Meanwhile, in Ithaca, the suitor powers In active games divide their jovial hours; In areas varied with mosaic art, Some whirl the disk, and some the javelin dart, Aside, sequester'd from the vast resort, Antinous sole spectator of the sport; With great Eurymachus, of worth confess'd, And high descent, superior to the rest; Whom young Noemon lowly thus address'd:--
"My ship, equipp'd within the neighboring port, The prince, departing for the Pylian court, Requested for his speed; but, courteous, say When steers he home, or why this long delay? For Elis I should sail with utmost speed. To import twelve mares which there luxurious feed, And twelve young mules, a strong laborious race, New to the plow, unpractised in the trace."
Unknowing of the course to Pyle design'd, A sudden horror seized on either mind; The prince in rural bower they fondly thought, Numbering his flocks and herds, not far remote. "Relate (Antinous cries), devoid of guile, When spread the prince his sale for distant Pyle? Did chosen chiefs across the gulfy main Attend his voyage, or domestic train? Spontaneous did you speed his secret course, Or was the vessel seized by fraud or force?"
"With willing duty, not reluctant mind (Noemon cried), the vessel was resign'd, Who, in the balance, with the great affairs Of courts presume to weigh their private cares? With him, the peerage next in power to you; And Mentor, captain of the lordly crew, Or some celestial in his reverend form, Safe from the secret rock and adverse storm, Pilot's the course; for when the glimmering ray Of yester dawn disclosed the tender day, Mentor himself I saw, and much admired," Then ceased the youth, and from the court retired.
Confounded and appall'd, the unfinish'd game The suitors quit, and all to council came. Antinous first the assembled peers address'd. Rage sparkling in his eyes, and burning in his breast
"O shame to manhood! shall one daring boy The scheme of all our happiness destroy? Fly unperceived, seducing half the flower Of nobles, and invite a foreign power? The ponderous engine raised to crush us all, Recoiling, on his head is sure to fall. Instant prepare me, on the neighbouring strand, With twenty chosen mates a vessel mann'd; For ambush'd close beneath the Samian shore His ship returning shall my spies explore; He soon his rashness shall with life atone, Seek for his father's fate, but find his own."
With vast applause the sentence all approve; Then rise, and to the feastful hall remove; Swift to the queen the herald Medon ran, Who heard the consult of the dire divan: Before her dome the royal matron stands, And thus the message of his haste demands;
"What will the suitors? must my servant-train The allotted labours of the day refrain, For them to form some exquisite repast? Heaven grant this festival may prove their last! Or, if they still must live, from me remove The double plague of luxury and love! Forbear, ye sons of insolence! forbear, In riot to consume a wretched heir. In the young soul illustrious thought to raise, Were ye not tutor'd with Ulysses' praise? Have not your fathers oft my lord defined, Gentle of speech, beneficent of mind? Some kings with arbitrary rage devour, Or in their tyrant-minions vest the power; Ulysses let no partial favours fall, The people's parent, he protected all; But absent now, perfidious and ingrate! His stores ye ravage, and usurp his state."
He thus: "O were the woes you speak the worst! They form a deed more odious and accursed; More dreadful than your boding soul divines; But pitying Jove avert the dire designs! The darling object of your royal care Is marked to perish in a deathful snare; Before he anchors in his native port, From Pyle re-sailing and the Spartan court; Horrid to speak! in ambush is decreed The hope and heir of Ithaca to bleed!"
Sudden she sunk beneath the weighty woes, The vital streams a chilling horror froze; The big round tear stands trembling in her eye, And on her tongue imperfect accents die. At length in tender language interwove With sighs, she thus expressed her anxious love; "Why rarely would my son his fate explore, Ride the wild waves, and quit the safer shore? Did he with all the greatly wretched, crave A blank oblivion, and untimely grave?"
"Tis not (replied the sage) to Medon given To know, if some inhabitant of heaven In his young breast the daring thought inspired Or if, alone with filial duty fired, The winds end waves he tempts in early bloom, Studious to learn his absent father's doom."
The sage retired: unable to control The mighty griefs that swell her labouring soul Rolling convulsive on the floor is seen The piteous object of a prostrate queen. Words to her dumb complaint a pause supplies, And breath, to waste in unavailing cries. Around their sovereign wept the menial fair, To whom she thus address'd her deep despair:
"Behold a wretch whom all the gods consign To woe! Did ever sorrows equal mine? Long to my joys my dearest lord is lost, His country's buckler, and the Grecian boast; Now from my fond embrace, by tempests torn, Our other column of the state is borne; Nor took a kind adieu, nor sought consent!-- Unkind confederates in his dire intent! Ill suits it with your shows of duteous zeal, From me the purposed voyage to conceal; Though at the solemn midnight hour he rose, Why did you fear to trouble my repose? He either had obey'd my fond desire, Or seen his mother pierced with grief expire. Bid Dolius quick attend, the faithful slave Whom to my nuptial train Icarius gave To tend the fruit groves: with incessant speed He shall this violence of death decreed To good Laertes tell. Experienced age May timely intercept the ruffian rage. Convene the tribes the murderous plot reveal, And to their power to save his race appeal."
Then Euryclea thus: "My dearest dread; Though to the sword I bow this hoary head, Or if a dungeon be the pain decreed, I own me conscious of the unpleasing deed; Auxiliar to his flight, my aid implored, With wine and viands I the vessel stored; A solemn oath, imposed, the secret seal'd, Till the twelfth dawn the light of day reveal'd. Dreading the effect of a fond mother's fear, He dared not violate your royal ear. But bathe, and, in imperial robes array'd, Pay due devotions to the martial maid, And rest affianced in her guardian aid. Send not to good Laertes, nor engage In toils of state the miseries of age: Tis impious to surmise the powers divine To ruin doom the Jove-descended line; Long shall the race of just Arcesius reign, And isles remote enlarge his old domain."
The queen her speech with calm attention hears, Her eyes restrain the silver-streaming tears: She bathes, and robed, the sacred dome ascends; Her pious speed a female train attends: The salted cakes in canisters are laid, And thus the queen invokes Minerva's aid;
"Daughter divine of Jove, whose arm can wield The avenging bolt, and shake the dreadful shield If e'er Ulysses to thy fane preferr'd The best and choicest of his flock and herd; Hear, goddess, hear, by those oblations won; And for the pious sire preserve the son; His wish'd return with happy power befriend, And on the suitors let thy wrath descend."
She ceased; shrill ecstasies of joy declare The favouring goddess present to the prayer; The suitors heard, and deem'd the mirthful voice A signal of her hymeneal choice; Whilst one most jovial thus accosts the board:
"Too late the queen selects a second lord; In evil hour the nuptial rite intends, When o'er her son disastrous death impends." Thus he, unskill'd of what the fates provide! But with severe rebuke Antinous cried:
"These empty vaunts will make the voyage vain: Alarm not with discourse the menial train: The great event with silent hope attend, Our deeds alone our counsel must commend." His speech thus ended short, he frowning rose, And twenty chiefs renowned for valour chose; Down to the strand he speeds with haughty strides, Where anchor'd in the bay the vessel rides, Replete with mail and military store, In all her tackle trim to quit the shore. The desperate crew ascend, unfurl the sails (The seaward prow invites the tardy gales); Then take repast till Hesperus display'd His golden circlet, in the western shade.
Meantime the queen, without reflection due, Heart-wounded, to the bed of state withdrew: In her sad breast the prince's fortunes roll, And hope and doubt alternate seize her soul. So when the woodman's toil her cave surrounds, And with the hunter's cry the grove resounds, With grief and rage the mother-lion stung. Fearless herself, yet trembles for her young While pensive in the silent slumberous shade, Sleep's gentle powers her drooping eyes invade; Minerva, life-like, on embodied air Impress'd the form of Iphthima the fair; (Icarius' daughter she, whose blooming charms Allured Eumelus to her virgin arms; A sceptred lord, who o'er the fruitful plain Of Thessaly wide stretched his ample reign:) As Pallas will'd, along the sable skies, To calm the queen, the phantom sister flies. Swift on the regal dome, descending right, The bolted valves are pervious to her flight. Close to her head the pleasing vision stands, And thus performs Minerva's high commands
"O why, Penelope, this causeless fear, To render sleep's soft blessing unsincere? Alike devote to sorrow's dire extreme The day-reflection, and the midnight-dream! Thy son the gods propitious will restore, And bid thee cease his absence to deplore."
To whom the queen (whilst yet in pensive mind Was in the silent gates of sleep confined): "O sister to my soul forever dear, Why this first visit to reprove my fear? How in a realm so distant should you know From what deep source ceaseless sorrows flow? To all my hope my royal lord is lost, His country's buckler, and the Grecian boast; And with consummate woe to weigh me down, The heir of all his honours and his crown, My darling son is fled! an easy prey To the fierce storms, or men more fierce than they; Who, in a league of blood associates sworn, Will intercept the unwary youth's return."
"Courage resume (the shadowy form replied); In the protecting care of Heaven confide; On him attends the blue eyed martial maid: What earthly can implore a surer aid? Me now the guardian goddess deigns to send, To bid thee patient his return attend."
The queen replies: "If in the blest abodes, A goddess, thou hast commerce with the gods; Say, breathes my lord the blissful realm of light, Or lies he wrapp'd in ever-during night?"
"Inquire not of his doom, (the phantom cries,) I speak not all the counsel of the skies; Nor must indulge with vain discourse, or long, The windy satisfaction of the tongue."