Telemachus having convened an assembly of the Greecians, publicly calls on the Suitors to relinquish the house of Ulysses. During the continuance of the Council he has much to suffer from the petulance of the Suitors, from whom, having informed them of his design to undertake a voyage in hope to obtain news of Ulysses, he asks a ship, with all things necessary for the purpose. He is refused, but is afterwards furnished with what he wants by Minerva, in the form of Mentor. He embarks in the evening without the privity of his mother, and the Goddess sails with him.<\/p>\n
Aurora, rosy daughter of the dawn,
\nNow ting\u2019d the East, when habited again,
\nUprose Ulysses\u2019 offspring from his bed.
\nAthwart his back his faulchion keen he flung,
\nHis sandals bound to his unsullied feet,
\nAnd, godlike, issued from his chamber-door.
\nAt once the clear-voic\u2019d heralds he enjoin\u2019d
\nTo call the Greeks to council; they aloud
\nGave forth the summons, and the throng began.
\nWhen all were gather\u2019d, and the assembly full,
\nHimself, his hand arm\u2019d with a brazen spear,
\nWent also; nor alone he went; his hounds
\nFleet-footed follow\u2019d him, a faithful pair.
\nO\u2019er all his form Minerva largely shed
\nMajestic grace divine, and, as he went,
\nThe whole admiring concourse gaz\u2019d on him,
\nThe seniors gave him place, and down he sat
\nOn his paternal Throne. Then grave arose
\nThe Hero, old \u00c6gyptius; bow\u2019d with age
\nWas he, and by experience deep-inform\u2019d.
\nHis son had with Ulysses, godlike Chief,
\nOn board his fleet to steed-fam\u2019d Ilium gone,
\nThe warrior Antiphus, whom in his cave
\nThe savage Cyclops slew, and on his flesh
\nAt ev\u2019ning made obscene his last regale.
\nThree sons he had beside, a suitor one,
\nEurynomus; the other two, employ
\nFound constant managing their Sire\u2019s concerns.
\nYet he forgat not, father as he was
\nOf these, his absent eldest, whom he mourn\u2019d
\nCeaseless, and thus his speech, weeping, began.
\nHear me, ye men of Ithaca, my friends!
\nNor council here nor session hath been held
\nSince great Ulysses left his native shore.
\nWho now convenes us? what especial need
\nHath urged him, whether of our youth he be,
\nOr of our senators by age matured?
\nHave tidings reach\u2019d him of our host\u2019s return,
\nWhich here he would divulge? or brings he aught
\nOf public import on a diff\u2019rent theme?
\nI deem him, whosoe\u2019er he be, a man
\nWorthy to prosper, and may Jove vouchsafe
\nThe full performance of his chief desire!
\nHe ended, and Telemachus rejoiced
\nIn that good omen. Ardent to begin,
\nHe sat not long, but, moving to the midst,
\nReceived the sceptre from Pisenor\u2019s hand,
\nHis prudent herald, and addressing, next,
\nThe hoary Chief \u00c6gyptius, thus began.
\nNot far remote, as thou shalt soon thyself
\nPerceive, oh venerable Chief! he stands,
\nWho hath convened this council. I, am He.
\nI am in chief the suff\u2019rer. Tidings none
\nOf the returning host I have received,
\nWhich here I would divulge, nor bring I aught
\nOf public import on a different theme,
\nBut my own trouble, on my own house fall\u2019n,
\nAnd two-fold fall\u2019n. One is, that I have lost
\nA noble father, who, as fathers rule
\nBenign their children, govern\u2019d once yourselves;
\nThe other, and the more alarming ill,
\nWith ruin threatens my whole house, and all
\nMy patrimony with immediate waste.
\nSuitors, (their children who in this our isle
\nHold highest rank) importunate besiege
\nMy mother, though desirous not to wed,
\nAnd rather than resort to her own Sire
\nIcarius, who might give his daughter dow\u2019r,
\nAnd portion her to whom he most approves,
\n(A course which, only named, moves their disgust)
\nThey chuse, assembling all within my gates
\nDaily to make my beeves, my sheep, my goats
\nTheir banquet, and to drink without restraint
\nMy wine; whence ruin threatens us and ours;
\nFor I have no Ulysses to relieve
\nMe and my family from this abuse.
\nOurselves are not sufficient; we, alas!
\nToo feeble should be found, and yet to learn
\nHow best to use the little force we own;
\nElse, had I pow\u2019r, I would, myself, redress
\nThe evil; for it now surpasses far
\nAll suff\u2019rance, now they ravage uncontroul\u2019d,
\nNor show of decency vouchsafe me more.
\nOh be ashamed[1]<\/sup><\/a> yourselves; blush at the thought
\nOf such reproach as ye shall sure incur
\nFrom all our neighbour states, and fear beside
\nThe wrath of the Immortals, lest they call
\nYourselves one day to a severe account.
\nI pray you by Olympian Jove, by her
\nWhose voice convenes all councils, and again
\nDissolves them, Themis, that henceforth ye cease,
\nThat ye permit me, oh my friends! to wear
\nMy days in solitary grief away,
\nUnless Ulysses, my illustrious Sire,
\nHath in his anger any Greecian wrong\u2019d,
\nWhose wrongs ye purpose to avenge on me,
\nInciting these to plague me. Better far
\nWere my condition, if yourselves consumed
\nMy substance and my revenue; from you
\nI might obtain, perchance, righteous amends
\nHereafter; you I might with vehement suit
\nO\u2019ercome, from house to house pleading aloud
\nFor recompense, till I at last prevail\u2019d.
\nBut now, with darts of anguish ye transfix
\nMy inmost soul, and I have no redress.
\nHe spake impassion\u2019d, and to earth cast down
\nHis sceptre, weeping. Pity at that sight
\nSeiz\u2019d all the people; mute the assembly sat
\nLong time, none dared to greet Telemachus
\nWith answer rough, till of them all, at last,
\nAntino\u00fcs, sole arising, thus replied.
\nTelemachus, intemp\u2019rate in harangue,
\nHigh-sounding orator! it is thy drift
\nTo make us all odious; but the offence
\nLies not with us the suitors; she alone
\nThy mother, who in subtlety excels,
\nAnd deep-wrought subterfuge, deserves the blame.
\nIt is already the third year, and soon
\nShall be the fourth, since with delusive art
\nPractising on their minds, she hath deceived
\nThe Greecians; message after message sent
\nBrings hope to each, by turns, and promise fair,
\nBut she, meantime, far otherwise intends.
\nHer other arts exhausted all, she framed
\nThis stratagem; a web of amplest size
\nAnd subtlest woof beginning, thus she spake.
\nPrinces, my suitors! since the noble Chief
\nUlysses is no more, press not as yet
\nMy nuptials, wait till I shall finish, first,
\nA fun\u2019ral robe (lest all my threads decay)
\nWhich for the antient Hero I prepare,
\nLaertes, looking for the mournful hour
\nWhen fate shall snatch him to eternal rest;
\nElse I the censure dread of all my sex,
\nShould he, so wealthy, want at last a shroud.
\nSo spake the Queen, and unsuspicious, we
\nWith her request complied. Thenceforth, all day
\nShe wove the ample web, and by the aid
\nOf torches ravell\u2019d it again at night.
\nThree years by such contrivance she deceived
\nThe Greecians; but when (three whole years elaps\u2019d)
\nThe fourth arriv\u2019d, then, conscious of the fraud,
\nA damsel of her train told all the truth,
\nAnd her we found rav\u2019ling the beauteous work.
\nThus, through necessity she hath, at length,
\nPerform\u2019d the task, and in her own despight.
\nNow therefore, for the information clear
\nOf thee thyself, and of the other Greeks,
\nWe answer. Send thy mother hence, with charge
\nThat him she wed on whom her father\u2019s choice
\nShall fall, and whom she shall, herself, approve.
\nBut if by long procrastination still
\nShe persevere wearing our patience out,
\nAttentive only to display the gifts
\nBy Pallas so profusely dealt to her,
\nWorks of surpassing skill, ingenious thought,
\nAnd subtle shifts, such as no beauteous Greek
\n(For aught that we have heard) in antient times
\nE\u2019er practised, Tyro, or Alcemena fair,
\nOr fair Mycene, of whom none in art
\nE\u2019er match\u2019d Penelope, although we yield
\nTo this her last invention little praise,
\nThen know, that these her suitors will consume
\nSo long thy patrimony and thy goods,
\nAs she her present purpose shall indulge,
\nWith which the Gods inspire her. Great renown
\nShe to herself insures, but equal woe
\nAnd devastation of thy wealth to thee;
\nFor neither to our proper works at home
\nGo we, of that be sure, nor yet elsewhere,
\nTill him she wed, to whom she most inclines.
\nHim prudent, then, answer\u2019d Telemachus.
\nAntino\u00fcs! it is not possible
\nThat I should thrust her forth against her will,
\nWho both produced and reared me. Be he dead,
\nOr still alive, my Sire is far remote,
\nAnd should I, voluntary, hence dismiss
\nMy mother to Icarius, I must much
\nRefund, which hardship were and loss to me.
\nSo doing, I should also wrath incur
\nFrom my offended Sire, and from the Gods
\nStill more; for she, departing, would invoke
\nErynnis to avenge her, and reproach
\nBeside would follow me from all mankind.
\nThat word I, therefore, never will pronounce.
\nNo, if ye judge your treatment at her hands
\nInjurious to you, go ye forth yourselves,
\nForsake my mansion; seek where else ye may
\nYour feasts; consume your own; alternate feed
\nEach at the other\u2019s cost. But if it seem
\nWisest in your account and best to eat
\nVoracious thus the patrimonial goods
\nOf one man, rend\u2019ring no account of all,
\nBite to the roots; but know that I will cry
\nCeaseless to the eternal Gods, in hope
\nThat Jove, in retribution of the wrong,
\nShall doom you, where ye have intruded, there
\nTo bleed, and of your blood ask no account.
\nSo spake Telemachus, and while he spake,
\nThe Thund\u2019rer from a lofty mountain-top
\nTurn\u2019d off two eagles; on the winds, awhile,
\nWith outspread pinions ample side by side
\nThey floated; but, ere long, hov\u2019ring aloft,
\nRight o\u2019er the midst of the assembled Chiefs
\nThey wheel\u2019d around, clang\u2019d all their num\u2019rous plumes,
\nAnd with a downward look eyeing the throng,
\nDeath boded, ominous; then rending each
\nThe other\u2019s face and neck, they sprang at once
\nToward the right, and darted through the town.
\nAmazement universal, at that sight,
\nSeized the assembly, and with anxious thought
\nEach scann\u2019d the future; amidst whom arose
\nThe Hero Halitherses, antient Seer,
\nOffspring of Mastor; for in judgment he
\nOf portents augural, and in forecast
\nUnerring, his coevals all excell\u2019d,
\nAnd prudent thus the multitude bespake.
\nYe men of Ithaca, give ear! hear all!
\nThough chief my speech shall to the suitors look,
\nFor, on their heads devolved, comes down the woe.
\nUlysses shall not from his friends, henceforth,
\nLive absent long, but, hasting to his home,
\nComes even now, and as he comes, designs
\nA bloody death for these, whose bitter woes
\nNo few shall share, inhabitants with us
\nOf pleasant Ithaca; but let us frame
\nEffectual means maturely to suppress
\nTheir violent deeds, or rather let themselves
\nRepentant cease; and soonest shall be best.
\nNot inexpert, but well-inform\u2019d I speak
\nThe future, and the accomplishment announce
\nOf all which when Ulysses with the Greeks
\nEmbark\u2019d for Troy, I to himself foretold.
\nI said that, after many woes, and loss
\nOf all his people, in the twentieth year,
\nUnknown to all, he should regain his home,
\nAnd my prediction shall be now fulfill\u2019d.
\nHim, then, Eurymachus thus answer\u2019d rough
\nThe son of Polybus. Hence to thy house,
\nThou hoary dotard! there, prophetic, teach
\nThy children to escape woes else to come.
\nBirds num\u2019rous flutter in the beams of day,
\nNot all predictive. Death, far hence remote
\nHath found Ulysses, and I would to heav\u2019n
\nThat, where he died, thyself had perish\u2019d too.
\nThou hadst not then run o\u2019er with prophecy
\nAs now, nor provocation to the wrath
\nGiv\u2019n of Telemachus, in hope to win,
\nPerchance, for thine some favour at his hands.
\nBut I to thee<\/i> foretell, skilled as thou art
\nIn legends old, (nor shall my threat be vain)
\nThat if by artifice thou move to wrath
\nA younger than thyself, no matter whom,
\nWoe first the heavier on himself shall fall,
\nNor shalt thou profit him by thy attempt,
\nAnd we will charge thee also with a mulct,
\nWhich thou shalt pay with difficulty, and bear
\nThe burthen of it with an aching heart.
\nAs for Telemachus, I him advise,
\nMyself, and press the measure on his choice
\nEarnestly, that he send his mother hence
\nTo her own father\u2019s house, who shall, himself,
\nSet forth her nuptial rites, and shall endow
\nHis daughter sumptuously, and as he ought.
\nFor this expensive wooing, as I judge,
\nTill then shall never cease; since we regard
\nNo man\u2014no\u2014not Telemachus, although
\nIn words exub\u2019rant; neither fear we aught
\nThy vain prognostics, venerable sir!
\nBut only hate thee for their sake the more.
\nWaste will continue and disorder foul
\nUnremedied, so long as she shall hold
\nThe suitors in suspense, for, day by day,
\nOur emulation goads us to the strife,
\nNor shall we, going hence, seek to espouse
\nEach his own comfort suitable elsewhere.
\nTo whom, discrete, Telemachus replied.
\nEurymachus, and ye the suitor train
\nIllustrious, I have spoken: ye shall hear
\nNo more this supplication urged by me.
\nThe Gods, and all the Greeks, now know the truth.
\nBut give me instantly a gallant bark
\nWith twenty rowers, skill\u2019d their course to win
\nTo whatsoever haven; for I go
\nTo sandy Pylus, and shall hasten thence
\nTo Lacedemon, tidings to obtain
\nOf my long-absent Sire, or from the lips
\nOf man, or by a word from Jove vouchsafed
\nHimself, best source of notice to mankind.
\nIf, there inform\u2019d that still my father lives,
\nI hope conceive of his return, although
\nDistress\u2019d, I shall be patient yet a year.
\nBut should I learn, haply, that he survives
\nNo longer, then, returning, I will raise
\nAt home his tomb, will with such pomp perform
\nHis fun\u2019ral rites, as his great name demands,
\nAnd give my mother\u2019s hand to whom I may.
\nThis said, he sat, and after him arose
\nMentor, illustrious Ulysses\u2019 friend,
\nTo whom, embarking thence, he had consign\u2019d
\nAll his concerns, that the old Chief might rule
\nHis family, and keep the whole secure.
\nArising, thus the senior, sage, began.
\nHear me, ye Ithacans! be never King
\nHenceforth, benevolent, gracious, humane
\nOr righteous, but let every sceptred hand
\nRule merciless, and deal in wrong alone,
\nSince none of all his people, whom he sway\u2019d
\nWith such paternal gentleness and love,
\nRemembers the divine Ulysses more!
\nThat the imperious suitors thus should weave
\nThe web of mischief and atrocious wrong,
\nI grudge not; since at hazard of their heads
\nThey make Ulysses\u2019 property a prey,
\nPersuaded that the Hero comes no more.
\nBut much the people move me; how ye sit
\nAll mute, and though a multitude, yourselves,
\nOpposed to few, risque not a single word
\nTo check the license of these bold intruders!
\nThen thus Liocritus, Evenor\u2019s son.
\nInjurious Mentor! headlong orator!
\nHow dar\u2019st thou move the populace against
\nThe suitors? Trust me they should find it hard,
\nNumerous as they are, to cope with us,
\nA feast the prize. Or should the King himself
\nOf Ithaca, returning, undertake
\nT\u2019 expell the jovial suitors from his house,
\nMuch as Penelope his absence mourns,
\nHis presence should afford her little joy;
\nFor fighting sole with many, he should meet
\nA dreadful death. Thou, therefore, speak\u2019st amiss.
\nAs for Telemachus, let Mentor him
\nAnd Halytherses furnish forth, the friends
\nLong valued of his Sire, with all dispatch;
\nThough him I judge far likelier to remain
\nLong-time contented an enquirer here,
\nThan to perform the voyage now proposed.
\nThus saying, Liocritus dissolved in haste
\nThe council, and the scattered concourse sought
\nTheir sev\u2019ral homes, while all the suitors flock\u2019d
\nThence to the palace of their absent King.
\nMeantime, Telemachus from all resort
\nRetiring, in the surf of the gray Deep
\nFirst laved his hands, then, thus to Pallas pray\u2019d.
\nO Goddess! who wast yesterday a guest
\nBeneath my roof, and didst enjoin me then
\nA voyage o\u2019er the sable Deep in quest
\nOf tidings of my long regretted Sire!
\nWhich voyage, all in Ithaca, but most
\nThe haughty suitors, obstinate impede,
\nNow hear my suit and gracious interpose!
\nSuch pray\u2019r he made; then Pallas, in the form,
\nAnd with the voice of Mentor, drawing nigh,
\nIn accents wing\u2019d, him kindly thus bespake.
\nTelemachus! thou shalt hereafter prove
\nNor base, nor poor in talents. If, in truth,
\nThou have received from heav\u2019n thy father\u2019s force
\nInstill\u2019d into thee, and resemblest him
\nIn promptness both of action and of speech,
\nThy voyage shall not useless be, or vain.
\nBut if Penelope produced thee not
\nHis son, I, then, hope not for good effect
\nOf this design which, ardent, thou pursuest.
\nFew sons their fathers equal; most appear
\nDegenerate; but we find, though rare, sometimes
\nA son superior even to his Sire.
\nAnd since thyself shalt neither base be found
\nNor spiritless, nor altogether void
\nOf talents, such as grace thy royal Sire,
\nI therefore hope success of thy attempt.
\nHeed not the suitors\u2019 projects; neither wise
\nAre they, nor just, nor aught suspect the doom
\nWhich now approaches them, and in one day
\nShall overwhelm them all. No long suspense
\nShall hold thy purposed enterprise in doubt,
\nSuch help from me, of old thy father\u2019s friend,
\nThou shalt receive, who with a bark well-oar\u2019d
\nWill serve thee, and myself attend thee forth.
\nBut haste, join thou the suitors, and provide,
\nIn sep\u2019rate vessels stow\u2019d, all needful stores,
\nWine in thy jars, and flour, the strength of man,
\nIn skins close-seam\u2019d. I will, meantime, select
\nSuch as shall voluntary share thy toils.
\nIn sea-girt Ithaca new ships and old
\nAbound, and I will chuse, myself, for thee
\nThe prime of all, which without more delay
\nWe will launch out into the spacious Deep.
\nThus Pallas spake, daughter of Jove; nor long,
\nSo greeted by the voice divine, remain\u2019d
\nTelemachus, but to his palace went
\nDistress\u2019d in heart. He found the suitors there
\nGoats slaying in the hall, and fatted swine
\nRoasting; when with a laugh Antino\u00fcs flew
\nTo meet him, fasten\u2019d on his hand, and said,
\nTelemachus, in eloquence sublime,
\nAnd of a spirit not to be controul\u2019d!
\nGive harbour in thy breast on no account
\nTo after-grudge or enmity, but eat,
\nFar rather, cheerfully as heretofore,
\nAnd freely drink, committing all thy cares
\nTo the Achaians, who shall furnish forth
\nA gallant ship and chosen crew for thee,
\nThat thou may\u2019st hence to Pylus with all speed,
\nTidings to learn of thy illustrious Sire.
\nTo whom Telemachus, discrete, replied.
\nAntino\u00fcs! I have no heart to feast
\nWith guests so insolent, nor can indulge
\nThe pleasures of a mind at ease, with you.
\nIs\u2019t not enough, suitors, that ye have used
\nMy noble patrimony as your own
\nWhile I was yet a child? now, grown mature,
\nAnd competent to understand the speech
\nOf my instructors, feeling, too, a mind
\nWithin me conscious of augmented pow\u2019rs,
\nI will attempt your ruin, be assured,
\nWhether at Pylus, or continuing here.
\nI go, indeed, (nor shall my voyage prove
\nOf which I speak, bootless or vain) I go
\nAn humble passenger, who neither bark
\nNor rowers have to boast my own, denied
\nThat honour (so ye judg\u2019d it best) by you.
\nHe said, and from Antino\u00fcs\u2019 hand his own
\nDrew sudden. Then their delicate repast
\nThe busy suitors on all sides prepar\u2019d,
\nStill taunting as they toil\u2019d, and with sharp speech
\nSarcastic wantoning, of whom a youth,
\nArrogant as his fellows, thus began.
\nI see it plain, Telemachus intends
\nOur slaughter; either he will aids procure
\nFrom sandy Pylus, or will bring them arm\u2019d
\nFrom Sparta; such is his tremendous drift.
\nEven to fruitful Ephyre, perchance,
\nHe will proceed, seeking some baneful herb
\nWhich cast into our cup, shall drug us all.
\nTo whom some haughty suitor thus replied.
\nWho knows but that himself, wand\u2019ring the sea
\nFrom all his friends and kindred far remote,
\nMay perish like Ulysses? Whence to us
\nShould double toil ensue, on whom the charge
\nTo parcel out his wealth would then devolve,
\nAnd to endow his mother with the house
\nFor his abode whom she should chance to wed.
\nSo sported they; but he, ascending sought
\nHis father\u2019s lofty chamber, where his heaps
\nHe kept of brass and gold, garments in chests,
\nAnd oils of fragrant scent, a copious store.
\nThere many a cask with season\u2019d nectar fill\u2019d
\nThe grape\u2019s pure juice divine, beside the wall
\nStood orderly arranged, waiting the hour
\n(Should e\u2019er such hour arrive) when, after woes
\nNum\u2019rous, Ulysses should regain his home.
\nSecure that chamber was with folding doors
\nOf massy planks compact, and night and day,
\nWithin it antient Euryclea dwelt,
\nGuardian discrete of all the treasures there,
\nWhom, thither call\u2019d, Telemachus address\u2019d.
\nNurse! draw me forth sweet wine into my jars,
\nDelicious next to that which thou reserv\u2019st
\nFor our poor wand\u2019rer; if escaping death
\nAt last, divine Ulysses e\u2019er return.
\nFill twelve, and stop them close; pour also meal
\nWell mill\u2019d (full twenty measures) into skins
\nClose-seam\u2019d, and mention what thou dost to none.
\nPlace them together; for at even-tide
\nI will convey them hence, soon as the Queen,
\nRetiring to her couch, shall seek repose.
\nFor hence to Sparta will I take my course,
\nAnd sandy Pylus, tidings there to hear
\n(If hear I may) of my lov\u2019d Sire\u2019s return.
\nHe ceas\u2019d, then wept his gentle nurse that sound
\nHearing, and in wing\u2019d accents thus replied.
\nMy child! ah, wherefore hath a thought so rash
\nPossess\u2019d thee? whither, only and belov\u2019d,
\nSeek\u2019st thou to ramble, travelling, alas!
\nTo distant climes? Ulysses is no more;
\nDead lies the Hero in some land unknown,
\nAnd thou no sooner shalt depart, than these
\nWill plot to slay thee, and divide thy wealth.
\nNo, stay with us who love thee. Need is none
\nThat thou should\u2019st on the barren Deep distress
\nEncounter, roaming without hope or end.
\nWhom, prudent, thus answer\u2019d Telemachus.
\nTake courage, nurse! for not without consent
\nOf the Immortals I have thus resolv\u2019d.
\nBut swear, that till eleven days be past,
\nOr twelve, or, till enquiry made, she learn
\nHerself my going, thou wilt not impart
\nOf this my purpose to my mother\u2019s ear,
\nLest all her beauties fade by grief impair\u2019d.
\nHe ended, and the antient matron swore
\nSolemnly by the Gods; which done, she fill\u2019d
\nWith wine the vessels and the skins with meal,
\nAnd he, returning, join\u2019d the throng below.
\nThen Pallas, Goddess azure-eyed, her thoughts
\nElsewhere directing, all the city ranged
\nIn semblance of Telemachus, each man
\nExhorting, at the dusk of eve, to seek
\nThe gallant ship, and from No\u00ebmon, son
\nRenown\u2019d of Phronius, ask\u2019d, herself, a bark,
\nWhich soon as ask\u2019d, he promis\u2019d to supply.
\nNow set the sun, and twilight dimm\u2019d the ways,
\nWhen, drawing down his bark into the Deep,
\nHe gave her all her furniture, oars, arms
\nAnd tackle, such as well-built galleys bear,
\nThen moor\u2019d her in the bottom of the bay.
\nMeantime, his mariners in haste repair\u2019d
\nDown to the shore, for Pallas urged them on.
\nAnd now on other purposes intent,
\nThe Goddess sought the palace, where with dews
\nOf slumber drenching ev\u2019ry suitor\u2019s eye,
\nShe fool\u2019d the drunkard multitude, and dash\u2019d
\nThe goblets from their idle hands away.
\nThey through the city reeled, happy to leave
\nThe dull carousal, when the slumb\u2019rous weight
\nOppressive on their eye-lids once had fall\u2019n.
\nNext, Pallas azure-eyed in Mentor\u2019s form
\nAnd with the voice of Mentor, summoning
\nTelemachus abroad, him thus bespake.
\nTelemachus! already at their oars
\nSit all thy fellow-voyagers, and wait
\nThy coming; linger not, but haste away.
\nThis said, Minerva led him thence, whom he
\nWith nimble steps follow\u2019d, and on the shore
\nArrived, found all his mariners prepared,
\nWhom thus the princely voyager address\u2019d.
\nHaste, my companions! bring we down the stores
\nAlready sorted and set forth; but nought
\nMy mother knows, or any of her train
\nOf this design, one matron sole except.
\nHe spake, and led them; they, obedient, brought
\nAll down, and, as Ulysses\u2019 son enjoin\u2019d,
\nWithin the gallant bark the charge bestow\u2019d.
\nThen, led by Pallas, went the prince on board,
\nWhere down they sat, the Goddess in the stern,
\nAnd at her side Telemachus. The crew
\nCast loose the hawsers, and embarking, fill\u2019d
\nThe benches. Blue-eyed Pallas from the West
\nCall\u2019d forth propitious breezes; fresh they curled
\nThe sable Deep, and, sounding, swept the waves.
\nHe loud-exhorting them, his people bade
\nHand, brisk, the tackle; they, obedient, reared
\nThe pine-tree mast, which in its socket deep
\nThey lodg\u2019d, then strain\u2019d the cordage, and with thongs
\nWell-twisted, drew the shining sail aloft.
\nA land-breeze fill\u2019d the canvas, and the flood
\nRoar\u2019d as she went against the steady bark
\nThat ran with even course her liquid way.
\nThe rigging, thus, of all the galley set,
\nTheir beakers crowning high with wine, they hail\u2019d
\nThe ever-living Gods, but above all
\nMinerva, daughter azure-eyed of Jove.
\nThus, all night long the galley, and till dawn
\nHad brighten\u2019d into day, cleaved swift the flood.<\/p>\n