She faid, and gave the veil; with grateful look The prince the variegated present took.
And now, when through the royal dome they pass'd,
High on a throne the king each stranger plac'd.
A golden ewer th' attendant damfel brings,
Replete with water from the crystal springs;"
With copious ftreams the fhining vase supplies
A filver laver of capacious fize.
They wash. The tables in fair order spread,
The glittering canisters are crown'd with bread;
Viands of various kinds allure the taste,
Of choiceft fort and favour; rich repaft!
Whilft Eteonus portions out the shares,
Atrides' fon the purple draught prepares.
And now (each fated with the genial feast,
And the short rage of thirst and hunger ceas'd)
Ulyffes' fon, with his illuftrious friend,
The horses join, the polish'd car afcend.
Along the court the fiery fteeds rebound,
And the wide portal echoes to the found.
The king precedes; a bowl with fragrant wine (Libation deftin'd to the powers divine)
His right-hand held: before the steeds he stands,
Then, mix'd with prayers, he utters these commands:
Farewell, and profper, youths! let Nestor know
What grateful thoughts ftill in this bofom glow,
For all the proofs of his paternal care,
Trough the long dangers of the ten years war.
Ah! doubt not our report (the prince rejoin'd)
Of all the virtues of thy generous mind.
And oh! return'd might we Ulyffes meet!
To him thy prefents fhow, thy words repeat:
How will each speech his grateful wonder raise !
How will each gift indulge us in thy praise!
Scarce ended thus the prince, when on the right
Advanc'd the bird of Jove: aufpicious fight!
A milk-white fowl his clinching talons bore,
With care domeftic pamper'd at the floor.
Peasants in vain with threatening cries purfue,
In folemn speed the bird majestic flew
Full dexter to the car: the profperous fight
Fill'd every breaft with wonder and delight.
But Neftor's fon the chearful filence broke,
And in thefe words the Spartan chief bespoke.
Say, if to us the Gods thefe omens fend,
Or fates peculiar to thyfelf portend?
Whilft yet the monarch paus'd with doubts opprefs'd, The beauteous queen reliev'd his labouring breast. Hear me, she cried, to whom the Gods have given To read this fign, and mystic sense of Heaven. As thus the plumy fovereign of the air Left on the mountain's brow his callow care, And wander'd through the wide æthereal way Το pour his wrath on yon luxurious prey; So fhall thy god-like father, tofs'd in vain Through all the dangers of the boundless main, Arrive (or is perchance already come) From flaughter'd gluttons to release the dome. Oh! if this promis'd blifs by thundering Jove (The prince replied) stand fix'd in fate above;
To thee, as to fome God, I'll temples raise,
And crown thy altars with the coftly blaze.
He faid; and, bending o'er his chariot, flung
Athwart the fiery steeds the fmarting thong;
The bounding fhafts upon the harness play,
Till night defcending intercepts the way.
To Diocles, at Phere, they repair,
Whofe boafted fire was facred Alpheus' heir;
With him all night the youthful ftrangers ftay'd,
Nor found the hospitable rites unpay'd.
But foon as morning from her orient bed
Had ting'd the mountains with her earliest red,
They join'd the feeds, and on the chariot fprung;
The brazen portals in their paffage rung.
To Pylos foon they came; when thus begun
To Neftor's heir Ulyffes' god-like fon :
Let not Pififtratus in vain be preft,
Nor unconfenting hear his friend's request ;
His friend by long hereditary claim,
In toils his equal, and in years the fame.
No farther from our veffel, I implore,
The courfers drive; but lash them to the fhore.
Too long thy father would his friend detain;
I dread his proffer'd kindness urg'd in vain.
The hero paus'd, and ponder'd this request,
While love and duty warr'd within his breaft.
At length refolv'd, he turn'd his ready hand,
And lafh'd his panting courfers to the frand.
There, while within the poop with care he ftor'd
The regal prefents of the Spartan lord;
With speed be gone (said he); call every mate,
Ere yet to Neftor I the tale relate:
'Tis true, the fervour of his generous heart
Brooks no repulse, nor could'st thou foon depart;
Himfelf will feek thee here, nor wilt thou find,
In words alone, the Pylian monarch kind.
But when, arriv'd, he thy return shall know,
How will his breast with honest fury glow!
This faid, the founding ftrokes his horfes fire,
And foon he reach'd the palace of his fire.
Now (cried Telemachus) with speedy care
Hoist every sail, and every oar prepare.
Swift as the word his willing mates obey,
And feize their feats, impatient for the fea.
Meantime the prince with facrifice adores
Minerva, and her guardian aid implores ;
When, lo! a wretch ran breathlefs to the fhore,
New from his crime, and reeking yet with gore.
A feer he was, from great Melampus fprung,
Melampus, who in Pylos flourish'd long,
Till, urg'd by wrongs, a foreign realm he chofe,
Far from the hateful caufe of all his woes.
Neleus his treasures one long year detains ;
As long, he groan'd in Philacus's chains:
Meantime, what anguish, and what rage, combin'd,
For lovely Pero rack'd his labouring mind!
Yet 'fcap'd he death; and vengeful of his wrong 260.
To Pylos drove the lowing herds along :
Then (Neleus vanquifh'd, and confign'd the Fair
To Bias' arms) he fought a foreign air;
E 4
Argos the rich for his retreat he chofe,
There form'd his empire; there his palace rose.
From him Antiphates and Mantius came:
The first begot Oïclus great in fame,
And he Amphiaraus, immortal name !
The people's faviour, and divinely wife,
Belov'd by Jove, and him who gilds the skies,
Yet fhort his date of life! by female pride he dies.
From Mantius Clitus, whom Aurora's love
Snatch'd for his beauty to the thrones above:
And Polyphides on whom Phoebus fhone
With fulleft rays, Amphiaraus now gone;
In Hyperefia's groves he made abode,
And taught mankind the counfels of the God.
From him fprung Theoclymenus, who found
(The facred wine yet foaming on the ground)
Telemachus whom, as to Heaven he prefs'd
His ardent vows, the stranger thus addrefs'd.:
O thou! that doft thy happy course prepare
With pure libations, and with folemn prayer;
By that dread Power to whom thy vows are paid;
By all the lives of thefe; thy own dear head,
Declare fincerely to no foe's demand
Thy name, thy lineage, and paternal land.
Prepare then, faid Telemachus, to know
A tale from falfehood free, not free from woe,.
From Ithaca, of royal birth, I came,
And great Ulyffes (ever honour'd name !)
Was once my fire: though now for ever loft
In Stygian gloom he glides a penfive ghost!
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