{"id":119,"date":"2021-05-26T09:19:25","date_gmt":"2021-05-26T13:19:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/odyssey\/chapter\/book-xiii\/"},"modified":"2022-02-01T10:53:06","modified_gmt":"2022-02-01T15:53:06","slug":"13","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/chapter\/13\/","title":{"raw":"Book XIII","rendered":"Book XIII"},"content":{"raw":"

Argument<\/b><\/h2>\r\nUlysses, having finished his narrative, and received additional presents from the Ph\u00e6acians, embarks; he is conveyed in his sleep to Ithaca, and in his sleep is landed on that island. The ship that carried him is in her return transformed by Neptune to a rock.\r\n\r\nMinerva meets him on the shore, enables him to recollect his country, which, till enlightened by her, he believed to be a country strange to him, and they concert together the means of destroying the suitors. The Goddess then repairs to Sparta to call thence Telemachus, and Ulysses, by her aid disguised like a beggar, proceeds towards the cottage of Eum\u00e6us.\r\n\r\nHe ceas\u2019d; the whole assembly silent sat,\r\nCharm\u2019d into ecstacy with his discourse\r\nThroughout the twilight hall. Then, thus the King.\r\nUlysses, since beneath my brazen dome\r\nSublime thou hast arrived, like woes, I trust,\r\nThou shalt not in thy voyage hence sustain\r\nBy tempests tost, though much to woe inured.\r\nTo you, who daily in my presence quaff\r\nYour princely meed of gen\u2019rous wine and hear\r\nThe sacred bard, my pleasure, thus I speak.\r\nThe robes, wrought gold, and all the other gifts\r\nTo this our guest, by the Ph\u00e6acian Chiefs\r\nBrought hither in the sumptuous coffer lie.\r\nBut come\u2014present ye to the stranger, each,\r\nAn ample tripod also, with a vase\r\nOf smaller size, for which we will be paid\r\nBy public impost; for the charge of all\r\nExcessive were by one alone defray\u2019d.\r\nSo spake Alcino\u00fcs, and his counsel pleased;\r\nThen, all retiring, sought repose at home.\r\nBut when Aurora, daughter of the dawn,\r\nLook\u2019d rosy forth, each hasted to the bark\r\nWith his illustrious present, which the might\r\nOf King Alcino\u00fcs, who himself her sides\r\nAscended, safe beneath the seats bestowed,\r\nLest it should harm or hinder, while he toil\u2019d\r\nIn rowing, some Ph\u00e6acian of the crew.\r\nThe palace of Alcino\u00fcs seeking next,\r\nTogether, they prepared a new regale.\r\nFor them, in sacrifice, the sacred might[footnote]\u1f39\u03b5\u03c1\u03bf\u03bd \u03bc\u03b5\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2 \u0391\u03bb\u03ba\u03b9\u03bd\u03bf\u03bf\u03b9\u03bf.[\/footnote]<\/sup>\r\nOf King Alcino\u00fcs slew an ox to Jove\r\nSaturnian, cloud-girt governor of all.\r\nThe thighs with fire prepared, all glad partook\r\nThe noble feast; meantime, the bard divine\r\nSang, sweet Demodocus, the people\u2019s joy.\r\nBut oft Ulysses to the radiant sun\r\nTurn\u2019d wistful eyes, anxious for his decline,\r\nNor longer, now, patient of dull delay.\r\nAs when some hungry swain whose sable beeves\r\nHave through the fallow dragg\u2019d his pond\u2019rous plow\r\nAll day, the setting sun views with delight\r\nFor supper\u2019 sake, which with tir\u2019d feet he seeks,\r\nSo welcome to Ulysses\u2019 eyes appear\u2019d\r\nThe sun-set of that eve; directing, then,\r\nHis speech to maritime Ph\u00e6acia\u2019s sons,\r\nBut to Alcino\u00fcs chiefly, thus he said.\r\nAlcino\u00fcs, o\u2019er Ph\u00e6acia\u2019s realm supreme!\r\nLibation made, dismiss ye me in peace,\r\nAnd farewell all! for what I wish\u2019d, I have,\r\nConductors hence, and honourable gifts\r\nWith which heav\u2019n prosper me! and may the Gods\r\nVouchsafe to me, at my return, to find\r\nAll safe, my spotless consort and my friends!\r\nMay ye, whom here I leave, gladden your wives\r\nAnd see your children blest, and may the pow\u2019rs\r\nImmortal with all good enrich you all,\r\nAnd from calamity preserve the land!\r\nHe ended, they unanimous, his speech\r\nApplauded loud, and bade dismiss the guest\r\nWho had so wisely spoken and so well.\r\nThen thus Alcino\u00fcs to his herald spake.\r\nPontono\u00fcs! charging high the beaker, bear\r\nTo ev\u2019ry guest beneath our roof the wine,\r\nThat, pray\u2019r preferr\u2019d to the eternal Sire,\r\nWe may dismiss our inmate to his home.\r\nThen, bore Pontono\u00fcs to ev\u2019ry guest\r\nThe brimming cup; they, where they sat, perform\u2019d\r\nLibation due; but the illustrious Chief\r\nUlysses, from his seat arising, placed\r\nA massy goblet in Areta\u2019s hand,\r\nTo whom in accents wing\u2019d, grateful, he said.\r\nFarewell, O Queen, a long farewell, till age\r\nArrive, and death, the appointed lot of all!\r\nI go; but be this people, and the King\r\nAlcino\u00fcs, and thy progeny, thy joy\r\nYet many a year beneath this glorious roof!\r\nSo saying, the Hero through the palace-gate\r\nIssued, whom, by Alcino\u00fcs\u2019 command,\r\nThe royal herald to his vessel led.\r\nThree maidens also of Areta\u2019s train\r\nHis steps attended; one, the robe well-bleach\u2019d\r\nAnd tunic bore; the corded coffer, one;\r\nAnd food the third, with wine of crimson hue.\r\nArriving where the galley rode, each gave\r\nHer charge to some brave mariner on board,\r\nAnd all was safely stow\u2019d. Meantime were spread\r\nLinen and arras on the deck astern,\r\nFor his secure repose. And now the Chief\r\nHimself embarking, silent lay\u2019d him down.\r\nThen, ev\u2019ry rower to his bench repair\u2019d;\r\nThey drew the loosen\u2019d cable from its hold\r\nIn the drill\u2019d rock, and, resupine, at once\r\nWith lusty strokes upturn\u2019d the flashing waves.\r\nHis<\/i> eye-lids, soon, sleep, falling as a dew,\r\nClosed fast, death\u2019s simular, in sight the same.\r\nShe, as four harness\u2019d stallions o\u2019er the plain\r\nShooting together at the scourge\u2019s stroke,\r\nToss high their manes, and rapid scour along,\r\nSo mounted she the waves, while dark the flood\r\nRoll\u2019d after her of the resounding Deep.\r\nSteady she ran and safe, passing in speed\r\nThe falcon, swiftest of the fowls of heav\u2019n;\r\nWith such rapidity she cut the waves,\r\nAn hero bearing like the Gods above\r\nIn wisdom, one familiar long with woe\r\nIn fight sustain\u2019d, and on the perilous flood,\r\nThough sleeping now serenely, and resign\u2019d\r\nTo sweet oblivion of all sorrow past.\r\nThe brightest star of heav\u2019n, precursor chief\r\nOf day-spring, now arose, when at the isle\r\n(Her voyage soon perform\u2019d) the bark arrived.\r\nThere is a port sacred in Ithaca\r\nTo Phorcys, hoary ancient of the Deep,\r\nForm\u2019d by converging shores, prominent both\r\nAnd both abrupt, which from the spacious bay\r\nExclude all boist\u2019rous winds; within it, ships\r\n(The port once gain\u2019d) uncabled ride secure.\r\nAn olive, at the haven\u2019s head, expands\r\nHer branches wide, near to a pleasant cave\r\nUmbrageous, to the nymphs devoted named\r\nThe Naiads. In that cave beakers of stone\r\nAnd jars are seen; bees lodge their honey there;\r\nAnd there, on slender spindles of the rock\r\nThe nymphs of rivers weave their wond\u2019rous robes.\r\nPerennial springs water it, and it shows\r\nA twofold entrance; ingress one affords\r\nTo mortal man, which Northward looks direct,\r\nBut holier is the Southern far; by that\r\nNo mortal enters, but the Gods alone.\r\nFamiliar with that port before, they push\u2019d\r\nThe vessel in; she, rapid, plow\u2019d the sands\r\nWith half her keel, such rowers urged her on.\r\nDescending from the well-bench\u2019d bark ashore,\r\nThey lifted forth Ulysses first, with all\r\nHis splendid couch complete, then, lay\u2019d him down\r\nStill wrapt in balmy slumber on the sands.\r\nHis treasures, next, by the Ph\u00e6acian Chiefs\r\nAt his departure given him as the meed\r\nDue to his wisdom, at the olive\u2019s foot\r\nThey heap\u2019d, without the road, lest, while he slept\r\nSome passing traveller should rifle them.\r\nThen homeward thence they sped. Nor Ocean\u2019s God\r\nHis threats forgot denounced against divine\r\nUlysses, but with Jove thus first advised.\r\nEternal Sire! I shall no longer share\r\nRespect and reverence among the Gods,\r\nSince, now, Ph\u00e6acia\u2019s mortal race have ceas\u2019d\r\nTo honour me, though from myself derived.\r\nIt was my purpose, that by many an ill\r\nHarass\u2019d, Ulysses should have reach\u2019d his home,\r\nAlthough to intercept him, whose return\r\nThyself had promis\u2019d, ne\u2019er was my intent.\r\nBut him fast-sleeping swiftly o\u2019er the waves\r\nThey have conducted, and have set him down\r\nIn Ithaca, with countless gifts enrich\u2019d,\r\nWith brass, and tissued raiment, and with gold;\r\nMuch treasure! more than he had home convey\u2019d\r\nEven had he arrived with all his share\r\nAllotted to him of the spoils of Troy.\r\nTo whom the cloud-assembler God replied.\r\nWhat hast thou spoken, Shaker of the shores,\r\nWide-ruling Neptune? Fear not; thee the Gods\r\nWill ne\u2019er despise; dangerous were the deed\r\nTo cast dishonour on a God by birth\r\nMore ancient, and more potent far than they.\r\nBut if, profanely rash, a mortal man\r\nShould dare to slight thee, to avenge the wrong\r\nSome future day is ever in thy pow\u2019r.\r\nAccomplish all thy pleasure, thou art free.\r\nHim answer\u2019d, then, the Shaker of the shores.\r\nJove cloud-enthroned! that pleasure I would soon\r\nPerform, as thou hast said, but that I watch\r\nThy mind continual, fearful to offend.\r\nMy purpose is, now to destroy amid\r\nThe dreary Deep yon fair Ph\u00e6acian bark,\r\nReturn\u2019d from safe conveyance of her freight;\r\nSo shall they waft such wand\u2019rers home no more,\r\nAnd she shall hide their city, to a rock\r\nTransform\u2019d of mountainous o\u2019ershadowing size.\r\nHim, then, Jove answer\u2019d, gath\u2019rer of the clouds.\r\nPerform it, O my brother, and the deed\r\nThus done, shall best be done\u2014What time the people\r\nShall from the city her approach descry,\r\nFix her to stone transform\u2019d, but still in shape\r\nA gallant bark, near to the coast, that all\r\nMay wonder, seeing her transform\u2019d to stone\r\nOf size to hide their city from the view.\r\nThese words once heard, the Shaker of the shores\r\nInstant to Scheria, maritime abode\r\nOf the Ph\u00e6acians, went. Arrived, he watch\u2019d.\r\nAnd now the flying bark full near approach\u2019d,\r\nWhen Neptune, meeting her, with out-spread palm\r\nDepress\u2019d her at a stroke, and she became\r\nDeep-rooted stone. Then Neptune went his way.\r\nPh\u00e6acia\u2019s ship-ennobled sons meantime\r\nConferring stood, and thus, in accents wing\u2019d,\r\nTh\u2019 amazed spectator to his fellow spake.\r\nAh! who hath sudden check\u2019d the vessel\u2019s course\r\nHomeward? this moment she was all in view.\r\nThus they, unconscious of the cause, to whom\r\nAlcino\u00fcs, instructing them, replied.\r\nYe Gods! a prophecy now strikes my mind\r\nWith force, my father\u2019s. He was wont to say\u2014\r\nNeptune resents it, that we safe conduct\r\nNatives of ev\u2019ry region to their home.\r\nHe also spake, prophetic, of a day\r\nWhen a Ph\u00e6acian gallant bark, return\u2019d\r\nAfter conveyance of a stranger hence,\r\nShould perish in the dreary Deep, and changed\r\nTo a huge mountain, cover all the town.\r\nSo spake my father, all whose words we see\r\nThis day fulfill\u2019d. Thus, therefore, act we all\r\nUnanimous; henceforth no longer bear\r\nThe stranger home, when such shall here arrive;\r\nAnd we will sacrifice, without delay,\r\nTwelve chosen bulls to Neptune, if, perchance,\r\nHe will commiserate us, and forbear\r\nTo hide our town behind a mountain\u2019s height.\r\nHe spake, they, terrified, the bulls prepared.\r\nThus all Ph\u00e6acia\u2019s Senators and Chiefs\r\nHis altar compassing, in pray\u2019r adored\r\nThe Ocean\u2019s God. Meantime, Ulysses woke,\r\nUnconscious where; stretch\u2019d on his native soil\r\nHe lay, and knew it not, long-time exiled.\r\nFor Pallas, progeny of Jove, a cloud\r\nDrew dense around him, that, ere yet agnized\r\nBy others, he might wisdom learn from her,\r\nNeither to citizens, nor yet to friends\r\nReveal\u2019d, nor even to his own espoused,\r\nTill, first, he should avenge complete his wrongs\r\nDomestic from those suitors proud sustained.\r\nAll objects, therefore, in the Hero\u2019s eyes\r\nSeem\u2019d alien, foot-paths long, commodious ports,\r\nHeav\u2019n-climbing rocks, and trees of amplest growth.\r\nArising, fixt he stood, his native soil\r\nContemplating, till with expanded palms\r\nBoth thighs he smote, and, plaintive, thus began.\r\nAh me! what mortal race inhabits here?\r\nRude are they, contumacious and unjust,\r\nOr hospitable, and who fear the Gods?\r\nWhere now shall I secrete these num\u2019rous stores?\r\nWhere wander I, myself? I would that still\r\nPh\u00e6acians own\u2019d them, and I had arrived\r\nIn the dominions of some other King\r\nMagnanimous, who would have entertain\u2019d\r\nAnd sent me to my native home secure!\r\nNow, neither know I where to place my wealth,\r\nNor can I leave it here, lest it become\r\nAnother\u2019s prey. Alas! Ph\u00e6acia\u2019s Chiefs\r\nNot altogether wise I deem or just,\r\nWho have misplaced me in another land,\r\nPromis\u2019d to bear me to the pleasant shores\r\nOf Ithaca, but have not so perform\u2019d.\r\nJove, guardian of the suppliant\u2019s rights, who all\r\nTransgressors marks, and punishes all wrong,\r\nAvenge me on the treach\u2019rous race!\u2014but hold\u2014\r\nI will revise my stores, so shall I know\r\nIf they have left me here of aught despoiled.\r\nSo saying, he number\u2019d carefully the gold,\r\nThe vases, tripods bright, and tissued robes,\r\nBut nothing miss\u2019d of all. Then he bewail\u2019d\r\nHis native isle, with pensive steps and slow\r\nPacing the border of the billowy flood,\r\nForlorn; but while he wept, Pallas approach\u2019d,\r\nIn form a shepherd stripling, girlish fair\r\nIn feature, such as are the sons of Kings;\r\nA sumptuous mantle o\u2019er his shoulders hung\r\nTwice-folded, sandals his nice feet upbore,\r\nAnd a smooth javelin glitter\u2019d in his hand.\r\nUlysses, joyful at the sight, his steps\r\nTurn\u2019d brisk toward her, whom he thus address\u2019d.\r\nSweet youth! since thee, of all mankind, I first\r\nEncounter in this land unknown, all hail!\r\nCome not with purposes of harm to me!\r\nThese save, and save me also. I prefer\r\nTo thee, as to some God, my pray\u2019r, and clasp\r\nThy knees a suppliant. Say, and tell me true,\r\nWhat land? what people? who inhabit here?\r\nIs this some isle delightful, or a shore\r\nOf fruitful main-land sloping to the sea?\r\nThen Pallas, thus, Goddess c\u00e6rulean-eyed.\r\nStranger! thou sure art simple, or hast dwelt\r\nFar distant hence, if of this land thou ask.\r\nIt is not, trust me, of so little note,\r\nBut known to many, both to those who dwell\r\nToward the sun-rise, and to others placed\r\nBehind it, distant in the dusky West.\r\nRugged it is, not yielding level course\r\nTo the swift steed, and yet no barren spot,\r\nHowever small, but rich in wheat and wine;\r\nNor wants it rain or fertilising dew,\r\nBut pasture green to goats and beeves affords,\r\nTrees of all kinds, and fountains never dry.\r\nIthaca therefore, stranger, is a name\r\nKnown ev\u2019n at Troy, a city, by report,\r\nAt no small distance from Achaia\u2019s shore.\r\nThe Goddess ceased; then, toil-enduring Chief\r\nUlysses, happy in his native land,\r\n(So taught by Pallas, progeny of Jove)\r\nIn accents wing\u2019d her answ\u2019ring, utter\u2019d prompt\r\nNot truth, but figments to truth opposite,\r\nFor guile, in him, stood never at a pause.\r\nO\u2019er yonder flood, even in spacious Crete[footnote]Homer dates all the fictions of Ulysses from Crete, as if he meant to pass a similar censure on the Cretans to that quoted by St. Paul\u2014\u03ba\u03c1\u03b7\u03c4\u03b5\u03c2 \u03b1\u03b5\u03b9 \u03c8\u03b5\u03c5\u03c3\u03b1\u03b9.[\/footnote]<\/sup>\r\nI heard of Ithaca, where now, it seems,\r\nI have, myself, with these my stores arrived;\r\nNot richer stores than, flying thence, I left\r\nTo my own children; for from Crete I fled\r\nFor slaughter of Orsilochus the swift,\r\nSon of Idomeneus, whom none in speed\r\nCould equal throughout all that spacious isle.\r\nHis purpose was to plunder me of all\r\nMy Trojan spoils, which to obtain, much woe\r\nI had in battle and by storms endured,\r\nFor that I would not gratify his Sire,\r\nFighting beside him in the fields of Troy,\r\nBut led a diff\u2019rent band. Him from the field\r\nReturning homeward, with my brazen spear\r\nI smote, in ambush waiting his return\r\nAt the road-side, with a confed\u2019rate friend.\r\nUnwonted darkness over all the heav\u2019ns\r\nThat night prevailed, nor any eye of man\r\nObserved us, but, unseen, I slew the youth.\r\nNo sooner, then, with my sharp spear of life\r\nI had bereft him, than I sought a ship\r\nMann\u2019d by renown\u2019d Ph\u00e6acians, whom with gifts\r\nPart of my spoils, and by requests, I won.\r\nI bade them land me on the Pylian shore,\r\nOr in fair Elis by th\u2019 Epeans ruled,\r\nBut they, reluctant, were by violent winds\r\nDriv\u2019n devious thence, for fraud they purposed none.\r\nThus through constraint we here arrived by night,\r\nAnd with much difficulty push\u2019d the ship\r\nInto safe harbour, nor was mention made\r\nOf food by any, though all needed food,\r\nBut, disembark\u2019d in haste, on shore we lay.\r\nI, weary, slept profound, and they my goods\r\nForth heaving from the bark, beside me placed\r\nThe treasures on the sea-beach where I slept,\r\nThen, reimbarking, to the populous coast\r\nSteer\u2019d of Sidonia, and me left forlorn.\r\nHe ceased; then smiled Minerva azure-eyed\r\nAnd stroaked his cheek, in form a woman now,\r\nBeauteous, majestic, in all elegant arts\r\nAccomplish\u2019d, and with accents wing\u2019d replied.\r\nWho passes thee in artifice well-framed\r\nAnd in imposture various, need shall find\r\nOf all his policy, although a God.\r\nCanst thou not cease, inventive as thou art\r\nAnd subtle, from the wiles which thou hast lov\u2019d\r\nSince thou wast infant, and from tricks of speech\r\nDelusive, even in thy native land?\r\nBut come, dismiss we these ingenious shifts\r\nFrom our discourse, in which we both excel;\r\nFor thou of all men in expedients most\r\nAbound\u2019st and eloquence, and I, throughout\r\nAll heav\u2019n have praise for wisdom and for art.\r\nAnd know\u2019st thou not thine Athen\u00e6an aid,\r\nPallas, Jove\u2019s daughter, who in all thy toils\r\nAssist thee and defend? I gave thee pow\u2019r\r\nT\u2019 engage the hearts of all Ph\u00e6acia\u2019s sons,\r\nAnd here arrive ev\u2019n now, counsels to frame\r\nDiscrete with thee, and to conceal the stores\r\nGiv\u2019n to thee by the rich Ph\u00e6acian Chiefs\r\nOn my suggestion, at thy going thence.\r\nI will inform thee also what distress\r\nAnd hardship under thy own palace-roof\r\nThou must endure; which, since constraint enjoins,\r\nBear patiently, and neither man apprize\r\nNor woman that thou hast arrived forlorn\r\nAnd vagabond, but silent undergo\r\nWhat wrongs soever from the hands of men.\r\nTo whom Ulysses, ever-wise, replied.\r\nO Goddess! thou art able to elude,\r\nWherever met, the keenest eye of man,\r\nFor thou all shapes assum\u2019st; yet this I know\r\nCertainly, that I ever found thee kind,\r\nLong as Achaia\u2019s Heroes fought at Troy;\r\nBut when (the lofty tow\u2019rs of Priam laid\r\nIn dust) we re-embark\u2019d, and by the will\r\nOf heav\u2019n Achaia\u2019s fleet was scatter\u2019d wide,\r\nThenceforth, O daughter wise of Jove, I thee\r\nSaw not, nor thy appearance in my ship\r\nOnce mark\u2019d, to rid me of my num\u2019rous woes,\r\nBut always bearing in my breast a heart\r\nWith anguish riv\u2019n, I roam\u2019d, till by the Gods\r\nRelieved at length, and till with gracious words\r\nThyself didst in Ph\u00e6acia\u2019s opulent land\r\nConfirm my courage, and becam\u2019st my guide.\r\nBut I adjure thee in thy father\u2019s name\u2014\r\nO tell me truly, (for I cannot hope\r\nThat I have reach\u2019d fair Ithaca; I tread\r\nSome other soil, and thou affirm\u2019st it mine\r\nTo mock me merely, and deceive) oh say\u2014\r\nAm I in Ithaca? in truth, at home?\r\nThus then Minerva the c\u00e6rulean-eyed.\r\nSuch caution in thy breast always prevails\r\nDistrustful; but I know thee eloquent,\r\nWith wisdom and with ready thought endued,\r\nAnd cannot leave thee, therefore, thus distress\u2019d\r\nFor what man, save Ulysses, new-return\u2019d\r\nAfter long wand\u2019rings, would not pant to see\r\nAt once his home, his children, and his wife?\r\nBut thou preferr\u2019st neither to know nor ask\r\nConcerning them, till some experience first\r\nThou make of her whose wasted youth is spent\r\nIn barren solitude, and who in tears\r\nCeaseless her nights and woeful days consumes.\r\nI ne\u2019er was ignorant, but well foreknew\r\nThat not till after loss of all thy friends\r\nThou should\u2019st return; but loth I was to oppose\r\nNeptune, my father\u2019s brother, sore incensed\r\nFor his son\u2019s sake deprived of sight by thee.\r\nBut, I will give thee proof\u2014come now\u2014survey\r\nThese marks of Ithaca, and be convinced.\r\nThis is the port of Phorcys, sea-born sage;\r\nThat, the huge olive at the haven\u2019s head;\r\nFast by it, thou behold\u2019st the pleasant cove\r\nUmbrageous, to the nymphs devoted named\r\nThe Naiads; this the broad-arch\u2019d cavern is\r\nWhere thou wast wont to offer to the nymphs\r\nMany a whole hecatomb; and yonder stands\r\nThe mountain Neritus with forests cloath\u2019d.\r\nSo saying, the Goddess scatter\u2019d from before\r\nHis eyes all darkness, and he knew the land.\r\nThen felt Ulysses, Hero toil-inured,\r\nTransport unutterable, seeing plain\r\nOnce more his native isle. He kiss\u2019d the glebe,\r\nAnd with uplifted hands the nymphs ador\u2019d.\r\nNymphs, Naiads, Jove\u2019s own daughters! I despair\u2019d\r\nTo see you more, whom yet with happy vows\r\nI now can hail again. Gifts, as of old,\r\nWe will hereafter at your shrines present,\r\nIf Jove-born Pallas, huntress of the spoils,\r\nGrant life to me, and manhood to my son.\r\nThen Pallas, blue-eyed progeny of Jove.\r\nTake courage; trouble not thy mind with thoughts\r\nNow needless. Haste\u2014delay not\u2014far within\r\nThis hallow\u2019d cave\u2019s recess place we at once\r\nThy precious stores, that they may thine remain,\r\nThen muse together on thy wisest course.\r\nSo saying, the Goddess enter\u2019d deep the cave\r\nCaliginous, and its secret nooks explored\r\nFrom side to side; meantime, Ulysses brought\r\nAll his stores into it, the gold, the brass,\r\nAnd robes magnificent, his gifts received\r\nFrom the Ph\u00e6acians; safe he lodg\u2019d them all,\r\nAnd Pallas, daughter of Jove \u00c6gis-arm\u2019d,\r\nClosed fast, herself, the cavern with a stone.\r\nThen, on the consecrated olive\u2019s root\r\nBoth seated, they in consultation plann\u2019d\r\nThe deaths of those injurious suitors proud,\r\nAnd Pallas, blue-eyed Goddess, thus began.\r\nLaertes\u2019 noble son, Ulysses! think\r\nBy what means likeliest thou shalt assail\r\nThose shameless suitors, who have now controuled\r\nThree years thy family, thy matchless wife\r\nWith language amorous and with spousal gifts\r\nUrging importunate; but she, with tears\r\nWatching thy wish\u2019d return, hope gives to all\r\nBy messages of promise sent to each,\r\nFraming far other purposes the while.\r\nThen answer thus Ulysses wise return\u2019d.\r\nAh, Agamemnon\u2019s miserable fate\r\nHad surely met me in my own abode,\r\nBut for thy gracious warning, pow\u2019r divine!\r\nCome then\u2014Devise the means; teach me, thyself,\r\nThe way to vengeance, and my soul inspire\r\nWith daring fortitude, as when we loos\u2019d\r\nHer radiant frontlet from the brows of Troy.\r\nWould\u2019st thou with equal zeal, O Pallas! aid\r\nThy servant here, I would encounter thrice\r\nAn hundred enemies, let me but perceive\r\nThy dread divinity my prompt ally.\r\nHim answer\u2019d then Pallas c\u00e6rulean-eyed.\r\nAnd such I will be; not unmark\u2019d by me,\r\n(Let once our time of enterprize arrive)\r\nShalt thou assail them. Many, as I judge,\r\nOf those proud suitors who devour thy wealth\r\nShall leave their brains, then, on thy palace floor.\r\nBut come. Behold! I will disguise thee so\r\nThat none shall know thee! I will parch the skin\r\nOn thy fair body; I will cause thee shed\r\nThy wavy locks; I will enfold thee round\r\nIn such a kirtle as the eyes of all\r\nShall loath to look on; and I will deform\r\nWith blurring rheums thy eyes, so vivid erst;\r\nSo shall the suitors deem thee, and thy wife,\r\nAnd thy own son whom thou didst leave at home,\r\nSome sordid wretch obscure. But seek thou first\r\nThy swine-herd\u2019s mansion; he, alike, intends\r\nThy good, and loves, affectionate, thy son\r\nAnd thy Penelope; thou shalt find the swain\r\nTending his herd; they feed beneath the rock\r\nCorax, at side of Arethusa\u2019s fount,\r\nOn acorns dieted, nutritious food\r\nTo them, and drinking of the limpid stream.\r\nThere waiting, question him of thy concerns,\r\nWhile I from Sparta praised for women fair\r\nCall home thy son Telemachus, a guest\r\nWith Menelaus now, whom to consult\r\nIn spacious Laced\u00e6mon he is gone,\r\nAnxious to learn if yet his father lives.\r\nTo whom Ulysses, ever-wise, replied.\r\nAnd why, alas! all-knowing as thou art,\r\nHim left\u2019st thou ignorant? was it that he,\r\nHe also, wand\u2019ring wide the barren Deep,\r\nMight suffer woe, while these devour his wealth?\r\nHim answer\u2019d then Pallas c\u00e6rulean-eyed.\r\nGrieve thou not much for him. I sent him forth\r\nMyself, that there arrived, he might acquire\r\nHonour and fame. No suff\u2019rings finds he there,\r\nBut in Atrides\u2019 palace safe resides,\r\nEnjoying all abundance. Him, in truth,\r\nThe suitors watch close ambush\u2019d on the Deep,\r\nIntent to slay him ere he reach his home,\r\nBut shall not as I judge, till of themselves\r\nThe earth hide some who make thee, now, a prey.\r\nSo saying, the Goddess touch\u2019d him with a wand.\r\nAt once o\u2019er all his agile limbs she parch\u2019d\r\nThe polish\u2019d skin; she wither\u2019d to the root\r\nHis wavy locks; and cloath\u2019d him with the hide\r\nDeform\u2019d of wrinkled age; she charged with rheums\r\nHis eyes before so vivid, and a cloak\r\nAnd kirtle gave him, tatter\u2019d, both, and foul,\r\nAnd smutch\u2019d with smoak; then, casting over all\r\nAn huge old deer-skin bald, with a long staff\r\nShe furnish\u2019d him, and with a wallet patch\u2019d\r\nOn all sides, dangling by a twisted thong.\r\nThus all their plan adjusted, diff\u2019rent ways\r\nChey took, and she, seeking Ulysses\u2019 son,\r\nTo Laced\u00e6mon\u2019s spacious realm repair\u2019d.","rendered":"

Argument<\/b><\/h2>\n

Ulysses, having finished his narrative, and received additional presents from the Ph\u00e6acians, embarks; he is conveyed in his sleep to Ithaca, and in his sleep is landed on that island. The ship that carried him is in her return transformed by Neptune to a rock.<\/p>\n

Minerva meets him on the shore, enables him to recollect his country, which, till enlightened by her, he believed to be a country strange to him, and they concert together the means of destroying the suitors. The Goddess then repairs to Sparta to call thence Telemachus, and Ulysses, by her aid disguised like a beggar, proceeds towards the cottage of Eum\u00e6us.<\/p>\n

He ceas\u2019d; the whole assembly silent sat,
\nCharm\u2019d into ecstacy with his discourse
\nThroughout the twilight hall. Then, thus the King.
\nUlysses, since beneath my brazen dome
\nSublime thou hast arrived, like woes, I trust,
\nThou shalt not in thy voyage hence sustain
\nBy tempests tost, though much to woe inured.
\nTo you, who daily in my presence quaff
\nYour princely meed of gen\u2019rous wine and hear
\nThe sacred bard, my pleasure, thus I speak.
\nThe robes, wrought gold, and all the other gifts
\nTo this our guest, by the Ph\u00e6acian Chiefs
\nBrought hither in the sumptuous coffer lie.
\nBut come\u2014present ye to the stranger, each,
\nAn ample tripod also, with a vase
\nOf smaller size, for which we will be paid
\nBy public impost; for the charge of all
\nExcessive were by one alone defray\u2019d.
\nSo spake Alcino\u00fcs, and his counsel pleased;
\nThen, all retiring, sought repose at home.
\nBut when Aurora, daughter of the dawn,
\nLook\u2019d rosy forth, each hasted to the bark
\nWith his illustrious present, which the might
\nOf King Alcino\u00fcs, who himself her sides
\nAscended, safe beneath the seats bestowed,
\nLest it should harm or hinder, while he toil\u2019d
\nIn rowing, some Ph\u00e6acian of the crew.
\nThe palace of Alcino\u00fcs seeking next,
\nTogether, they prepared a new regale.
\nFor them, in sacrifice, the sacred might[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/sup>
\nOf King Alcino\u00fcs slew an ox to Jove
\nSaturnian, cloud-girt governor of all.
\nThe thighs with fire prepared, all glad partook
\nThe noble feast; meantime, the bard divine
\nSang, sweet Demodocus, the people\u2019s joy.
\nBut oft Ulysses to the radiant sun
\nTurn\u2019d wistful eyes, anxious for his decline,
\nNor longer, now, patient of dull delay.
\nAs when some hungry swain whose sable beeves
\nHave through the fallow dragg\u2019d his pond\u2019rous plow
\nAll day, the setting sun views with delight
\nFor supper\u2019 sake, which with tir\u2019d feet he seeks,
\nSo welcome to Ulysses\u2019 eyes appear\u2019d
\nThe sun-set of that eve; directing, then,
\nHis speech to maritime Ph\u00e6acia\u2019s sons,
\nBut to Alcino\u00fcs chiefly, thus he said.
\nAlcino\u00fcs, o\u2019er Ph\u00e6acia\u2019s realm supreme!
\nLibation made, dismiss ye me in peace,
\nAnd farewell all! for what I wish\u2019d, I have,
\nConductors hence, and honourable gifts
\nWith which heav\u2019n prosper me! and may the Gods
\nVouchsafe to me, at my return, to find
\nAll safe, my spotless consort and my friends!
\nMay ye, whom here I leave, gladden your wives
\nAnd see your children blest, and may the pow\u2019rs
\nImmortal with all good enrich you all,
\nAnd from calamity preserve the land!
\nHe ended, they unanimous, his speech
\nApplauded loud, and bade dismiss the guest
\nWho had so wisely spoken and so well.
\nThen thus Alcino\u00fcs to his herald spake.
\nPontono\u00fcs! charging high the beaker, bear
\nTo ev\u2019ry guest beneath our roof the wine,
\nThat, pray\u2019r preferr\u2019d to the eternal Sire,
\nWe may dismiss our inmate to his home.
\nThen, bore Pontono\u00fcs to ev\u2019ry guest
\nThe brimming cup; they, where they sat, perform\u2019d
\nLibation due; but the illustrious Chief
\nUlysses, from his seat arising, placed
\nA massy goblet in Areta\u2019s hand,
\nTo whom in accents wing\u2019d, grateful, he said.
\nFarewell, O Queen, a long farewell, till age
\nArrive, and death, the appointed lot of all!
\nI go; but be this people, and the King
\nAlcino\u00fcs, and thy progeny, thy joy
\nYet many a year beneath this glorious roof!
\nSo saying, the Hero through the palace-gate
\nIssued, whom, by Alcino\u00fcs\u2019 command,
\nThe royal herald to his vessel led.
\nThree maidens also of Areta\u2019s train
\nHis steps attended; one, the robe well-bleach\u2019d
\nAnd tunic bore; the corded coffer, one;
\nAnd food the third, with wine of crimson hue.
\nArriving where the galley rode, each gave
\nHer charge to some brave mariner on board,
\nAnd all was safely stow\u2019d. Meantime were spread
\nLinen and arras on the deck astern,
\nFor his secure repose. And now the Chief
\nHimself embarking, silent lay\u2019d him down.
\nThen, ev\u2019ry rower to his bench repair\u2019d;
\nThey drew the loosen\u2019d cable from its hold
\nIn the drill\u2019d rock, and, resupine, at once
\nWith lusty strokes upturn\u2019d the flashing waves.
\nHis<\/i> eye-lids, soon, sleep, falling as a dew,
\nClosed fast, death\u2019s simular, in sight the same.
\nShe, as four harness\u2019d stallions o\u2019er the plain
\nShooting together at the scourge\u2019s stroke,
\nToss high their manes, and rapid scour along,
\nSo mounted she the waves, while dark the flood
\nRoll\u2019d after her of the resounding Deep.
\nSteady she ran and safe, passing in speed
\nThe falcon, swiftest of the fowls of heav\u2019n;
\nWith such rapidity she cut the waves,
\nAn hero bearing like the Gods above
\nIn wisdom, one familiar long with woe
\nIn fight sustain\u2019d, and on the perilous flood,
\nThough sleeping now serenely, and resign\u2019d
\nTo sweet oblivion of all sorrow past.
\nThe brightest star of heav\u2019n, precursor chief
\nOf day-spring, now arose, when at the isle
\n(Her voyage soon perform\u2019d) the bark arrived.
\nThere is a port sacred in Ithaca
\nTo Phorcys, hoary ancient of the Deep,
\nForm\u2019d by converging shores, prominent both
\nAnd both abrupt, which from the spacious bay
\nExclude all boist\u2019rous winds; within it, ships
\n(The port once gain\u2019d) uncabled ride secure.
\nAn olive, at the haven\u2019s head, expands
\nHer branches wide, near to a pleasant cave
\nUmbrageous, to the nymphs devoted named
\nThe Naiads. In that cave beakers of stone
\nAnd jars are seen; bees lodge their honey there;
\nAnd there, on slender spindles of the rock
\nThe nymphs of rivers weave their wond\u2019rous robes.
\nPerennial springs water it, and it shows
\nA twofold entrance; ingress one affords
\nTo mortal man, which Northward looks direct,
\nBut holier is the Southern far; by that
\nNo mortal enters, but the Gods alone.
\nFamiliar with that port before, they push\u2019d
\nThe vessel in; she, rapid, plow\u2019d the sands
\nWith half her keel, such rowers urged her on.
\nDescending from the well-bench\u2019d bark ashore,
\nThey lifted forth Ulysses first, with all
\nHis splendid couch complete, then, lay\u2019d him down
\nStill wrapt in balmy slumber on the sands.
\nHis treasures, next, by the Ph\u00e6acian Chiefs
\nAt his departure given him as the meed
\nDue to his wisdom, at the olive\u2019s foot
\nThey heap\u2019d, without the road, lest, while he slept
\nSome passing traveller should rifle them.
\nThen homeward thence they sped. Nor Ocean\u2019s God
\nHis threats forgot denounced against divine
\nUlysses, but with Jove thus first advised.
\nEternal Sire! I shall no longer share
\nRespect and reverence among the Gods,
\nSince, now, Ph\u00e6acia\u2019s mortal race have ceas\u2019d
\nTo honour me, though from myself derived.
\nIt was my purpose, that by many an ill
\nHarass\u2019d, Ulysses should have reach\u2019d his home,
\nAlthough to intercept him, whose return
\nThyself had promis\u2019d, ne\u2019er was my intent.
\nBut him fast-sleeping swiftly o\u2019er the waves
\nThey have conducted, and have set him down
\nIn Ithaca, with countless gifts enrich\u2019d,
\nWith brass, and tissued raiment, and with gold;
\nMuch treasure! more than he had home convey\u2019d
\nEven had he arrived with all his share
\nAllotted to him of the spoils of Troy.
\nTo whom the cloud-assembler God replied.
\nWhat hast thou spoken, Shaker of the shores,
\nWide-ruling Neptune? Fear not; thee the Gods
\nWill ne\u2019er despise; dangerous were the deed
\nTo cast dishonour on a God by birth
\nMore ancient, and more potent far than they.
\nBut if, profanely rash, a mortal man
\nShould dare to slight thee, to avenge the wrong
\nSome future day is ever in thy pow\u2019r.
\nAccomplish all thy pleasure, thou art free.
\nHim answer\u2019d, then, the Shaker of the shores.
\nJove cloud-enthroned! that pleasure I would soon
\nPerform, as thou hast said, but that I watch
\nThy mind continual, fearful to offend.
\nMy purpose is, now to destroy amid
\nThe dreary Deep yon fair Ph\u00e6acian bark,
\nReturn\u2019d from safe conveyance of her freight;
\nSo shall they waft such wand\u2019rers home no more,
\nAnd she shall hide their city, to a rock
\nTransform\u2019d of mountainous o\u2019ershadowing size.
\nHim, then, Jove answer\u2019d, gath\u2019rer of the clouds.
\nPerform it, O my brother, and the deed
\nThus done, shall best be done\u2014What time the people
\nShall from the city her approach descry,
\nFix her to stone transform\u2019d, but still in shape
\nA gallant bark, near to the coast, that all
\nMay wonder, seeing her transform\u2019d to stone
\nOf size to hide their city from the view.
\nThese words once heard, the Shaker of the shores
\nInstant to Scheria, maritime abode
\nOf the Ph\u00e6acians, went. Arrived, he watch\u2019d.
\nAnd now the flying bark full near approach\u2019d,
\nWhen Neptune, meeting her, with out-spread palm
\nDepress\u2019d her at a stroke, and she became
\nDeep-rooted stone. Then Neptune went his way.
\nPh\u00e6acia\u2019s ship-ennobled sons meantime
\nConferring stood, and thus, in accents wing\u2019d,
\nTh\u2019 amazed spectator to his fellow spake.
\nAh! who hath sudden check\u2019d the vessel\u2019s course
\nHomeward? this moment she was all in view.
\nThus they, unconscious of the cause, to whom
\nAlcino\u00fcs, instructing them, replied.
\nYe Gods! a prophecy now strikes my mind
\nWith force, my father\u2019s. He was wont to say\u2014
\nNeptune resents it, that we safe conduct
\nNatives of ev\u2019ry region to their home.
\nHe also spake, prophetic, of a day
\nWhen a Ph\u00e6acian gallant bark, return\u2019d
\nAfter conveyance of a stranger hence,
\nShould perish in the dreary Deep, and changed
\nTo a huge mountain, cover all the town.
\nSo spake my father, all whose words we see
\nThis day fulfill\u2019d. Thus, therefore, act we all
\nUnanimous; henceforth no longer bear
\nThe stranger home, when such shall here arrive;
\nAnd we will sacrifice, without delay,
\nTwelve chosen bulls to Neptune, if, perchance,
\nHe will commiserate us, and forbear
\nTo hide our town behind a mountain\u2019s height.
\nHe spake, they, terrified, the bulls prepared.
\nThus all Ph\u00e6acia\u2019s Senators and Chiefs
\nHis altar compassing, in pray\u2019r adored
\nThe Ocean\u2019s God. Meantime, Ulysses woke,
\nUnconscious where; stretch\u2019d on his native soil
\nHe lay, and knew it not, long-time exiled.
\nFor Pallas, progeny of Jove, a cloud
\nDrew dense around him, that, ere yet agnized
\nBy others, he might wisdom learn from her,
\nNeither to citizens, nor yet to friends
\nReveal\u2019d, nor even to his own espoused,
\nTill, first, he should avenge complete his wrongs
\nDomestic from those suitors proud sustained.
\nAll objects, therefore, in the Hero\u2019s eyes
\nSeem\u2019d alien, foot-paths long, commodious ports,
\nHeav\u2019n-climbing rocks, and trees of amplest growth.
\nArising, fixt he stood, his native soil
\nContemplating, till with expanded palms
\nBoth thighs he smote, and, plaintive, thus began.
\nAh me! what mortal race inhabits here?
\nRude are they, contumacious and unjust,
\nOr hospitable, and who fear the Gods?
\nWhere now shall I secrete these num\u2019rous stores?
\nWhere wander I, myself? I would that still
\nPh\u00e6acians own\u2019d them, and I had arrived
\nIn the dominions of some other King
\nMagnanimous, who would have entertain\u2019d
\nAnd sent me to my native home secure!
\nNow, neither know I where to place my wealth,
\nNor can I leave it here, lest it become
\nAnother\u2019s prey. Alas! Ph\u00e6acia\u2019s Chiefs
\nNot altogether wise I deem or just,
\nWho have misplaced me in another land,
\nPromis\u2019d to bear me to the pleasant shores
\nOf Ithaca, but have not so perform\u2019d.
\nJove, guardian of the suppliant\u2019s rights, who all
\nTransgressors marks, and punishes all wrong,
\nAvenge me on the treach\u2019rous race!\u2014but hold\u2014
\nI will revise my stores, so shall I know
\nIf they have left me here of aught despoiled.
\nSo saying, he number\u2019d carefully the gold,
\nThe vases, tripods bright, and tissued robes,
\nBut nothing miss\u2019d of all. Then he bewail\u2019d
\nHis native isle, with pensive steps and slow
\nPacing the border of the billowy flood,
\nForlorn; but while he wept, Pallas approach\u2019d,
\nIn form a shepherd stripling, girlish fair
\nIn feature, such as are the sons of Kings;
\nA sumptuous mantle o\u2019er his shoulders hung
\nTwice-folded, sandals his nice feet upbore,
\nAnd a smooth javelin glitter\u2019d in his hand.
\nUlysses, joyful at the sight, his steps
\nTurn\u2019d brisk toward her, whom he thus address\u2019d.
\nSweet youth! since thee, of all mankind, I first
\nEncounter in this land unknown, all hail!
\nCome not with purposes of harm to me!
\nThese save, and save me also. I prefer
\nTo thee, as to some God, my pray\u2019r, and clasp
\nThy knees a suppliant. Say, and tell me true,
\nWhat land? what people? who inhabit here?
\nIs this some isle delightful, or a shore
\nOf fruitful main-land sloping to the sea?
\nThen Pallas, thus, Goddess c\u00e6rulean-eyed.
\nStranger! thou sure art simple, or hast dwelt
\nFar distant hence, if of this land thou ask.
\nIt is not, trust me, of so little note,
\nBut known to many, both to those who dwell
\nToward the sun-rise, and to others placed
\nBehind it, distant in the dusky West.
\nRugged it is, not yielding level course
\nTo the swift steed, and yet no barren spot,
\nHowever small, but rich in wheat and wine;
\nNor wants it rain or fertilising dew,
\nBut pasture green to goats and beeves affords,
\nTrees of all kinds, and fountains never dry.
\nIthaca therefore, stranger, is a name
\nKnown ev\u2019n at Troy, a city, by report,
\nAt no small distance from Achaia\u2019s shore.
\nThe Goddess ceased; then, toil-enduring Chief
\nUlysses, happy in his native land,
\n(So taught by Pallas, progeny of Jove)
\nIn accents wing\u2019d her answ\u2019ring, utter\u2019d prompt
\nNot truth, but figments to truth opposite,
\nFor guile, in him, stood never at a pause.
\nO\u2019er yonder flood, even in spacious Crete[2]<\/sup><\/a><\/sup>
\nI heard of Ithaca, where now, it seems,
\nI have, myself, with these my stores arrived;
\nNot richer stores than, flying thence, I left
\nTo my own children; for from Crete I fled
\nFor slaughter of Orsilochus the swift,
\nSon of Idomeneus, whom none in speed
\nCould equal throughout all that spacious isle.
\nHis purpose was to plunder me of all
\nMy Trojan spoils, which to obtain, much woe
\nI had in battle and by storms endured,
\nFor that I would not gratify his Sire,
\nFighting beside him in the fields of Troy,
\nBut led a diff\u2019rent band. Him from the field
\nReturning homeward, with my brazen spear
\nI smote, in ambush waiting his return
\nAt the road-side, with a confed\u2019rate friend.
\nUnwonted darkness over all the heav\u2019ns
\nThat night prevailed, nor any eye of man
\nObserved us, but, unseen, I slew the youth.
\nNo sooner, then, with my sharp spear of life
\nI had bereft him, than I sought a ship
\nMann\u2019d by renown\u2019d Ph\u00e6acians, whom with gifts
\nPart of my spoils, and by requests, I won.
\nI bade them land me on the Pylian shore,
\nOr in fair Elis by th\u2019 Epeans ruled,
\nBut they, reluctant, were by violent winds
\nDriv\u2019n devious thence, for fraud they purposed none.
\nThus through constraint we here arrived by night,
\nAnd with much difficulty push\u2019d the ship
\nInto safe harbour, nor was mention made
\nOf food by any, though all needed food,
\nBut, disembark\u2019d in haste, on shore we lay.
\nI, weary, slept profound, and they my goods
\nForth heaving from the bark, beside me placed
\nThe treasures on the sea-beach where I slept,
\nThen, reimbarking, to the populous coast
\nSteer\u2019d of Sidonia, and me left forlorn.
\nHe ceased; then smiled Minerva azure-eyed
\nAnd stroaked his cheek, in form a woman now,
\nBeauteous, majestic, in all elegant arts
\nAccomplish\u2019d, and with accents wing\u2019d replied.
\nWho passes thee in artifice well-framed
\nAnd in imposture various, need shall find
\nOf all his policy, although a God.
\nCanst thou not cease, inventive as thou art
\nAnd subtle, from the wiles which thou hast lov\u2019d
\nSince thou wast infant, and from tricks of speech
\nDelusive, even in thy native land?
\nBut come, dismiss we these ingenious shifts
\nFrom our discourse, in which we both excel;
\nFor thou of all men in expedients most
\nAbound\u2019st and eloquence, and I, throughout
\nAll heav\u2019n have praise for wisdom and for art.
\nAnd know\u2019st thou not thine Athen\u00e6an aid,
\nPallas, Jove\u2019s daughter, who in all thy toils
\nAssist thee and defend? I gave thee pow\u2019r
\nT\u2019 engage the hearts of all Ph\u00e6acia\u2019s sons,
\nAnd here arrive ev\u2019n now, counsels to frame
\nDiscrete with thee, and to conceal the stores
\nGiv\u2019n to thee by the rich Ph\u00e6acian Chiefs
\nOn my suggestion, at thy going thence.
\nI will inform thee also what distress
\nAnd hardship under thy own palace-roof
\nThou must endure; which, since constraint enjoins,
\nBear patiently, and neither man apprize
\nNor woman that thou hast arrived forlorn
\nAnd vagabond, but silent undergo
\nWhat wrongs soever from the hands of men.
\nTo whom Ulysses, ever-wise, replied.
\nO Goddess! thou art able to elude,
\nWherever met, the keenest eye of man,
\nFor thou all shapes assum\u2019st; yet this I know
\nCertainly, that I ever found thee kind,
\nLong as Achaia\u2019s Heroes fought at Troy;
\nBut when (the lofty tow\u2019rs of Priam laid
\nIn dust) we re-embark\u2019d, and by the will
\nOf heav\u2019n Achaia\u2019s fleet was scatter\u2019d wide,
\nThenceforth, O daughter wise of Jove, I thee
\nSaw not, nor thy appearance in my ship
\nOnce mark\u2019d, to rid me of my num\u2019rous woes,
\nBut always bearing in my breast a heart
\nWith anguish riv\u2019n, I roam\u2019d, till by the Gods
\nRelieved at length, and till with gracious words
\nThyself didst in Ph\u00e6acia\u2019s opulent land
\nConfirm my courage, and becam\u2019st my guide.
\nBut I adjure thee in thy father\u2019s name\u2014
\nO tell me truly, (for I cannot hope
\nThat I have reach\u2019d fair Ithaca; I tread
\nSome other soil, and thou affirm\u2019st it mine
\nTo mock me merely, and deceive) oh say\u2014
\nAm I in Ithaca? in truth, at home?
\nThus then Minerva the c\u00e6rulean-eyed.
\nSuch caution in thy breast always prevails
\nDistrustful; but I know thee eloquent,
\nWith wisdom and with ready thought endued,
\nAnd cannot leave thee, therefore, thus distress\u2019d
\nFor what man, save Ulysses, new-return\u2019d
\nAfter long wand\u2019rings, would not pant to see
\nAt once his home, his children, and his wife?
\nBut thou preferr\u2019st neither to know nor ask
\nConcerning them, till some experience first
\nThou make of her whose wasted youth is spent
\nIn barren solitude, and who in tears
\nCeaseless her nights and woeful days consumes.
\nI ne\u2019er was ignorant, but well foreknew
\nThat not till after loss of all thy friends
\nThou should\u2019st return; but loth I was to oppose
\nNeptune, my father\u2019s brother, sore incensed
\nFor his son\u2019s sake deprived of sight by thee.
\nBut, I will give thee proof\u2014come now\u2014survey
\nThese marks of Ithaca, and be convinced.
\nThis is the port of Phorcys, sea-born sage;
\nThat, the huge olive at the haven\u2019s head;
\nFast by it, thou behold\u2019st the pleasant cove
\nUmbrageous, to the nymphs devoted named
\nThe Naiads; this the broad-arch\u2019d cavern is
\nWhere thou wast wont to offer to the nymphs
\nMany a whole hecatomb; and yonder stands
\nThe mountain Neritus with forests cloath\u2019d.
\nSo saying, the Goddess scatter\u2019d from before
\nHis eyes all darkness, and he knew the land.
\nThen felt Ulysses, Hero toil-inured,
\nTransport unutterable, seeing plain
\nOnce more his native isle. He kiss\u2019d the glebe,
\nAnd with uplifted hands the nymphs ador\u2019d.
\nNymphs, Naiads, Jove\u2019s own daughters! I despair\u2019d
\nTo see you more, whom yet with happy vows
\nI now can hail again. Gifts, as of old,
\nWe will hereafter at your shrines present,
\nIf Jove-born Pallas, huntress of the spoils,
\nGrant life to me, and manhood to my son.
\nThen Pallas, blue-eyed progeny of Jove.
\nTake courage; trouble not thy mind with thoughts
\nNow needless. Haste\u2014delay not\u2014far within
\nThis hallow\u2019d cave\u2019s recess place we at once
\nThy precious stores, that they may thine remain,
\nThen muse together on thy wisest course.
\nSo saying, the Goddess enter\u2019d deep the cave
\nCaliginous, and its secret nooks explored
\nFrom side to side; meantime, Ulysses brought
\nAll his stores into it, the gold, the brass,
\nAnd robes magnificent, his gifts received
\nFrom the Ph\u00e6acians; safe he lodg\u2019d them all,
\nAnd Pallas, daughter of Jove \u00c6gis-arm\u2019d,
\nClosed fast, herself, the cavern with a stone.
\nThen, on the consecrated olive\u2019s root
\nBoth seated, they in consultation plann\u2019d
\nThe deaths of those injurious suitors proud,
\nAnd Pallas, blue-eyed Goddess, thus began.
\nLaertes\u2019 noble son, Ulysses! think
\nBy what means likeliest thou shalt assail
\nThose shameless suitors, who have now controuled
\nThree years thy family, thy matchless wife
\nWith language amorous and with spousal gifts
\nUrging importunate; but she, with tears
\nWatching thy wish\u2019d return, hope gives to all
\nBy messages of promise sent to each,
\nFraming far other purposes the while.
\nThen answer thus Ulysses wise return\u2019d.
\nAh, Agamemnon\u2019s miserable fate
\nHad surely met me in my own abode,
\nBut for thy gracious warning, pow\u2019r divine!
\nCome then\u2014Devise the means; teach me, thyself,
\nThe way to vengeance, and my soul inspire
\nWith daring fortitude, as when we loos\u2019d
\nHer radiant frontlet from the brows of Troy.
\nWould\u2019st thou with equal zeal, O Pallas! aid
\nThy servant here, I would encounter thrice
\nAn hundred enemies, let me but perceive
\nThy dread divinity my prompt ally.
\nHim answer\u2019d then Pallas c\u00e6rulean-eyed.
\nAnd such I will be; not unmark\u2019d by me,
\n(Let once our time of enterprize arrive)
\nShalt thou assail them. Many, as I judge,
\nOf those proud suitors who devour thy wealth
\nShall leave their brains, then, on thy palace floor.
\nBut come. Behold! I will disguise thee so
\nThat none shall know thee! I will parch the skin
\nOn thy fair body; I will cause thee shed
\nThy wavy locks; I will enfold thee round
\nIn such a kirtle as the eyes of all
\nShall loath to look on; and I will deform
\nWith blurring rheums thy eyes, so vivid erst;
\nSo shall the suitors deem thee, and thy wife,
\nAnd thy own son whom thou didst leave at home,
\nSome sordid wretch obscure. But seek thou first
\nThy swine-herd\u2019s mansion; he, alike, intends
\nThy good, and loves, affectionate, thy son
\nAnd thy Penelope; thou shalt find the swain
\nTending his herd; they feed beneath the rock
\nCorax, at side of Arethusa\u2019s fount,
\nOn acorns dieted, nutritious food
\nTo them, and drinking of the limpid stream.
\nThere waiting, question him of thy concerns,
\nWhile I from Sparta praised for women fair
\nCall home thy son Telemachus, a guest
\nWith Menelaus now, whom to consult
\nIn spacious Laced\u00e6mon he is gone,
\nAnxious to learn if yet his father lives.
\nTo whom Ulysses, ever-wise, replied.
\nAnd why, alas! all-knowing as thou art,
\nHim left\u2019st thou ignorant? was it that he,
\nHe also, wand\u2019ring wide the barren Deep,
\nMight suffer woe, while these devour his wealth?
\nHim answer\u2019d then Pallas c\u00e6rulean-eyed.
\nGrieve thou not much for him. I sent him forth
\nMyself, that there arrived, he might acquire
\nHonour and fame. No suff\u2019rings finds he there,
\nBut in Atrides\u2019 palace safe resides,
\nEnjoying all abundance. Him, in truth,
\nThe suitors watch close ambush\u2019d on the Deep,
\nIntent to slay him ere he reach his home,
\nBut shall not as I judge, till of themselves
\nThe earth hide some who make thee, now, a prey.
\nSo saying, the Goddess touch\u2019d him with a wand.
\nAt once o\u2019er all his agile limbs she parch\u2019d
\nThe polish\u2019d skin; she wither\u2019d to the root
\nHis wavy locks; and cloath\u2019d him with the hide
\nDeform\u2019d of wrinkled age; she charged with rheums
\nHis eyes before so vivid, and a cloak
\nAnd kirtle gave him, tatter\u2019d, both, and foul,
\nAnd smutch\u2019d with smoak; then, casting over all
\nAn huge old deer-skin bald, with a long staff
\nShe furnish\u2019d him, and with a wallet patch\u2019d
\nOn all sides, dangling by a twisted thong.
\nThus all their plan adjusted, diff\u2019rent ways
\nChey took, and she, seeking Ulysses\u2019 son,
\nTo Laced\u00e6mon\u2019s spacious realm repair\u2019d.<\/p>\n

  1. \u1f39\u03b5\u03c1\u03bf\u03bd \u03bc\u03b5\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2 \u0391\u03bb\u03ba\u03b9\u03bd\u03bf\u03bf\u03b9\u03bf. ↵<\/a><\/li>
  2. Homer dates all the fictions of Ulysses from Crete, as if he meant to pass a similar censure on the Cretans to that quoted by St. Paul\u2014\u03ba\u03c1\u03b7\u03c4\u03b5\u03c2 \u03b1\u03b5\u03b9 \u03c8\u03b5\u03c5\u03c3\u03b1\u03b9. ↵<\/a><\/li><\/ol><\/div>","protected":false},"author":299,"menu_order":13,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[48],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-119","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","chapter-type-numberless"],"part":3,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/299"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":252,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/119\/revisions\/252"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/3"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/119\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=119"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=119"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}