot their long beams, and kindle half the fkies:
So from the polifh'd arms, and brazen shields,
A gleamy fplendour flash'd along the fields.
Not lefs their number than th' embodied cranes,
Or milk-white fwans in Afius' wat'ry plains,
That o'er the windings of Cayfter's springs
Stretch their long necks, and clap their ruftling
wings;

Now tow'r aloft, and courfe in airy rounds; Now light with noife; with noife the field refounds.

Thus num'rous and confus'd, extending wide,
The legions crowd Scamander's flow'ry fide;
With rufhing troops the plains are cover'd o'cr,
And thund'ring footsteps fhake the founding fhore:
Along the river's level meads they stand,
Thick as in fpring the flow'rs adorn the land,
Or leaves the trees; or thick as infects play,
The wand'ring nation of a fummer's day,
That drawn by milky fteams, at ev'ning hours,
In gather'd fwarms furround the rural bow'rs:
From pail to pail with bufy murmur run
The gilded legions, glitt'ring in the fun.
So throng'd, fo clofe, the Grecian fquadrons food,
In radiant arms, and thirst for Trojan blood.
Each leader now his fcatter'd force conjoins
In clofe array, and forms the deep'ning lines.

Not with more eafe the fkilful fhepherd fwain Collects his flock from thousands on the plain.

THE

ODYSSEY,

$ 19. Ulyffes on a defolate Ifland-The Gods affemble, and fend Mercury to Calypfo, to procure bis Liberty.-Defcription of the Morning; the defcent of Mercury, and the Grotto of the Goddess, moft admirably painted.

}

THE faffron morn, with early blushes spread,
Now rofe refulgent from Tithonus' bed;
With new-born day to gladden mortal fight,
And gild the courts of heaven with sacred light.
Then met th' eternal fynod of the sky,
Before the God who thunders from on high,
Supreme in might, fublime in majefty.
Pallas to thefe deplores th' unequal fates
Of wife Ulyffes, and his toils relates :
Her hero's danger touch'd the pitying pow'r,
The nymph's feducements, and the magic bow'r.
Thus fhe began her plaint: Immortal Jove !
And you who fill the blissful feats above!
Let kings no more with gentle mercy sway,
Or blefs a people willing to obey,
But crufh the nations with an iron rod,
And every monarch be the fcourge of God;
If from your thoughts Ulyffes you remove,
Who rul'd his fubjects with a father's love.
Sole in an ifle, cncircled by the main,
Abandon'd, banifh'd from his native reign,
Unbleft he fighs, detain'd by lawless charms,
And prefs'd unwilling in Calypfo's arms.
Nor friends are there, nor veffels to convey,
Nor oars to cut th' immeafurable way.
And now fierce traitors, ftudious to destroy
His only fon, their ambush'd fraud employ,
Who, pious, following his great father's fame,
To facred Pylos and to Sparta came. [forms

What words are thefe (replied the pow'r who
The clouds of night, and darkens heaven with
Is 't not already in thy foul decreed, [ftorms)?
The chief's return fhall make the guilty bleed?
What cannot wifdom do? Thou mayst restore
The fon in fafety to his native fhore:
While the fell foes, who late in ambush lay,
With fraud defeated, meafure back their way.

Then thus to Hermes the command was given: Hermes, thou chofen messenger of heaven ! Go, to the nymph be thefe our orders borne: 'Tis Jove's decree Ulyffes fhall return: The patient man shall view his old abodes, Nor help'd by mortal hand, nor guiding gods; In twice ten days fhall fertile Scheria find, Alone, and floating to the wave and wind. The bold Phæacians there, whofe haughty line Is mix'd with gods, half human, half divine, The chief fhall honour as fome heavenly guest, And swift tranfport him to his place of rest. His veffels loaded with a plenteous ftore Of brass, of vestures, and refplendent ore; (A richer prize than if his joyful ifle Receiv'd him charg'd with ́Ilion's noble spoil)

n z

His

His friends, his country, he fhall fee, though late;
Such is our fovereign will, and fuch is fate.
He fpoke. The God who mounts the winged
winds

Faft to his feet the golden pinions binds,
That high through fields of air his flight fuftain
O'er the wide earth, and o'er the boundlefs main.
He grafps the wand that caufes fleep to fly,
Or in foft flumbers feals the wakeful eye:
Then fhoots from heaven to high Piería's steep,
And ftoops incumbent on the rolling deep.
So watry fowl, that feek their fifhy food,
With wings expanded o'er the foaming flood,
Now failing fmooth the level surface sweep,
Now dip their pinions in the briny deep.
Thus o'er the world of waters Hermes flew,
Till now the diftant island rose in view:
Then fwift afcending from the azure wave,
He took the path that winded to the cave.
Large was the grot in which the nymph he found
(Thefair-hair'dnymphwithevery beautycrown'd).
She fat and fung; the rocks refound her lays;
The cave was brighten'd with a rifing blaze :
Cedar and frankincenfe, an od'rous pile,
Flam'd on the hearth, and wide perfum'd the ifle:
While the with work and fong the time divides,
And thro' the loom the golden fhuttle guides.
Without the grot a various fylvan fcene
Appear'd around, and groves of living green;
Poplars and alders ever quiv'ring play'd,
And nodding cypress form'd a fragrant fhade;
On whofe high branches, waving with the ftorm,
The birds of broadeft wing their manfion form,
The chough, the fea-mew, the loquacious crow,
Aid fcream aloft, and skim the deeps below..
Depending vines the fhelving cavern fcreen,
With purple clusters blufhing thro' the green.
Four limpid fountains from the cliff distil,
And ev'ry fountain pours a fev'ral rill,
In mazy windings wand'ring down the hill
Where blooming meads with vivid greens were
crown'd,

And glowing violets threw odours round.
A fcene where if a god fhould caft his fight,
A god might gaze, and wander with delight!
Joy touch'd the meffenger of heaven: he ftay'd,
Entranc'd, and all the blifsful haunt furvey'd.
Him, en ring in the cave, Calypfo knew,
For ow'rs celeftial to each other's view
Stand itill confeft, tho' diftant far they lie,
Or habitants of earth, or fea, or sky.
But fad Ulyffes, by himfelf apart,
Pour'd the big forrows of his fwelling heart;
All on the lonely fhore he fat to weep,
And roli'd his eyes around the reftlefs deep;
Tow'rd his lov'd coaft he roll'd his eyes in vain,
Till, dimm'd with rifing grief, they stream'd again.

Their fong is death, and makes destruction pleafe.
Unbleft the man whom mufic wins to ftay
Nigh the curft fhore, and liften to the lay;
No more that wretch fhall view the joys of life,
His blooming offspring, or his beauteous wife!
In verdant meads they fport, and wide around
Lie human bones that whiten all the ground;
The ground polluted floats with human gore,
And human carnage taints the dreadful fhore.
Fly fwift the dang rous coaft; let every ear
Be ftopp'd against the fong! 'tis death to hear!
Firm to the maft with chains thyfelf be bound,
Nor truft thy virtue to th" enchanting found.
If, mad with tranfport, freedom thou demand,
Be every fetter ftrain'd, and added band to band,

§ 22. The Song which the Sivens addrefs to Ulyffes OH tay, O pride of Greece! Ulyffes, stay!

Oh ccafe thy courfe, and liften to our lay! Bleft is the man ordain'd our voice to hear, The fong inftructs the foul, and charms the ear. Approach! thy foul fhall into raptures rife! Approach and learn new wifdem from the wife! We know whate'er the kings of mighty name Achiev'd at Ilion in the field of fame;

Whate'er beneath the fun's bright journey lies. O ftay, and learn new wifdom from the wife!

23.

Relation of the Dog Argus, with the Circumflances of bis knowing the Voice of Ulyffe's.

THUS, near the gates conferring as they drow,

Argus, the dog, his ancient mafter knew; He, not unconfcious of the voice, and tread, Lifts to the found his car, and rears his head. Bred by Ulyffes, nourish'd at his board, But, ah! not fated long to pleafe his lord! To him, his fwiftnefs and his ftrength were vaiq; The voice of glory call'd him o'er the main. Till then in ev'ry fylvan chace renown'd, With Argus, Argus, rung the woods around; With him the youth purfued the goat or fawn, Now left to man's ingratitude he lay, Or trac'd the mazy lev'ret o'er the lawn. Unhous'd, neglected, in the public way; And where on heaps the rich manure was fpread, Obfcene with reptiles, took his fordid bed.

He