Soon in the luscious feast themselves they lost, "We went, Ulysses! (such was thy command) Through the lone thicket, and the desert land. A palace in a woody vale we found Brown with dark forests, and with shades around. I waited long, and eyed the doors in vain : "I heard, and instant o'er my shoulders flung The belt in which my weighty falchion hung, (A beamy blade ;) then seized the bended bow, And bade him guide the way, resolved to go. He, prostrate falling, with both hands embraced My knees, and weeping thus his suit address'd: O king beloved of Jove! thy servant spare, Or see the wretched for whose loss we mourn. "I answer'd stern: Inglorious then remain, "This said, and scornful turning from the shore power; A form divine forth issued from the wood, The plant I give through all the direful bower "Thus while he spoke, the sovereign plant he drew, Where on the all-bearing earth unmark'd it grew, "While full of thought, revolving fates to come, feet. "Then sudden whirling, like a waving flame, My beamy falchion, I assault the dame. Struck with unusual fear, she trembling cries, She faints, she falls; she lifts her weeping eyes. 'What art thou? say! from whence, from whom you came? O more than human! tell thy race, thy name. And how, dread Circe! (furious I rejoin) Or swear that oath by which the gods are tied, "The goddess swore: then seized my hand, and led I wash'd. The table in fair order spread, Some hoard of grief close-harbour'd at his heart? When sworn that oath which never can be vain ?' Me wouldst thou please? for them thy cares employ, "With that, she parted: in her potent hand She bore the virtue of the magic wand. Then hastening to the styes, set wide the door, Urged forth, and drove the bristly herd before; Unwieldy, out they rush'd, with general cry, Enormous beasts dishonest to the eye. Now touch'd by counter-charms, they change again, And stand majestic, and recall'd to men. Those hairs of late that bristled every part, Fall off; miraculous effect of art! Till all the form in full proportion rise, More young, more large, more graceful to my eyes. They saw, they knew me, and with eager pace Clung to their master in a long embrace; Sad, pleasing sight! with tears each eye ran o'er, And sobs of joy re-echoed through the bower: Even Circe wept, her adamantine heart Felt pity enter, and sustain'd her part. Son of Laertes! (then the queen began) O much-enduring, much-experienced man! Haste to thy vessel on the sea-beat shore, Unload thy treasures, and the galley moor: Then bring thy friends, secure from future harms, And in our grottos stow thy spoils and arms.' "She said. Obedient to her high command I quit the place, and hasten to the strand, My sad companions on the beach I found, Their wistful eyes in floods of sorrow drown'd. As from fresh pastures and the dewy field (When loaded cribs their evening banquet yield) The lowing herds return; around them throng With leaps and bounds their late-imprison'd young, Rush to their mothers with unruly joy, And echoing hills return the tender cry: So round me press'd, exulting at my sight, With cries and agonies of wild delight, The weeping sailors; nor less fierce their joy Than if return'd to Ithaca from Troy. 'Ah, master! ever honour'd, ever dear, (These tender words on every side I hear) What other joy can equal thy return? Not that loved country for whose sight we mourn, The soil that nursed us, and that gave us breath: But, ah! relate our lost companions' death.' "I answer'd cheerful: Haste, your galley moor, And bring our treasures and our arms ashore: Those in yon hollow caverns let us lay; Then rise and follow where I lead the way. Your fellows live: believe your eyes, and come To taste the joys of Circe's sacred dome.' "With ready speed the joyful crew obey: But all at once my interposing train "This with one voice declared, the rising train The cause renew'd, habitual griefs remain, "Her kind intreaty moved the general breast; Tired with long toil, we willing sunk to rest. We plied the banquet and the bowl we crown'd, Till the full circle of the year came round. But when the seasons, following in their train, Brought back the months, the days, and hours again; As from a lethargy at once they rise, "Is this, Ulysses, our inglorious lot? "Melting I heard; yet till the sun's decline 'Be mindful, goddess, of thy promise made; Must sad Ulysses ever be delay'd? Around their lord my sad companions mourn, Each breast beats homeward, anxious to return: If but a moment parted from thy eyes, Their tears flow round me, and my heart complies.' 'Go then (she cried) ah go! yet think, not I, Struck at the word, my very heart was dead: How shall I tread (I cried), ah, Circe! say, The dark descent, and who shall guide the way? Can living eyes behold the realms below? What bark to waft me, and what wind to blow?' Thy fated road (the magic power replied) Divine Ulysses! asks no mortal guide. Rear but the mast, the spacious sail display, The northern winds shall wing thee on thy way. Soon shalt thou reach old ocean's utmost ends, Where to the main the shelving shore descends; The barren trees of Proserpine's black woods, Poplars and willows trembling o'er the floods: There fix thy vessel in the lonely bay, And enter there the kingdoms void of day: Where Phlegethon's loud torrents rushing down, Hiss in the flaming gulf of Acheron; And where, slow rolling from the Stygian bed, Cocytus' lamentable waters spread: Where the dark rock o'erhangs the infernal lake, And mingling streams eternal murmurs make. First draw thy falchion, and on every side Trench the black earth a cubit long and wide; To all the shades around libations pour, And o'er the ingredient strew the hallow'd flour: New wine and milk, with honey temper'd, bring, "So speaking, from the ruddy orient shone For fate decreed one wretched man to fall. "A youth there was, Elpenor was he named, Not much for sense, nor much for courage, famed; The youngest of our band, a vulgar soul The ready victims at our bark we found, BOOK XI. ARGUMENT. THE DESCENT INTO HELL. Ulysses continues his narration-How he arrived at the land of the Cimmerians, and what ceremonies he performed to invoke the dead. The manner of his descent, and the apparition of the shades: his conversation with Elpenor, and with Tiresias, who informs him in a prophetic manner of his fortunes to come. He meets his mother Anticlea, from whom he learns the state of his family. He sees the shades of the ancient heroines, afterwards of the heroes, and converses in particular with Agamemnon and Achilles. Ajax keeps at a sullen distance, and disdains to answer him. He then beholds Tityus, Tantalus, Sisyphus, Hercules: till he is deterred from further curiosity by the apparition of horrid spectres, and the cries of the wicked in torments. "Now to the shores we bend, a mournful train, Climb the tall bark, and launch into the main: At once the mast we rear, at once unbind The spacious sheet, and stretch it to the wind: "Now sunk the sun from his aërial height, And o'er the shaded billows rush'd the night: When lo! we reach'd old Ocean's utmost bounds, Where rocks control his waves with ever-during mounds. "There in a lonely land, and gloomy cells, The dusky nation of Cimmeria dwells; The sun ne'er views the uncomfortable seats, When radiant he advances or retreats: Unhappy race! whom endless night invades, Clouds the dull air, and wraps them round in shades. "The ship we moor on these obscure abodes; Disbark the sheep, an offering to the gods; And hell-ward bending, o'er the beach descry The dolesome passage to the infernal sky. The victims, vow'd to each Tartarean power, Eurylochus and Perimedes bore. "Here open'd hell, all hell I here implored, And from the scabbard drew the shining sword; And trenching the black earth on every side, A cavern form'd, a cubit long and wide. New wine, with honey-temper'd milk we bring, Then living waters from the crystal spring; O'er these was strew'd the consecrated flour, And on the surface shone the holy store. "Now the wan shades we hail, the infernal gods, Rich with unnumber'd gifts the pile shall burn; "Thus solemn rites and holy vows we paid Fair pensive youths, and soft enamour'd maids; And a cold fear ran shivering through my blood: "Now swift I waved my falchion o'er the blood; "O say what angry power Elpenor led To glide in shades, and wander with the dead! How could thy soul, by realms and seas disjoin'd, Outfly the nimble sail, and leave the lagging wind?' "The ghost replied: To hell my doom I owe, Demons accursed, dire ministers of woe! My feet, through wine unfaithful to their weight, Betray'd me tumbling from a towery height: Staggering I reel'd, and as I reel'd I fell, Lux'd the neck-joint-my soul descends to hell. But lend me aid, I now conjure thee, lend, By the soft tie and sacred name of friend! By thy fond consort! by thy father's cares ! By loved Telemachus's blooming years! For well I know that soon the heavenly powers Will give thee back to day and Circe's shores: There pious on my cold remains attend, There call to mind thy poor departed friend; The tribute of a tear is all I crave, And the possession of a peaceful grave. But if, unheard, in vain compassion plead, Revere the gods, the gods avenge the dead! A tomb along the watery margin raise, The tomb with manly arms and trophies grace, To show posterity Elpenor was. There high in air, memorial of my name, Fix the smooth oar, and bid me live to fame.' "To whom with tears: These rites, O mournful shade! Due to thy ghost, shall to thy ghost be paid.' "Still as I spoke, the phantom seem'd to moan, Tear follow'd tear, and groan succeeded groan. But as my waving sword the blood surrounds, The shade withdrew, and mutter'd empty sounds. "There as the wondrous visions I survey'd, All pale ascends my royal mother's shade: A queen, to Troy she saw our legions pass; Now a thin form is all Anticlea was! Struck at the sight I melt with filial woe, And down my cheek the pious so rows flow: Yet as I shook my falchion o'er the blood, Regardless of her son the parent stood. "When lo! the mighty Theban I behold; To guide his steps he bore a staff of gold: Awful he trod ! majestic was his look! And from his holy lips these accents broke: [day, Why, mortal, wander'st thou from cheerful To tread the downward melancholy way? What angry gods to these dark legions led Thee yet alive, companion of the dead? But sheathe thy poniard, while my tongue relates Heaven's stedfast purpose, and thy future fates.' "While yet he spoke, the prophet I obey'd, And in the scabbard plunged the glittering blade. Eager he quaff'd the gore, and then express'd Dark things to come, the counsels of his breast. "Weary of light, Ulysses here explores A prosperous voyage to his native shores: But know-by me unerring Fates disclose New trains of dangers, and new scenes of woes; I see! I see, thy bark by Neptune toss'd, For injured Cyclops, and his eye-ball lost! Yet to thy woes the gods decree an end, If heaven thou please; and how to please attend! Where on Trinacrian rocks the ocean roars, Graze numerous herds along the verdant shores; Though hunger press, yet fly the dangerous prey, The herds are sacred to the god of day, Who all surveys with his extensive eye, Above, below, on earth, and in the sky! Rob not the god, and so propitious gales Attend thy voyage, and impel thy sails; But if his herds ye seize, beneath the waves I see thy friends o'erwhelm'd in liquid graves! The direful wreck Ulysses scarce survives! Ulysses at his country scarce arrives! Strangers thy guides! nor there thy labours end, New foes arise, domestic ills attend! There foul adulterers to thy bride resort, And lordly gluttons riot in thy court. But vengeance hastes amain! These eyes behold The deathful scene, princes on princes roll'd! That done, a people far from sea explore, Who ne'er knew salt, or heard the billows roar, Or saw gay vessel stem the watery plain, A painted wonder flying on the main ! Bear on thy back an oar: with strange amaze A shepherd meeting thee, the oar surveys, And names a van: there fix it on the plain, To calm the god that holds the watery reign; A threefold offering to his altar bring, A bull, a ram, a boar; and hail the ocean-king. But home return'd, to each ethereal power Slay the due victim in the genial hour: So peaceful shalt thou end thy blissful days, And steal thyself from life by slow decays: Unknown to pain, in age resign thy breath, When late stern Neptune points the shaft with To the dark grave retiring as to rest, [death, Thy people blessing, by thy people bless'd! Unerring truths, O man, my lips relate; This is thy life to come, and this is fate.' "To whom unmoved: If this the gods prepare, What heaven ordains, the wise with courage bear. But say, why yonder on the lonely strands, Unmindful of her son, Anticlea stands? Why to the ground she bends her downcast eye? Why is she silent, while her son is nigh? The latent cause, O sacred seer, reveal.' 'Nor this (replies the seer) will I conceal. Know; to the spectres, that thy beverage taste, The scenes of life recur, and actions pass'd; 6 They, seal'd with truth, return the sure reply; The rest, repell'd, a train oblivious fly.' "The phantom-prophet ceased, and sunk from To the black palace of eternal night. [sight "Still in the dark abodes of death I stood, When near Anticlea moved, and drank the blood. Straight all the mother in her soul awakes, And, owning her Ulysses, thus she speaks: 'Comest thou, my son, alive, to realms beneath, The dolesome realms of darkness and of death? Comest thou alive from pure ethereal day? Dire is the region, dismal is the way! Here lakes profound, there floods oppose their waves, There the wide sea with all his billows raves! 'Source of my life, (I cried) from earth I fly But, when thy soul from her sweet mansion Say, what distemper gave thee to the dead? [fled, Has life's fair lamp declined by slow decays, Or swift expired it in a sudden blaze? Say, if my sire, good old Laertes, lives? If yet Telemachus, my son, survives? Say, by his rule is my dominion awed, Or crush'd by traitors with an iron rod? Say, if my spouse maintains her royal trust, Though tempted, chaste, and obstinately just? Or if no more her absent lord she wails, But the false woman o'er the wife prevails?' "Thus I and thus the parent-shade returns: Thee, ever thee, thy faithful consort mourns: Whether the night descends, or day prevails, Thee she by night, and thee by day bewails: Thee in Telemachus thy realm obeys; In sacred groves celestial rites he pays, And shares the banquet in superior state, Graced with such honours as become the great. Thy sire in solitude foments his care: The court is joyless, for thou art not there! No costly carpets raise his hoary head, No rich embroidery shines to grace his bed; Even when keen winter freezes in the skies, Rank'd with his slaves, on earth the monarch lies: Deep are his sighs, his visage pale, his dress The garb of woe and habit of distress. And when the autumn takes his annual round, The leafy honours scattering on the ground; Regardless of his years, abroad he lies, His bed the leaves, his canopy the skies. Thus cares on cares his painful days consume, And bow his age with sorrow to the tomb ! For thee, my son, I wept my life away; For thee through hell's eternal dungeons stray: Nor came my fate by lingering pains and slow, Nor bent the silver-shafted queen her bow; No dire disease bereaved me of my breath; Thou, thou, my son, wert my disease and death; Unkindly with my love my son conspired, For thee I lived, for absent thee expired.' "Thrice in my arms I strove her shade to bind, Thrice through my arms she slipp'd like empty Or dreams, the vain illusions of the mind. [wind, |