Soon as soft slumber eased the toils of day, Minerva rushes through the aerial way, And bids Aurora with her golden wheels Flame from the ocean o'er the eastern hills; Uprose Ulysses from the genial bed, And thus with thought mature the monarch said:
"My queen, my consort! through a length of years We drank the cup of sorrow mix'd with tears; Thou, for thy lord; while me the immortal powers Detain'd reluctant from my native shores. Now, bless'd again by Heaven, the queen display, And rule our palace with an equal sway. Be it my care, by loans, or martial toils, To throng my empty folds with gifts or spoils. But now I haste to bless Laertes' eyes With sight of his Ulysses ere he dies; The good old man, to wasting woes a prey, Weeps a sad life in solitude away. But hear, though wise! This morning shall unfold The deathful scene, on heroes heroes roll'd. Thou with thy maids within the palace stay, From all the scene of tumult far away!"
He spoke, and sheathed in arms incessant flies To wake his son, and bid his friends arise. "To arms!" aloud he cries; his friends obey, With glittering arms their manly limbs array, And pass the city gate; Ulysses leads the way. Now flames the rosy dawn, but Pallas shrouds The latent warriors in a veil of clouds.