  Ulysses relates to AlcinoÜs his voyage to the infernal regions, his conference there with the prophet Tiresias concerning his return to Ithaca, and gives him an account of the heroes, heroines, and others whom he saw there. Arriving on the shore, and launching, first, Our bark into the sacred Deep, we set Our mast and sails, and stow’d secure on board The ram and ewe, then, weeping, and with hearts Sad and disconsolate, embark’d ourselves. And now, melodious Circe, nymph divine, Sent after us a canvas-stretching breeze, Pleasant companion of our course, and we (The decks and benches clear’d) untoiling sat, While managed gales sped swift the bark along. All day, with sails distended, e’er the Deep She flew, and when the sun, at length, declined, And twilight dim had shadow’d all the ways, Approach’d the bourn of Ocean’s vast profound. The city, there, of the Cimmerians stands With clouds and darkness veil’d, on whom the sun Deigns not to look with his beam-darting eye, Or when he climbs the starry arch, or when Earthward he slopes again his west’ring wheels, But sad night canopies the woeful race. We haled the bark aground, and, landing there The ram and sable ewe, journey’d beside The Deep, till we arrived where Circe bade. Here, Perimedes’ son Eurylochus Held fast the destined sacrifice, while I Scoop’d with my sword the soil, op’ning a trench Ell-broad on ev’ry side, then pour’d around Libation consecrate to all the dead, First, milk with honey mixt, then luscious wine, Then water, sprinkling, last, meal over all. And shadows of the dead, I vow’d to slay, (Return’d to Ithaca) in my own abode, An heifer barren yet, fairest and best Of all my herds, and to enrich the pile With delicacies, such as please the shades. But, in peculiar, to the Theban seer I vow’d a sable ram, largest and best Of all my flocks. When thus I had implored With vows and pray’r, the nations of the dead, Piercing the victims next, I turn’d them both To bleed into the trench; then swarming came From Erebus the shades of the deceased, Brides, youths unwedded, seniors long with woe Oppress’d, and tender girls yet new to grief. Came also many a warrior by the spear In battle pierced, with armour gore-distain’d, And all the multitude around the foss Stalk’d shrieking dreadful; me pale horror seized. I next, importunate, my people urged, Flaying the victims which myself had slain, To burn them, and to supplicate in pray’r Illustrious Pluto and dread Proserpine. Then down I sat, and with drawn faulchion chased The ghosts, nor suffer’d them to approach the blood, Till with Tiresias I should first confer. The spirit, first, of my companion came, Elpenor; for no burial honours yet Had he received, but we had left his corse In Circe’s palace, tombless, undeplored, Ourselves by pressure urged of other cares. Touch’d with compassion seeing him, I wept, And in wing’d accents brief him thus bespake. Elpenor! how cam’st thou into the realms Of darkness? Hast thou, though on foot, so far Outstripp’d my speed, who in my bark arrived? So I, to whom with tears he thus replied. Laertes’ noble son, for wiles renown’d! Fool’d by some dÆmon and the intemp’rate bowl, I perish’d in the house of Circe; there The deep-descending steps heedless I miss’d, And fell precipitated from the roof. With neck-bone broken from the vertebrÆ But now, by those whom thou hast left at home, By thy Penelope, and by thy fire, The gentle nourisher of thy infant growth, And by thy only son Telemachus I make my suit to thee. For, sure, I know That from the house of Pluto safe return’d, Thou shalt ere long thy gallant vessel moor At the ÆÆan isle. Ah! there arrived Remember me. Leave me not undeplored Nor uninhumed, lest, for my sake, the Gods In vengeance visit thee; but with my arms (What arms soe’er I left) burn me, and raise A kind memorial of me on the coast, Heap’d high with earth; that an unhappy man May yet enjoy an unforgotten name. Thus do at my request, and on my hill Funereal, plant the oar with which I row’d, While yet I lived a mariner of thine. He spake, to whom thus answer I return’d. Poor youth! I will perform thy whole desire. Thus we, there sitting, doleful converse held, With outstretch’d faulchion, I, guarding the blood, And my companion’s shadowy semblance sad Meantime discoursing me on various themes. The soul of my departed mother, next, Of Anticleia came, daughter of brave Autolycus; whom, when I sought the shores Of Ilium, I had living left at home. Seeing her, with compassion touch’d, I wept, Yet even her, (although it pain’d my soul) Forbad, relentless, to approach the blood, Till with Tiresias I should first confer. Then came the spirit of the Theban seer Himself, his golden sceptre in his hand, Who knew me, and, enquiring, thus began. Why, hapless Chief! leaving the cheerful day, Arriv’st thou to behold the dead, and this Unpleasant land? but, from the trench awhile Receding, turn thy faulchion keen away, That I may drink the blood, and tell thee truth. He spake; I thence receding, deep infix’d My sword bright-studded in the sheath again. The blood, and, satisfied, address’d me thus. Thou seek’st a pleasant voyage home again, Renown’d Ulysses! but a God will make That voyage difficult; for, as I judge, Thou wilt not pass by Neptune unperceiv’d, Whose anger follows thee, for that thou hast Deprived his son Cyclops of his eye. At length, however, after num’rous woes Endur’d, thou may’st attain thy native isle, If thy own appetite thou wilt controul And theirs who follow thee, what time thy bark Well-built, shall at Thrinacia’s shore arrive, Escaped from perils of the gloomy Deep. There shall ye find grazing the flocks and herds Of the all-seeing and all-hearing Sun, Which, if attentive to thy safe return, Thou leave unharm’d, though after num’rous woes, Ye may at length arrive in Ithaca. But if thou violate them, I denounce Destruction on thy ship and all thy band, And though thyself escape, late shalt thou reach Thy home and hard-bested, All thy companions lost; trouble beside Awaits thee there, for thou shalt find within Proud suitors of thy noble wife, who waste Thy substance, and with promis’d spousal gifts Ceaseless solicit her to wed; yet well Shalt thou avenge all their injurious deeds. That once perform’d, and ev’ry suitor slain Either by stratagem, or face to face, In thy own palace, bearing, as thou go’st, A shapely oar, journey, till thou hast found A people who the sea know not, nor eat Food salted; they trim galley crimson prow’d Have ne’er beheld, nor yet smooth-shaven oar, With which the vessel wing’d scuds o’er the waves. Well thou shalt know them; this shall be the sign— When thou shalt meet a trav’ler, who shall name There, deep infixing it within the soil, Worship the King of Ocean with a bull, A ram, and a lascivious boar, then seek Thy home again, and sacrifice at home An hecatomb to the Immortal Gods, Adoring each duly, and in his course. So shalt thou die in peace a gentle death, Remote from Ocean; it shall find thee late, In soft serenity of age, the Chief Of a blest people.—I have told thee truth. He spake, to whom I answer thus return’d. Tiresias! thou, I doubt not, hast reveal’d The ordinance of heav’n. But tell me, Seer! And truly. I behold my mother’s shade; Silent she sits beside the blood, nor word Nor even look vouchsafes to her own son. How shall she learn, prophet, that I am her’s? So I, to whom Tiresias quick replied. The course is easy. Learn it, taught by me. What shade soe’er, by leave of thee obtain’d, Shall taste the blood, that shade will tell thee truth; The rest, prohibited, will all retire. When thus the spirit of the royal Seer Had his prophetic mind reveal’d, again He enter’d Pluto’s gates; but I unmoved Still waited till my mother’s shade approach’d; She drank the blood, then knew me, and in words Wing’d with affection, plaintive, thus began. My son! how hast thou enter’d, still alive, This darksome region? Difficult it is For living man to view the realms of death. Broad rivers roll, and awful floods between, But chief, the Ocean, which to pass on foot, Or without ship, impossible is found. Hast thou, long wand’ring in thy voyage home From Ilium, with thy ship and crew arrived, Ithaca and thy consort yet unseen? She spake, to whom this answer I return’d. My mother! me necessity constrain’d To Pluto’s dwelling, anxious to consult Approach’d Achaia, nor have touch’d the shore Of Ithaca, but suff’ring ceaseless woe Have roam’d, since first in Agamemnon’s train I went to combat with the sons of Troy. But speak, my mother, and the truth alone; What stroke of fate slew thee? Fell’st thou a prey To some slow malady? or by the shafts Of gentle Dian suddenly subdued? Speak to me also of my ancient Sire, And of Telemachus, whom I left at home; Possess I still unalienate and safe My property, or hath some happier Chief Admittance free into my fortunes gain’d, No hope subsisting more of my return? The mind and purpose of my wedded wife Declare thou also. Dwells she with our son Faithful to my domestic interests, Or is she wedded to some Chief of Greece? I ceas’d, when thus the venerable shade. Not so; she faithful still and patient dwells Thy roof beneath; but all her days and nights Devoting sad to anguish and to tears. Thy fortunes still are thine; Telemachus Cultivates, undisturb’d, thy land, and sits At many a noble banquet, such as well Beseems the splendour of his princely state, For all invite him; at his farm retired Thy father dwells, nor to the city comes, For aught; nor bed, nor furniture of bed, Furr’d cloaks or splendid arras he enjoys, But, with his servile hinds all winter sleeps In ashes and in dust at the hearth-side, Coarsely attired; again, when summer comes, Or genial autumn, on the fallen leaves In any nook, not curious where, he finds There, stretch’d forlorn, nourishing grief, he weeps Thy lot, enfeebled now by num’rous years. So perish’d I; such fate I also found; Me, neither the right-aiming arch’ress struck, Diana, with her gentle shafts, nor me Distemper slew, my limbs by slow degrees But sure, bereaving of their little life, And recollection of thy kindness past, These, my Ulysses! fatal proved to me. She said; I, ardent wish’d to clasp the shade Of my departed mother; thrice I sprang Toward her, by desire impetuous urged, And thrice she flitted from between my arms, Light as a passing shadow or a dream. Then, pierced by keener grief, in accents wing’d With filial earnestness I thus replied. My mother, why elud’st thou my attempt To clasp thee, that ev’n here, in Pluto’s realm, We might to full satiety indulge Our grief, enfolded in each other’s arms? Hath Proserpine, alas! only dispatch’d A shadow to me, to augment my woe? Then, instant, thus the venerable form. Ah, son! thou most afflicted of mankind! On thee, Jove’s daughter, Proserpine, obtrudes No airy semblance vain; but such the state And nature is of mortals once deceased. For they nor muscle have, nor flesh, nor bone; All those (the spirit from the body once Divorced) the violence of fire consumes, And, like a dream, the soul flies swift away. But haste thou back to light, and, taught thyself These sacred truths, hereafter teach thy spouse. Thus mutual we conferr’d. Then, thither came, Encouraged forth by royal Proserpine, Shades female num’rous, all who consorts, erst, Or daughters were of mighty Chiefs renown’d. About the sable blood frequent they swarm’d. But I, consid’ring sat, how I might each Interrogate, and thus resolv’d. My sword Forth drawing from beside my sturdy thigh, Firm I prohibited the ghosts to drink The blood together; they successive came; Each told her own distress; I question’d all. There, first, the high-born Tyro I beheld; She claim’d Salmoneus as her sire, and wife Was once of Cretheus, son of Æolus. Enamour’d of Enipeus, stream divine, Loveliest of all that water earth, beside When Ocean’s God, (Enipeus’ form assumed) Within the eddy-whirling river’s mouth Embraced her; there, while the o’er-arching flood, Uplifted mountainous, conceal’d the God And his fair human bride, her virgin zone He loos’d, and o’er her eyes sweet sleep diffused. His am’rous purpose satisfied, he grasp’d Her hand, affectionate, and thus he said. Rejoice in this my love, and when the year Shall tend to consummation of its course, Thou shalt produce illustrious twins, for love Immortal never is unfruitful love. Rear them with all a mother’s care; meantime, Hence to thy home. Be silent. Name it not. For I am Neptune, Shaker of the shores. So saying, he plunged into the billowy Deep. She pregnant grown, Pelias and Neleus bore, Both, valiant ministers of mighty Jove. In wide-spread IÄolchus Pelias dwelt, Of num’rous flocks possess’d; but his abode Amid the sands of Pylus Neleus chose. To Cretheus wedded next, the lovely nymph Yet other sons, Æson and Pheres bore, And Amythaon of equestrian fame. I, next, the daughter of Asopus saw, Antiope; she gloried to have known Th’ embrace of Jove himself, to whom she brought A double progeny, Amphion named And Zethus; they the seven-gated Thebes Founded and girded with strong tow’rs, because, Though puissant Heroes both, in spacious Thebes Unfenced by tow’rs, they could not dwell secure. Alcmena, next, wife of Amphitryon I saw; she in the arms of sov’reign Jove The lion-hearted Hercules conceiv’d, And, after, bore to Creon brave in fight His daughter Megara, by the noble son Unconquer’d of Amphitryon espoused. The beauteous Epicaste Mother of Oedipus, who guilt incurr’d Prodigious, wedded, unintentional, Then wedded her, which soon the Gods divulged. He, under vengeance of offended heav’n, In pleasant Thebes dwelt miserable, King Of the Cadmean race; she to the gates Of Ades brazen-barr’d despairing went, Self-strangled by a cord fasten’d aloft To her own palace-roof, and woes bequeath’d (Such as the Fury sisters execute Innumerable) to her guilty son. There also saw I Chloris, loveliest fair, Whom Neleus woo’d and won with spousal gifts Inestimable, by her beauty charm’d She youngest daughter was of Iasus’ son, Amphion, in old time a sov’reign prince In MinuËian Orchomenus, And King of Pylus. Three illustrious sons She bore to Neleus, Nestor, Chromius, And Periclymenus the wide-renown’d, And, last, produced a wonder of the earth, Pero, by ev’ry neighbour prince around In marriage sought; but Neleus her on none Deign’d to bestow, save only on the Chief Who should from Phylace drive off the beeves (Broad-fronted, and with jealous care secured) Of valiant Iphicles. One undertook That task alone, a prophet high in fame, Melampus; but the Fates fast bound him there In rig’rous bonds by rustic hands imposed. At length (the year, with all its months and days Concluded, and the new-born year begun) Illustrious Iphicles releas’d the seer, Grateful for all the oracles resolved, Till then obscure. So stood the will of Jove. Next, Leda, wife of Tyndarus I saw, Who bore to Tyndarus a noble pair, Castor the bold, and Pollux cestus-famed. They pris’ners in the fertile womb of earth, Though living, dwell, and even there from Jove High priv’lege gain; alternate they revive The comfort of AloËus, next, I view’d, Iphimedeia; she th’ embrace profess’d Of Neptune to have shared, to whom she bore Two sons; short-lived they were, but godlike both, Otus and Ephialtes far-renown’d. Orion sole except, all-bounteous Earth Ne’er nourish’d forms for beauty or for size To be admired as theirs; in his ninth year Each measur’d, broad, nine cubits, and the height Was found nine ells of each. Against the Gods Themselves they threaten’d war, and to excite The din of battle in the realms above. To the Olympian summit they essay’d To heave up Ossa, and to Ossa’s crown Branch-waving Pelion; so to climb the heav’ns. Nor had they failed, maturer grown in might, To accomplish that emprize, but them the son Of radiant-hair’d Latona and of Jove Slew both, ere yet the down of blooming youth Thick-sprung, their cheeks or chins had tufted o’er. PhÆdra I also there, and Procris saw, And Ariadne for her beauty praised, Whose sire was all-wise Minos. Theseus her From Crete toward the fruitful region bore Of sacred Athens, but enjoy’d not there, For, first, she perish’d by Diana’s shafts In Dia, Bacchus witnessing her crime. MÆra and Clymene I saw beside, And odious Eriphyle, who received The price in gold of her own husband’s life. But all the wives of Heroes whom I saw, And all their daughters can I not relate; Night, first, would fail; and even now the hour Calls me to rest either on board my bark, Or here; meantime, I in yourselves confide, And in the Gods to shape my conduct home. He ceased; the whole assembly silent sat, Charm’d into ecstacy by his discourse Throughout the twilight hall, till, at the last, PhÆacians! how appears he in your eyes This stranger, graceful as he is in port, In stature noble, and in mind discrete? My guest he is, but ye all share with me That honour; him dismiss not, therefore, hence With haste, nor from such indigence withhold Supplies gratuitous; for ye are rich, And by kind heav’n with rare possessions blest. The Hero, next, Echeneus spake, a Chief Now ancient, eldest of PhÆacia’s sons. Your prudent Queen, my friends, speaks not beside Her proper scope, but as beseems her well. Her voice obey; yet the effect of all Must on AlcinoÜs himself depend. To whom AlcinoÜs, thus, the King, replied. I ratify the word. So shall be done, As surely as myself shall live supreme O’er all PhÆacia’s maritime domain. Then let the guest, though anxious to depart, Wait till the morrow, that I may complete The whole donation. His safe conduct home Shall be the gen’ral care, but mine in Chief, To whom dominion o’er the rest belongs. Him answer’d, then, Ulysses ever-wise. AlcinoÜs! Prince! exalted high o’er all PhÆacia’s sons! should ye solicit, kind, My stay throughout the year, preparing still My conduct home, and with illustrious gifts Enriching me the while, ev’n that request Should please me well; the wealthier I return’d, The happier my condition; welcome more And more respectable I should appear In ev’ry eye to Ithaca restored. To whom AlcinoÜs answer thus return’d. Ulysses! viewing thee, no fears we feel Lest thou, at length, some false pretender prove, Or subtle hypocrite, of whom no few Disseminated o’er its face the earth Sustains, adepts in fiction, and who frame Fables, where fables could be least surmised. Thy phrase well turn’d, and thy ingenuous mind Proclaim thee diff’rent far, who hast in strains Rehears’d of all thy Greecians, and thy own. But say, and tell me true. Beheld’st thou there None of thy followers to the walls of Troy Slain in that warfare? Lo! the night is long— A night of utmost length; nor yet the hour Invites to sleep. Tell me thy wond’rous deeds, For I could watch till sacred dawn, could’st thou So long endure to tell me of thy toils. Then thus Ulysses, ever-wise, replied. AlcinoÜs! high exalted over all PhÆacia’s sons! the time suffices yet For converse both and sleep, and if thou wish To hear still more, I shall not spare to unfold More pitiable woes than these, sustain’d By my companions, in the end destroy’d; Who, saved from perils of disast’rous war At Ilium, perish’d yet in their return, Victims of a pernicious woman’s crime. Now, when chaste Proserpine had wide dispers’d Those female shades, the spirit sore distress’d Of Agamemnon, Atreus’ son, appear’d; Encircled by a throng, he came; by all Who with himself beneath Ægisthus’ roof Their fate fulfill’d, perishing by the sword. He drank the blood, and knew me; shrill he wail’d And querulous; tears trickling bathed his cheeks, And with spread palms, through ardour of desire He sought to enfold me fast, but vigour none, Or force, as erst, his agile limbs inform’d. I, pity-moved, wept at the sight, and him, In accents wing’d by friendship, thus address’d. Ah glorious son of Atreus, King of men! What hand inflicted the all-numbing stroke Of death on thee? Say, didst thou perish sunk By howling tempests irresistible Which Neptune raised, or on dry land by force Of hostile multitudes, while cutting off Beeves from the herd, or driving flocks away, Or fighting for Achaia’s daughters, shut Within some city’s bulwarks close besieged? I ceased, when Agamemnon thus replied. For wisdom famed! I neither perish’d sunk By howling tempests irresistible Which Neptune raised, nor on dry land received From hostile multitudes the fatal blow, But me Ægisthus slew; my woeful death Confed’rate with my own pernicious wife He plotted, with a show of love sincere Bidding me to his board, where as the ox Is slaughter’d at his crib, he slaughter’d me. Such was my dreadful death; carnage ensued Continual of my frie |
|
