LITMIR.BIZ

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At all times) to yon bright-hair’d nymph convey

       Our fix’d resolve, that brave Ulysses thence

       Depart, uncompanied by God or man.

       Borne on a corded raft, and suff’ring woe

       Extreme, he on the twentieth day shall reach, 40

       Not sooner, Scherie the deep-soil’d, possess’d

       By the Phæacians, kinsmen of the Gods.

       They, as a God shall reverence the Chief,

       And in a bark of theirs shall send him thence

       To his own home, much treasure, brass and gold

       And raiment giving him, to an amount

       Surpassing all that, had he safe return’d,

       He should by lot have shared of Ilium’s spoil.

       Thus Fate appoints Ulysses to regain

       His country, his own palace, and his friends. 50

       He ended, nor the Argicide refused,

       Messenger of the skies; his sandals fair,

       Ambrosial, golden, to his feet he bound,

       Which o’er the moist wave, rapid as the wind,

       Bear him, and o’er th’ illimitable earth,

       Then took his rod with which, at will, all eyes

       He closes soft, or opes them wide again.

       So arm’d, forth flew the valiant Argicide.

       Alighting on Pieria, down he stoop’d

       To Ocean, and the billows lightly skimm’d 60

       In form a sew-mew, such as in the bays

       Tremendous of the barren Deep her food

       Seeking, dips oft in brine her ample wing.

       In such disguise o’er many a wave he rode,

       But reaching, now, that isle remote, forsook

       The azure Deep, and at the spacious grot,

       Where dwelt the amber-tressed nymph arrived,

       Found her within. A fire on all the hearth

       Blazed sprightly, and, afar-diffused, the scent

       Of smooth-split cedar and of cypress-wood 70

       Odorous, burning, cheer’d the happy isle.

       She, busied at the loom, and plying fast

       Her golden shuttle, with melodious voice

       Sat chaunting there; a grove on either side,

       Alder and poplar, and the redolent branch

       Wide-spread of Cypress, skirted dark the cave.

       There many a bird of broadest pinion built

       Secure her nest, the owl, the kite, and daw

       Long-tongued, frequenter of the sandy shores.

       A garden-vine luxuriant on all sides 80

       Mantled the spacious cavern, cluster-hung

       Profuse; four fountains of serenest lymph

       Their sinuous course pursuing side by side,

       Stray’d all around, and ev’ry where appear’d

       Meadows of softest verdure, purpled o’er

       With violets; it was a scene to fill

       A God from heav’n with wonder and delight.

       Hermes, Heav’n’s messenger, admiring stood

       That sight, and having all survey’d, at length

       Enter’d the grotto; nor the lovely nymph 90

       Him knew not soon as seen, for not unknown

       Each to the other the Immortals are,

       How far soever sep’rate their abodes.

       Yet found he not within the mighty Chief

       Ulysses; he sat weeping on the shore,

       Forlorn, for there his custom was with groans

       Of sad regret t’ afflict his breaking heart.

       Looking continual o’er the barren Deep.

       Then thus Calypso, nymph divine, the God

       Question’d, from her resplendent throne august. 100

       Hermes! possessor of the potent rod!

       Who, though by me much reverenc’d and belov’d,

       So seldom com’st, say, wherefore comest now?

       Speak thy desire; I grant it, if thou ask

       Things possible, and possible to me.

       Stay not, but ent’ring farther, at my board

       Due rites of hospitality receive.

       So saying, the Goddess with ambrosial food

       Her table cover’d, and with rosy juice

       Nectareous charged the cup. Then ate and drank 110

       The argicide and herald of the skies,

       And in his soul with that repast divine

       Refresh’d, his message to the nymph declared.

       Questionest thou, O Goddess, me a God?

       I tell thee truth, since such is thy demand.

       Not willing, but by Jove constrain’d, I come.

       For who would, voluntary, such a breadth

       Enormous measure of the salt expanse,

       Where city none is seen in which the Gods

       Are served with chosen hecatombs and pray’r? 120

       But no divinity may the designs

       Elude, or controvert, of Jove supreme.

       He saith, that here thou hold’st the most distrest

       Of all those warriors who nine years assail’d

       The city of Priam, and, (that city sack’d)

       Departed in the tenth; but, going thence,

       Offended Pallas, who with adverse winds

       Opposed their voyage, and with boist’rous waves.

       Then perish’d all his gallant friends, but him

       Billows and storms drove hither; Jove commands 130

       That thou dismiss him hence without delay,

       For fate ordains him not to perish here

       From all his friends remote, but he is doom’d

       To see them yet again, and to arrive

       At his own palace in his native land.

       He said; divine Calypso at the sound

       Shudder’d, and in wing’d accents thus replied.

       Ye are unjust, ye Gods, and envious past

       All others, grudging if a Goddess take

       A mortal man openly to her arms! 140

       So, when the rosy-finger’d Morning chose

       Orion, though ye live yourselves at ease,

       Yet ye all envied her, until the chaste

       Diana from her golden throne dispatch’d

       A silent shaft, which slew him in Ortygia.

       So, when the golden-tressed Ceres, urged

       By passion, took Iäsion to her arms

       In a thrice-labour’d fallow, not untaught

       Was Jove that secret long, and, hearing it,

       Indignant,

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