I perish'd not, my friend! by Neptune's wrath, "Whelm'd in the ocean wave; nor dy'd in arms, 461.

"Heroic deeds attempting; but receiv'd

"From base Ægysthus and my baser queen,

66

Irreparable doom whilst I partook "Refreshment, and at supper jovial sat, "Slain like an ox that's butcher'd at the crib, "A death most lamentable! Round me lay

An hideous carnage of my breathless friends, "Like beasts new slaughter'd for the bridal board "Of some luxurious noble, or devote "To solemn festival. On well-fought fields "You various scenes of slaughter have survey'd, "And in fierce tournament; yet had it quell'd "Your best of man to view us on the floor "Rolling in death, with viands round us spread,

470

And pond'rous vases bruis'd, while human gore "Flooded the pavement wide. With shrilling cries "Cassandra pierc'd my ear, whom at my side "False Clytemnestra slew. T' avenge her wrong, "I with a dying grasp my sabre seiz'd; "But the curs'd assassin withdrew, nor clos'd

My lips and eyes. O Woman! Woman! none "Of Nature's savage train have less remorse "In perpetrating crimes: to kill her mate "What beast was e'er a complice? I return'd, "Hopeful in affluence of domestic joy. "To reign encircled with my offspring dear,

480

6

And court-retinue; but my traitress wife "On female honour hath diffus'd a stain

"Indelible; and her pernicious arís,

"Recorded for reproach on all the sex,

490

"Shall wound soft Innocence with touch of blame." "I answer'd; "O ye Pow'rs! by women's wiles "Jove's works sure bane to all th' imperial race "Of Atreus still; for Helen's vagrant lust "Greece mourns her states dispeopled, and you fell "By your adult'ress!" Plaintive he reply'd:

66

500

By my disasters warn'd, to woman's faith "Unbosom nought momentous; tho' she peal "Your ear, (by nature importunate to know) "Unlock not all your secrets. But your wife, "Of prudent meek deport, no train of ills "Will meditate for you by force or guile: "Her, when we led th' embattled Greeks to Troy, "We left in blooming beauty fresh, your son "Then hanging on her breast, who now to man "Full grown, with men associates; your approach "With rapture he will meet, and glad his sire "With filial duty dear; a bliss to me "Not deign'd; my son I saw not ere I fell "A victim to my wife! Then, timely warn'd, "Trust not to woman's ken the time prefix'd "For your return to Greece. But say sincere, Aught have you heard where my Orestes bides? "In rieh Orchomenus or sandy Pyle?

510

"Or with my brother lives he more secure "In spacious Sparta? for of this dark realm "He's not inhabitant." I thus rejoin'd:

"Vain is your quest, Atrides. Whether Fate "Permits your son to draw the breath of heav'n, 520' "Friendly to life, or whether in these shades

"He roams a ghost, I know not; nor with speech

"False or ambiguous will beguile your ear."

530

While mournful thus we talk'd suffus'd with tears Oftender sympathy, young Peleus came, With his associates most in life belov'd, Faithful Patroclus, and th' egregious son Of Nestor, great in arms; with them (conjoin'd In amicable converse, ev'n by death Uncancell'd) walk'd the tall illustrious shade Of Ajax, with attractive grace adorn'd And prowess, paragon'd for both to none But great Achilles; me the goddess born Ey'd curious, and at length thus sad began: "What cause, Ulysses! moves thy mind, expert "Of warlike machinations; what emprise "Hath aught of such importance as to tempt "This dire descent, where we in dolorous night, "Frail incorporeal forms, are doom'd abode ?"

"O peerless Chief!" I cry'd, " of all the Greeks 50 "The foremost name! I hither am constrain'd, "From the wise Theban oracle to hear

+ Antilochus,

"Best means reveal'd how to revisit safe
"My native realm: by rigid Fate repell'd,
"I'm exil'd yet, with troops of various ills
"Surrounded. But the gods, to your high worth
"Ever propitious, crown their fav'rite chief
"With choicer blessings than the eye of time
"Yet saw conferr'd, or future shall behold;
"On earth you equal honours with the gods
"From us receiv'd; nor by the stroke of Fate
"Sink with diminish'd lustre, but supreme
"Reign o'er the shades." He solemn sad reply'd :
"Reign here supreme! deem not thy eloquence
"Can aught console my doom: rather on earth
"A village slave I'd be than titled here
"Imperial and august. But say me true,
"Or did my son illustrate his descent
"First in the files of war, or fled he pale
"A recreant from the fight? Do all our tribes
"In Phthia still revere my father's throne?

"Or lives he now, of regal pow'r despoil'd,

550

560

A weak contemn'd old man, wanting my arm "To hold his sceptre firm? that arm which erst "Warring for Greece, bestrew'd the Phrygian plains "With many a prowess'd knight! Would Heav'n re"The same puissant form, I'd soon avenge [store "His injur'd age, and re-assert his claim." "He ceasing, I reply'd: "Of Peleus' state "Fame hath to me been silent; but attend

570

"While I th' atchievements of thy glorious son "Blazon, as truth shall dictate. Him to Troy "From Scyros o'er the Ægeans safe I bore "To join th' embattled Greeks: whene'er we sat "In council, to mature some high design, "First of the peerage, with persuasive speech "His sentence he disclos'd, by all confess'd "The third from Nestor: but whene'er we mov'd "In battailous array, and the shrill clang "Of onset sounded, he, with haughty strides, "Advancing in the van, the foremost chief, "Pierc'd thro' the adverse legions, nor was deem'd "Not equal to the best. Each hardy deed, "Which in his country's cause the youth atchiev'd, "Were long to tell; but by his jav'lin dy'd "Eurypylus, of all th' auxiliar bands

"Fam'd after Memnon first, with many a peer "Of Pergameian race, around him strown.

"When in the wooden horse, by Epeus form'd, Selected heroes lay, aghast and pale

580

590

"The rest, shudd'ring with fear, let round big drops "Roll from their drooping eyes, he sole abode "Undaunted, undismay'd; no chilling doubt "Frosted his damask cheek, nor silent tear "Cours'd from its crystal sluice, but grasping fierce * His spear and falchion, for the combat grew "Impatient, menacing decisive rout

"To Troy's opponent pow'rs; and when the height