The Odysseys of Homer, together with the shorter poems. Homer

heaven I here did need,

       ‭ That could my fancy or my beauty feed.”

       ‭ Her husband said: “Wife! what you please to tell

       ‭ Is true at all parts, and becomes you well;

       ‭ And I myself, that now may say have seen

       ‭ The minds and manners of a world of men,

       ‭ And great heroes, measuring many a ground,

       ‭ Have never, by these eyes that light me, found

       ‭ One with a bosom so to be belov’d,

       ‭ As that in which th’ accomplish’d spirit mov’d

       ‭ Of patient Ulysses. What, brave man,

       ‭ He both did act, and suffer, when he wan

       ‭ The town of Ilion, in the brave-built horse,

       ‭ When all we chief states of the Grecian force

       ‭ Were hous’d together, bringing death and Fate

       ‭ Amongst the Trojans, you, wife, may relate;

       ‭ For you, at last, came to us; God, that would

       ‭ The Trojans’ glory give, gave charge you should

       ‭ Approach the engine; and Deiphobus,

       ‭ The god-like, follow’d. Thrice ye circled us

       ‭ With full survey of it; and often tried

       ‭ The hollow crafts that in it were implied. [4]

       ‭ When all the voices of their wives in it

       ‭ You took on you with voice so like and fit,

       ‭ And ev’ry man by name so visited,

       ‭ That I, Ulysses, the king Diomed,

       ‭ (Set in the midst, and hearing how you call’d)

       ‭ Tydides, and myself (as half appall’d

       ‭ With your remorseful plaints) would passing fain

       ‭ Have broke our silence, rather than again

       ‭ Endure, respectless, their so moving cries.

       ‭ But Ithacus our strongest phantasies

       ‭ Contain’d within us from the slenderest noise,

       ‭ And ev’ry man there sat without a voice.

       ‭ Anticlus only would have answer’d thee,

       ‭ But his speech Ithacus incessantly

       ‭ With strong hand held in, till, Minerva’s call

       ‭ Charging thee off, Ulysses sav’d us all.”

       ‭ Telemachus replied: “Much greater is

       ‭ My grief, for hearing this high praise of his.

       ‭ For all this doth not his sad death divert,

       ‭ Nor can, though in him swell’d an iron heart.

       ‭ Prepare, and lead then, if you please, to rest:

       ‭ Sleep, that we hear not, will content us best.”

       ‭ Then Argive Helen made her handmaid go,

       ‭ And put fair bedding in the portico,

       ‭ Lay purple blankets on, rugs warm and soft,

       ‭ And cast an arras coverlet aloft.

       ‭ They torches took, made haste, and made the bed;

       ‭ When both the guests were to their lodgings led

       ‭ Within a portico without the house.

       ‭ Atrides, and his large-train-wearing spouse,

       ‭ The excellent of women, for the way,

       ‭ In a retir’d receit, together lay.

       ‭ The Morn arose; the king rose, and put on

       ‭ His royal weeds, his sharp sword hung upon

       ‭ His ample shoulders, forth his chamber went,

       ‭ And did the person of a God present.

       ‭ Telemachus accosts him, who begun

       ‭ Speech of his journey’s proposition:

       ‭ “And what, my young Ulyssean heroë,

       ‭ Provok’d thee on the broad back of the sea,

       ‭ To visit Lacedæmon the divine?

       ‭ Speak truth, some public [good] or only thine?”

       ‭ “I come,” said he, “to hear, if any fame

       ‭ Breath’d of my father to thy notice came.

       ‭ My house is sack’d, my fat works of the field

       ‭ Are all destroy’d; my house doth nothing yield

       ‭ But enemies, that kill my harmless sheep,

       ‭ And sinewy oxen, nor will ever keep

       ‭ Their steels without them. And these men are they

       ‭ That woo my mother, most inhumanly

       ‭ Committing injury on injury.

       ‭ To thy knees therefore I am come, t’ attend

       ‭ Relation of the sad and wretched end

       ‭ My erring father felt, if witness’d by

       ‭ Your own eyes, or the certain news that fly

       ‭ From others’ knowledges. For, more than is

       ‭ The usual heap of human miseries,

       ‭ His mother bore him to. Vouchsafe me then,

       ‭ Without all ruth of what I can sustain,

       ‭ The plain and simple truth of all you know.

       ‭ Let me beseech so much, if ever vow

       ‭ Was made, and put in good effect to you,

       ‭ At Troy, where suff’rance bred you so much smart,

       ‭ Upon my father good Ulysses’ part,

       ‭ And quit it now to me (himself in youth)

       ‭ Unfolding only the uncloséd truth.”

       ‭ He, deeply sighing, answer’d him: “O shame,

       ‭ That such poor vassals should affect the fame

       ‭ To share the joys of such a worthy’s bed!

       ‭ As when a hind, her calves late farrowéd,

       ‭ To give suck, enters the bold lion’s den,

       ‭ He roots of hills and herby vallies then

       ‭ For food (there feeding) hunting; but at length

       ‭ Returning to his cavern, gives his strength

       ‭ The lives of both the mother and her brood

       ‭ In deaths indecent; so the Wooers’ blood

       ‭ Must pay Ulysses’ pow’rs as sharp an end.

       ‭ O would to Jove, Apollo, and thy friend

       ‭ The wise Minerva, that thy father were

       ‭ As once he was, when he his spirits did rear

       ‭ Against Philomelides, in a fight

       ‭ Perform’d in well-built Lesbos, where, down-right

       ‭ He strook the earth with him, and gat a shout

       ‭ Of all the Grecians! O, if now full out

       ‭ He were as then, and with the Wooers coped,

       ‭ Short-liv’d they all were, and their nuptials hoped