Part 9 (2/2)
My father! thou behold'st the house to which Thou bad'st me lead thee. Thou shalt find our Chiefs And high-born Princes banqueting within.
But enter fearing nought, for boldest men 60 Speed ever best, come whencesoe'er they may.
First thou shalt find the Queen, known by her name Areta; lineal in descent from those Who gave Alcinous birth, her royal spouse.
Neptune begat Nausithous, at the first, On Peribaea, loveliest of her s.e.x, Latest-born daughter of Eurymedon, Heroic King of the proud giant race, Who, losing all his impious people, shared The same dread fate himself. Her Neptune lov'd, 70 To whom she bore a son, the mighty prince Nausithous, in his day King of the land.
Nausithous himself two sons begat, Rhexenor and Alcinous. Phoebus slew Rhexenor at his home, a bridegroom yet, Who, father of no son, one daughter left, Areta, wedded to Alcinous now, And whom the Sov'reign in such honour holds, As woman none enjoys of all on earth Existing, subjects of an husband's pow'r. 80 Like veneration she from all receives Unfeign'd, from her own children, from himself Alcinous, and from all Phaeacia's race, Who, gazing on her as she were divine, Shout when she moves in progress through the town.
For she no wisdom wants, but sits, herself, Arbitress of such contests as arise Between her fav'rites, and decides aright.
Her count'nance once and her kind aid secured, Thou may'st thenceforth expect thy friends to see, 90 Thy dwelling, and thy native soil again.
So Pallas spake, G.o.ddess caerulean-eyed, And o'er the untillable and barren Deep Departing, Scheria left, land of delight, Whence reaching Marathon, and Athens next, She pa.s.s'd into Erectheus' fair abode.
Ulysses, then, toward the palace moved Of King Alcinous, but immers'd in thought Stood, first, and paused, ere with his foot he press'd The brazen threshold; for a light he saw 100 As of the sun or moon illuming clear The palace of Phaeacia's mighty King.
Walls plated bright with bra.s.s, on either side Stretch'd from the portal to th' interior house, With azure cornice crown'd; the doors were gold Which shut the palace fast; silver the posts Rear'd on a brazen threshold, and above, The lintels, silver, architraved with gold.
Mastiffs, in gold and silver, lined the approach On either side, by art celestial framed 110 Of Vulcan, guardians of Alcinous' gate For ever, un.o.bnoxious to decay.
Sheer from the threshold to the inner house Fixt thrones the walls, through all their length, adorn'd, With mantles overspread of subtlest warp Transparent, work of many a female hand.
On these the princes of Phaeacia sat, Holding perpetual feasts, while golden youths On all the sumptuous altars stood, their hands With burning torches charged, which, night by night, 120 Shed radiance over all the festive throng.
Full fifty female menials serv'd the King In household offices; the rapid mills These turning, pulverize the mellow'd grain, Those, seated orderly, the purple fleece Wind off, or ply the loom, restless as leaves Of lofty poplars fluttering in the breeze; Bright as with oil the new-wrought texture shone.[25]
Far as Phaeacian mariners all else Surpa.s.s, the swift s.h.i.+p urging through the floods, 130 So far in tissue-work the women pa.s.s All others, by Minerva's self endow'd With richest fancy and superior skill.
Without the court, and to the gates adjoin'd A s.p.a.cious garden lay, fenced all around Secure, four acres measuring complete.
There grew luxuriant many a lofty tree, Pomegranate, pear, the apple blus.h.i.+ng bright, The honied fig, and unctuous olive smooth.
Those fruits, nor winter's cold nor summer's heat 140 Fear ever, fail not, wither not, but hang Perennial, whose unceasing zephyr breathes Gently on all, enlarging these, and those Maturing genial; in an endless course Pears after pears to full dimensions swell, Figs follow figs, grapes cl.u.s.t'ring grow again Where cl.u.s.ters grew, and (ev'ry apple stript) The boughs soon tempt the gath'rer as before.
There too, well-rooted, and of fruit profuse, His vineyard grows; part, wide-extended, basks, 150 In the sun's beams; the arid level glows; In part they gather, and in part they tread The wine-press, while, before the eye, the grapes Here put their blossom forth, there, gather fast Their blackness. On the garden's verge extreme Flow'rs of all hues smile all the year, arranged With neatest art judicious, and amid The lovely scene two fountains welling forth, One visits, into ev'ry part diffus'd, The garden-ground, the other soft beneath 160 The threshold steals into the palace-court, Whence ev'ry citizen his vase supplies.
Such were the ample blessings on the house Of King Alcinous by the G.o.ds bestow'd.
Ulysses wond'ring stood, and when, at length, Silent he had the whole fair scene admired, With rapid step enter'd the royal gate.
The Chiefs he found and Senators within Libation pouring to the vigilant spy Mercurius, whom with wine they wors.h.i.+pp'd last 170 Of all the G.o.ds, and at the hour of rest.
Ulysses, toil-worn Hero, through the house Pa.s.s'd undelaying, by Minerva thick With darkness circ.u.mfus'd, till he arrived Where King Alcinous and Areta sat.
Around Areta's knees his arms he cast, And, in that moment, broken clear away The cloud all went, shed on him from above.
Dumb sat the guests, seeing the unknown Chief, And wond'ring gazed. He thus his suit preferr'd. 180 Areta, daughter of the G.o.dlike Prince Rhexenor! suppliant at thy knees I fall, Thy royal spouse imploring, and thyself, (After ten thousand toils) and these your guests, To whom heav'n grant felicity, and to leave Their treasures to their babes, with all the rights And honours, by the people's suffrage, theirs!
But oh vouchsafe me, who have wanted long And ardent wish'd my home, without delay Safe conduct to my native sh.o.r.es again! 190 Such suit he made, and in the ashes sat At the hearth-side; they mute long time remain'd, Till, at the last, the antient Hero spake Echeneus, eldest of Phaeacia's sons, With eloquence beyond the rest endow'd, Rich in traditionary lore, and wise In all, who thus, benevolent, began.
Not honourable to thyself, O King!
Is such a sight, a stranger on the ground At the hearth-side seated, and in the dust. 200 Meantime, thy guests, expecting thy command, Move not; thou therefore raising by his hand The stranger, lead him to a throne, and bid The heralds mingle wine, that we may pour To thunder-bearing Jove, the suppliant's friend.
Then let the cat'ress for thy guest produce Supply, a supper from the last regale.
Soon as those words Alcinous heard, the King, Upraising by his hand the prudent Chief Ulysses from the hearth, he made him sit, 210 On a bright throne, displacing for his sake Laodamas his son, the virtuous youth Who sat beside him, and whom most he lov'd.
And now, a maiden charg'd with golden ew'r And with an argent laver, pouring, first, Pure water on his hands, supply'd him, next, With a resplendent table, which the chaste Directress of the stores furnish'd with bread And dainties, remnants of the last regale.
Then ate the Hero toil-inured, and drank, 220 And to his herald thus Alcinous spake.
Pontonous! mingling wine, bear it around To ev'ry guest in turn, that we may pour To thunder-bearer Jove, the stranger's friend, And guardian of the suppliant's sacred rights.
He said; Pontonous, as he bade, the wine Mingled delicious, and the cups dispensed With distribution regular to all.
When each had made libation, and had drunk Sufficient, then, Alcinous thus began. 230 Phaeacian Chiefs and Senators, I speak The dictates of my mind, therefore attend!
Ye all have feasted--To your homes and sleep.
We will a.s.semble at the dawn of day More senior Chiefs, that we may entertain The stranger here, and to the G.o.ds perform Due sacrifice; the convoy that he asks Shall next engage our thoughts, that free from pain And from vexation, by our friendly aid He may revisit, joyful and with speed, 240 His native sh.o.r.e, however far remote.
No inconvenience let him feel or harm, Ere his arrival; but, arrived, thenceforth He must endure whatever lot the Fates Spun for him in the moment of his birth.
But should he prove some Deity from heav'n Descended, then the Immortals have in view Designs not yet apparent; for the G.o.ds Have ever from of old reveal'd themselves At our solemnities, have on our seats 250 Sat with us evident, and shared the feast; And even if a single traveller Of the Phaeacians meet them, all reserve They lay aside; for with the G.o.ds we boast As near affinity as do themselves The Cyclops, or the Giant race profane.[26]
To whom Ulysses, ever-wise, replied.
Alcinous! think not so. Resemblance none In figure or in lineaments I bear To the immortal tenants of the skies, 260 But to the sons of earth; if ye have known A man afflicted with a weight of woe Peculiar, let me be with him compared; Woes even pa.s.sing his could I relate, And all inflicted on me by the G.o.ds.
But let me eat, comfortless as I am, Uninterrupted; for no call is loud As that of hunger in the ears of man; Importunate, unreas'nable, it constrains His notice, more than all his woes beside. 270 So, I much sorrow feel, yet not the less Hear I the blatant appet.i.te demand Due sustenance, and with a voice that drowns E'en all my suff'rings, till itself be fill'd.
But expedite ye at the dawn of day My safe return into my native land, After much mis'ry; and let life itself Forsake me, may I but once more behold All that is mine, in my own lofty abode.
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