A part in pleasing talk we entertain,
For too much rest itself becomes a pain.
Let those, whom sleep invites, the call obey, 430
Their cares resuming with the dawning day:
Here let us feast;-and to the feast be join'd
Discourse, the sweeter banquet of the mind;-
Review the series of our lives, and taste
The melancholy joy of evils past:
For he who much has suffer'd, much will know;
And pleas'd remembrance builds delight on woe.
Above Ortygia lies an isle of fame,
Far hence remote, and Syria is the name: (There curious eyes inscrib'd with wonder trace
The sun's diurnal, and his annual race)
Not large, but fruitful; stor'd with grass to keep The bellowing oxen, and the bleating sheep.
Her sloping hills the mantling vines adorn,
And her rich valleys wave with golden corn. 445
No want, no famine, the glad natives know,
Nor sink by sickness to the shades below :
But when a length of years unnerves the strong,
Apollo comes, and Cynthia comes along;
They bend the silver bow with tender skill, 450
And void of pain the silent arrows kill.
Two equal tribes this fertile land divide,
Where two fair cities rise with equal pride.
But both in constant peace one prince obey,
And Ctesius there, my father, holds the sway. 455
Freighted, it seems, with toys of ev'ry sort,
A ship of Sidon anchor'd in our port;
What time it chanc'd the palace entertain'd,
Skill'd in rich works, a woman of their land.
This nymph, where anchor'd the Phoenician train,
To wash her robes descending to the main, 461
A smooth-tongu'd sailor won her to his mind;
(For love deceives the best of woman-kind)
A sudden trust from sudden liking grew;
She told her name, her race, and all she knew.
I too (she cried) from glorious Sidon came, 466
My father Arybas, of wealthy fame;
But snatch'd by pirates from my native place,
The Taphians sold me to this man's embrace.
Haste then (the false designing youth replied)
Haste to thy country: love shall be thy guide: 471
Haste to thy father's house, thy father's breast;
For still he lives, and lives with riches blest.
Swear first (she cried) ye sailors! to restore
A wretch in safety to her native shore.
Swift as she ask'd, the ready sailors swore.
She then proceeds: Now let our compact made
Be nor by signal nor by word betray'd,
Nor near me any of your crew descry'd
By road frequented, or by fountain side.
Be silence still our guard. The monarch's spies
(For watchful age is ready to surmise)
Are still at hand; and this, reveal'd, must be
Death to yourselves, eternal chains to me.
Your vessel loaded, and your traffic past,
Dispatch a wary messenger with haste:
Then gold and costly treasures will I bring,
And more, the infant offspring of the king.
Him, child-like wand'ring forth, I'll lead away,
(A noble prize!) and to your ship convey.
Thus spoke the dame, and homeward took the
A year they traffick, and their vessel load.
Their stores complete, and ready now to weigh,
A spy was sent their summons to convey:
An artist to my father's palace came,
With gold and amber chains, elab'rate frame:
Each female eye the glitt'ring links employ;
They turn, review, and cheapen ev'ry toy.
He took th' occasion as they stood intent,
Gave her the sign, and to his vessel went.
She straight pursu'd, and seiz'd my willing arm;
I follow'd smiling, innocent of harm.
Three golden goblets in the porch she found;
(The guests not enter'd, but the table crown'd)
Hid in her fraudful bosom, these she bore. 505
Now set the sun, and darken'd all the shore:
Arriving then, where tilting on the tides
Prepar'd to launch the freighted vessel rides,
Aboard they heave us, mount their decks, and sweep
With level oar along the glassy deep.
Six calmy days and six smooth nights we sail,
And constant Jove supplied the gentle gale.
The sev'nth, the fraudful wretch (no cause de
Touch'd by Diana's vengeful arrow died.
Down dropt the caitiff-corpse, a worthless load,
Down to the deep; there roll'd the future food
Of fierce sea-wolves, and monsters of the flood.
An helpless infant, I remain'd behind:
Thence borne to Ithaca by wave and wind;
Sold to Laertes, by divine command,
And now adopted to a foreign land.
To him the king: Reciting thus thy cares,
My secret soul in all thy sorrow shares:
But one choice blessing (such is Jove's high will)
Has sweeten'd all thy bitter draught of ill:
Torn from thy country to no hapless end,
The gods have, in a master, giv'n a friend.
Whatever frugal nature needs is thine,
(For she needs little) daily bread and wine.
While I, so many wand'rings past and woes, 530
Live but on what thy poverty bestows.
So pass'd in pleasing dialogue away
The night: then down to short repose they lay;
Till radiant rose the messenger of day.
While in the port of Ithaca, the band
Of young Telemachus approach'd the land;
Their sails they loos'd, they lash'd the mast aside,
And cast their anchors, and the cables tied :
Then, on the breezy shore descending, join
In grateful banquet o'er the rosy wine.
When thus the prince: Now each his course pur-
I to the fields, and to the city you.
Long absent hence, I dedicate this day
My swains to visit, and the works survey.
Expect me with the morn, to pay the skies 545
Our debt of safe return, in feast and sacrifice.
|