ARGUMENT.
THE RETURN OF TELEMACHUS.
The goddess Minerva commands Telemachus in a vision to return to Ithaca. Pisistratus and he take leave of Menelaus, and arrive at Pylos, where they part: and Telemachus sets sail, after having received on board Theoclymenus the soothsayer. The scene then changes to the cottage of Eumaeus, who entertains Ulysses with a recital of his adventures. In the meantime Telemachus arrives on the coast, and sending the vessel to the town, proceeds by himself to the lodge of Eumaeus.
Now had Minerva reach'd those ample plains, Famed for the dance, where Menelaus reigns: Anxious she flies to great Ulysses' heir, His instant voyage challenged all her care. Beneath the royal portico display'd, With Nestor's son Telemachus was laid: In sleep profound the son of Nestor lies; Not thine, Ulysses! Care unseal'd his eyes: Restless he grieved, with various fears oppress'd, And all thy fortunes roll'd within his breast. When, "O Telemachus! (the goddess said) Too long in vain, too widely hast thou stray'd, Thus leaving careless thy paternal right The robbers' prize, the prey to lawless might. On fond pursuits neglectful while you roam, E'en now the hand of rapine sacks the dome. Hence to Atrides; and his leave implore To launch thy vessel for thy natal shore; Fly, whilst thy mother virtuous yet withstands Her kindred's wishes, and her sire's commands; Through both, Eurymachus pursues the dame, And with the noblest gifts asserts his claim. Hence, therefore, while thy stores thy own remain; Thou know'st the practice of the female train, Lost in the children of the present spouse, They slight the pledges of their former vows; Their love is always with the lover past; Still the succeeding flame expels the last. Let o'er thy house some chosen maid preside, Till Heaven decrees to bless thee in a bride. But now thy more attentive ears incline, Observe the warnings of a power divine; For thee their snares the suitor lords shall lay In Samos' sands, or straits of Ithaca; To seize thy life shall lurk the murderous band, Ere yet thy footsteps press thy native land. No!--sooner far their riot and their lust All-covering earth shall bury deep in dust! Then distant from the scatter'd islands steer, Nor let the night retard thy full career; Thy heavenly guardian shall instruct the gales To smooth thy passage and supply thy sails: And when at Ithaca thy labour ends, Send to the town the vessel with thy friends; But seek thou first the master of the swine (For still to thee his loyal thoughts incline); There pass the night: while he his course pursues To bring Penelope the wish'd-for news, That thou, safe sailing from the Pylian strand, Art come to bless her in thy native land." Thus spoke the goddess, and resumed her flight To the pure regions of eternal light, Meanwhile Pisistratus he gently shakes, And with these words the slumbering youth awakes:
"Rise, son of Nestor; for the road prepare, And join the harness'd coursers to the car."
"What cause (he cried) can justify our flight To tempt the dangers of forbidding night? Here wait we rather, till approaching day Shall prompt our speed, and point the ready way. Nor think of flight before the Spartan king Shall bid farewell, and bounteous presents bring; Gifts, which to distant ages safely stored, The sacred act of friendship shall record."
Thus he. But when the dawn bestreak'd the east, The king from Helen rose, and sought his guest. As soon as his approach the hero knew, The splendid mantle round him first he threw, Then o'er his ample shoulders whirl'd the cloak, Respectful met the monarch, and bespoke:
"Hail, great Atrides, favour'd of high Jove! Let not thy friends in vain for licence move. Swift let us measure back the watery way, Nor check our speed, impatient of delay."
"If with desire so strong thy bosom glows, Ill (said the king) should I thy wish oppose; For oft in others freely I reprove The ill-timed efforts of officious love; Who love too much, hate in the like extreme, And both the golden mean alike condemn. Alike he thwarts the hospitable end, Who drives the free, or stays the hasty friend: True friendship's laws are by this rule express'd, Welcome the coming, speed the parting guest. Yet, stay, my friends, and in your chariot take The noblest presents that our love can make; Meantime commit we to our women's care Some choice domestic viands to prepare; The traveller, rising from the banquet gay, Eludes the labours of the tedious way, Then if a wider course shall rather please, Through spacious Argos and the realms of Greece, Atrides in his chariot shall attend; Himself thy convoy to each royal friend. No prince will let Ulysses' heir remove Without some pledge, some monument of love: These will the caldron, these the tripod give; From those the well-pair'd mules we shall receive, Or bowl emboss'd whose golden figures live."
To whom the youth, for prudence famed, replied: "O monarch, care of heaven! thy people's pride! No friend in Ithaca my place supplies, No powerful hands are there, no watchful eyes: My stores exposed and fenceless house demand The speediest succour from my guardian hand; Lest, in a search too anxious and too vain, Of one lost joy, I lose what yet remain."
His purpose when the generous warrior heard, He charged the household cates to be prepared. Now with the dawn, from his adjoining home, Was Boethoedes Eteoneus come; Swift at the word he forms the rising blaze, And o'er the coals the smoking fragments lays. Meantime the king, his son, and Helen went Where the rich wardrobe breathed a costly scent; The king selected from the glittering rows A bowl; the prince a silver beaker chose. The beauteous queen revolved with careful eyes Her various textures of unnumber'd dyes, And chose the largest; with no vulgar art Her own fair hands embroider'd every part; Beneath the rest it lay divinely bright, Like radiant Hesper o'er the gems of night, Then with each gift they hasten'd to their guest, And thus the king Ulysses' heir address'd: "Since fix'd are thy resolves, may thundering Jove With happiest omens thy desires approve! This silver bowl, whose costly margins shine Enchased with old, this valued gift be thine; To me this present, of Vulcanian frame, From Sidon's hospitable monarch came; To thee we now consign the precious load, The pride of kings, and labour of a god."
Then gave the cup, while Megapenthe brought The silver vase with living sculpture wrought. The beauteous queen, advancing next, display'd The shining veil, and thus endearing said:
"Accept, dear youth, this monument of love, Long since, in better days, by Helen wove: Safe in thy mother's care the vesture lay, To deck thy bride and grace thy nuptial day. Meantime may'st thou with happiest speed regain Thy stately palace, and thy wide domain."
She said, and gave the veil; with grateful look The prince the variegated present took. And now, when through the royal dome they pass'd, High on a throne the king each stranger placed. A golden ewer the attendant damsel brings, Replete with water from the crystal springs; With copious streams the shining vase supplies A silver layer of capacious size. They wash. The tables in fair order spread, The glittering canisters are crown'd with bread; Viands of various kinds allure the taste, Of choicest sort and savour; rich repast! Whilst Eteoneus portions out the shares Atrides' son the purple draught prepares, And now (each sated with the genial feast, And the short rage of thirst and hunger ceased) Ulysses' son, with his illustrious friend, The horses join, the polish'd car ascend, Along the court the fiery steeds rebound, And the wide portal echoes to the sound. The king precedes; a bowl with fragrant wine (Libation destined to the powers divine) His right hand held: before the steed he stands, Then, mix'd with prayers, he utters these commands:
"Farewell, and prosper, youths! let Nestor know What grateful thoughts still in this bosom glow, For all the proofs of his paternal care, Through the long dangers of the ten years' war." "Ah! doubt not our report (the prince rejoin'd) Of all the virtues of thy generous mind. And oh! return'd might we Ulysses meet! To him thy presents show, thy words repeat: How will each speech his grateful wonder raise! How will each gift indulge us in thy praise!"
Scarce ended thus the prince, when on the right Advanced the bird of Jove: auspicious sight! A milk-white fowl his clinching talons bore, With care domestic pampered at the floor. Peasants in vain with threatening cries pursue, In solemn speed the bird majestic flew Full dexter to the car; the prosperous sight Fill'd every breast with wonder and delight.
But Nestor's son the cheerful silence broke, And in these words the Spartan chief bespoke: "Say if to us the gods these omens send, Or fates peculiar to thyself portend?"
Whilst yet the monarch paused, with doubts oppress'd The beauteous queen relieved his labouring breast: "Hear me (she cried), to whom the gods have given To read this sign, and mystic sense of heaven, As thus the plumy sovereign of the air Left on the mountain's brow his callow care, And wander'd through the wide ethereal way To pour his wrath on yon luxurious prey; So shall thy godlike father, toss'd in vain Through all the dangers of the boundless main, Arrive (or if perchance already come) From slaughter'd gluttons to release the dome."
"Oh! if this promised bliss by thundering Jove (The prince replied) stand fix'd in fate above; To thee, as to some god, I'll temples raise. And crown thy altars with the costly blaze."
He said; and bending o'er his chariot, flung Athwart the fiery steeds the smarting thong; The bounding shafts upon the harness play, Till night descending intercepts the way. To Diocles at Pherae they repair, Whose boasted sire was sacred Alpheus' heir; With him all night the youthful stranger stay'd, Nor found the hospitable rites unpaid, But soon as morning from her orient bed Had tinged the mountains with her earliest red, They join'd the steeds, and on the chariot sprung, The brazen portals in their passage rung.
To Pylos soon they came; when thus begun To Nestor's heir Ulysses' godlike son:
"Let not Pisistratus in vain be press'd, Nor unconsenting hear his friend's request; His friend by long hereditary claim, In toils his equal, and in years the same. No farther from our vessel, I implore, The courses drive; but lash them to the shore. Too long thy father would his friend detain; I dread his proffer'd kindness urged in vain."
The hero paused, and ponder'd this request, While love and duty warr'd within his breast. At length resolved, he turn'd his ready hand, And lash'd his panting coursers to the strand. There, while within the poop with care he stored The regal presents of the Spartan lord, "With speed begone (said he); call every mate, Ere yet to Nestor I the tale relate: 'Tis true, the fervour of his generous heart Brooks no repulse, nor couldst thou soon depart: Himself will seek thee here, nor wilt thou find, In words alone, the Pylian monarch kind. But when, arrived, he thy return shall know How will his breast with honest fury glow!" This said, the sounding strokes his horses fire, And soon he reached the palace of his sire.
"Now (cried Telemachus) with speedy care Hoist every sail, and every oar prepare." Swift as the word his willing mates obey, And seize their seats, impatient for the sea.
Meantime the prince with sacrifice adores Minerva, and her guardian aid implores; When lo! a wretch ran breathless to the shore, New from his crime; and reeking yet with gore. A seer he was, from great Melampus sprung, Melampus, who in Pylos flourish'd long, Till, urged by wrongs, a foreign realm he chose, Far from the hateful cause of all his woes. Neleus his treasures one long year detains, As long he groan'd in Philacus' chains: Meantime, what anguish and what rage combined For lovely Pero rack'd his labouring mind! Yet 'scaped he death; and vengeful of his wrong To Pylos drove the lowing herds along: Then (Neleus vanquish'd, and consign'd the fair To Bias' arms) he so sought a foreign air; Argos the rich for his retreat he chose, There form'd his empire; there his palace rose. From him Antiphates and Mantius came: The first begot Oicleus great in fame, And he Amphiaraus, immortal name! The people's saviour, and divinely wise, Beloved by Jove, and him who gilds the skies; Yet short his date of life! by female pride he dies. From Mantius Clitus, whom Aurora's love Snatch'd for his beauty to the thrones above; And Polyphides, on whom Phoebus shone With fullest rays, Amphiaraus now gone; In Hyperesia's groves he made abode, And taught mankind the counsels of the god. From him sprung Theoclymenus, who found (The sacred wine yet foaming on the ground) Telemachus: whom, as to Heaven he press'd His ardent vows, the stranger thus address'd: