Behind him far upon the purple waves
The waters waft it, and the nymph receives.
Now parting from the stream, Ulysses found
A mossy bank with pliant rushes crown'd;
The bank he press'd, and gently kiss'd the ground;
Where on the flowery herb as soft he lay,
Thus to his soul the sage began to say:
What will ye next ordain, ye powers on high!
And yet, ah yet, what fates are we to try?
Here by the stream, if I the night out-wear,
Thus spent already, how shall nature bear
The dews descending and nocturnal air;
Or chilly vapours breathing from the flood
When morning rises? If I take the wood,
And in thick shelter of innumerous boughs
Enjoy the comfort gentle sleep allows;
Though fenced from cold, and though my toil be
pass'd,
What savage beasts may wander in the waste!
Perhaps I yet may fall a bloody prey
To prowling bears, or lions in the way.
Thus long debating in himself he stood:
At length he took the passage to the wood,
Whose shady horrors on a rising brow
Waved high, and frown'd upon the stream below.
There grew two olives, closest of the grove,
With roots entwined, and branches interwove;
Alike their leaves, but not alike they smiled
With sister-fruits; one fertile, one was wild.
Nor here the sun's meridian rays had power,
Nor wind sharp-piercing, nor the rushing shower;
The verdant arch so close its texture kept.
Beneath this covert great Ulysses crept:
Of gathered leaves an ample bed he made
(Thick strewn by tempest through the bowery shade:)
Where three at least might winter's cold defy,
Though Boreas raged along the inclement sky.
This store, with joy the patient hero found,
And, sunk amidst them, heaped the leaves around.
As some poor peasant, fated to reside
Remote from neighbours in a forest wide,
Studious to save what human wants require,
In embers heaped, preserves the seeds of fire:
Hid in dry foliage thus Ulysses lies,
Till Pallas pour'd soft slumbers on his eyes;
And golden dreams (the gift of sweet repose)
Lull'd all his cares, and banish'd all his woes.
In elder times the soft Phracian train
In ease possess'd the wide Hyperian plain;
Till the Cyclopean race in arms arose,
A lawless nation of gigantic foes;
Then great Nausithons from Hyper.a far,
Through seas retreating from the sound of war, 10
The recreant nation to fair Scheria led,
Where never science rear'd her laurel'd head:
There round his tribes a strength of wall he raised:
To heaven the glittering domes and temples blazed:
Just to his realms, he parted grounds from grounds,
And shared the lands, and gave the lands their bounds.
Now in the silent grave the monarch lay,
And wise Alcinous held the regal sway.
To his high palace through the fields of air
The goddess shot; Ulysses was her care.
There as the night in silence roll'd away,
A heaven of charms divine Nausicaa lay;
Through the thick gloom the shining portals blaze;
Two nymphs the portals guard, each nymph a Grace.
Light as the viewless air, the warrior maid
Glides through the valves, and hovers round her head;
A favourite virgin's blooming form she took,
From Dymus sprung, and thus the vision spoke:
Oh indolent! to waste thy hours away!
And sleep'st thou careless of the bridal day?
Thy spousal ornament neglected lies;
Arise, prepare the bridal train, arise!
A just applause the cares of dress impart,
And give soft transport to a parent's heart.
Haste, to the limpid stream direct thy way,
When the gay morn unveils her smiling ray:
Haste to the stream! companion of thy care,
Lo, I thy steps attend, thy labours share.
Virgin, awake! the marriage hour is nigh,
See! from their thrones thy kindred monarchs sigh!
The royal car at early dawn obtain,
And order mules obedient to the rein:
For rough the way, and distant rolls the wave,
630 Where the fair vests Phracian virgins lave.
In pomp ride forth; for pomp becomes the great,
And majesty derives a grace from state.
Then to the palaces of heaven she sails, Incumbent on the wings of wafting gales; The seat of gods: the regions mild of peace, Full joy, and calm eternity of ease: There no rude winds presume to shake the skies, No rains descend, no snowy vapours rise: But on immortal thrones the bless'd repose; The firmament with living splendor glows, Hither the goddess wing'd the aerial way, Through heaven's eternal gates that blazed with day. Palias appearing in a dream to Nausicaa (the daughter Now from her rosy car Aurora shed of Alcinous king of Phæacia,) commands her to de- The dawn, and all the orient flam'd with red. scend to the river, and wash the robes of state, in pre-Up rose the virgin with the morning light, paration to her nuptials. Nausicaa goes with her Obedient to the vision of the night. handmaids to the river; where, while the garments The queen she sought: the queen her hours bestow'd are spread on the bank, they divert themselves in In curious works; the whirling spindle glow'd sports. Their voices awake Ulysses, who, addressing himself to the princess, is by her relieved and clothed, and receives directions in what manner to apply to the king and queen of the island.
WHILE thus the weary wanderer sunk to rest, And peaceful slumbers calm'd his anxious breast; The martial maid from heaven's aërial height Swift to Phæacia wing'd her rapid flight.
With crimson threads, while busy damsels cull
The snowy fleece, or twist the purpled wool.
Meanwhile Phacacia's peers in council sate;
From his high dome the king descends in state;
Then with a filial awe the royal maid
Approach'd him passing, and submissive said:
Will my dread sire his ear regardful deign,
And may his child the royal car obtain?
Say, with thy garments shall I bend my way,
Where through the vales the mazy waters stray?
A dignity of dress adorns the great,
And kings draw lustre from the robe of state.
Five sons thou hast; three wait the bridal day,
And spotless robes become the young and gay;
So when with praise amid the dance they shine,
By these my cares adorn'd, that praise is mine.
Thus she but blushes, ill-restrain'd, betray
Her thoughts intentive on the bridal day:
The conscious sire the dawning blush survey'd,
And smiling, thus bespoke the blooming maid.
My child, my darling joy, the car receive;
That, and whate'er our daughter asks, we give.
Swift as the royal nod the attending train
The car prepare, the mules incessant rein.
The blooming virgin with despatchful cares
Tunics, and stoles, and robes imperial, bears.
The queen, assiduous, to her train assigns
The sumptuous viands, and the flavorous wines.
The train prepare a cruise of curious mould,
A cruise of fragrance, form'd of burnish'd gold:
Odour divine! whose soft refreshing streams
Sleek the smooth skin, and scent the snowy limbs.
Now mounting the gay seat, the silken rems
Shine in her hand; along the sounding plains
Swift fly the mules: nor rode the nymph alone;
Around, a bevy of bright damsels shone.
They seek the cisterns where Phæacian dames
Wash their fair garments in the limpid streams;
Where, gathering into depth from falling rills,
The lucid wave a spacious bason fills.
The mules unharness'd range beside the main,
Or crop the verdant herbage of the plain.
Possess'd by wild barbarians fierce in arms;
Or men, whose bosom tender pity warms?
What sounds are these that gather from the shores?
The voice of nymphs that haunt the sylvan bowers,
The fair-hair'd Dryads of the shady wood;
Or azure daughters of the silver flood;
Or human voice? but, issuing from the shades,
80 Why cease I straight to learn what sound invades ?
Then, where the grove with leaves umbrageous
bends
With forceful strength a branch the hero rends;
Around his loins the verdant cincture spreads
A wreathy foliage and concealing shades.
As when a lion in the midnight hours,
Beat by rude blasts, and wet with wintry showers,
Descends terrific from the mountain's brow;
With living flames his rolling eye-balls glow;
90 With conscious strength elate, he bends his way,
Majestically fierce to seize his prey,
(The steer or stag;) or, with keen hunger bold,
Springs o'er the fence, and dissipates the fold.
No less a terror, from the neighbouring groves
(Rough from the tossing surge) Ulysses moves;
Urged on by want, and recent from the storms:
The brackish ooze his manly grace deforms.
Wide o'er the shore with many a piercing cry
To rocks, to caves, the frighten'd virgins fly;
100 All but the nymph: the nymph stood fix'd alone,
By Pallas arm'd with boldness not her own.
Meantime in dubious thought the king awaits,
And, self-considering, as he stands, debates;
Distant his mournful story to declare,
Or prostrate at her knee address the prayer.
But fearful to offend, by wisdom sway'd,
At awful distance he accosts the maid.
If from the skies a goddess, or if earth
(Imperial virgin) boast thy glorious birth,
110 To thee I bend! If in that bright disguise
Thou visit earth, a daughter of the skies,
Hail, Dian, hail! the huntress of the groves
So shines majestic, and so stately moves,
So breathes an air divine! But if thy race
Be mortal, and this earth thy native place,
Bless'd is the father from whose loins you sprung,
Bless'd is the mother at whose breast you hung,
Bless'd are the brethren who thy blood divide,
To such a miracle of charms allied:
120 Joyful they see applauding princes gaze,
When stately in the dance you swim the harmonious
Then, emulous, the royal robes they lave,
And plunge the vestures in the cleansing wave;
(The vestures cleansed o'erspread the shelly sand,
Their snowy lustre whitens all the strand;)
Then with a short repast relieve their toil,
And o'er their limbs diffuse ambrosial oil;
And while the robes imbibe the solar ray,
O'er the green mead the sporting virgins play,
(Their shining veils unbound.) Along the skies
Toss'd, and retoss'd, the ball incessant flies.
They sport, they feast: Nausicaa lifts her voice,
And, warbling sweet, makes earth and heaven rejoice.
As when o'er Erymanth Diana roves,
Or wide Taygetus' resounding groves;
A sylvan train the huntress queen surrounds,
Her rattling quiver from her shoulder sounds;
Fierce in the sport, along the mountain's brow
They bay the boar, or chase the bounding roe;
High o'er the lawn, with more majestic pace,
Above the nymphs she treads with stately grace;
Distinguish'd excellence the goddess proves;
Exults Latona as the virgin moves.
With equal grace Nausicaa trod the plain,
And shon transcendent o'er the beauteous train.
Meantime (the care and favourite of the skies)
Wrapt in embowering shade, Ulysses lies,
His woes forgot; but Pallas now addrest
To break the bands of all-composing rest.
Forth from her snowy hand Nausicaa threw
The various ball; the ball erroneous flew,
And swam the stream; loud shrieks the virgin train,
And the loud shriek redoubles from the main.
Waked by the shrilling sound, Ulysses rose,
And, to the deaf woods wailing, breathed his woes.
Ah me! on what inhospitable coast,
Dn what new region is Ulysses tost:
But bless'd o'er all, the youth with heavenly charms,
Who clasps the bright perfection in his arms! 190
Never, I never view'd till this bless'd hour
Such finish'd grace! I gaze, and I adore !
Thus seems the palm, with stately honours crown'd
By Phoebus' altars, thus o'erlooks the ground;
The pride of Delos. (By the Delian coast,
130 I voyaged, leader of a warrior-host,
But ah, how changed! from thence my sorrow flows;
O fatal voyage, source of all my woes!)
Raptured I stood, and as this hour amazed,
With reverence at the lofty wonder gazed:
Raptured I stand! for earth ne'er knew to bear
A plant so stately, or a nymph so fair.
Awed from access, I lift my suppliant hands;
For misery, oh queen, before thee stands !
Twice ten tempestuous nights I roll'd, resign'd
140 To roaring billows, and the warring wind:
Heaven bade the deep to spare! but Heaven, my foe, As by some artist to whom Vulcan gives
Spares only to inflict some mightier woe!
Inured to cares, to death in all its forms,
Outcast I rove, familiar with the storms!
Once more I view the face of human kind:
Oh let soft pity touch thy generous mind!
Unconscious of what air I breathe, I stand
Naked, defenceless on a foreign land.
Propitious to my wants, a vest supply
To guard the wretched from the inclement sky:
So may the gods, who heaven and earth controul,
Crown the chaste wishes of thy virtuous soul,
On thy soft hours their choicest blessings shed;
Bless'd with a husband be thy bridal bed;
Bless'd be thy husband with a blooming race,
And lasting union crown your blissful days.
The gods, when they supremely bless, bestow
Firm union on their favourites below:
Then envy grieves, with inly-pining hate:
The good exult, and heaven is in our state.
His skill divine, a breathing statue lives;
By Pallas taught, he frames the wondrous mould, 210 And o'er the silver pours the fusile gold. So Pallas his heroic frame improves
With heavenly bloom, and like a god he moves. 280
A fragrance breathes around; majestic grace-
Attends his steps; the astonish'd virgins gaze.
Soft he reclines along the murmuring seas,
Inhaling freshness from the fanning breeze
The wondering nymph his glorious port survey'd,
And to her damsels, with amazement, said:
Not without care divine the stranger treads
220 This land of joy; his steps some godhead leads :
Would Jove destroy him, sure he had been driven
Far from this realm, the favourite isle of heaven. 290
Late a sad spectacle of woe, he trod.
The desert sands, and now he looks a god.
Oh heaven! in my connubial hour decree
This man my spouse, or such a spouse as he.
To whom the nymph-O stranger, cease thy care: But haste, the viands and the bowl provide-
Wise is thy soul, but man is born to bear:
Jove weighs affairs of earth in dubious scales,
And the good suffers, while the bad prevails.
Bear, with a soul resign'd, the will of Jove;
Who breathes, must mourn: thy woes are from above.
But since thou tread'st our hospitable shore,
"Tis mine to bid the wretched grieve no more,
To clothe the naked, and thy way to guide-
Know, the Phæacian tribes this land divide;
From great Alcinous royal loins I spring,
A happy nation, and a happy king.
Then to her maids-Why, why, ye coward train,
These fears, this flight? ye fear, and fly in vain. 240
Dread ye a foe? dismiss that idle dread,
"Tis death with hostile step these shores to tread :
Safe in the love of heaven, an ocean flows
Around our realm, a barrier from the foes;
'Tis ours this son of sorrow to relieve,
Cheer the sad heart, nor let affliction grieve.
By Jove the stranger and the poor are sent;
And what to those we give, to Jove is lent.
Then food supply, and bathe his fainting limbs
The maids the viands and the bowl supplied:
Eager he fed, for keen his hunger raged,
And with the generous vintage thirst assuaged.
Now on return her care Nausicaa bends,
The robes resumes, the glittering car ascends,
Far blooming o'er the field; and as she press'd
The splendid seat, the listening chief address'd.
Stranger, arise! the sun rolls down the day;
Lo, to the palace I direct thy way;
Where in high state the nobles of the land
Attend my royal sire, a radiant band.
But hear, though wisdom in thy soul presides,
Speaks from thy tongue, and every action guides;
Advance at distance, while I pass the plain
Where o'er the furrows waves the golden grain : 310
Alone I re-ascend-With airy mounds
A strength of wall the guarded city bounds;
The jutting land two ample bays divides;
Full through the narrow mouths descend the tides:
The spacious basins arching rocks enclose,
A sure defence from every storm that blows.
Close to the bay great Neptune's fane adjoins,
Where waving shades obscure the mazy streams. 250 And near, a forum flank'd with marble shines,
Obedient to the call, the chief they guide
To the calm current of the secret tide:
Close by the stream a royal dress they lay,
A vest and robe with rich embroidery gay:
Then unguents in a vase of gold supply,
That breathed a fragrance through the balmy sky.
To them the king. No longer I detain
Your friendly care; retire, ye virgin train!
Retire, while from my wearied limbs I lave
The foul pollution of the briny wave.
Ye gods! since this worn frame refection knew,
What scenes have I survey'd of dreadful view!
But, nymphs, recede ! sage chastity denies
To raise the blush, or pain the modest eyes.
The nymphs withdrawn, at once into the tide
Active he bounds; the flashing waves divide:
O'er all his limbs his hands the wave diffuse,
And from his locks compress the weedy ooze;
The balmy oil, a fragrant shower, he sheds:
Then, dress'd, in pomp magnificently treads.
The warrior-goddess gives his frame to shine
With majesty enlarged, and air divine:
Back from his brows a length of hair unfurls,
His hyacinthine locks descend in wavy curls
Where the bold youth, the numerous fleets to store,
Shape the broad sail, or smooth the taper oar:
For not the bow they bend, nor boast the skill
To give the feather'd arrow wings to kill;
But the tall mast above the vessel rear,
Or teach the fluttering sail to float in air.
They rush into the deep with eager joy,
Climb the steep surge, and through the tempest fly;
A proud, unpolish'd race-To me belongs
260 The care to shun the blast of slanderous tongues
Lest malice, prone the virtuous to defame,
Thus with vile censure taint my spotless name: 330
"What stranger this whom thus Nausicaa leads?
Heavens, with what graceful majesty he treads!
Perhaps a native of some distant shore,
The future consort of her bridal hour;
Or rather some descendant of the skies!
Won by her prayer, the aerial bridegroom flies.
Heaven on that hour its choicest influence shed,
270 That gave a foreign spouse to crown her bed!
All, all the godlike worthies that adorn
This realm, she flies: Phæacia is her scorn."
And just the blame : for female innocence
Not only flies the guilt, but shuns the offence;
The unguarded virgin, as unchaste, I blame;
And the least freedom with the sex is shame,
Till our consenting sires a spouse provide,
And public nuptials justify the bride.
But wouldst thou soon review thy native plain?
Attend, and speedy thou shalt pass the main:
Nigh where a grove with verdant poplars crown'd,
To Pallas sacred, shades the holy ground,
We bend our way: a bubbling fount distils,
A lucid lake, and, thence descends in rills;
Around the grove, a mead with lively green
Falls by degrees, and forms a beauteous scene;
Here a rich juice the royal vineyard pours;
And there the garden yields a waste of flowers.
Hence lies the town, as far as to the ear
Floats a strong shout along the waves of air.
There wait embower'd, while I ascend alone
To great Alcinous on his royal throne.
lates to her and Alcinous his departure from Calypso And his arrival on their dominions.
The same day continues, and the book ends with the night.
THE patient heavenly man thus suppliant pray'd;
While the slow mules draw on the imperial maid:
350 Through the proud street she moves, the public gaze
The turning wheel before the palace stays.
With ready love her brothers gathering round,
Received the vestures, and the mules unbound.
She seeks the bridal bower: a matron there
The rising fire supplies with busy care,
Whose charms in youth her father's heart inflamed,
Now worn with age, Eurymedusa named:
The captive dame Phæacian rovers bore,
360 Snatch'd from Epirus, her sweet native shore,
(A grateful prize,) and in her bloom bestow'd
On good Alcinoüs, honour'd as a god;
Nurse of Nausicaa from her infant years,
And tender second to a mother's cares.
Now from the sacred thicket where he lay,
To town Ulysses took the winding way.
Propitious Pallas, to secure her care,
Around him spread a veil of thicken'd air:
To shun the encounter of the vulgar crowd,
370 Insulting still, inquisitive and loud.
Arrived, advance, impatient of delay,
And to the lofty palace bend thy way:
The lofty palace overlooks the town,
From every dome by pomp superior known;
A child may point the way. With earnest gait
Seek thou the queen along the rooms of state;
Her royal hand a wondrous work designs,
Around a circle of bright damsels shines;
Part twist the threads, and part the wool dispose,
While with the purple orb the spindle glows.
High on a throne, amid the Scherian powers
My royal father shares the genial hours;
But to the queen thy mournful tale disclose,
With the prevailing eloquence of woes:
So shalt thou view with joy thy natal shore,
Though mountains rise between, and oceans roar.
She added not, but waving as she wheel'd
The silver scourge, it glitter'd o'er the field:
With skill the virgin guides the embroider'd rein,
Slow rolls the car before the attending train.
Now whirling down the heavens, the golden day
Shot through the western clouds a dewy ray;
The grove they reach, where from the sacred shade
To Pallas thus the pensive hero pray'd.
When near the famed Phæacian walls he drew,
The beauteous city opening to his view,
His step a virgin met, and stood before:
A polish'd urn the seeming virgin bore,
And youthful smiled; but in the low disguise
Lay hid the goddess with the azure eyes.
Show me, fair daughter (thus the chief demands,
The house of him who rules these happy lands.
Through many woes and wanderings, lo! I come
350 To good Alcinoüs' hospitable dome.
Far from my native coast, I rove along,
A wretched stranger, and of all unknown!
The goddess answer'd, Father, I obey,
And point the wandering traveller his way:
Well known to me the palace you inquire,
For fast beside it dwells my honour'd sire:
But silent march, nor greet the common train
With question needless, or inquiry vain:
A race of rugged mariners are these:
390 Unpolish'd men, and boisterous as their seas;
The native islanders alone their care,
And hateful he who breathes a foreign air.
These did the ruler of the deep ordain
To build proud navies, and command the main;
On canvas wings to cut the watery way:
No bird so light, no thought so swift as they.
Daughter of Jove! whose arms in thunder wield
The avenging bolt, and shake the dreadful shield;
Forsook by thee, in vain I sought thy aid
When booming billows closed above my head:
Attend, unconquer'd maid! accord my vows,
Bid the great hear, and pitying heal my woes.
This heard Minerva, but forbore to fly
(By Neptune awed) apparent from the sky;
Stern god! who raged with vengeance unrestrain'd,
Till great Ulysses hail'd his native land.
Thus having spoke, the unknown celestial leads: The footsteps of the deity he treads, And secret moves along the crowded space, Unseen of all the rude Phæacian race. (So Pallas order'd. Pallas to their eyes The princess Nausicaa returns to the city, and Ulysses The mist objected, and condensed the skies.) soon after follows thither. He is met by Pallas in the The chief with wonder sees the extended streets, form of a young virgin, who guides him to the palace. The spreading harbours, and the riding fleets; and directs him in what manner to address the queen He next their princes' lofty domes admires, Arete. She then involves him in a mist, which causes In separate islands, crown'd with rising spires; him to pass invisible. The palace and gardens of
Alcinous described. Ulysses falling at the feet of the And deep entrenchments, and high walls of stone queen, the mist disperses, the Phæacians admire, and That gird the city like a marble zone receive him with respect. The queen inquiring by At length the kingly palace gates he view'd; what means he had the garments he then wore, he re-There stopp'd the goddess, and her speech renew'd
The polish'd ore, reflecting every ray,
Blazed on the banquets with a double day.
Full fifty handmaids form the household train;
Some turn the mill, or sift the golden grain;
Some ply the loom; their busy fingers move
Like poplar leaves when Zephyr fans the grove
Not more renown'd the men of Scheria's isle
70 For sailing arts and all the naval toil,
My task is done; the mansion you inquire
Appears before you: enter, and admire.
High-throned, and feasting, there thou shalt behold,
The scepter'd rulers. Fear not, but be bold:
A decent boldness ever meets with friends,
Succeeds, and even a stranger recommends.
First to the queen prefer a suppliant's claim,
Alcinous' queen, Aretè is her name,
The same her parents, and her power the same.
For know, from Ocean's god Nausithoüs sprung,
And Periba, beautiful and young:
(Eurymedon's last hope, who ruled of old
The race of giants, impious, proud and bold;
Perish'd the nation in unrighteous war,
Perish'd the prince, and left this only heir ;)
Who now by Neptune's amorous power compress'd,
Produced a monarch that his people bless'd.
Father and prince of the Phæacian name;
From him Rhexenor and Alcinous came.
The first by Phoebus' burning arrows fired,
New from his nuptials, hapless youth! expired.
No son survived: Aretè heir'd his state,
And her Alcinous chose his royal mate.
With honours yet to womankind unknown,
This queen he graces, and divides the throne:
In equal tenderness her sons conspire
And all the children emulate their sire.
When through the streets she gracious deigns to
(The public wonder and the public love,)
Than works of female skill: their women's pride,
The flying shuttle through the threads to guide:
Pallas to these her double gifts imparts,
Inventive genius, and industrious arts.
Close to the gates a spacious garden lies,
From storms defended and inclement skies.
Four acres was the allotted space of ground,
Fenced with a green enclosure all around.
Tall thriving trees confess'd the fruitful mould:
80 The reddening apple ripens here to gold.
Here the blue fig with luscious juice o'erflows,
With deeper red the full pomegranate glows,
The branch here bends beneath the weighty pear
And verdant olives flourish round the year.
The balmy spirit of the western gale
Eternal breathes on fruits, untaught to fail:
Each dropping pear a following pear supplies,
On apples apples, figs on figs arise:
The same mild season gives the blooms to blow,
The buds to harden, and the fruits to grow.
The tongues of all with transport sound her praise, Some to unload the fertile branches run,
The eyes of all, as on a goddess, gaze.
She feels the triumph of a generous breast;
To heal divisions, to relieve the oppress'd;
In virtue rich; in blessing others, bless'd.
Go then secure, thy humble suit prefer,
And owe thy country and thy friends to her.
With that the goddess deign'd no longer stay,
But o'er the world of waters wing'd her way:
Forsaking Scheria's ever-pleasing shore,
The winds to Marathon the virgin bore;
Thence, where proud Athens rears her towery head,
With opening streets and shining structures spread,
She pass'd, delighted with the well-known seats;
And to Erectheus' sacred dome retreats.
Some dry the blackening clusters in the sun,
Others to tread the liquid harvest join.
The groaning presses foam with floods of wine.
Here are the vines in early flower descried,
Here grapes discolour'd on the sunny side,
And there in autumn's richest purple dyed.
Beds of all various herbs, for ever green,
In beauteous order terminate the scene.
Two plenteous fountains the whole prospect crown'd
This through the gardens leads its streams around,
Visits each plant, and waters all the ground;
While that in pipes beneath the palace flows,
And thence its current on the town bestows:
To various use their various streams they bring,
The people one, and one supplies the king.
Such were the glories which the gods ordain'd
To grace Alcinoüs, and his happy land.
110 Even from the chief who men and nations knew
The unwonted scene surprise and rapture drew:
In pleasing thought he ran the prospect o'er,
Then hasty enter'd at the lofty door.
Night now approaching, in the palace stand,
With goblets crown'd, the rulers of the land;
Prepared for rest, and offering to the god*
Who bears the virtue of the sleepy rod.
Unseen he glided through the joyous crowd,
With darkness circled, and an ambient cloud.
120 Direct to great Alcinous' throne he came,
Meanwhile Ulysses at the palace waits,
There stops, and anxious with his soul debates,
Fix'd in amaze before the royal gates.
The front appear'd with radiant splendors gay,
Bright as the lamp of night, or orb of day.
The walls were massy brass: the cornice high
Blue metals crown'd, in colours of the sky:
Rich plates of gold the folding doors incase;
The pillars silver, on a brazen base;
Silver the lintels deep-projecting o'er,
And gold, the ringlets that command the door.
Two rows of stately dogs on either hand,
In sculptured gold and laboured silver stand.
These Vulcan form'd with art divine, to wait
Immortal guardians at Alcinoüs' gate;
Alive each animated frame appears,
And still to live beyond the power of years.
Fair thrones within from space to space were raised,
Where various carpets with embroidery blazed,
The work of matrons: these the princes press'd,
Day following day, a long continued feast.
Refulgent pedestals the walls surround,
Which boys of gold with flaming torches crown'd;
And prostrate fell before the imperial dame.
Then from around him dropp'd the veil of night; 190
Sudden he shines, and manifest to sight.
The nobles gaze, with awful fear oppress'd;
Silent they gaze, and eye the godlike guest.
Daughter of great Rhenexor! (thus began,
Low at her knees, the much-enduring man)
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