Homer's Odysses. Translated according to ye Greeke by. Geo: Chapman — Odyssey. Book 1-24. English. Chapman

Homer's Odysses. Translated according to ye Greeke by. Geo: Chapman — Odyssey. Book 1-24. English. Chapman

Table of contents

Title page

TO THE MOST WORTHILY HONORED▪ MY SINGVLAR GOOD LORD, ROBERT, Earle of SOMERSET, Lord Chamberlaine, &c.

Certaine ancient Greeke Epigrammes T•anslated.

§

Another.

Another.

Another.

Another.

THE FIRST BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES.

THE SECOND BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES. Another.

THE THIRD BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES. Another.

THE FOVRTH BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES. Another.

THE FIFTH BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES. Another.

THE SIXTH BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES. Another.

THE SEVENTH BOOK OF HOMERS ODYSSES. Another.

THE EIGHTH BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES. Another.

THE NINTH BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES. Another.

THE TENTH BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES. Another.

THE XI. BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES. Another.

THE XII. BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES. Another.

THE THIRTEENTH BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES. Another.

THE FOVRTEENTH BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES. Another.

THE FIFTEENTH BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES. Another.

THE SIXTEENTH BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES. Another.

THE SEVENTEENTH BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES. Another.

THE EIGHTEENTH BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES. Another.

THE NINETEENTH BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES. Another.

THE TWENTITH BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES. Another.

THE XXI. BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES. Another.

THE XXII. BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES. Another.

THE XXIII. BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES. Another.

THE XXIIII. BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES. Another.

§

To the Ruines of Troy, and Greece.

Ad Deum.

§

§

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HOMER'S ODYSSES. Translated according to ye Greeke By Geo: Chapman ‘At mihi qd Viuo detraxerit Jnuida Turba Post obitum duplici foenore reddet Honos.’

Imprinted at London by Rich: Field, for Nathaniell Butter.

TO THE MOST WORTHILY HONORED▪ MY SINGVLAR GOOD LORD, ROBERT, Earle of SOMERSET, Lord Chamberlaine, &c.

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I Haue aduentured (Right Noble Earle) out of my vtmost, and euer-vowed seruice to your Vertues, to entitle their Merits to the Patronage of Homers English life: whose wisht naturall life, the great Macedon would haue protected, as the spirit of his Empire,

That he to his vnmeasur'd mightie Acts,

Might adde a Fame as vast; and their extracts,

In fires as bright, and endlesse as the starres,

His breast might breathe; and thunder out his warres.

But that great Monarks loue of fame and praise,

Receiues an enuious Cloud in our foule daies:

For since our Great ones, ceasse themselues to do

Deeds worth their praise; they hold it folly too,

To feed their praise in others. But what can

(Of all the gifts that are) be giuen to man,

More precious then Eternitie and Glorie,

Singing their praises, in vnsilenc't storie?

Which No blacke Day, No Nation, nor no Age;

No change of Time or Fortune, Force, nor Rage,

[Page] Shall euer race? All which, the Monarch knew,

Where Homer liu'd entitl'd, would ensew:

‘—Cuius de gurgite viuo’

‘Combibit arcanos vatum [...] turba furores,’ &c.

Fx Angeli Politiani Amb [...]a.

From whose deepe Fount of life, the thirstie rout

Of Thespian Prophets, haue lien sucking out

Their sacred rages. And as th'influent stone

Of Father Ioues great and laborious Sonne,

Lifts high the heauie Iron; and farre implies

The wide Orbs; that the Needle rectifies,

In vertuous guide of euery sea-driuen course,

To all aspiring, his one boundlesse force:

So from one Homer, all the holy fire,

That euer did the hidden heate inspire

In each true Muse, came cleerly sparkling downe,

And must for him, compose one flaming Crowne.

He, at Ioues Table set, fils out to vs,

Cups that repaire Age, sad and minous;

And giues it Built, of an eternall stand,

With his all-sinewie Odyssaean hand.

Shifts Time, and Fate; puts Death in Lifes free state;

And Life doth into Ages propagate.

He doth in Men, the Gods affects inflame;

His fuell Vertue, blowne by Praise and Fame:

And with the high soules, first impulsions driuen,

Breakes through rude Chaos, Earth, the Seas, and Heauen.

The Nerues of all things hid in Nature, lie

Naked before him; all their Harmonie

Tun'd to his Accents; that in Beasts breathe Minds.

What Fowles, what Floods, what Earth, what Aire, what Winds,

What fires Aethereall, what the Gods conclude

In all their Counsels, his Muse makes indude

With varied voices, that e [...]en rockes haue mou'd.

And yet for all this, (naked Vertue lou'd)

Honors without her, he, as abiect, prises;

And foolish Fame, deriu'd from thence, despises.

When from the vulgar, taking glorious bound,

Vp to the Mountaine, where the Muse is crownd;

[Page] He sits and laughs, to see the iaded Rabble,

Toile to his hard heights,

Thus far Angel. Politianus, for the most part translated.

t'all accesse vnable. &c.

And that your Lordship may in his Face, take view of his Mind: the first word of his Iliads, is [...] wrath: the first word of his Odysses, [...], Man: contracting in either word, his each workes Proposition. In one, Predominant Perturbation; in the other, ouer-ruling Wisedome: in one, the Bodies feruour and fashion of outward Fortitude, to all possible height of Heroicall Action; in the other, the Minds inward, constant, and vnconquerd Empire; vnbroken, vnalterd, with any most insolent, and tyrannous infliction. To many most souer aigne praises is this Poeme entitled; but to that Grace in chiefe, which sets on the Crowne, both of Poets and Orators; [...]: that is, Parua magnè dicere; peruulgata nouè; ieiuna plenè: To speake things litle, greatly; things commune, rarely; things barren and emptie, fruitfully and fully. The returne of a man into his Countrie, is his whole scope and obiect; which, in it selfe, your Lordship may well say, is ieiune and fruitlesse enough; affoording nothing feastfull, nothing magnificent. And yet euen this, doth the diuine inspiration, render vast, illustrous, and of miraculous composure. And for this (my Lord) is this Poeme preferred to his Iliads: for therein much magnificence, both of person and action, giues great aide to his industrie; but in this, are these helpes, exceeding sparing, or nothing; and yet is the Structure so elaborate, and pompous, that the poore plaine Groundworke (considered together) may seeme the naturally rich wombe to it, and produce it needfully. Much wonderd at therefore, is the Censure of Dionysius Longimus (a man otherwise affirmed, graue, and of elegant iudgement) comparing Homer in his Iliads, to the Sunne rising; in his Odysses, to his descent or setting. Or to the Ocean robd of his aesture; many tributorie flouds and riuers of excellent ornament, withheld from their obseruance. When this his worke so farre exceeds the Ocean, with all his Court and concourse; that all his Sea, is onely a seruiceable streame to it. Nor can it be compared to any One power to be named in nature; being an entirely wel-sorted and digested Confluence of all. Where the most solide and graue, is made as nimble and fl [...]ent, as the most airie and firie; the nimble and fluent, as firme and well bounded as the most graue and solid. And (taking all together) of so tender impression, and of such Command to the voice of the Muse; that they knocke heauen with her breath, and discouer their foundations as low as hell. Nor is this all-comprising Poesie, phantastique, [Page] or meere fictiue; but the most material, and doctrinall illations of Truth; both for all manly information of Manners in the yong; all prescription of Iustice, and euen Christian pietie, in the most graue and high-gouernd. To illustrate both which, in both kinds, with all height of expression, the Poet creates both a Bodie and a Soule in them. Wherein, if the Bodie (being the letter, or historie) seemes fictiue, and beyond Possibilitie to bring into Act: the sence then and Allegorie (which is the Soule) is to be sought: which intends a more eminent express [...]re of Vertue, for her louelinesse; and of Vice for her vglinesse, in their seuer all effects; going beyond the life, then any Art within life, can possibly delineate. Why then is Fiction, to this end, so hatefull to our true Ignorants? Or why should a poore Chronicler of a Lord Maiors naked Truth, (that peraduenture will last his yeare) include more worth with our [...]oderne wizerds, then Homer for his naked Vlysses, clad in eternall Fiction? But this Prozer Dionysius, and the rest of these graue, and reputatiuely learned, (that dare vndertake for their grauities, the headstrong censure of all things; and challenge the vnderstanding of these Toyes in their childhoods: when euen these childish vanities, retaine deepe and most necessarie learning enough in them, to make them children in their ages, and teach them while they liue) are not in these absolutely di [...]ine Infusions, allowd either voice or relish: for, Qui Poeticas ad fores accedit, &c. (sayes the Diuine Philosopher) he that knocks at the Gates of the Muses; sine Musarum furore; is neither to be admitted entrie, nor a touch at their Thresholds: his opinion of entrie, ridiculous, and his presumption impious. Nor must Poets themselues (might I a litle insist on these contempts▪ not tempting too farre your Lordships Vlyssean patience) presume to these doores, without the truly genuine, and peculiar induction▪ There being in Poesie a twofold rapture, (or alienation of soule, as the abouesaid Te [...]cher termes it) one Insania, a disease of the mind, and a meere madnesse, by which the infected is thrust beneath all the degrees of humanitie: & ex homine, Brutum quodammodo redditur: (for which, poore Poesie, in this diseasd and impostorous age, is so barbarously vilified) the other is, Diuinus furor; by which the sound and [...] healthfull, supra hominis naturam erigitur, & in Deum transit. One a perfection directly infused from God: the other an infection, obliquely and degenerately proceeding from man. Of the diuine Furie (my Lord) your Homer hath euer bene, both first and last Instance; being pronounced absolutely, [...]; the most wise and most diuine [Page] Poet. Against whom, whosoeuer shall open his prophane mouth, may worthily receiue answer, with this of his diuine defender; (Empedocles, Heraclitus, Protagoras, Epichar: &c. being of Homers part) [...], &c. who against such an Armie, and the Generall Homer dares attempt the assault, but he must be reputed ridiculous? And yet against this hoast, and this inuincible Commander, shall we haue euery Besogne and foole a Leader. The common herd (I assure my self) readie to receiue it on their hornes. Their infected Leaders,

Such men, as sideling ride the ambling Muse;

Whose saddle is as frequent as the stuse.

Whose Raptures are in euery Pageant seene;

In euery Wassall rime, and Dancing greene:

When he that writes by any beame of Truth,

Must diue as deepe as he; past shallow youth.

Truth dwels in Gulphs, whose Deepes hide shades so rich,

That Night sits muffl'd there, in clouds of pitch:

More Darke then Nature made her; and requires

(To cleare her tough mists) Heauens great fire of fires;

To whom, the Sunne it selfe is but a Beame.

For sicke soules then (but rapt in foolish Dreame)

To wrestle with these Heau'n-strong mysteries;

What madnesse is it? when their light, serues eies

That are not worldly, in their least aspect;

But truly pure; and aime at Heauen, direct.

Yet these, none like; but what the brazen head

Blatters abroad; no sooner borne, but dead.

Holding then in eternal contempt (my Lord) those short-liued Bubbles; eternize your vertue and iudgement with the Grecian Monark; esteeming, not as the least of your New-yeares Presents,

Homer (three thousand yeares dead) now reuiu'd,

Euen from that dull Death, that in life he liu'd;

When none conceited him; none vnderstood,

That so much life, in so much death as blood

Conueys about it, could mixe. But when Death

Drunke vp the bloudie Mist, that humane breath

Pour'd round about him (Pouertie and Spight,

Thickning the haplesse vapor) then Truths light

Glimmerd about his Poeme: the pincht soule,

[Page] (Amidst the Mysteries it did enroule)

Brake powrefully abroad. And as we see

The Sunne all hid in clouds, at length, got free,

Through some forc't couert, ouer all the wayes,

Neare and beneath him, shootes his vented rayes

Farre off, and stickes them in some litle Glade;

All woods, fields, riuers, left besides in shade:

So your Apollo, from that world of light,

Closde in his Poems bodie; shot to sight

Some few forc't Beames; which neare him, were not seene,

(As in his life or countrie) Fate and Spleene,

Clouding their radiance; which when Death had clear'd;

To farre off Regions, his free beames appear'd:

In which, all stood and wonderd; striuing which,

His Birth and Rapture, should in right enrich.

Twelue Labours of your Thespian Hercules,

I now present your Lordship: Do but please

To lend Life meanes, till th'other Twelue receaue

Equall atchieuement; and let Death then reaue

My life now lost in our Patrician Loues,

That knocke heads with the herd: in whom there moues

One blood, one soule: both drownd in one set height

Of stupid Enuie, and meere popular Spight.

Whose loues, with no good, did my least veine fill;

And from their hates, [...] I feare as little ill.

Their Boun [...]es nourish not, when most they feed,

But where there is no Merit, or no Need:

Raine into riuers still; and are such showres,

As bubbles spring, and ouerflow the flowres.

Their worse parts, and worst men, their Best subornes,

Like winter Cowes, whose milke runnes to their hornes.

And as litigious Clients bookes of Law,

Cost infinitely; taste of all the Awe,

Bencht in our kingdomes Policie, Pietie, State;

Earne all their deepe explorings; satiate

All sorts there thrust together by the heart,

With thirst of wisedome, spent on either part:

[Page] Horrid examples made of Life and Death,

From their fine stuffe wouen: yet when once the breath

Of sentence leaues them, all their worth is drawne

As drie as dust; and weares like Cobweb Lawne:

So these men set a price vpon their worth,

That no man giues, but those that trot it forth,

Through Needs foule wayes; feed Humors, with all cost,

Though Iudgement sterues in them: Rout: State engrost

(At all Tabacco benches, solemne Tables,

Where all that crosse their Enuies, are their fables)

In their ranke faction: Shame, and Death approu'd

Fit Penance for their Opposites: none lou'd

But those that rub them: not a Reason heard,

That doth not sooth and glorifie their preferd

Bitter Opinions. When, would Truth resume

The cause to his hands; all would flie in fume

Before his sentence; since the innocent mind,

Iust God makes good; to whom their worst is wind.

For, that I freely all my Thoughts expresse,

My Conscience is my Thousand witnesses:

And to this stay, my constant Comforts vow;

You for the world I haue, or God for you.

Certaine ancient Greeke Epigrammes T [...]anslated.

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§

[...] starres are [...] vp by the firie S [...]nne;

And in so much a flame, lies [...] the Moone::

[...] Name, all [...] Death;

[...]

Another.

Heau'ns fires [...] [...] his Sphere;

Graue Night, the light [...]eed of the Day shall [...]:

Fresh streames shall chace the [...] shall teare

Her fishie bottomes: Men, in long date dead,

Shall rise, and [...]

Another.

The great Maeonides doth onely write;

And to him dictates, the great God of Light.

Another.

Seuen kingdomes str [...]e, in which should swell the wombe

That bore great Homer; whom Fame freed from Tombe:

Argos, Chius, Pylos, Smyrna, Colophone;

The learn'd Athenian, and Vlyssean Throne.

Another.

[...]

[...]

[...]

[...]

[...]

[...]

THE FIRST BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES.

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THE ARGVMENT.

THe Gods in counsaile sit, to call

Vlysses from Calypso's thrall;

And order their high pleasures, thus;

Gray Pallas, to Telemachus

(In Ithaca) her way addrest;

And did her heauenly lims inuest

In Menta's likenesse; that did raigne

King of the Taphians (in the Maine,

Whose rough waues neare Leucadia runne)

Aduising wise Vlysses sonne

To seeke his father; and addresse

His course to yong Tantalides

That gouern'd Sparta. Thus much said,

She shewd she was Hea [...]'ns martiall Maid,

And vanisht from him. Next to this,

The Banquet of the wooers is.

Another.

[...].

The Deities sit;

The Man retir'd▪

Th'Vlyssean wit,

By Pallas fir'd.

THe Man (O Muse) informe, that many a way,

Wound with his wisedome to his wished stay.

That wanderd wondrous farre,

The information or fashion of an absolute man, and necessarie (or fatal) passage through many afflictions (according with the most sacred Le [...] ter) to his naturall hauen and countrey; i [...] the whole argument; and scope of the [...] [...] giuen him in the first verse: [...] ▪ Homo [...]ius ingenium velut per mult [...]s, & vari [...] [...].

when, He, the towne

Of sacred Troy, had sackt, and shiuerd downe.

The cities of a world of nations,

With all their manners, mindes, and fashions

He saw and knew. At Sea felt many woes;

Much care sustaind, to saue from ouerthrowes

Himselfe, and friends, in their retreate for home.

But so, their fates, he could not ouercome,

Though much he thirsted it. O men vnwise,

They perisht by their owne impieties,

That in their hungers rapine would not shunne

The Oxen of the loftie-going Sunne:

[Page] Who therefore from their eyes, the day bereft

Of safe returne. These acts in some part left,

Tell vs, as others, deified seed of Ioue.

Now all the rest that austere Death out-stroue

At Troys long siege, at home safe anchor'd are,

Free from the malice both of sea and warre;

Onely Vlysses is denide accesse

To wife and home. The Grace of Goddesses

The reuerend Nymph C [...]lypso did detaine

Him in her Ca [...]es: past all the race of men,

Enflam'd to make him her lou'd Lord and Spouse.

And when the Gods had destin'd that his house,

Which Ithaca on her rough bosome beares,

(The point of time wrought out by ambient yeares)

Should be his hauen; Contention still extends

Her enuie to him, euen amongst his friends.

All Gods tooke pitie on him: onely he

That girds Earth in the cincture of the sea,

Diuine Vlysses euer did enuie,

And made the fixt port of his birth to flie.

But he himselfe solemniz'd a retreate

To th'Aethiops,

Neptunes progresse to the Aethiops.

farre dissunderd in their seate;

(In two parts parted; at the Sunnes descent,

And vnderneath his golden Orient,

The first and last of men) t'enioy their feast

Of buls and lambes,

These [...]tes following, I am inforced to insert, (since the words they containe, differ from all other translations) lest I be thought [...] erre out of that ignorance, that may perhaps possesse my [...].

in Hecatombs addrest:

At which he sat, giuen ouer to Delight.

The other Gods, in heauens supreamest height

Were all in Councell met: To whom began

The mightie Father, both of God and man,

Discourse, inducing matter, that inclin'd

To wise Vlysses; calling to his mind

[...] translated in this place, inculpabilis; [...] made the epithete of Aegist [...]; is from the true [...] of the word, as it is here to be vnderstood: which is quite contrary. As [...] is to be expounded in some place Diuinus, or Deo [...]; but in another (soone after) contrarius Deo. The person to whom the [...]pithete is giuen, giuing reason to distinguish it And so [...] an Epithete giuen to Atlas, instantly following, in one place s [...]gnifies Mente pern [...]cio [...]us: in the next, qui vn [...] uer [...]a [...]ente gerit [...]

Faultfull Aegisthus, who to death was done,

By yong Orestes, Agamemnons sonne.

His memorie to the Immortals then,

Mou'd Ioue thus deeply: O how falsly, men

Accuse vs Gods, as authors of their ill,

When, by the bane their owne bad liues instill,

They suffer all the miseries of their states,

Past our inflictions, and beyond their fates.

As now Aegisthus, past his fate, did wed

The wife of Agamemnon; and (in dread

To suffer death himselfe) to shunne his ill,

Incurr'd it by the loose bent of his will,

In slaughtering Atrides in retreate.

Which, we foretold him, would so hardly set

[Page] To his murtherous purpose; sending Mercurie

(That slaughterd Argus) our considerate spie,

To giue him this charge: Do not wed his wife,

Nor murther him; for thou shalt buy his life,

With ransome of thine owne; imposde on thee

By his Orestes; when, in him shall be

Atrides selfe renewd; and but the prime

Of youths spring put abroad; in thirst to clime

His haughtie Fathers throne, by his high acts.

These words of Hermes, wrought not into facts

Aegisthus powres; good counsell he despisde,

And to that Good, his ill is sacrifisde.

Pall [...]s (whose eyes did sparkle like the skies)

Answerd:

Pallas to Iupiter.

O Sire! supreame of Deities;

Aegisthus past his Fate, and had desert

To warrant our infliction; and conuert

May all the paines, such impious men inflict

On innocent sufferers; to reuenge as strict,

Their owne hearts eating. But, that Ithacus

(Thus neuer meriting) should suffer thus;

I deeply suffer. His more pious mind

Diuides him from these fortunes. Though vnkind

Is Pietie to him, giuing him a fate,

More suffering then the most infortunate;

So long kept friendlesse, in a sea-girt soile,

Where the seas nauile is a syluane Ile,

In which the Goddesse dwels, that doth deriue

Her birth from Atlas; who, of all aliue,

The motion and the fashion doth command,

With his

In this place is Atlas giuen the Epithete. [...], which signifies qui vniuersa mente agitat, here giuen him, for the power the starres h [...]ue in all things. Yet this receiues other interpretation in other places, as aboue said.

wise mind, whose forces vnderstand

The inmost deepes and gulfes of all the seas:

Who (for his skill of things superiour) stayes

The two steepe Columnes that [...]rop earth and heauen.

His daughter tis, who holds this

[...] is here turned by others, infelix: in the generall collection: when it hath here a particular exp [...] sition, applied to expresse Vlysses desert errors, [...], vt sit, qui vix locum inuenire potest vbi consistat.

homelesse-driuen,

Still mourning with her. Euermore profuse

Of soft and winning speeches; that abuse

And make so

This is thus translated, the rather to expresse and approue the Allegorie driuen through the whole Odysses. Deciphering the intangling of the wisest in his affections: and the torments that breede in euery pious minde: to be thereby hindred to arriue so directly as he desires, at the proper and onely true naturall countrie of euery worthy man, whose ha [...]en i [...] heauen and the next life, to which, this life is but a sea, in continuall [...]sture and vexation. The words occasioning all this, are [...] signifying, qui languide, & animo remisso rem aliquam gerit: which being the effect of Calypsos sweete words in Vlysses, is where applied passiuely to his owne sufferance of their operation.

languishingly, and possest

With so remisse a mind; her loued guest

Manage the action of his way for home.

Where he (though in affection ouercome)

In iudgement yet; more longs to shew his hopes,

His countries smoke leape from her chimney tops,

[Page] And death askes in her armes. Yet neuer shall

Thy lou'd heart be conuerted on his thrall,

(Austere Oly [...]:) did not euer he,

In ample Troy, thy altars gratifie?

And Grecians Fleete make in thy offerings swim?

O [...], why still then burnes thy wrath to him?

The Cloud-assembler answerd:

[...] to P [...]ll [...]

What words flie

(Bold daughter) from thy Pale of

[...] vallum [...] cl [...]strum denti [...]: which, for the better sound in our language, is here turned, Pale of Iv [...]rie. The teeth being that ra [...]pier or pale, giuen vs by nature in that part, for res [...]raint and compression of our speech, till the imagination, appetite and soule (that ought to rule in their ex [...]mination, before their deliuerie) haue giue [...] worthy passe to them. The most graue and di [...]ine Poet, teaching therein, that not so much for the necessarie chewing of our sustenance, our teeth are giuen vs, as for their stay of our words, le [...]t we vtter them rashly.

Ivorie?

As if I euer could cast from my care

Diuine Vlysses, who exceeds so farre

All men in wisedome? and so oft hath giuen

To all th'Immortals thron'd in ample heauen,

So great and sacred gifts? But his decrees,

That holds the earth in with his nimble knees,

Stand to Vlysses longings so extreme,

For taking from the God-foe Polyphe [...]e

His onely eye; a Cyclop, that excell'd

All other Cyclops: with whose burthen swell'd

The Nymph Th [...]osa; the diuine increase

Of Phorcis seed, a great God of the seas.

She mixt with Neptune in his hollow caues,

And bore this Cyclop to that God of waues.

For whose lost eye, th'Earth-shaker did not kill

Erring Vlysses; but reserues him still

In life for more death. But vse we our powres,

And round about vs cast these cares of ours,

All to discouer how we may preferre

His wisht retreate; and Nept [...]ne make forbeare

His sterne eye to him: since no one God can

In spite of all, preuaile, but gainst a man.

To this, this answer made the gray-eyd Maide:

Supreame of rulers, since so well apaide

The blessed Gods are all then, now, in thee

To limit wise Vlysses miserie;

And that you speake, as you referd to me

Prescription for the meanes; in this sort be

Their sacred order: let vs now addresse

With vtmost speed, our swift Argicides,

To tell the Nymph that beares the golden Tres [...]e

In th'ile Ogygia,

Calypso.

that tis our will

She should not stay our lou'd Vlysses still;

But suffer his returne: and then will I

To Ithaca, to make his sonne apply

His Sires inquest the more; infusing force

Into his soule, to summon the concourse

Of curld-head Greekes to counsaile: and deterre

Each wooer that hath bene the slaughterer

Of his fat sheepe and crooked-headed beeues,

[Page] From more wrong to his mother; and their leaues

Take in such termes, as fit deserts so great.

To Sparta then, and Pylos, where doth beate

Bright Amathus, the flood and epithete

To all that kingdome; my aduice shall send

The spirit-aduanc'd Prince, to the pious end

Of seeking his lost father; if he may

Receiue report from Fame, where rests his stay;

And make, besides, his owne successiue worth,

Knowne to the world;

The preparatiou of Pallas for Ithaca.

and set in action forth.

This said, her wingd shooes to her feete she tied,

Formd all of gold, and all eternified;

That on the round earth, or the sea, sustaind

Her rauisht substance, swift as gusts of wind.

Then tooke she her strong Lance, with steele made keene,

Great, massie, actiue, that whole hoasts of men

(Though all Heroes) conquers; if her ire

Their wrongs inflame, backt by so great a Sire.

Downe from Olympus tops, she headlong diu'd;

And swift as thought, in Ithaca arriu'd,

Close at Vlysses gates; in whose first court,

She made her stand;

Pallas, like Mentas.

and for her breasts support,

Leand on her iron Lance: her forme imprest

With Mentas likenesse, come, as being a guest.

There found she those proud wooers, that were then

Set on those Oxe-hides that themselues had slaine,

Before the gates; and all at dice were playing.

To them the heralds, and the rest obaying,

Fill'd wine and water; some, still as they plaid;

And some, for solemne suppers stare, puruaid;

With porous sponges, clensing tables, seru'd

With much rich feast; of which to all they keru'd.

God-like Telemachus, amongst them sat,

Grieu'd much in mind; and in his heart begat

All representment of his absent Sire;

How (come from far-off parts) his spirits would fire

With those proud wooers sight, with slaughter parting

Their bold concourse; and to himselfe conuerting

The honors they vsurpt, his owne commanding.

In this discourse, he, first, saw Pallas standing

Vnbidden entrie: vp rose, and addrest

His pace right to her; angrie that a guest

Should stand so long at gate: and coming neare,

Her right hand tooke; tooke in his owne, her speare;

And thus saluted: Grace to your repaire,

(Faire guest) your welcome shall be likewise faire.

Enter, and (chear'd with feast) disclose th'intent

That causde your coming. This said; first he went,

[Page] And Pallas followd. To a roome they came,

Steepe, and of state; the Iauelin of the Dame,

He set against a pillar, vast and hie,

Amidst a large and bright-kept Armorie,

Which was, besides, with woods of Lances grac'd,

Of his graue fathers. In a throne, he plac'd

The man-turnd Goddesse; vnder which was spred

A Carpet, rich, and of deuicefull thred;

A footstoole staying her feete; and by her chaire,

Another seate (all garnisht wondrous faire,

To rest, or sleepe on in the day) he set

Farre from the prease of wooers; lest at meate

The noise they still made, might offend his guest,

Disturbing him at banquet or at rest,

Euen to his combat, with that pride of theirs,

That kept no noble forme in their affaires.

And these he set farre from them, much the rather

To question freely of his absent father.

A Table fairely polisht then, was spread,

On which a reuerend officer set bread;

And other seruitors, all sorts of meate,

(Salads, and flesh, such as their haste could get)

Seru'd with obseruance in. And then the S [...]wre,

Prowr'd water from a great and golden Ewre,

That from their hands, t'a siluer Caldron ran;

Both washt, and seated close; the voicefull man

Fetcht cups of gold, and set by them; and round

Those cups with wine, with all endeuour crownd.

Then rusht in the rude wooers; themselues plac't;

The heralds water gaue; the maids in haste

Seru'd bread from baskets. When, of all prepar'd,

And set before them; the bold wooers shar'd;

Their Pages plying their cups, past the rest.

But lustie wooers must do more then feast;

For now (their hungers and their thirsts allaid)

They call'd for songs, and Dances. Those, they said,

Were th'ornaments of feast. The herald strait

A Harpe, caru'd full of artificiall sleight,

Thrust into Phemius (a learnd singers) hand,

Who, till he much was vrg'd, on termes did stand;

But after, plaid and sung with all his art.

Telemachus,

Telemachus to Pallas.

to Pallas then (apart,

His eare inclining close, that none might heare)

In this sort said: My Guest, exceeding deare,

Will you not sit incenst, with what I say?

These are the cares these men take; feast and play:

Which easly they may vse, because they eate,

Free, and vnpunisht, of anothers meate.

[Page] And of a mans, whose white bones wasting lie

In some farre region, with th'incessancie

Of showres powr'd downe vpon them; lying ashore;

Or in the seas washt nak'd. Who, if he wore

Those bones with flesh, and life, and industrie;

And these, might here in Ithaca, set eye

On him returnd; they all would wish to be,

Either past other, in celeritie

Of feete and knees; and not contend t'exceed

In golden garments. But his vertues feed

The fate of ill death: nor is left to me

The least hope of his lifes recouerie;

No not, if any of the mortall race

Should tell me his returne; the chearfull face

Of his returnd day, neuer will appeare.

But tell me; and let Truth, your witnesse beare;

Who? and from whence you are? what cities birth?

What parents? In what vessell set you forth?

And with what mariners arriu'd you here?

I cannot thinke you a foote passenger.

Recount then to me all; to teach me well,

Fit vsage for your worth. And if it fell

In chance now first that you thus see vs here,

Or that in former passages you were

My fathers guest? For many men haue bene

Guests to my father. Studious of men,

His sociable nature euer was.

On him againe,

Pallas to [...].

the grey-eyd Maide did passe

This kind reply; Ile answer passing true,

All thou hast askt: My birth, his honour drew

From wise Anchialus. The name I beare,

Is Mentas, the commanding Ilander

Of all the Taphians, studious in the art

Of Nauigation. Hauing toucht this part

With ship and men; of purpose to maintaine

Course through the darke seas, t'other languag'd men.

And Temesis sustaines the cities name,

For which my ship is bound; made knowne by fame,

For rich in brasse; which my occasions need;

And therefore bring I shining steele in steed,

Which their vse wants; yet makes my vessels freight;

That neare a plowd field, rides at anchors weight,

Apart this citie, in the harbor calld

Rethrus, whose waues, with Neius woods are walld.

Thy Sire and I, were euer mutuall guests,

At eithers house, still interchanging feasts.

I glorie in it. Aske, when thou shalt see

Laertes, th'old Her [...]e, these of mee,

[Page] From the beginning. He, men say, no more

Visits the Citie; but will needs deplore

His sonnes beleeu'd losse, in a priuate field;

One old maide onely, at his hands to yeeld

Foode to his life, as oft as labour makes

His old limbs faint; which though he creepes, he takes

Along a fruitfull plaine, set all with vines,

Which, husbandman-like (though a King) he proines.

But now I come to be thy fathers guest;

I heare he wanders, while these wooers feast.

And (as th'Immortals prompt me at this houre)

Ile tell thee, out of a prophetique powre,

(Not as profest a Prophet, nor cleare seene

At all times, what shall after chance to men)

What I conceiue, for this time, will be true:

The Gods inflictions keepe your Sire from you.

Diuine Vlysses, yet, abides not dead

Aboue earth, nor beneath; nor buried

In any seas, (as you did late conceiue)

But, with the broad sea sieg'd, is kept aliue

Within an Ile, by rude and vp-land men,

That in his spite, his passage home detaine.

Yet long it shall not be, before he tred

His countries deare earth; though solicited,

And held from his returne, with iron chaines.

For he hath wit to forge a world of traines,

And will, of all, be sure to make good one,

For his returne, so much relide vpon.

But tell me, and be true: Art thou indeed

So much

[...], Tantus filius. Pallas thus enforcing her question▪ to stirre vp the son the more to the fathers worthinesse.

a sonne, as to be said the seed

Of Ithacus himselfe? Exceeding much

Thy forehead and faire eyes, at his forme touch:

For oftentimes we met, as you and I

Meete at this houre; before he did apply

His powres for Troy. When other Grecian States,

In hollow ships were his associates.

But since that time, mine eyes could neuer see

Renowmd Vlysses; nor met his with me.

The wise Telemachus

Telemachus to Pallas.

againe replide:

You shall withall I know, be satisfide.

My mother, certaine, sayes I am his sonne:

I know not; nor was euer simply knowne

By any child, the sure truth of his Sire.

But would my veines had tooke in liuing fire

From some man happie, rather then one wise,

Whom age might see seizd, of what youth made prise.

But he, whoeuer of the mortall race

Is most vnblest, he holds my fathers place.

[Page] This, since you aske, I answer. She, againe:

The Gods sure did not make the future straine

Both of thy race and dayes,

Pallas to Telemachus.

obscure to thee,

Since thou wert borne so of Penelope.

The stile may by thy after acts be wonne,

Of so great Sire, the high vndoubted sonne.

Say truth in this then: what's this feasting here?

What all this rout? Is all this nuptiall cheare?

Or else some friendly banquet made by thee?

For here no shots are, where all sharers be.

Past measure contumeliously, this crew

Fare through thy house; which should th'ingenuous view

Of any good or wise man come and find,

(Impietie seeing playd in euery kind)

He could not but through euery veine be mou'd.

Againe Telemachus: My guest much lou'd,

Since you demand and sift these sights so farre;

I grant twere fit, a house so regular,

Rich, and so faultlesse, once in gouernment,

Should still, at all parts, the same forme present,

That gaue it glorie, while her Lord was here.

But now the Gods, that vs displeasure beare,

Haue otherwise appointed; and disgrace

My father most, of all the mortall race.

For whom I could not mourne so, were he dead,

Amongst his fellow Captaines slaughtered

By common enemies; or in the hands

Of his kind friends, had ended his commands;

After he had egregiously bestow'd

His powre and order in a warre so vow'd;

And to his tombe, all Greekes their grace had done;

That to all ages he might leaue his sonne

Immortall honor: but now Harpies haue

Digg'd in their gorges his abhorred graue.

Obscure, inglorious, Death hath made his end;

And me (for glories) to all griefes contend.

Nor shall I any more mourne him alone;

The Gods haue giuen me other cause of mone.

For looke how many Optimates remaine

In Samos, or the shoares Dulichian,

Shadie Zacynthus; or how many beare

Rule in the rough browes of this Iland here▪

So many now, my mother and this house,

At all parts make defam'd and ruinous.

And she, her hatefull nuptials, nor denies,

Nor will dispatch their importunities:

Though she beholds them spoile still, as they feast,

All my free house yeelds: and the little rest

[Page] Of my dead Sire in me, perhaps intend

To bring, ere long, to some vntimely end.

This Pallas sigh'd, and answerd: O (said she)

Absent Vlysses is much mist by thee:

That on these shamelesse suiters he might lay

His wreakfull hands. Should he now come, and stay

In thy Courts first gates, armd with helme and shield,

And two such darts as I haue seene him wield,

When first I saw him in our Taphian Court,

Feasting, and doing his deserts disport;

When from Ephyrus he returnd by vs

From Il [...]s, sonne to Centa [...]re Mer [...]rus;

To whom he traueld through the watrie dreads,

For bane to poison his sharpe arrowes heads,

That death, but toucht, causde; which he would not giue,

Because he fear'd, the Gods that euer liue,

Would plague such death with death; and yet their feare

Was to my fathers bosome not so deare

As was thy fathers loue; (for what he sought,

My louing father found him, to a thought.)

If such as then, Vlysses might but meete

With these proud wooers; all were at his feete

But instant dead men; and their nuptials

Would proue as bitter as their dying galls.

But these things in the Gods knees are reposde,

If his returne shall see with wreake inclosde,

These in his house, or he returne no more.

And therefore I aduise thee to explore

All waies thy selfe, to set these wooers gone;

To which end giue me fit attention;

To morrow into solemne councell call

The Greeke Heroes; and declare to all

(The Gods being witnesse) what thy pleasure is:

Command to townes of their natiuities,

These frontlesse wooers. If thy mothers mind,

Stands to her second nuptials, so enclinde;

Returne she to her royall fathers towers,

Where th'one of these may wed her, and her dowers

Make rich, and such as may consort with grace,

So deare a daughter, of so great a race.

And thee I warne as well, (if thou as well

Wilt heare and follow) take thy best built saile,

With twentie owers mann'd, and haste t'enquire

Where the abode is of thy absent Sire;

If any can informe thee, or thine eare

From Io [...]e the fame of his retreate may heare;

(For chiefly Ioue giues all that honours men).

To Pylos first be thy addression then

[Page] To god-like Nestor. Thence, to Sparta, haste

To gold-lockt Menelaus, who was last

Of all the brasse-armd Greekes that saild from Troy.

And trie from both these, if thou canst enioy

Newes of thy Sires returnd life, any where,

Though sad thou sufferst in his search, a yeare.

If of his death thou hear'st, returne thou home;

And to his memorie erect a tombe:

Performing parent-rites, of feast and game,

Pompous, and such as best may fit his fame:

And then thy mother a fit husband giue.

These past, consider how thou maist depriue

Of worthlesse life, these wooers in thy house;

By open force, or proiects enginous.

Things childish fit not thee; th'art so no more:

Hast thou not heard, how all men did adore

Diuine Orestes, after he had slaine

Aegisthus, murthering by a trecherous traine

His famous father? Be then (my most lou'd)

Valiant and manly; euery way approu'd

As great as he. I see thy person fit▪

Noble thy mind, and excellent thy wit;

All giuen thee, so to vse and manage here,

That euen past death they may their memories beare.

In meane time Ile descend to ship and men,

That much expect me. Be obseruant then

Of my aduice, and carefull to maintaine

In equall acts thy royall fathers raigne.

Telemachus replide: You ope (faire Guest)

A friends heart, in your speech; as well exprest,

As might a father serue t'informe his sonne:

All which▪ sure place haue in my memorie wonne.

Abide yet, though your voyage calls away;

That hauing bath'd; and dignifide your stay

With some more honour; you may yet beside,

Delight your mind, by being gratifide your stay

With some rich Present, taken in your way;

That, as a Iewell, your respect may lay

Vp in your treasurie; bestowd by me,

As free friends vse to guests of such degree.

Detaine me not (said she) so much inclinde

To haste my voyage. What thy loued minde

Commands to giue; at my returne this way,

Bestow on me; that I directly may

Conuey it home; which (more of price to mee)

The more it askes my recompence to thee.

This said, away gray-eyd Minerua flew,

Like to a mounting Larke; and did endue

[Page] His mind with strength and boldnesse; and much more

Made him, his father long for, then before.

And weighing better who his guest might be,

He stood amaz'd, and thought a Deitie

Was there descended: to whose will he fram'd

His powres at all parts; and went, so inflam'd

Amongst the wooers; who were silent set,

To heare a Poet sing the sad retreat

The Greekes performd from Tr [...]y: which was from thence

Proclaimd by Pallas, paine of her offence.

When which diuine song, was perceiu'd to beare

That mournfull subiect, by the listning eare

Of wi [...]e Penelope (Icari [...] seed,

Who from an vpper roome had giu'n it heed)

Downe she descended by a winding staire;

Not solel [...]; but the State, in her repaire,

Two Maides of Honour made. And when this Queene

Of women, stoopt so low, she might be seene

By all her wooers. In the doore, aloofe

(Entring the Hall, grac'd with a goodly roofe)

She stood, in shade of gracefull vailes implide

About her beauties: on her either [...],

Her honor'd women. When, (to [...] mo [...]'d) thus

She chid the sacred Singer: [...],

You know a number more of these gre [...] deeds,

Of Gods and men (that are the sacred [...]

And proper subiects of a Poets song,

And those due pleasures that to men belong)

Besides these facts that furnish Tr [...]is retreate,

Sing one of those to these, that round your [...]eate

They may with silence sit, and taste their wine:

But cea [...]e this song, that through these eares of mine,

Conuey deseru'd occasion to my heart

Of endlesse sorrowes; of which, the desert

In me, vnmeasur'd is, past all these men;

So endlesse is the memorie I retaine;

And so desertfull is that memorie

Of such a man, as hath a dignitie

So broad, it spreds it selfe through all the pride

Of Greece, and Argos. To the Queene, replide

Inspir'd Telemachus: Why thus enuies

My mother, him that fits

[...]. Cantor, cu [...]us tam a [...]ta est societas hominibus.

societies

With so much harmonie, to let him please

His owne mind, in his will to honor these▪

For these

[...] is an Epithet [...] proper to Poets▪ for their first finding out of Arts and documents tending to elocution and gouernment: inspired onely by Ioue: and are here called the first of men: since first they gaue rules to manly life: and haue their informatiō immediatly from Ioue; (as Plato in [...] witnesseth) The word deduced from [...], which is taken for [...], qui prim [...] [...] in re: And will [...] then be sufficiently expr [...]st with ingen [...] then [...] exposition goes further.

ingenuous, and first sort of men,

That do immediatly from Io [...]e retaine

[Page] Their singing raptures; are by Ioue as well

Inspir'd with choice, of what their songs impell.

Ioues will is free in it; and therefore theirs;

Nor is this man to blame, that the repaires

The Greekes make homeward, sings: for his fresh Muse,

Men still most celebrate, that sings most newes.

And therefore in his note, your eares employ:

For, not Vlysses onely lost in Troy

The day of his returne; but numbers more,

The deadly ruines of his fortunes bore.

Go you then, In; and take your worke in hand;

Your web, and distaffe, and your maids command

To plie their fit worke. Words, to men are due,

And those reprouing counsels you pursue;

And most, to me, of all men; since I beare

The rule of all things, that are manag'd here.

She went amazd away; and in her heart,

Laid vp the wisedome Pallas did impart

To her lou'd sonne so lately; turnd againe

Vp to her chamber; and no more would raigne

In manly counsels. To her women, she

Applied her sway; and to the wooers, he

Began new orders; other spirits bewraid

Then those, in spite of which, the wooers swaid.

And (whiles his mothers teares, still washt her eies,

Till gray Minerua did those teares surprise

With timely sleepe; and that her woo'rs did rouse

Rude Tumult vp, through all the shadie house,

Disposde to sleepe because their widow was)

Telemachus, this new-giuen spirit did passe

On their old insolence:

Telemachus in new termes with the wooers.

Ho! you that are

My mothers wooers! much too high ye beare

Your petulant spirits: sit; and while ye may

Enioy me in your banquets: see ye lay

These loud notes downe; nor do this man the wrong,

(Because my mother hath dislikt his song)

To grace her interruption: tis a thing

Honest, and honourd too, to heare one sing

Numbers so like the Gods in elegance,

As this man flowes in. By the mornes

[...], prima lu [...]e.

first light,

Ile call ye all before me, in a Court,

That I may cleerly banish your resort

With all your rudenesse, from these roofes of mine.

Away; and elsewhere in your feasts combine:

Consume your owne goods, and make mutuall feast

At eithers house. Or if ye still hold best,

And for your humors more suffised fill,

To feed, to spoile (because vnpunisht still)

[Page] On other findings: spoile; but here I call

Th'eternall Gods to witnesse, if it fall

In my wisht reach once, to be dealing wreakes,

(By Ioues high bountie) these your present checks,

To what I giue in charge, shall adde mo [...]e reines

To my reuenge hereafter; and the paines

Ye then must suffer, shall passe all your pride,

Euer to see redrest, or qualifide.

At this, all bit their lips; and did admire

His words sent from him, with such phrase, and fire:

Which so much mou'd them; that [...]

(Eupytheus sonne) cried out: Te [...]achus!

The Gods, I thinke, haue rapt thee to this height

Of elocution; and this great conceit

Of selfe-abilitie. We all may pray,

That I [...]e inuest not in this kingdomes sway,

Thy forward forces; which I see put forth

A hote ambition in thee, for thy birth.

Be not offended,

Vpon this answer of Telemach [...]s; because it hath so sodain a change; and is so farre let down, frō his late height of heate; altering & tempe [...]ing so cōmandingly▪ his affecti [...]ns; I thought not am [...]sse to insert here Sponda [...]us further A [...] notation, which is this: Prudenter Telemachus ioco, furorem Antino [...] ac alpe rit [...]ē emolli [...] Nam ita dictū illius interpretatur vt existimetu [...] censere iocose illa euam ab Anti [...]oo aduersum se pronunciata. Et pri mum [...]ronice se Regem esse exopta [...] propter commoda quae Reges solent com [...]tari. Ne tamen inuidiam in se ambitionis concitet, testatur [...]e regnum Ithacae non ambire, mortuo Vlysse, cum idalij possidere queant se longe praestantiores ac [...] ait▪ se moliri, vt propriarum aedium & bonorum solus sit dominus, ij [...] exclusis ac eiectis, qui vi illa occup [...] [...] d [...]perdere co [...]tur.

(he replide) if I

Shall say, I would assume this emperie,

If Ioue gaue leaue. You are not he that sings,

The rule of kingd [...]es is the worst of things.

Nor is it ill, at all, to sway a throne:

A man may quic [...]y gaine possession

Of mightie riches; make a wondrous prise

Set of his vertues; but the dignities

That decke a King, there are enough beside

In this circumfluous Ile, that want no pride

To thinke them worthy of; as yong as I,

And old as you are. An ascent so hie,

My thoughts affect not: dead is he that held

Desert of vertue to haue so exceld.

But of these turrets, I will take on me

To be the absolute King; and reigne as free

As did my father, ouer all, his hand

Left here, in this house, slaues to my command.

Eurymachus, the sonne of Polyb [...],

To this, made this reply: Tele [...]achus!

The Girlond of this kingdome, let the knees

Of deitie runne for: but the faculties,

This house is seasd of, and the turrets here,

Thou shalt be Lord of; nor shall any beare

The least part of, of all thou doest possesse,

As long as this land is no wildernesse,

Nor rul'd by out-lawes). But giue these their passe,

And tell me (best of Prince) who he was

[Page] That guested here so late? from whence? and what

In any region bosted he his state?

His race? his countrie? Brought he any newes

Of thy returning Father? Or for dues

Of moneys to him, made he fit repaire?

How sodainly he rusht into the aire?

Nor would sustaine to stay, and make him knowne?

His Port shewd no debaucht companion.

He answerd: Thereturne of my lou'd Sire,

Is past all hope; and should rude Fame inspire

From any place, a flattring messenger,

With newes of his suruiuall; he should beare

No least beliefe off, from my desperate loue.

Which if a sacred Prophet should approue,

(Calld by my mother for her cares vnrest)

It should not moue me. For my late faire guest,

He was of old my Fathers: touching here

From Sea-girt Taphos; and for name doth beare

Mentas; the sonne of wise Anchialus;

And gouernes all the Taphians, studious

Of Nauigation. This he said: but knew

It was a Goddesse. These againe withdrew

To dances, and attraction of the song.

And while their pleasures did the time prolong,

The sable Euen descended; and did steepe

The lids of all men in desire of sleepe.

Telemachus, into a roome built hie,

Of his illustrous Court; and to the eie

Of circular prospect; to his bed ascended;

And in his mind, much weightie thought contended.

Before him, Euryclaea (that well knew

All the obseruance of a handmaids due,

Daughter to Opis Pysenorides)

Bore two bright torches. Who did so much please

Laërtes in her prime; that for the price

Of twentie Oxen, he made merchandize

Of her rare beauties; and Loues equall flame

To her he felt, as to his nuptiall Dame.

Yet neuer durst he mixe with her in bed;

So much the anger of his wife he fled.

She, now growne old, to yong Telemach [...]s

Two torches bore; and was obsequious,

Past all his other maids; and did apply

Her seruice to him, from his infancie.

His wel-built chamber, reacht; she op't the dore;

He, on his bed sat. The soft weeds he wore,

Put off; and to the diligent old maid

Gaue all; who fitly all in thicke folds laid,

[Page] And hung them on a beame-pin neare the bed;

That round about was rich embrodered.

Then made she haste forth from him; and did bring

The doore together with a siluer ring;

And by a string, a barre to it did pull.

He, laid, and couerd well with cu [...]led wooll,

Wouen in silke quilts: all night emploid his minde

About the taske that Pallas had design'd.

Finis libri primi H [...]m. Odyss.

THE SECOND BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES.
Another.

[Page]

THE ARGVMENT.

TElemachus to Court doth call▪

The wooers; and commands them all

To leaue his house▪ and, taking then

From wise Minerua, ship and men;

And all things fit for him beside,

That Euryclaea could prouide

For sea-rites, till he found his Sire;

He hoists saile, when heauen stoopes his fire.

[...].

The old Maids store

The voyage cheres;

The ship leaues shore,

Minerua steres.

NOw when with rosie fingers, th'early borne,

And, throwne through all the aire, appear'd the mo [...]e;

Vlysses lou'd sonne from his bed appeard;

His weeds put on; and did about him gird

His sword, that thwart his shoulders hung; and tied

To his faire feete, faire shooes; and all parts plied

For speedie readinesse; who when he trod

The open earth, to men, shewd like a God.

The Heralds then, he strait charg'd to consort

The curld-head Greekes, with lowd calls to a Court.

They summon'd;

The Greekes called to councell by Telemach [...].

th'other came, in vtmost haste;

Who, all assembld, and in one heape plac't;

He likewse came to councell; and did beare

In his fai [...]e hand, his iron-headed speare:

Nor came alone; nor with men troopes prepar'd;

But two fleete dogs, made, both his traine, and Guard.

Pallas supplied with her high wisedomes grace,

(That all mens wants supplies) States painted face.

His entring presence, all men did admire;

Who tooke seate in the high throne of his Sire;

To which the graue Peeres gaue him reuerend way.

Amongst whom, an Aegyptian Heroe,

(Crooked with age, and full of skill) begun

The speech to all. Who had a loued sonne,

That with diuine Vlysses did ascend

His hollow fleete to Troy: to serue which end,

[Page] He kept faire horse, and was a man at Armes;

And in the cruell Cyclops sterne alarmes,

His life lost by him, in his hollow caue;

Whose entrailes open'd his abhorred graue;

And made of him (of all Vlysses traine)

His latest supper, being latest slaine.

His name was Antip [...]us. And this old man,

This crooked growne; this wise Aegyptian,

Had three sonnes more; of which, one riotous,

A wooer was, and calld [...];

The other two, tooke both, his owne wisht course.

Yet, both the best fates, weighd not downe the worse;

But left the old man mindfull still of mone;

Who, weeping, thus bespake the Session:

Heare, Ithacensia [...]s, all I fitly say;

Since our diuine Vlysses parting day

Neuer was councell calld, nor session;

And now, by whom is this thus vndergone?

Whom did Necessitie so much compell,

Of yong or old? Hath any one heard tell

Of any coming armie; that he thus now

May openly take boldnesse to a [...]ow?

First hauing heard it. Or will any here

Some motion for the publicke good preferre?

Some worth of note there is in this command;

And, me thinkes, it must be some good mans hand

That's put to it: that either hath direct

Meanes to assist; or, for his good affect,

Hopes to be happie in the proofe he makes;

And that, Ioue grant, what ere he vndertakes.

Telemachus (reioycing much to heare

The good hope, and opinion men did beare

Of his young actions) no longer [...]at;

But longd t'approue, what this man pointed at;

And make his first proofe, in a cause so good:

And in the Councels chiefe place,

Telemachus proposeth his estate to the Greekes.

vp he stood;

When strait, Pysenor (Herald to his Sire,

And learnd in counsels) felt his heart on fire,

To heare him speake; and put into his hand

The Scepter that his Father did command;

Then (to the old Aegyptian turnd) he spoke:

Father, not farre he is, that vndertooke

To call this councell; whom you soone shall know.

My selfe, whose wrongs, my griefes will ma [...]e me show,

Am he that author'd this assembly here;

Nor haue I heard of any armie neare;

Of which, being first told, I might iterate;

Nor for the publicke good, can aught, rela [...] ▪

[Page] Onely mine owne affaires all this procure,

That in my house a double ill endure;

One, hauing lost a Father so renownd,

Whose kind rule once, with your command was crownd:

The other is, what much more doth augment

His weightie losse, the ruine imminent

Of all, my house by it, my goods all spent.

And of all this, the wooers, that are sonnes

To our chiefe Peeres, are the Confusions:

Importuning my Mothers mariage

Against her will; nor dares their blouds bold rage

Go to Icarius, her fathers Court,

That, his will askt, in kind and comely sort,

He may endow his daughter with a dowre;

And, she consenting, at his pleasures powre,

Dispose her to a man, that (thus behau'd)

May haue fit grace; and see her honor sau'd;

But these, in none but my house, all their liues

Resolue to spend; slaughtring my sheepe and beeues;

And with my fattest goates, lay feast on feast;

My generous wine, consuming as they list.

A world of things they spoile; here wanting one,

That like Vlysses, quickly, could set gone

These peace-plagues from his house, that spoile like warre.

Whom my powres are vnfit, to vrge so farre,

My selfe immartiall. But had I the powre,

My will should serue me, to exempt this houre

From out my life time. For past patience,

Base deeds are done here, that exceed defence

Of any honor. Falling is my house,

Which you should shame to see so ruinous.

Reuerence the censures, that all good men giue,

That dwell about you; and for feare to liue

Exposde to heauens wrath (that doth euer pay

Paines, for ioyes forfait) euen by Ioue I pray

Or Themis; both which, powres haue to restraine

Or gather Councels; that ye will abstaine

From further spoile; and let me onely waste

In that most wretched griefe I haue embrac't

For my lost Father. And though I am free

From meriting your outrage; yet, if he

(Good man) hath euer, with a hostile heart

Done ill to any Greeke; on me conuert

Your like hostilitie; and vengeance take

Of his ill, on my life; and all these, make

Ioyne in that iustice; but to see abusde

Those goods that do none ill, but being ill vsde,

Exceeds all right. Yet better tis for me,

[Page] My whole possessions, and my rents to see

Consum'd by you; then lose my life and all;

For on your rapine a reuenge may fall,

While I liue; and so long I may complaine

About the Citie; till my goods againe

(Oft askt) may be with all amends repaid.

But in the meane space, your mis-rule hath laid

Griefes on my bosome, that can onely speake,

And are denied the instant powre of wreake.

This said; his Scepter gainst the ground he threw,

And teares still'd from him; which mou'd all the crew:

The Court strooke silent; not a man did dare

To giue a word, that might offend his [...]are.

Antinous onely, in this sort replied:

High-spoken,

Antinous to Telemachus.

and of spirit vnpacified;

How haue you sham'd vs, in this speech of yours?

Will you brand vs, for an offence not ours?

Your mother (first in craft) is first in cause.

Three yeares are past, and neare, the fourth now drawes,

Since first she mocked the Peeres Achaian.

All, she made hope, and promist euery man:

Sent for vs euer; left loues shew in nought;

But in her heart, conceald another thought.

Besides, (as curious in her craft) her loo [...]e

She with a web charg'd, hard to ouercome;

And thus bespake vs:

The wile of Penelope to her wooers.

Youths that seeke my bed;

Since my diuine Spouse rests among the dead,

Hold on your suites, but till I end, at most

This funerall weed; lest what is done, be lost.

Besides, I purpose, that when th'austere fate

Of bitter death, shall take into his state,

Lae [...]tes the Heroe; it shall decke

His royall corse; since I should suffer checke

In ill report, of euery common dame,

If one so rich, should shew in death his shame.

This speech she vsde; and this did soone perswade

Our gentle mindes. But this, a worke she made

So hugely long;

Telam Penelopes retexere, Prouerbium.

vndoing still in night

(By torches) all, she did by dayes broade light;

That three yeares her deceit, diu'd past our view;

And made vs thinke, that all she faind, was true.

But when the fourth yeare came; and those [...]lie houres,

That still surprise at length, Dames craftiest powres;

One of her women, that knew all, disclosde

The secret to vs; that she still vnlosde

Her whole daies faire affaire, in depth of night.

And then, no further she could force her sleight,

But, of necessitie, her worke gaue end.

[Page] And thus, by me, doth euery other friend,

Professing loue to her, reply to thee;

That euen thy selfe, and all Greeks else may see,

That we offend not in our stay, but shee.

To free thy house then, send her to her Sire;

Commanding that her choice be left entire

To his election, and one settl'd will.

Nor let her vexe with her illusions still,

Her friends that woo her; standing on her wit;

Because wise Pallas hath giuen wiles to it,

So full of Art; and made her vnderstand

All workes, in faire skill of a Ladies hand.

But (for her working mind) we reade of none

Of all the old world; in which Greece hath showne

Her rarest peeces, that could equall her:

Tyro, Alcmena, and Mycena were

To hold comparison in no degree

(For solide braine) with wise Penelope.

And yet in her delayes of vs, she showes

No profits skill, with all the wit she owes;

For all this time, thy goods and victuals go

To vtter ruine; and shall euer so

While thus the Gods, her glorious mind dispose.

Glorie, her selfe may gaine; but thou shalt lose

Thy longings euen for necessary food;

For we will neuer go, where lies our good;

Nor any other where; till this delay

She puts on all, she quits with th'endlesse stay

Of some one of vs; that to all the rest

May giue free farewell with his nuptiall feast.

The wise yong Prince replide: Antinous!

Telemachus to Antinous.

I may by no meanes turne out of my house,

Her that hath brought me forth, and nourisht me.

Besides: if quicke or dead my Father be

In any region, yet abides in doubt.

And twill go hard, (my meanes being so runne out)

To tender to Icarius againe

(If he againe, my mother must maintaine

In her retreate) the dowre she brought with her.

And then, a double ill it will conferre,

Both from my Father, and from God, on me;

When (thrust out of her house) on her bent knee,

My Mother shall the horrid Furies raise

With imprecations: and all men dispraise

My part in her exposure. Neuer then

Will I performe this counsell. If your splene

Swell at my courses; once more I command

Your absence from my house. Some others hand

[Page] Charge with your banquets. On your owne goods [...]ate;

And either other mutually intreate,

At either of your houses, with your feast.

But if ye still esteeme more sweete and best,

Anothers spoile;

The word is [...] signifying, insatiabili quadam edacitate vo [...]o.

so you still wreaklesse liue:

Gnaw (vermine-like) things [...]acred: no lawes giue

To your deuouring; it remaines that I

Inuoke each euer-liuing Deitie;

And vow if Ioue shall daigne in any date,

Powre of like paines, for pleasures so past rate;

From thenceforth looke, where ye haue reueld so,

Vnwreakt, your ruines, all shall vndergo.

Thus spake Telemachus,

Augurium.

t'assure whose threat,

Farre-seeing Ioue, vpon their pinions set

Two Eagles from the high browes of a hill;

That, mounted on the winds, together still

Their strokes extended. But arriuing now

Amidst the Councell; ouer euery brow,

Shooke their thicke wings; and (threatning deaths cold feares)

Their neckes and cheekes tore with their eager Seres.

Then, on the Courts right-hand away they flew,

Aboue both Court and Citie: with whose view

And studie what euents they might fore [...]ell,

The Councell into admiration fell.

The old Her [...]e, Halitherses

Halitherses an Augur.

then,

The sonne of Nestor; that of all old men

(His Peeres in that Court) onely could foresee

By flight of fowles, mans fixed destinie;

Twixt them and their amaze, this interposde:

Heare (Ithacensians) all your doubts disclosde;

The wooers most are toucht in this ostent,

To whom are dangers great and imminent.

For now, not long more shall Vlysses beare

Lacke of his most lou'd; but fils some place neare,

Addressing to these wooers, Fa [...]e and Death.

And many more, this mischiefe menaceth

Of vs inhabiting this famous Ile.

Let vs consult yet, in this long forewhile,

How to our selues we may preuent this ill.

Let these men rest secure, and reuell still:

Though they might find it safer, if with vs

They would in time preuent what threats them thus:

Since not without sure triall, I foretell

These coming stormes; but know their issue well.

For to Vlysses, all things haue euent,

As I foretold him; when for Ili [...]n went

The whole Greeke fleete together; and with them,

Th'abundant in all counsels, tooke the streame.

[Page] I told him, that when much ill he had past,

And all his men were lost; he should at last,

The twentith yeare turne home; to all vnknowne;

All which effects are to perfection growne.

Eurymachus, the sonne of Polybus,

Opposde this mans presage, and answerd thus:

Hence,

Eurymachus excepts against the prophecie.

Great in yeares; go, prophecie at home;

Thy children teach to shun their ils to come.

In these, superiour farre to thee, am I.

A world of fowles beneath the Sunne-beames flie,

That are not fit t'enforme a prophecie.

Besides, Vlysses perisht long ago,

And would thy fates to thee had destin'd so;

Since so, thy so much prophecie had spar'd

Thy wronging of our rights; which for reward

Expected, home with thee, hath summon'd vs

Within the anger of Telemachus.

But this will I presage, which shall be true,

If any sparke of anger, chance t'ensue

Thy much old art, in these deepe Auguries,

In this yong man incensed by thy lies;

Euen to himselfe, his anger shall conferre

The greater anguish; and thine owne ends erre

From all their obiects: and besides, thine age

Shall feele a paine, to make thee curse presage,

With worthy cause, for it shall touch thee neare.

But I will soone giue end to all our feare,

Preuenting whatsoeuer chance can fall,

In my suite to the yong Prince, for vs all

To send his mother to her fathers house,

That he may sort her out a worthy spouse;

And such a dowre bestow, as may befit

One lou'd, to leaue her friends, and follow it.

Before which course be, I beleeue that none

Of all the Greekes will cease th'ambition

Of such a match. For, chance what can to vs,

We, no man feare; no not Telemachus,

Though ne're so greatly spoken. Nor care we

For any threats of austere prophecie

Which thou (old dotard) vantst of so in vaine.

And thus shalt thou in much more hate remaine;

For still the Gods shall beare their ill expence;

Nor euer be disposde by competence,

Till with her nuptials, she dismisse our suites.

Our whole liues dayes shall sow hopes for such fruites.

Her vertues we contend to; nor will go

To any other, be she neuer so

Worthy of vs, and all the worth we owe.

[Page] He answerd him: Eurymach [...]s! and all

Ye generous wooers,

Telemachus to the w [...]oers.

now, in generall;

I see your braue resolues; and will no more

Make speech of these points; and much lesse, implore.

It is enough, that all the Grecians here,

And all the Gods besides, iust witnesse beare,

What friendly premonitions haue bene spent

On your forbearance; and their vaine euent.

Yet with my other friends, let loue preuaile

To fit me with a vessell, free of saile;

And twentie men; that may diuide to me

My readie passage through the yeelding sea.

For Sparta, and Amathoon Pylos shore

I now am bound; in purpose to explore

My long lackt Father; and to trie if Fame

(Or Ioue, most author of mans honourd name)

With his returne and life, may glad mine eare;

Though toild in that proofe, I sustaine a yeare.

If dead, I heare him, nor of more state; here

(Retir'd to my lou'd count [...]ie) I will rere

A Sepulcher to him, and celebrate

Such royall parent-rites, as fits his state.

And then, my mother to a Spouse dispose.

This said, he sat; and to the rest, arose

Mentor,

Mentor for Telemachus.

that was Vlysses chosen friend;

To whom, when he set forth, he did commend

His compleate family; and whom he willd

To see the mind of his old Sire fulfild;

All things conseruing safe, till his retreate;

Who (tender of his charge; and seeing so set

In sleight care of their King, his subiects there;

Suffering his sonne, so much contempt to beare)

Thus grauely, and with zeale to him began:

No more, let any Scepter-bea [...]ing man,

Beneuolent, or milde, or humane be;

Nor in his minde, forme acts of pietie,

But euer feed on blood; and facts vniust

Commit, euen to the full swinge of his lust;

Since of diuine Vlysses, no man now

Of all his subiects, any thought doth show.

All whom, he gouernd; and became to them

(Rather then one that wore a diadem)

A most indulgent father. But (for all

That can touch me) within no enuie fall

These insolent wooers; that in violent kind,

Commit things foule, by th'ill wit of the mind;

And with the hazard of their heads, deuoure

Vlysses house; since his returning houre,

[Page] They hold past hope. But it affects me much,

(Ye dull plebeians) that all this doth touch

Your free States nothing; who (strooke dumbe) afford

These wooers, not so much wreake as a word;

Though few, and you, with onely number might

Extinguish to them, the prophaned light.

Euenors sonne (Liocritus) replide;

Li [...]critus to Mentor.

Mentor! the railer, made a foole with pride;

What language giu'st thou? that would quiet vs,

With putting vs in storme? exciting thus

The rout against vs? who, though more then we,

Should find it is no easie victorie

To driue men, habited in feast, from feasts;

No not if Ithacus himselfe, such guests

Should come and find so furnishing his Court,

And hope to force them from so sweete a fort.

His wife should little ioy in his arriue,

Though much she wants him: for, where she, aliue

Would hers enioy; there Death should claime his rights:

He must be conquerd, that with many fights.

Tho [...] speakst vnfit things. To their labours then

Disperse these people; and let these two men

(Mentor and Halitherses) that so boast,

From the beginning to haue gouernd most

In friendship of the Father; to the sonne

Confirme the course, he now affects to runne.

But my mind sayes, that if he would but vse

A little patience; he should here heare newes

Of all things that his wish would vnderstand;

But no good hope for, of the course in hand.

This said; the Councell rose; when euery Peere

And all the people, in dispersion were

To houses of their owne; the wooers yet

Made to Vlysses house their old retreat.

Telemachus, apart from all the prease,

Prepar'd to shore; and (in the aged seas,

His faire hands washt) did thus to Pallas pray:

Telemachus prayes to Pallas.

Heare me (O Goddesse) that but yesterday

Didst daigne accesse to me at home; and lay

Graue charge on me, to take ship, and enquire

Along the darke seas for mine absent Sire;

Which all the Greekes oppose; amongst whom, most

Those that are proud still at anothers cost,

Past measure, and the ciuill rights of men,

(My mothers wooers) my repulse maintaine.

Thus spake he praying; when close to him came

Pallas, resembling Mentor, both in frame

Of voice and person; and aduisde him thus:

[Page] Those wooers well might know;

Minerua in the person of Mentor▪ exh [...]rts to the voyage.

Telemachus▪

Thou wilt not euer weake and childish be;

If to thee be instilld the facultie

Of mind and bodie, that thy Father grac't.

And if (like him) there be in thee enchac't

Vertue to giue words works, and works their end;

This voyage, that to them thou didst commend

Shall not so quickly, as they idly weene,

Be vaine, or giuen vp, for their opposite spleene.

But if Vlysses, nor Penelope

Were thy true parents; I then hope in thee

Of no more vrging thy attempt in hand;

For few, that rightly bred on both sides stand,

Are like their parents; many that are worse;

And most-few, better. Those then that the nurse,

Or mother call true borne; yet are not so;

Like worthy Sires, much lesse are like to grow.

But thou shewst now, that in thee fades not quite

Thy Fathers wisedome; and that future light

Shall therefore shew thee farre from being vnwise,

Or toucht with staine of bastard cowardize.

Hope therefore sayes, that thou wilt to the end

Pursue the braue act, thou didst erst intend.

But for the foolish wooers, they bewray

They neither counsell haue, nor so [...]le; since they

Are neither wise nor iust; and so must needs

Rest ignorant, how blacke aboue their heads

Fate houers, holding Death; that one sole day

Will make enough to make them all away.

For thee; the way thou wishest, shall no more

Flie thee a step; I that haue bene before

Thy Fathers friend; thine likewise now will be;

Prouide thy ship my selfe, and follow thee.

Go thou then home, and sooth each woo [...]rs vaine;

But vnder hand, fit all things for the Maine;

Wine, in as strong and sweete casks as you can;

And meale, the very marrow of a man;

Which put in good sure lether sacks; and see

That with sweete foode, sweete vessels still agree.

I, from the people, straite will presse for you

Free voluntaries; and (for ships) [...]now

Sea-circl'd Ithaca containes, both new

And old built; all which, Ile exactly view,

And chuse what one soeuer most doth please;

Which riggd, wee'l strait lanch, and assay the seas.

This spake I [...]es daughter, Pallas; whose voice heard;

No more Telemachus her charge deferd;

But hasted home; and, sad at heart, did see

[Page] Amidst his Hall, th'insulting wooers flea

Goates, and rost swine. Mo [...]gst whom, Antinous

Carelesse, (discouering in Telemachus

His grudge to see them) laught; met; tooke his hand,

And said;

Antinous to Telemachus.

High spoken! with the mind so mannd;

Come, do as we do; put not vp your spirits

With these low trifles; nor our louing merits,

In gall of any hatefull purpose, sleepe;

But eate egregiously, and drinke as deepe.

The things thou thinkst on, all, at full shall be

By th'Achiues thought on, and performd to thee:

Ship, and choise Oares, that in a trice will land

Thy hastie Fleete, on heau'nly Pylos sand;

And at the fame of thy illustrous Sire.

He answerd:

Telemachus answers.

Men whom Pride doth so inspire,

Are no fit consorts for an humble guest;

Nor are constraind men, merrie at their fea [...]t.

Is't not enough, that all this time ye haue

Op't in your entrailes, my chiefe goods a graue?

And while I was a child, made me partake?

My now more growth, more grown my mind doth make:

And (hearing speake, more iudging men then you)

Perceiue how much I was misgouernd now.

I now will trie, if I can bring ye home

An ill Fate to consort you; if it come

From Pylos, or amongst the people, here.

But thither I resolue; and know that there

I shall not touch in vaine. Nor will I stay,

Though in a merchants ship I [...]tere my way:

Which shewes in your sights best▪ since me ye know

Incapable of ship, or men to row.

This said; his hand he coily snatcht away

From forth Antinous hand. The rest, the day

Spent through the house with banquets; [...]ome with iests,

And some with railings, dignifying the [...] feasts.

To whom, a iest-proud youth, the wit began:

Telemachus will kill vs euery man.

From Sparta, or the very Pyltan sand,

He will raise aides to his impetuous hand.

The wi [...] of the wooers vpon the purpose of Telemachus to seeke his Father.

O he affects it strangely! Or he meanes

To search Ephyras fat shores; and from thence

Bring deathfull poisons; which amongst our bow'ls

Will make a generall shipwracke of our soules.

Another said: Alas who knowes, but he

Once gone; and erring like his Sire at sea,

May perish like him, farre from aide of friends?

And so he makes vs worke; for all the ends

Left of his goods here, we shall share; the house

[Page] Left to his mother, and her chosen [...].

Thus they. While he a roome ascended, hie

And large, built by his Father; where did lie

Gold and brasse heapt vp; and in coffers were

Rich robes; great store of [...]; and there

Stood Tuns of sweete old wines, along the wall;

Neate and diuine drinke, kept [...]o cheare withall

Vlysses old heart, if he turnd againe

From labors fatall to him to sustaine.

The doores of Planke were; their close exquisite,

Kept with a double key; and day and night

A woman lockt within; and that was she,

Who all trust had for her sufficiencie.

Old Euryclea, (one of Opis [...]ace,

Sonne to Pise [...]r, and in passing grace

With gray Miner [...]:)

Telemachus to Euryciea.

her, the Prince did call;

And said, Nurse! draw me the most sweete of all

The wine thou keepst; next that, which for my Sire,

Thy care reserues, in hope he shall retire.

Twelue vessels fill me forth, and stop them well.

Then into well-sewd sacks, of fine ground meale,

Powre twentie measures. No [...] to any one

But thou thy selfe, let this desig [...]e be knowne.

All this see got together; I, it all

In night will fetch off, when my mother shall

Ascend her high roome, and for [...]eepe prepare.

Sparta and Pylos, I must see, in care

To find my Father. Out Euryclea cried,

And askt with teares:

Eurycleas answer.

Why is your mind applied

(Deare sonne) to this course? whither will you go?

So farre off leaue vs? and beloued so?

So onely? and the sole hope of your race?

Royall Vlysses, farre from the embrace

Of his kind countrie; in a land vnknowne

Is dead; and you (from your lou'd countrie go [...]e)

The wooers will with some deceit assay

To your destruction; making then their prey

Of all your goods. Where, in your owne y' [...]re strong,

Make sure abode. It fits [...] you so yong,

To suffer so much by the aged feas,

And erre in such a waylesse wildernesse.

Be chear'd (lou'd nurse,

Telemachus comforts Euryclea.

said he) for not witho [...]t

The will of God, go my attempts about.

Sweare therefore, not to wound my mothers eares

With word of this; before from heauen appeares

Th'ele [...]enth or twelfth light; or her selfe shall please

To aske of me; or heares me put to seas;

Lest her faire bodie, with her woe [...]e wore.

[Page] To this, the great oath of the Gods, she swore;

Which, hauing sworne; and of it, euery due

Performd to full: to vessels, wine she drew;

And into well-sewd sacks powr'd foodie meale;

In meane time he (with cunning to conceale

All thought of this from others) himselfe bore

In broade house, with the wooers, as before.

Then grey-eyd Pallas,

The care of Minerua for Telemachus.

other thoughts did owne;

And (like Telemachus) trod through the Towne;

Commanding all his men, in th'euen to be

Aboord his ship. Againe then question'd she

Normon (fam'd for aged Phronius sonne)

About his ship; who, all things to be done,

Assur'd her freely should. The Sunne then set,

And sable shadowes slid through euery streete,

When forth they lancht; and soone aboord did bring

All Armes, and choice of euery needfull thing,

That fits a well-riggd ship. The Goddesse then

Stood in the Ports extreame part; where, her men

(Nobly appointed) thicke about her came,

Whose euery breast, she did with spirit enflame.

Yet still fresh proiects, laid the grey-eyd Dame.

Strait, to the house she hasted; and sweete sleepe

Powr'd on each wooer; which so laid in steepe

Their drowsie temples, that each brow did nod,

As all were drinking; and each hand his lode

(The cup) let fall. All start vp, and to bed;

Nor more would watch, when sleepe so surfeted

Their leaden ey-lids. Then did Pallas call

Telemachus, (in bodie, voice, and all

Resembling Mentor) from his natiue nest:

And said, that all his arm'd men were addrest

To vse their Oares; and all expected now

He should the spirit of a souldier show.

Come then (said she) no more let vs deferre

Our honor'd action. Then she tooke on her

A rauisht spirit, and led as she did leape;

And he her most haste, tooke out, step by step.

Arriu'd at sea, and ship; they found ashore

The souldiers, that their fashiond long haire wore;

To whom,

Telemachus to his souldiers.

the Prince said: Come, my friends; let's bring

Our voyages prouision: euery thing

Is heapt together in our Court; and none

(No not my mother, nor her maids) but one

Knowes our intention. This exprest; he led;

The souldiers close together followed;

And all together brought aboord their store.

Aboord the Prince went; Pallas still before

[Page] Sat at the Sterne: he close to her; the men

Vp, hasted after. He, and Pallas then,

Put from the shore. His souldiers then he [...]ad

See all their Armes fit; which they heard; and had.

A beechen Mast then,

Nauigatur.

in the hollow base

They put, and hoisted; fixt it in his place

With cables; and with well-wreath'd halsers hoise

Their white sailes; which gray Pallas now employes

With full and fore-gales, through the darke deep maine.

The purple waues (so swift cut) roar'd againe

Against the ship sides,

[...].

that now ranne, and plowd

The rugged seas vp. Then the men bestowd

Their Armes about the ship; and sacrifice

With crownd wine cups, to th'endlesse Deities,

They offerd vp▪ Of all yet thron'd aboue,

They most obseru'd the grey-eyd seed of Ioue:

Who from the euening, till the morning rose,

And all day long, their voyage did dispose.

Finis libri secundi Ho [...]. Odyss.

THE THIRD BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES.
Another.

[Page]

THE ARGVMENT.

TElemachus, and heau'ns

Pallas.

wise Dame,

That neuer husband had, now came

To Nestor; who, his either guest

Receiu'd at the religious feast

He made to Neptune, on his shore.

And there told, what was done before

The Troian turrets; and the state

Of all the Greekes, since Ilions fate.

This booke, these

Vid. Minerua, Nestor, & Telemachus.

three of greatest place,

Doth serue with many a varied grace.

(Which past); Minerua takes her leaue.

Whose state, when Nestor doth perceiue;

With sacrifice he makes it knowne,

Where many a pleasing rite is showne.

Which done, Telemachus had gaind

A chariot of him; who ordaind

Pisistratus, his sonne, his guide

To Sparta; and when starrie eyd

The ample heau'n began to be;

All house-rites to affoord them free

(In Pheris) Diocles did please;

His sirname Ortilochides.

[...].

Vlysses sonne

With Nestor lies;

To Sparta gone,

Thence Pallas flies.

THe Sunne now left the great and goodly Lake,

And to the firme heau'n, bright ascent did make,

To shine as well vpon the mortall birth,

Inhabiting the plowd life-giuing earth,

As on the euer tredders vpon Death.

And now to Pylos, that so garnisheth

Her selfe with buildings; old Neleus towne,

The Prince and Goddesse come; had strange sights showne;

For on the Marine shore, the people there

To Neptune, that the Azure [...]ockes doth weare;

Be [...]ues that were wholy blacke, gaue holy flame.

Nine seates of State they made to his high name;

[Page] And euery Seate set with fiue hundred men;

And each fiue hundred, was to furnish then

With nine blacke Oxen, euery sacred Seate.

These, of the entrailes onely, pleasd to eate;

And to the God enflam'd the fleshie thies.

By this time Pallas, with the sparkling eies,

And he she led, within the ha [...]en bore:

Strooke saile,

Minerua to Tele [...]ac [...]us.

cast anchor, and trod both the shore.

She fi [...]st; he after. Then said Pallas: Now

No more befits thee the least bashfull brow;

Tembolde [...] which, this act is put on thee

To seeke thy Father, both at shore, and sea:

And learne in what Clime, he abides so close;

Or in the powre of what Fate doth repose.

Come then; go right to Nest [...]r; let vs see,

If in his bosome any counsell be,

That may informe vs. Pray him not to trace

The common courtship; and to speake in grace

Of the Demander; but to tell the truth:

Which will delight him; and commend thy youth

For such preuention; for he loues no lies;

Nor will report them, being truly wise.

He answerd:

Telemachus to Minerua.

Me [...]t [...]r! how alas shall I

Present my selfe? how greete his grauitie?

My youth by no meanes that ripe forme affords,

That can digest my minds instinct, in words

Wise, and beseeming th'eares of one so sage.

Youth of most hope, blush to vse words with Age.

She said: Thy mind will some conceit impresse,

And something God will prompt thy towardnesse.

For I suppose, thy birth and breeding too,

Were not in spite of what the Gods could do.

This said, she swiftly went before, and he

Her steps made guides, and followd instantly.

When soone they reacht the Pyli [...] throngs and seates,

Where Nestor with his sonnes sate; and the meates

That for the feast seru'd; round about them were

Adherents dressing all their sacred cheare,

Being rost and boyld meates. When the Pylia [...]s saw

These strangers come: in thrust did all men draw

About their entrie.

They are rec [...]iued as guests.

Tooke their hands, and praid

They both would sit. Their entrie first assaid

By Nestors sonne, Pisistratus. In grace

Of whose repaire, he gaue them honor'd place

Betwixt his Si [...]e, and brother Thrasi [...]d,

Who sate at feast, on soft Fels that were spred

Along the sea sands. Keru'd, and reacht to them

Parts of the inwards; and did make a streame

[Page] Of spritely wine, into a golden boule;

Which to Minerua, with a gentle soule

He gaue, and thus spake: Ere you eate, faire guest,

Inuoke the Seas King;

The [...] of Pis [...]strat [...] to strangers.

of whose sacred feast,

Your trauell hither, makes ye partners now:

When (sacrificing, [...]s becomes) bestow

This boule of sweete wine on your friend, that he

May likewise vse these rites of pietie:

For I suppose, his youth doth prayers vse,

Since all men need the Gods. But you I chuse

First in this cups disposure; since his yeares

Seeme short of yours; who more like me appeares.

Thus gaue he her the cup of pleasant wine;

And since a wise and iust man did designe

The golden boule first to her free receit;

Euen to the Goddesse it did adde delight.

Who thus inuokt: Heare thou whose vast embrace

Enspheres the whole earth; nor disdaine thy grace

Minerua [...] grace.

To vs that aske it, in performing this:

To Nestor first, and these faire sonnes of his,

Vo [...]chsafe all honor: and next them, bestow

On all these Pylia [...]s, that haue offer'd now

This most renowmed Hecatomb to thee,

Remuneration fit for them, and free;

And lastly daigne Telemachus, and me,

(The worke performd, for whose effect we came)

Our safe returne, both with our ship and fame.

Thus praid she; and her selfe, her selfe obaid;

In th'end performing all for which she praid.

And now to pray, and do as she had done;

She gaue the faire round boule t'Vlysses sonne.

The meate then drest, and drawne, and seru'd t'each guest;

They celebrated a most sumptuous feast.

When (appetite to wine and food allaid)

Horse-taming Nestor

Nestor to the strangers.

then began, and said:

Now lifes desire is seru'd, as farre as fare;

Time fits me to enquire, what guests these are.

Faire guests, what are ye? and for what Coast tries

Your ship the moist deepes? For fit merchandize,

Or rudely coast ye, like our men of prize?

The rough seas tempting; desperatly erring

The ill of others, in their good conferring?

The wise Prince, now his boldnesse did begin;

For Pallas selfe had hardned him within;

By this deuice of trauell to explore

His absent Father; which two Girlonds wore;

His good, by manage of his spirits; and then

To gaine him high grace, in th'accounts of men.

[Page] O Nestor!

Telemachus answers.

still in whom [...] liues!

And all the glorie of the Greeks [...]uruiues;

You aske, from whence we are; and I relate:

From Ithaca (whose seate is sit [...]ate

Where Neius the renowmed Mountaine reares

His haughtie forehead; and the honor beares

To be our Sea-marke) wea [...]aid the waues;

The businesse I must tell; our owne good [...],

And not the publicke. I am come t'enquire,

If in the fame that best men doth inspire,

Of my most-suffering Father, I may heare

Some truth of his estate [...]

The name (being ioynd in fight with you alone)

To euen with earth the height of [...] ▪

Of all men else, that any name did [...]eare,

And fought for Troy, the seuerall ends we heare;

But his death, Ioue keepes from the world vnknowne;

The certaine fame thereof, being told by none.

If on the Continent, by enemies slaine;

Or with the waues eat, of the rauenous Maine.

For his loue tis, that to your knees I sue;

That you would please, out of your owne cleare view,

T'assure his sad end; or say, if your eare

Hath heard of the vnhappie wanderer,

To too much sorrow, whom his mother bore.

You then, by all your bounties I implore,

(If euer to you, deed or word hath stood,

By my good Father promist, renderd good

Amongst the Troians; where ye both haue tried

The Grecian sufferance) that, in nought applied

To my respect or pitie, you will glose,

But vnclothd Truth, to my desi [...]es disclose.

O my much lou'd,

Nestor to Telemachus.

(said he) since you renew

Remembrance of the miseries that grew

Vpon our still-in-strength-opposing Gr [...]ece,

Amongst Troys people; I must touch a p [...]ce

Of all our woes there; either in the m [...]n

Achilles brought by sea, and led to gaine

About the Country; or in vs that fought

About the Citie, where to death were b [...]ought

All our chiefe men, as many as were th [...]e.

There Mars-like Aiax lies; Achilles there;

There the-in-counsell-like-the Gods; his

Patroclus.

[...]riend;

There my deare sonne Antilochus [...];

Past measure swift of foote, and staid in fight.

A number more, that ils felt infinite:

Of which to reckon all, what mortall man

(If fiue or sixe yeares you should stay here) can

[Page] Serue such enquirie? You would backe againe,

Affected with vnsufferable paine,

Before you heard it. Nine yeares siegd we them,

With all the depth and sleight of stratagem

That could be thought. Ill knit to ill, past end:

Yet still they toild vs: nor would yet Ioue send

Rest to our labors: nor will scarcely yet.

But no man liu'd, that would in publicke set

His wisedome, by Vlysses policie,

(As thought his equall) so excessiuely

He stood superiour all wayes. If you be

His sonne indeed; mine eyes euen rauish me

To admiration. And in all consent,

Your speech puts on his speeches ornament.

Nor would one say, that one so yong could vse

(Vnlesse his sonne) a Rhetorique so profuse.

And while we liu'd together; he and I

Neuer in speech maintaind diuersitie:

Nor set in counsell: but (by one soule led)

With spirit and prudent counsell furnished

The Greeks at all houres: that with fairest course,

What best became them, they might put in force.

But when Troys high Towres, we had leueld thus;

We put to sea; and God diuided vs.

And then did Ioue, our sad retreat deuise;

For all the Greeks were neither iust nor wise;

And therefore many felt so sharpe a-fate;

Sent from Mineruas most pernicious hate;

Whose mightie Father can do fearfull things.

By whose helpe she, betwixt the brother Kings

Let fall Contention:

De Graecorum dissidio.

who in councell met

In vaine, and timelesse; when the Sunne was set;

And all the Greeks calld; that came chargd with wine.

Yet then the Kings would vtter their designe;

And why they summond. Menelaus, he

Put all in mind of home; and cried, To sea.

But Agam [...]mnon stood on contraries;

Whose will was, they should stay and sacrifise

Whole Hecatombs to Pallas; to forgo

Her high wrath to them. Foole, that did not know

She would not so be wonne: for not with ease

Th'eternall Gods are turnd from what they please.

So they (diuided) on foule language stood.

The Greekes, in huge rout rose: their wine-heate bloud,

Two wayes affecting. And that nights sleepe too,

We turnd to studying either others wo.

When Ioue besides, made readie woes enow.

Mone came, we lancht; and in our ships did stow

[Page] Our goods,

Discors nauigatio Graecorum.

and faire-girt women. Halfe our men

The peoples guide (Atrides) did containe;

And halfe (being now aboord) put forth to [...]ea.

A most free gale gaue all ships prosperous way.

God settld then the huge whale-bearing lake;

And Tenedos we reacht; where, for times sake,

We did diuine rites to the Gods: but I [...]ue

(Inexorable still) bore yet no [...]oue

To our returne; but did againe excite

A second sad Contention, that turnd quite

A great part of vs backe to sea againe;

Which were, th'abundant in all counsels men,

(Your matchlesse Father) who, (to gratifie

The great Atrides) backe to him did flie.

But I fled all, with all that followd me;

Because I knew, God studied miserie,

To hurle amongst vs. With me likewise fled

Martiall Tidides. I, the men he led,

Gat to go with him. Winds our fleete did bring

To Lesbos, where the yellow-headed King

(Though late, yet) found vs: as we put to choise

A tedious voyage; if we saile should hoise [...]

Aboue rough Chi [...]s (left on our left hand)

To th'Ile of Psiria; or that rugged land

Saile vnder; and for windie [...] stere.

We askt of God, that some oftent might cleare

Our cloudie businesse: who gaue vs [...]igne,

And charge, that all should (in a middle line)

The sea cut, for Eub [...]ea; that with speed,

Our long-sustaind infortune might be freed.

Then did a whistling wind begin to rise,

And swiftly flew we through the fishie skies,

Till to Ger [...]stus we, in night were brought;

Where (through the broad sea, since we safe had wrought)

At Neptunes altars, many solid Thies

Of slaughterd buls, we burnd for sacrifise.

The fourth day came, when Tyd [...] sonne did greete

The hauen of Arg [...]s, with his complete Fleete.

But I, for Pyl [...]s strait ster'd on my course,

Nor euer left the wind his fore right force,

Since God fore-sent it first. And thus I came

(Deare sonne) to Pyols, vninformd by fame;

Nor know one sau'd by Fate, or ouercome.

Whom I haue heard of since (set here [...] home)

As fits, thou shalt be taught, nought left vnshowne.

The expert speare-men; euery My [...]midon,

(Led by the braue heire of the mightie sould

Vnpeerd Achilles) safe of home got hold.

[Page] Safe Philoctetes, Paeans famous seed:

And safe Idomen [...]eus; his men led

To his home, (Crete;) who fled the armed field;

Of whom, yet none, the sea from him withheld.

Atrides (you haue both heard, though ye be

His farre off dwellers) what an end had he,

Done by Aegisthus, to a bitter death;

Who miserably paid for forced breath;

Atrides leauing a good sonne, that dide

In bloud of that deceitfull parricide

His wreakfull sword. And thou my friend (as he

For this hath his fame) the like spirit in thee

Assume at all parts. Faire, and great I see

Thou art, in all hope; make it good to th'end;

That after-times, as much may thee commend.

He answerd:

Telemachus Nestori.

O thou greate [...]t grace of Greece;

Orestes made that wreake, his master peece;

And him the Greeks will giue, a master praise;

Ve [...]se finding him, to last all after daies.

And would to God, the Gods would fauour me

With his performance; that my iniurie,

Done by my mothers wooers, (being so foule)

I might reuenge vpon their euery soule.

Who (pressing me with contumelies) dare

Such things as past the powre of vtt [...]rance are.

But heauens great Powres, haue grac' [...] my destinie

With no such honor. Both my Sire and I,

Are borne to suffer euerlastingly.

Because you name those wooers (Friend, said he)

Nestor Telemacho.

Report sayes, many such, in spite of thee,

(Wooing thy mother) in thy house commit

The ils thou nam'st. But say; proceedeth it

From will in thee, to beare so foule a foile;

Or from thy subiects hate, that wish thy spoile?

And will not aide thee, since their spirits relie

(Against thy rule) on some graue Augurie?

What know they, but at length thy Father may

Come; and with violence, their violence pay?

Or he alone; or all the Greeks with him?

But if Minerua now did so esteeme

Thee, as thy Father, in times past; whom, past

All measure, she, with glorious fauours grac't

Amongst the Troi [...]ns, where we suffered so;

(O! I did neuer see, in such cleare show,

The Gods so grace a man, as she to him,

To all our eyes, appeard in all her t [...]im)

If so, I say, she would be pleasd to loue,

And that her minds care, thou so much couldst mo [...]e,

[Page] As did thy Father; euery man of these,

Would lose in death their seeking mariages.

O Father,

Telemachus.

(answerd he) you make amaze

Seise me throughout. Beyond the height of phrase

You raise expression; but twill neuer be▪

That I shall moue, in any Deitie,

So blest an honour. Not by any meanes,

If Hope should prompt me, o [...] blind Confidence,

(The God of Fooles), or euery Deitie

Should will it; for, tis past my destinie.

The burning-eyd Dame answerd:

Minerua.

What a speech

Hath past the teeth-guard, Nature gaue to teach

Fit question of thy words before they flie?

God easily can (when to a mortall eie

Hee's furthest off) a mortall satisfie:

Volente Deo, nihil est difficile

And does, the more still. For thy car'd for Sire;

I rather wish, that I might home retire,

After my sufferance of a world of woes;

Farre off; and then my glad eyes might disclose

The day of my returne; then strait retire,

And perish standing by my houshold fire.

As Agamemnon did; that lost his life,

By false Aegisthus, and his falser wife.

For Death to come at length, tis due to all;

Nor can the Gods themselues, when Fate shall call

Their most lou'd man, extend his vitall breath

Beyond the fixt bounds of abhorred Death.

Mentor!

Telemachus.

(said he) let's dwell no more on this,

Although in vs, the sorrow pious is.

No such returne, as we wish, Fates bequeath

My erring Father; whom a present death,

The deathlesse haue decreed. Ile now vse speech

That tends to other purpose; and beseech

Instruction of graue Nestor; since he flowes

Past shore, in all experience; and knowes

The sleights and wisedomes; to whose heights aspire

Others, as well as my commended Sire;

Whom Fame reports to haue commanded three

Ages of men: and doth in sight to me

Shew like th'Immortals. Nestor! the renowne

Of old Neleius; make the cleare truth knowne,

How the most great in Empire, Atreus sonne,

Sustaind the act of his destruction.

Where then was Menelaus? how was it,

That false Aegisthus, being so farre vnfit

A match for him, could his death so enforce?

Was he not then in Argos? or his course

With men so left, to let a coward breathe

[Page] Spirit enough, to dare his brothers death?

Ile tell thee truth in all (faire sonne) said he:

Right well was this euent conceiu'd by thee.

If Menelaus in his brothers house,

Nestor Telemacho de Aegi [...]thi adult [...]rio.

Had found the idle liuer with his spouse,

(Arriu'd from Troy) he had not liu'd; nor dead

Had the diggd heape powrd on his lustfull head:

But fowles and dogs had torne him in the fields,

Farre off of Argos. Not a Dame it yeelds;

Had giuen him any teare; so foule his fact

Shewd euen to women. Vs Troys warres had rackt

To euery sinewes sufferance; while

Aegisth [...].

he

In Argos vplands liu'd; from those workes free.

And Agamemnons wife, with force of word

Flatterd and softn'd; who, at first abhord

A fact so infamous. The heau'nly Dame,

A good mind had; but was in blood too blame.

There was a

[...].

Poet, to whose care, the King

His Queene committed; and in euery thing

(When he for Troy went) charg'd him to apply

Himselfe in all guard to her dignitie.

But when strong Fate, so wrapt-in her affects,

That she resolu'd to leaue her fit respects;

Into a desart Ile, her Guardian led,

(There left) the rapine of the Vultures fed.

Then brought he willing home his wills wonne prize;

On sacred Altars offerd many Thies▪

Hung in the Gods Phanes many ornaments;

Garments and gold; that he the vast euents

Of such a labor, to his wish had brought,

As neither fell into his hope, nor thought.

At last, from Troy saild Spartas king and I,

Both, holding her vntoucht. And (that his eie

Might see no worse of her) when both were blowne

To sacred Sunius (of Mineruas towne

The goodly Promontorie) with his shafts seuere

Augur Apollo slue him that did stere

Atrides ship, as he the sterne did guide,

And she the full speed of her saile applide.

He was a man, that nations of men

Exceld in safe guide of a vessell; when

A tempest rusht in on the ruffld seas:

His name was Phrontis Onetorides.

And thus was Menelaus held from home,

Whose way he thirsted so to ouercome;

To giue his friend the earth, being his pursuite,

And all his exequies to execute.

But sailing still the

[...] cuius facies vin [...]i representa [...]

wind-hewd seas, to reach

[Page] Some shore for fit perform [...]ce; he did fetch

The steepe Mount of the Mali [...]s; and there

With open voice, offended I [...]piter,

Proclaimd the voyage, his repugnant mind;

And powr'd the puffes out of a shreeking wind,

That nourisht billowes, heightned like to hils.

And with the Fleets diuision, fulfils

His hate proclaimd; vpon a part of Cr [...]te

Casting the Nauie; where the [...]ea-wa [...]es meete

Rough I [...]rdanus; and where the Cyd [...]s liue.

There is a Rocke, on which the Sea doth driue;

Bare, and all broken; on the confines set

Of [...]ortys; that the darke seas likewise fret;

And hither sent the South, a horrid drift

Of wanes against the top, that was the left

Of that torne cliffe; as farre as Phast [...] Sttand.

A litle stone, the great [...]eas rage did stand.

The men here driuen, scapt hard the ships so [...]e shocks;

The ships themselues being wrackt against the rocks;

Saue onely fiue, that blue fore-castles bo [...]e,

Which wind and water cast on Aegyp [...]s shore.

When he (there victling well, and store of gold

Aboord his ships brought) his wilde way did [...]old,

And t'other languag'd men, was forc't to rome.

Meane space Aegisthus made sad worke at home;

And slue his brother; forcing to his sway,

Atrides subiects;

Ag [...]mem [...]onis inte [...]tus.

and did seuen yeares lay

His yoke vpon the rich Myce [...] State.

But in the eight, (to his affrighting fat [...])

Diuine Orest [...]s home from Athe [...]s came;

Orestes patrem v [...]ci [...]citur.

And what his royall Father felt, the same

He made the false Aegisthus grone beneath:

Death euermore is the reward of Death.

Thus hauing slaine him; a sepulchrall feast

He made the Argiues, for his lustfull guest,

And for his mother, whom he did de [...]est.

The selfe-same day, vpon him stole the King,

(Good at a martiall shout) and goods did bring▪

As many as his freighted Fleete could beare.

But thou (my sonne) too long, by no meanes erre,

Thy goods left free for many a spoilfull guest;

Lest they consume some, and diuide the rest;

And thou (perhaps besides) thy voyage lose.

To Menelaus yet thy course dispose,

I wish and charge thee; who but late arriu'd,

From such a shore, and men; as to haue liu'd

In a returne from them; he neuer thought;

And whom, blacke whirlwinds violently brought

[Page] Within a sea so vast, that in a yeare

Not any fowle could passe it any where,

So huge and horrid was it. But go thou

With ship and men (or if thou pleasest now

To passe by land, there shall be brought for thee

Both horse and chariot; and thy guides shall be

My sonnes themselues) to Sparta, the diuine,

And to the King, whose locks like▪ Ambe [...] shine.

Intreate the truth of him; nor loues he lies;

Wisedome in truth is; and hee's passing wise.

This said, the Sunne went downe, and vp rose Night,

When Pallas spake;

Pallas Nestori.

O Father, all good right

Beare thy directions. But diuide we now

The sacrifises tongues; mixe wine; and vow

To Neptune, and the other euer blest;

That hauing sacrifisd, we may to rest.

The fit houre runnes now; light diues ou [...] of date;

At sacred feasts, we must not sit too late.

She said: They heard; the Herald water gaue;

The youths crownd cups with wine; and let all haue

Their equall shares; beginning from the cup,

Their parting banquet. All the Tongues cut vp;

The fire they gaue them; sacrifisde, and rose;

Wine, and diuine rites, vsde to each dispose;

Minerua and Telemachus desirde

They might to ship be, with his leaue, retirde.

He (mou'd with that) prouokt thus their abodes:

Now Ioue forbid, and all the long-liu'd Gods,

Your leauing me, to sleepe aboord a ship:

As I had drunke of poore Penias whip,

Euen to my nakednesse; and had nor sheete,

Nor couering in my house; that warme nor swe [...]e.

A guest, nor I my selfe, had meanes to sleepe;

Where I, both weeds and wealthy couerings keepe

For all my guests: nor shall Fame euer say,

The deare sonne of the man Vlysses, lay

All night a ship boord here; while my dayes shine;

Or in my Court, whiles any sonne of mine

Enioyes suruiuall: who shall guests receiue,

Whom euer, my house hath a nooke to leaue.

My much lou'd Father, (said Minerua) well

All this becomes thee. But perswade to dwell

This night with thee thy sonne Telemachus;

For more conuenient is the cou [...]se for vs,

That he may follow to thy house, and rest.

And I may boord our blacke saile; that addrest

At all parts I may make our men; and cheare

All with my presence; since of all men there

[Page] I boast my selfe the senior; th'o [...]hers are

Youths, that attend in free and friendly care,

Great-sould Telem [...]chus; and are his peeres,

In fresh similitude of forme and yeeres.

For their confirmance, I will therefore now

Sleepe in our blacke Barke. But when Light shall shew

Her siluer forehead; I intend my way

Amongst the Cauco [...]s; men that are to pay▪

A debt to me, nor small, nor new. For this,

Take you him home; whom in the morne dismisse,

With chariot and your sonnes; and giue him ho [...]se

Ablest in strength, and of the speediest course.

This said;

Disparet Minerua.

away she flew; formd like the fowle

Men call the Os [...]ifrage; when euery soule

Amaze inuaded:

Nestor Telemacho.

euen th'old man admir'd;

The youths hand tooke, and said: O most desir'd;

My hope sayes, thy proofe will no coward show,

Nor one vnskild in warre; when Deities now

So yong attend thee, and become thy guides:

Nor any of the heauen-housde States besides;

But Tritogenias selfe; the seed of Ioue;

The great in prey; that did in honor moue▪

So much about thy Father; amongst all

The Grecian armie. Fairest Queene, let fall

On me like fauours: giue me good renowne;

Which, as on me; on my lou'd wife, let downe,

And all my children. I will burne to thee

An Oxe right bred, brode headed, and yoke-free,

To no mans hand yet humbled. Him will I

(His hornes in gold hid) giue thy Deitie.

Thus praid he; and she heard; and home he led

His sonnes, and all his heap [...]s of kindered;

Who entring his Court royall; euery one

He marshald in his seuerall seate and throne.

And euery one, so kindly come, he gaue

His sweet-wine cup; which none was let to haue

Before this leuenth yeare, landed him from Troy;

Which now the Butleresse had leaue t'employ.

Who therefore pierst it, and did giue it vent.

Of this, the old Duke did a cup present

To euery guest: made his maid many a praire

That weares the Shield fring'd with his nurses haire;

And gaue her sacrifise. With this rich wine

And food suffisde, Sleepe, all eyes did decline.

And all for home went: but his Court alone,

Telemachus, diuine Vlysses sonne,

Must make his lodging, or not please his heart.

A bed, all chequerd with elaborate Art,

[Page] Within a Portico, that rung like brasse,

He brought his guest to; and his bedfere was

Pisistratus, the martiall guide of men,

That liu'd, of all his sonnes, vnwed till then.

Himselfe lay in a by-roome, farre aboue,

His bed made by his barren wife, his loue.

The rosie-fingerd morne, no sooner shone,

But vp he rose, tooke aire, and sat vpon

A seate of white, and goodly polisht stone,

That such a glosse as richest ointments wore

Before his high gates; where the Counsellor

That matcht the Gods (his Father) vsde to sit:

Who now (by Fate forc't) stoopt as low as it.

And here sate Nestor, holding in his hand

A Scepter; and about him round did stand

(As early vp) his sonnes troope; Perseus,

The God-like Thrasimed, and [...],

Ec [...]ephron, Stratius; the sixt and last

Pisistratus; and by him (halfe emb [...]ac't

Still as they came) diuine Telemachus;

To these spake Nestor, old Gerenius:

Haste (loued sonnes) and do me a desire,

Nestoris filij patris iussu Mineruae sacrum apparant.

That (first of all the Gods) I may aspire

To Pallas fauour; who vouchsaft to me,

At Neptunes feast, her sight so openly.

Let one to field go; and an Oxe with speed

Cause hither brought; which, let the Heardsman leade;

Another to my deare guests vessell go,

And all his souldiers bring, saue onely two.

A third, the Smith that works in gold, command

(Laertius) to attend; and lend his hand,

To plate the both hornes round about with gold▪

The rest remaine here close. But first, see told

The maids within, that they prepare a feast;

Set [...]eates through all the Court: see strait addrest

The purest water; and get fuell feld.

This said; not one, but in the seruice held

Officious hand. The Oxe came led from field;

The Souldiers troopt from ship;

The forme of the Sacrifice.

the Smith he came,

And those tooles brought, that seru'd the actuall frame,

His Art conceiu'd; brought Anvile, hammers brought,

Faire tongs, and all, with which the gold was wrought.

Minerua likewise came, to set the Crowne

On that kind sacrifice, and mak't her owne.

Then th'old Knight Nestor gaue the Smith the gold,

With which he strait did both the hornes infold;

And trimm'd the Offering so, the Goddesse ioyd.

About which, thus were Nestors sonnes employd:

[Page] Diuine Echephron, and faire Stratius,

Held both the hornes: the water odorous,

In which they washt, what to the rites was vowd,

Aretus (in a caldron, all bestrowd

With herbes and flowres) seru'd in from th'holy roome

Where all were drest; and whence the rites must come.

And after him, a hallowd virgin came,

That brought the barley cake, and blew the flame.

The axe, with which the Oxe should both be feld

And cut forth, Thrasimed stood by▪ and held.

Perseus the ves [...]ell held, that should retaine

The purple licour of the offering slaine.

Then washt, the pious Father: then the Cake

(Of barley, salt, and oile made) tooke, and brake.

Askt many a boone of Pallas; and the state

Of all the offering, did initiate.

In three parts cutting off the haire, and cast

Amidst the flame. All th'inuocation past,

And all the Cake broke; manly Thr [...]simed

Stood neare, and sure; and such a blow he laid

Aloft the offring; that to earth he sunke,

His neck-nerues sunderd, and his spirits shrunke.

Ou [...] [...]iekt the daughters, daughter in lawes, and wife

Of three-ag'd Nestor, (who had eldest life

Of Clymens daughters) chast Eurydice.

The Oxe on broad earth, then layd laterally,

They held, while Duke Pisi [...]tr [...]tus, the throte

Dissolu'd and set, the sable blood afflo [...]e;

And then the life the bones left. Instantly

They cut him vp; apart flew either Thie;

That with the fat they dubd, with art alone;

The throte-briske, and the sweet-bread pricking on.

Then Nestor broild them on the cole-turnd wood,

Powr'd blacke wine on; and by him yong men stood,

That spits fine-pointed held, on which (when burnd

The solid Thies were) they transfixt, and turnd

The inwards, cut in cantles: which (the meate

Vowd to the Gods, consum'd) they rost and eate.

In meane space, Polycaste (calld the faire,

Nestors yongst daughter) bath'd Vlysses heire;

Whom, hauing cleansd, and with rich balmes bespred;

She cast a white shirt quickly o're his head,

And then his weeds put on; when, forth he went,

And did the person of a God present.

Came, and by Nestor tooke his honourd seate,

This pastor of the people. Then, the meate

Of all the spare parts rosted; off they drew;

Sate, and fell to. But soone the temperate few,

[Page] Rose, and in golden bolles, filld others wine.

Till, when the rest felt thirst of feast decline;

Nestor his sonnes bad, fetch his high-man'd horse,

And them in chariot ioyne, to runne the course

The Prince resolu'd. Obaid, as soone as heard

Was Nestor by his sonnes; who strait prepar'd

Both horse and chariot. She that kept the store,

Both bread and wine, and all such viands more,

As should the feast of Ioue-fed Kings compose;

Pouruaid the voyage. To the rich Coach, rose

Vlysses sonne;

Telemachus profici [...]citur ad Menclaum.

and close to him ascended

The Duke Pisistratus; the reines intended,

And scourg'd, to force to field, who freely flew;

And left the Towne, that farre her splendor threw.

Both holding yoke, and shooke it all the day;

But now the Sunne set, darkning euery way,

When they to Pheris came; and in the house

Of Diocles (the sonne t'Ortiloc [...]us,

Whom flood Alpheus got) slept all that night:

Who gaue them each due hospitable rite.

But when the rosie-fingerd morne arose,

They went to Coach, and did their horse inclose;

Draue forth the fore-court, and the porch that yeelds

Each breath a sound; and to the fruitfull fields

Rode scourging still their willing flying Steeds;

Who strenuously performd their wonted speeds.

Their iourney ending iust when Sunne went downe;

And shadowes all wayes through the earth were throwne.

Finis libri tertij Hom. Odyss.

THE FOVRTH BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES.
Another.

[Page]

THE ARGVMENT.

REceiu'd now, in the Spart [...] Court

Telemachus, preferres report

To Menelaus,

Menelaus.

of the throng

Of wo [...]ers with [...], and their wrong.

Atrides tels the Greekes retre [...]te,

And doth a Prophecie repeate,

That Protens [...]ade; by which he knew

His brothers death; and then d [...]th shew

How wish Calypso li [...]'d the fire

Of his yong guest. The woo'rs c [...]spire

Their Princes death: wh [...]se trechery knowne,

Penelope in teares doth dr [...]wne.

Whom Pallas by a [...],

And in [...] appeare

Of faire Iphthima, [...] to be

The sister of Penelope.

[...].

Here, of the Sire

The [...] d [...]th heare:

The woo'rs conspire;

The mothers feare.

IN Laced [...] now,

[...] which is expounded Spar tam amplam, or [...] magnam: where [...]. signifies properly plurima cete nutrientem.

the nurse of Whales,

These two arriu'd, and found at festiuals

(With mightie concourse) the renowmed King,

His sonne and daughter, ioyntly marrying.

Alectors daughter, he did giue his sonne

Strong [...]; who his life begunne

By Menelaus bo [...]dmaid; whom he knew

In yeares. When Hellen could no more renew

In issue like diuine [...];

Who held in all faire forme, as high degree

As golden Venus. Her he married now

To great Achilles sonne; who was by vow

Betrothd to her at Tr [...]y. And thus the Gods

To constant loues, giue nuptiall periods.

Whose state here past, the Myrmid [...]ns rich towne

(Of which she shar'd in the Imperiall Crowne)

With horse and chariots he resign'd her to.

Meane space, the high huge house, with feast did flow

[Page] Of friends and neighbours, ioying with the King.

Amongst whom, did a heauenly Poet sing,

And touch his Harpe. Amongst whom likewise danc't

Two; who in that dumbe motion aduanc't,

Would prompt

[...] Cantum auspicantes: of which place, the Critiks affirme, that saltatores morn suo indicant cantori, quo genere cantus [...]altaturi forent. The rapture of Eteoneus at sight of Telemachus and Pisistratus.

the Singer, what to sing and play.

All this time, in the vtter Court did stay,

With horse and chariot, Telemachus,

And Nestors noble sonne, Pisistratus.

Whom Eteoneus coming forth, descried,

And, being a seruant to the King, most tried

In care, and his respect; he ranne and cried:

Guests! Ioue-kept Menelaus! two such men,

As are for forme, of high Saturnius straine.

Informe your pleasure, if we shall vnclose

Their horse from coach; or say, they must dispose

Their way to some such house, as may embrace

Their knowne arriuall, with more welcome grace?

He (angry) answerd, Thou didst neuer show

Thy selfe a foole (Beotides) till now;

Menelaus rebukes his [...] for his doubt to entertaine gnests worthy.

But now (as if turnd child) a childish speech

Vents thy vaine spirits. We our selues now reach

Our home, by much spent hospitalitie

Of other men; nor know, if Ioue will trie,

With other after wants, our state againe:

And therefore, from our feast, no more detaine

Those welcome guests; but take their Steeds from Coach,

And with attendance guide in their approach.

This said, he rusht abroad, and calld some more

Tried in such seruice; that together bore

Vp to the guests: and tooke their Steeds that swet

Beneath their yokes, from Coach. At mangers set,

Wheate and white barley gaue them mixt; and plac't

Their Chariot by a wall so cleare, it cast

A light quite thorough it. And then they led

Their guests to the diuine house; which so fed

Their eyes at all parts with illustrous sights,

That Admiration seisd them. Like the lights

The Sunne and Moone gaue; all the Pallace threw

A luster through it. Satiate with whose view,

Downe to the Kings most bright-kept Baths, they went;

Where handmaids did their seruices present:

Bath'd, balmd them; shirts, and well-napt weeds put on,

And by Atrides side, set each his throne.

Then did the handmaid royall, water bring,

And to a Lauer, rich and glittering,

Of massie gold, powr'd: which she plac't vpon

A siluer Caldron; into which, might runne

The water as they washt. Then set she neare

[Page] A polisht table; on which, all the cheare

The present could affoord; a reuerend Dame

That kept the Larder, set. A Cooke then came,

And diuers dishes, borne thence, seru'd againe;

Furnisht the boord with bolles of gold; and then

(His right hand giuen the guests) Atrides said,

Eate, and be chearfull; appetite allaid,

I long to aske, of what stocke ye descend;

For not from parents, whose race namelesse end,

We must deriue your ofspring. Men obscure,

Could get none such as you. The pourtraiture

Of Ioue-sustaind, and Scepter-bearing Kings,

Your either person, in his presence brings.

An Oxes fat chine, then they vp did lift,

And set before the guests; which was a gift,

Sent as an honor, to the Kings owne tast.

They saw yet, twas but to be eaten plac't,

And fell to it. But food and wines care past,

Telemachus thus prompted Nestors sonne;

(His eare close laying, to be heard of none)

Consider (thou whom most my mind esteemes)

The brasse-worke here,

Telemachus to Pisistratus, in obseruation of the house, not so much that he hartily admired it, as to please Menelaus, who he knew heard, though he seemd desirous he shold not heare.

how rich it is in beames;

And how besides, it makes the whole house sound?

What gold, and amber, siluer, ivorie, round

Is wrought about it. Our of doubt, the Hall

Of Iupiter Olympius, hath of all

This state, the like. How many infinites,

Take vp to admiration, all mens sights?

Atrides ouer-heard; and said; Lou'd sonne,

No mortall must affect contention

With Ioue,

Menelaus relates his trauels to his guests.

whose dwellings are of endlesse date.

Perhaps (of men) some one may emulate,

(Or none) my house, or me. For I am one,

That many a graue extreme haue vndergone.

Much error felt by sea; and till th [...] eight yeare,

Had neuer stay; but wanderd farre and neare,

Cyprus, Phoenicia, and Syd [...]nia;

And fetcht the farre off Aethiopia:

Reacht the Erembi of Arabia;

And Lybia, where, with hornes, Ewes yeane their Lambs:

Where euery full yeare, Ewes are three times dams.

Where neither King, nor shepheard; want comes neare

Of cheese, or flesh, or sweete milke. All the yeare

They euer milke their Ewes. And here while I

Errd, gathering meanes to liue: one, murtherously,

Vnwares, vnseene, bereft my brothers life;

Chiefly betraid by his abhorred wife.

So, hold I, (not enioying) what you see.

[Page] And of your Fathers (if they liuing be)

You must haue heard this: since my suffrings were

So great and famous. From this Pallace here,

(So rarely-well-built; furnished so well;

And substanced with such a precio [...]s deale

Of well-got treasure) banisht by the doome

Of Fate; and erring as I had no home.

And now I haue, and vse it; not to take

Th'entire delight it offers; but to make

Continuall wishes, that a triple part

Of all it holds, were wanting; so my heart

Were easde of sorrowes (taken for their deaths

That fell at Troy) by their reuiued breaths.

And thus sit I here, weeping, mourning still

Each least man lost; and sometimes make mine ill

(In paying iust teares for their losse) my ioy.

Sometimes I breathe my woes; for in annoy▪

The pleasure soone admits satietie.

But all these mens wants, wet not so mine eie,

(Though much they moue me) as one sole mans misse;

For which, my sleepe and meate euen lothsome is,

In his renewd thought; since no Greeke hath wonne

Grace, for such labours, as

Intending Vlysses.

La [...]rtes sonne

Hath wrought and sufferd: to himselfe, nought else

But future sorrowes forging: to me, hels

For his long absence; since I cannot know

If life or death detaine him: since such woe

For his loue, old Laertes, his wise wife,

And poore yong sonne sustaines; whom new with life,

He left as sirelesse. This speech; griefe to teares

(Powrd from the sonnes lids on the earth) his eares

(Told of the Father) did excite; who kept

His cheekes drie with his red weed, as he wept:

His both hands vsde therein. Atrides then

Began to know him; and did [...] retaine,

If he should let, himselfe confesse his Sire,

Or with all fitting circumstance, enquire.

While this, his thoughts disputed; forth did shine,

(Like to the golden

Diana. Hellens reparance and ornament.

distaffe-deckt diuine)

From her beds high and odoriferous roome,

Hellen. To whom (of an elaborate loome)

Adresta set a chaire: Alcyppe brought

A peece of Tapestrie, of fine wooll wrought.

Philo, a siluer Cabinet conferd:

(Giuen by Alcandra, Nuptially endeard

To Lord Polybius; whose abode in Thebes,

Th'Aegyptian citie was;) where wealth in heapes,

His famous house held: out of which did go

[Page] In gift t' Atrides, siluer bath-tubs two;

Two Tripods; and of fine gold, talents ten.

His wife did likewise send to Hellen then,

Faire gifts; a Distaffe that of gold was wrought;

And that rich Cabinet that Phyl [...] brought;

Round, and with gold ribd; now of fine thred, full:

On which extended (crownd with finest wooll,

Of violet glosse) the golden Distaffe lay.

She tooke her State-chaire; and a foot-stoo [...]s stay

Had for her feete: and of her husband, thus

Askt to know all things: Is it knowne to vs,

(King Menelaus)

Hellen to Menelaus concerning the guests.

whom these men commend

Themselues for; that our Court, now takes to friend?

I must affirme, (be I deceiu'd or no)

I neuer yet saw man nor woman so

Like one another, as this man is like

Vlysses sonne. With admiration str [...]ke

His lookes, my thoughts; that they should carrie now

Powre to perswade me thus; who did but know,

When newly he was borne, the forme they bore.

But tis his Fathers grace; whom more and more

His grace resembles; that makes meretaine

Thought, that he now, is like Telemachus then:

Left by his Sire, when Greece did vndertake

Troys bold warre, for my impudencies sake.

He answerd: Now wife, what you thinke, I know,

The true cast of his Fathers eye, doth show

In his eyes order. Both his head and haire,

His hands and feete, his very fathers are.

Of whom (so well rememberd) I should now

Acknowledge for me, his continuall flow

Of cares and perils: yet still patient.

But I should too much moue him, that doth vent

Such bitter teares for that which hath bene spoke;

Which (shunning soft shew) see how he would cloke;

And with his purple weed, his weepings hide.

Then Nestors sonne, Pisistratus replide:

Great Pastor of the people, kept of God!

He is Vlysses sonne;

Pisistrat [...] tels who they are.

but his abode

Not made before here; and he modest too;

He holds it an indignitie to do

A deed so vaine, to vse the boast of words,

Where your words are on wing; whose voice affords

Delight to vs, as if a God did breake

The aire amongst vs, and vouchsafe to speake.

But me, my father (old Duke Nestor) sent

To be his consort hither; his content,

Not to be height [...]d so, as with your sight.

[Page] In hope that therewith words and actions might

Informe his comforts from you; since he is

Extrernely grieu'd and iniu [...]'d, by the misse

Of his great Father; suffering euen at home.

And few friends found, to helpe him ouercome

His too weake sufferance, now his Sire is gone.

Amongst the people, not affoorded one

To checke the miseries, that mate him thus;

And this the state is of Telemachus.

Menelaus ioy for Telemachus, and mone for Vlysses absence.

O Gods (said he) how certaine, now, I see

My house enioyes that friends sonne, that for me

Hath vndergone so many willing fights?

Whom I resolu'd, past all the Grecian Knights,

To hold in loue; if our returne by seas,

The farre-off Thunderer did euer please

To grant our wishes. And to his respect,

A Pallace and a Citie to erect,

My vow had bound me. Whither bringing then

His riches, and his sonne, and all his men

From barren Ithaca, (some one sole Towne

Inhabited about him, batterd downe)

All should in Argos liue. And there would I

Ease him of rule; and take the Emperie

Of all on me. And often here would we

(Delighting, louing eithers companie)

Meete and conuerse; whom nothing should diuide,

Till deaths blacke veile did each all ouer hide.

But this perhaps had ben [...] a meane to take

Euen God himselfe with enuie; who did make

Vlysses therefore onely the vnblest,

That should not reach his loued countries rest.

These woes made euery one with woe in loue;

Euen Argiue Hellen wept, (the seed of Ioue)

Vlysses sonne wept; Atreus

Menelaus.

sonne did weepe;

And Nestors sonne, his eyes in teares did steepe.

But his teares fell not from the present cloud,

That from Vlysses was exhal'd; but flowd

From braue Antilochus rememberd due,

Whom the renowmd

Pisistratus weeps with remēbrance of his brother Antilochus. Vid. Memnon.

Sonne of the Morning slue.

Which yet he thus excusde: O Atreus sonne!

Old Nestor sayes, There liues not such a one

Amongst all mortals, as Atrides is,

For deathlesse wisedome. Tis a praise of his,

Still giuen in your remembrance; when at home

Our speech concernes you. Since then ouercome

You please to be, with sorrow euen to teares,

That are in wisedome so exempt from peres;

Vouchsafe the like effect in me excuse,

[Page] (If it be lawfull) I affect no vse

Of teares thus, after meales; at least, at night:

But when the morne brings forth, with teares, her light,

It shall not then empaire me to bestow

My teares on any worthies ouerthrow.

It is the onely right, that wretched men

Can do dead friends; to cut haire, and complaine.

But Death my brother tooke; whom none could call

The Grecian coward; you best knew of all.

I was not there, nor saw; but men report,

Antilochus exceld the common sort,

For footmanship, or for the Chariot race;

Or in the fight, for hardie hold of place.

O friend (said he) since thou hast spoken so,

At all parts, as one wise should say and do;

And like one, farre beyond thy selfe in yeares;

Thy words shall bounds be, to our former teares.

O he is questionlesse a right borne sonne,

That of his Father hath not onely wonne

The person, but the wisedome; and that Sire;

(Complete himselfe) that hath a sonne entire,

Ioue did not onely his full Fate adorne,

When he was wedded; but when he was borne.

As now Saturnius, through his lifes whole date,

Hath Nestors blisse raisd to as steepe a state:

Both in his age to keepe in peace his house;

And to haue children wise and valorous.

But let vs not forget our rere Feast thus;

Let some giue water here. Telemachus!

The morning shall yeeld time to you and me,

To do what fits; and reason mutually.

This said; the carefull seruant of the King;

(Asphalion) powr'd on, th'issue of the Spring;

And all to readie feast, set readie hand.

But Hellen now,

Hellens potion against Cares.

on new deuice did stand;

Infusing strait a medcine to their wine,

That (drowning Cares and Angers) did decline

All thought of ill. Who drunke her cup, could shed

All that day, not a teare; no not if dead

That day his father or his mother were;

Not if his brother, child, or chiefest deare,

He should see murtherd then before his face.

Such vsefull medcines (onely borne in grace,

Of what was good) would Hellen euer haue.

And this Iuyce to her, Polydamma gaue

The wife of Thoon; an Aegyptian borne;

Whose rich earth, herbes of medicine do adorne

In great abundance. Many healthfull are,

[Page] And many banefull. Euery man is there

A good Physition, out of natures grace;

For all the nation sprung of Paeons race.

When Hellen

Hellen of Vlysses and the sacke of Troy.

then her medicine had infusde,

She bad powre wine to it, and this speech vsde:

Atrides, and these good mens sonnes; great Ioue

Makes good and ill, one after other moue

In all things earthly: for he can do all.

The woes past therefore, he so late let fall;

The comforts he affoords vs, let vs take;

Feast, and with fit discourses, merrie make.

Nor will I other vse. As then our blood

Grieu'd for Vlysses, since he was so good;

Since he was good, let vs delight to heare

How good he was, and what his suffrings were.

Though euery fight, and euery suffring deed,

Patient Vlysses vnderwent; exceed

My womans powre to number, or to name.

But what he did, and sufferd, when he came

Amongst the Troians, (where ye Grecians all

Tooke part with sufferance) I in part can call

To your kind memories. How with ghastly wounds

Himselfe he mangl'd; and the Troian bounds

(Thrust thicke with enemies) aduentured on:

His royall shoulders, hauing cast vpon

Base abiect weeds, and enterd like a slaue.

Then (begger-like) he did of all men craue;

And such a wretch was, as the whole Greeke fleete

Brought not besides. And thus through euery streete

He crept discouering: of no one man knowne.

And yet through all this difference, I alone

Smok't his true person. Talkt with him. But he

Fled me with wiles still. Nor could we agree,

Till I disclaimd him quite. And so (as mou'd

With womanly remorse, of one that prou'd

So wretched an estate, what ere he were)

Wonne him to take my house. And yet euen there;

Till freely I (to make him doubtlesse) swore

A powrefull oath, to let him reach the shore

Of ships and tents, before Troy vnderstood;

I could not force on him his proper good.

But then I bath'd and sooth'd him, and he then

Confest, and told me all. And (hauing slaine

A number of the Troian guards) retirde,

And reacht the Fleete; for slight and force admirde.

Their husbands deaths by him, the Troian wiues

Shrickt for; but I made triumphs for their liues.

For then my heart conceiu'd, that once againe

[Page] I should reach home; and yet did still retaine

Woe for the slaughters, Venus made for me:

When both my husband, my Hermio [...]e,

And bridall roome, she robd of so much right;

And drew me from my countrie, with her sleight.

Though nothing vnder heauen, I here did need,

That could my Fancie, or my Beautie feed.

Her husband said:

Menelaus to Hellen and his guests.

Wife! what you please to tell,

Is true at all parts, and becomes you well.

And I my selfe, that now may say, haue seene

The minds and manners of a world of men:

And great Heroes, measuring many a ground,

Haue neuer (by these eyes that light me) found

One, with a bosome, so to be belou'd,

As that in which, th'accomplisht spirit, mou'd

Of patient Vlysses. What (braue man)

He both did act, and suffer, when we wan

The towne of Ilion, in the braue-built horse,

When all we chiefe States of the Grecian force,

Were housde together; bringing Death and Fate

Amongst the Troians; you (wife) may relate.

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

The Troians glorie giue; gaue charge you should

Approch the engine; and Deipho [...]us

(The god-like) followd. Thrice ye cir [...]'d vs,

With full suruay of it; and often tried

The hollow crafts, that in it were implied.

When all the voices of their wiues in it

You tooke on you;

Hellen counterfetted the wiues voices of those Kings of Greece, that were in the woodden horse, and calls their husband.

with voice so like, and fit;

And euery man by name, so visited;

That I, Vlysses, and King Diomed,

(Set in the midst, and hearing how you calld)

Tydides, and my selfe, (as halfe appalld

With your remorcefull plaints) would, passing faine

Haue broke our silence; rather then againe

Endure, respectlesse, their so mouing cries.

But, Ithacus, our strongest fantasies

Containd within vs, from the slendrest noise,

And euery man there, sat without a voice.

Anticlus onely, would haue answerd thee:

But, his speech, Ithacus incessantly

With strong hand held in: till (Mineruas call,

Charging thee off) Vlysses sau'd vs all.

Telemachus replide:

Telemachus to Menelaus.

Much greater is

My griefe, for hearing this high praise of his.

For all this doth not his sad death diuert;

Nor can, though in him swelld an iron heart.

Prepare, and leade then (if you please) to rest:

[Page] Sleepe (that we heare not) will content vs best.

Then Argiue Hellen made he handmaid go,

And put faire bedding in the Portico;

Lay purple blankets on,

Itur ad lecturn.

Rugs warme and soft;

And cast and Arras couerlet aloft.

They torches tooke; 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-traine-wearing Spouse,

(The excellent of women) for the way,

In a retir'd receit, together lay.

The morne arose; the King rose, and put on

His royall weeds; his sharpe sword hung vpon

His ample shoulders; forth his chamber went,

And did the person of a God present.

Telemachus accosts him; who begun

Speech of his iourneys proposition.

And what (my yong Vlyssean Heroe)

Prouokt thee on the broad backe of the sea,

Menelaus enquires the cause of his [...]oyage.

To visit Lacedaemon the Diuine?

Speake truth; Some publicke [...] or onely thine?

I come (said he) to heare, if any fame

Breath'd of my Father; to thy notice came.

My house is sackt; my fat workes of the field,

Are all destroid: my house doth nothing yeeld

But enemies; that kill my harmlesse sheepe,

And sinewie Oxen: nor will euer keepe

Their steeles without them. And these men are they,

That wooe my Mother; most inhumanely

Committing iniurie on iniurie.

To thy knees therefore I am come, t'attend

Relation of the sad and wretched end,

My erring Father felt: if witnest by

Your owne eyes; or the certaine newes that flie

From others knowledges. For, more then is

The vsuall heape of humane miseries,

His Mother bore him to. Vouchsafe me then

(Without all ruth of what I can sustaine)

The plaine and simple truth of all you know.

Let me beseech so much. If euer vow

Was made, and put in good effect to you

At Troy (where suffrance bred you so much smart)

Vpon my Father, good Vlysses part;

And quit it now to me (himselfe in youth)

Vnfolding onely the vnclosed truth.

He (deeply sighing) answerd him: O shame

That such poore vassals should affect the fame,

To share the ioyes of such a Worthies Bed!

[Page] As when a Hinde (her calues late farrowed

To giue sucke) enters the bold lions den:

He, rootes of hils, and herbie vallies then

For food (there feeding) hunting: but at length

Returning to his Cauerne; giues his strength

The liues of both the mother and her brood,

In deaths indecent; so the [...]

Must pay Vlysses powres, as sharpe an end.

O would to Ioue, Apollo, and thy friend,

(The wise Minerua) that thy Father were

As once he was, when he his spirits did rere

Against Philomelides, in a fight

Performd in well-built Lesbos; where, downe-right

He strooke 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 cop't,

Short-liu'd they all were; and their nuptials, hop't

Would proue as desperate. But for thy demand,

Enforc't with prayrs; Ile let thee vnderstand

The truth directly; nor decline a thought;

Much lesse deceiue, or sooth thy search in ought.

But what the old, and still-true-spoken God,

That from the sea breathes oracles [...],

Disclosde to me; to thee Ile all impart,

Nor hide one word from thy sollicitous heart.

I was in Aegypt;

Menelai nauigatio.

where a mightie time,

The Gods detaind me: though my naturall clime,

I neuer so desir'd; because their homes

I did not greete, with perfect Hecatomes.

For they will put men euermore in mind,

How much their masterly commandments bind.

There is (besides) a certaine Iland, calld

Ph [...]ros, that with the high-wau'd sea is walld;

Iust against Aegypt; and so much remote,

As in a whole day, with a fore-gale [...],

A hollow ship can saile. And this Ile beares

A Port, most portly; where sea-passengers

Put in still for fresh water, and away

To sea againe. Yet here the Gods did stay

My Fleete, full twentie dayes: the winds (that are

Masters at sea) no prosprous puffe would spare,

To put vs off: and all my victles here.

Had quite corrupted; as my mens minds were;

Had not a certaine Goddesse giuen regard,

And pittide me in an estate so hard:

And twas Edothea, honourd Proteus seed,

That old sea-farer. Her mind I made bleed

With my compassion, when (walkt all alone,

[Page] From all my souldiers, that were euer gone

About the Ile on fishing, with hookes bent;

Hunger, their bellies, on her errand sent)

She came close to me; spake; and thus began:

Of all men, thou art the most foolish man,

Or slacke in businesse; or stayst here of choice;

And doest in all thy suffrances reioyce;

That thus long liu'st detaind here; and no end

Canst giue thy tarriance. Thou doest much offend

The minds of all thy fellowes. I replied:

Who euer thouart of the Deified,

I must affirme, that no way with my will,

I make abode here: but, it seemes, some ill

The Gods, inhabiting broad heauen, sustaine

Against my getting off. Informe me then,

(For Godheads all things know) what God is he

That stayes my passage, from the fishie sea?

Stranger (said she) Ile tell thee true: there liues

An old Sea-farer in these seas,

Idothea to Menelaus.

that giues

A true solution of all secrets here.

Who, deathlesse Proteus is, th'Aegyptian Peere:

Who can the deepes of all the seas exquire;

Who Neptunes Priest is; and (they say) the Sire

That did beger me. Him, if any way

Thou couldst inveagle, he would cleare display

Thy course from hence; and how farre off doth lie

Thy voyages whole scope through Neptunes skie.

Informing thee (O Godpreseru'd) beside

(If thy desires would so be satisfide)

What euer good or ill hath got euent,

In all the time, thy long and hard course spent,

Since thy departure from thy house. This said;

Againe I answerd: Make the sleights displaid,

Thy Father vseth; lest his foresight see,

Or his foreknowledge taking note of me,

He flies the [...]ixt place of his vsde abode;

Tis hard for man to countermine with God.

She strait replide: Ile vtter truth in all;

When heauens supremest height,

Idotheas couns [...] to take her father Proteus.

the Sunne doth skall;

The old Sea-tell-truth leaues the deepes, and hides

Amidst a blacke storme, when the West wind chides;

In caues still sleeping. Round about him sleepe

(With short feete swimming forth the fomie deepe)

The Sea-calues (louely Halosydnes calld)

From whom a noisome odour is exhalld,

Got from the whirle-pooles, on whose earth they lie.

Here, when the morne illustrates all the skie,

Ile guide, and seate thee, in the fittest place,

[Page] For the performance thou hast now in chace.

In meane time, reach thy Fleete; and chuse out three

Of best exploit, to go as aides to thee.

But now Ile shew thee all the old Gods sleights;

The sleights of Proteus.

He first will number, and take all the sights

Of those, his guard, that on the shore arriues.

When hauing viewd, and told them forth by fiues;

He takes place in their midst, and there doth sleepe,

Like to a shepheard midst his flocke of sheepe.

In his first sleepe, call vp your hardiest cheare,

Vigor and violence, and hold him there,

In spite of all his striuings to be gone.

He then will turne himselfe to euery one

Of all things that in earth creepe and respire,

In water swim, or shine in heauenly fire.

Yet still hold you him firme; and much the more

Presse him from passing. But when, as before

(When sleepe first bound his powres) his forme ye see,

Then ceasse your force, and th'old Heroe free;

And then demand, which heauen-borne it may bee

That so afflicts you, hindring your retreate,

And free sea-passage to your natiue seate.

This said, she diu'd into the wauie seas;

And I my course did to my ships addresse,

That on the sands stucke; where arriu'd, we made

Our supper readie. Then th'Ambrosian shade

Of night fell on vs; and to sleepe we fell.

Rosie Aurora rose; we rose as well;

And three of them, on whom I most relied,

For firme at euery force; I chusde, and hied

Strait to the many-riuer-serued seas.

And all assistance, askt the Deities.

Meane time Ed [...]thea, the seas broad brest

Embrac't; and brought for me, and all my rest,

Foure of the sea-calues skins, but newly flead,

To worke a wile, which she had fashioned

Vpon her Father. Then (within the sand

A couert digging) when these Calues should land,

She sate expecting. We came close to her:

She plac't vs orderly; and made vs weare

Each one his Calues skin. But we then must passe

A huge exploit. The sea-calues sauour was

So passing sowre (they still being bred at seas)

It much afflicted vs: for who can please

To lie by one of these same sea-bred whales?

Ironicè.

But she preserues vs; and to memorie calls

A rare commoditie: she fetcht to vs

Ambrosia, that an aire most odorous

[Page] Beares still about it; which she nointed round

Our either nosthrils; and in it quite drownd

The nastie whale-smell. Then the great euent,

The whole mornes date, with spirits patient

We lay expecting. When bright Noone did flame

Forth from the sea, in Sholes the sea-calues came,

And orderly, at last, lay downe and slept

Along the sands. And then th'old sea-god crept

From forth the deepes; and found his sat calues there:

Suruaid, and numberd; and came neuer neare

The craft we vsde; but told vs fiue for calues.

His temples then diseasd, with sleepe he salues;

And in rusht we, with an abhorred crie:

Cast all our hands about him manfully,

And then th'old Forger, all his formes began:

First was a Lion, with a mightie mane;

Then next a Dragon; a pide Panther then;

A vast Boare next; and sodainly did straine

All into water. Last, he was a tree,

Curld all at top, and shot vp to the skie.

We, with resolu'd hearts, held him firmly still,

When th'old one (held to streight for all his skill,

Proteus taken by Men [...]la [...].

To extricate) gaue words, and questiond me:

Which of the Gods, O Atreus sonne, (said he)

Aduisde and taught thy fortitude this sleight,

To take and hold me thus, in my despight?

What asks thy wish now? I replide: Thou knowst:

Why doest thou aske? What wiles are these thou showst

I haue within this Ile, bene held for winde

A wondrous time; and ca [...] by no meanes find

An end to my retention. It hath spent

The very heart in me. Giue thou then vent

To doubts thus bound in me, (ye Gods know all)

Which of the Godheads, doth so fowly fall

On my addression home, to stay me here?

Auert me from my way? The fishie cleare,

Barr'd to my passage? He replide: Of force

(If to thy home, thou wishest free recourse)

To Ioue, and all the other Deities,

Thou must exhibite solemne sacrifice;

And then the blacke sea for thee shall be cleare,

Till thy lou'd countries settl'd reach. But where

Aske these rites thy performance? [...]Tis a fate

To thee and thy affaires appropriate,

That thou shalt neuer see thy friends, nor tred

Thy Countries earth; nor see inhabited

Thy so magnificent house; till thou make good

Thy voyage backe to the Aegyptian flood,

[Page] Whose waters fell from I [...]e: and there hast gi [...]en

To Ioue, and all Gods, housd in ample heauen,

Deuoted Hecatombs; and then free wayes

Shall open to thee; cleard of all delayes.

This told he; and me thought, he b [...]ke my heart,

In such a long and hard cou [...]se to diuert

My hope for home; and charge my backe retreat,

As farre as Aegypt. I made answer yet:

Father, thy charge Ile perfect; but before,

Resolue me truly, if their naturall [...]hore,

All those Greeks, and their ships, do safe enioy,

That Nestor and my selfe left, when from Troy

We first raisde saile? Or whether any died

At sea a death vnwisht? Or (satisfied)

When warre was past, by friends embrac't, in peace

Resign'd their spirits? He made answer: Cease

To aske so farre; it fits thee not to be

So cunning in thine owne calamitie.

Nor seeke to learne; what learnd, thou shouldst forget;

Mens knowledges haue proper limits set,

And should not prease into the mind of God.

But twill not long be (as my thoughts abode)

Before thou buy this curious skill with tea [...]es.

Many of those, whose states so tempt thine eares,

Are stoopt by Death; and many left aliue:

One chiefe of which, in strong hold doth surui [...]e,

Amidst the broad sea. Two, in their retreate,

Are done to death. I list not to repeate,

Who fell at Troy; thy selfe was there in fight.

But in returne, swift Aiax lost the light,

In his long-oard ship. Neptune yet a while,

Saft him vnwrackt:

The wracke of Aiax Oileus.

to the Gyr [...]an Ile,

A mightie Rocke [...]emo [...]ing from his way.

And surely he had scapt the fatall day,

In spite of Pallas, if to that foule deed,

He in her Phane did,

Cassandra.

(when he raui [...]hed

The Troian Prophetesse) he had not here

Adioynd an impious boast: that he would beare

(Despite the Gods) his ship safe through the waues

Then raisde against him. These his impious b [...]aues,

When Neptune heard; in his strong hand he tooke

His massie Trident; and so soundly strooke

The rocke Gyraean, that in two it cleft:

Of which, one fragment on the land he left;

The other fell into the troubld seas;

At which, first rusht Aiax Oileades,

And split his ship: and then himselfe aflote

Swum on the rough waues of the worlds va [...]t mo [...]e;

[Page] Till hauing drunke a salt cup for his sinne,

There perisht he. Thy brother yet did winne

The wreath from Death, while in the waues they stroue,

Afflicted by the reuerend wife of Ioue.

But when the steepe Mount of the Malean shore,

He seemd to reach; a most tempestuous blore,

Farre to the fishie world, that sighes so sore,

Strait rauisht him againe; as farre away,

As to th'extreme bounds where the Agrians stay;

Where first Thiestes dwelt: but then his sonne

Aegisthus Thiestiades liu'd. This done,

When his returne vntoucht appeard againe;

Backe turnd the Gods the wind; and set him then

Hard by his house. Then, full of ioy, he left

His ship; and close t'his countrie earth he cleft;

Kist it, and wept for ioy: powrd teare on teare,

To set so wishedly his footing there.

But see: a Sentinell that all the yeare,

Craftie Aegisthus, in a watchtowre set

To spie his landing; for reward as great

As two gold talents; all his powres did call

To strict remembrance of his charge; and all

Discharg'd at first sight; which at first he cast

On Agamemnon; and with all his hast,

Informd Aeg [...]sthus. He, an instant traine

Laid for his slaughter: Twentie chosen men

Of his Plebeians, he in ambush laid.

His other men, he charg'd to see puruaid

A Feast: and forth, with horse and chariots grac't,

He rode t'inui [...]e him: but in heart embrac't

Horrible welcomes: and to death did bring,

With trecherous slaughter, the vnwary King.

Receiu'd him at a Feast; and (like an Oxe

Slaine at his manger) gaue him bits and knocks.

Agamemnons slaughter by Aegisthu [...] trechery.

No one left of Atrides traine; nor one

Sau'd to Aegisthus; but himselfe alone:

All strowd together there, the bloudie Court.

This said: my soule he sunke with his report:

Flat on the sands I fell: teares spent their store;

I, light abhord: my heart would liue no more.

When drie of teares; and tir'd with tumbling there;

Th'old Tel-truth thus my danted spirits did cheare:

No more spend teares nor time, ô Atreus sonne;

With ceaslesse weeping, neuer wish was wonne.

Vse vttermost assay to reach thy home,

And all vnwares vpon the murtherer come,

(For torture) taking him thy selfe, aliue;

Orw let Orestes, that should farre out-striue

[Page] Thee in fit vengeance, quickly quit the light

Of such a darke soule: and do thou the right

Of buriall to him, with a Funerall feast.

With these last words, I fortifide my breast;

In which againe, a generous spring began,

Of fitting comfort, as I was a man;

But, as a brother, I must euer mourne.

Yet forth I went; and told him the returne

Of these I knew: but he had nam'd a third,

Held on the broad sea; still with life inspir'd;

Whom I besought to know, though likewise dead,

And I must mourne alike. He answered:

He is Laertes sonne; whom I beheld

In Nymph Calypsos Pallace; who compeld

His stay with her: and since he could not see

His countrie earth, he mournd incessantly.

For he had neither ship, instruct with oares,

Nor men to fetch him from those stranger shores.

Where, leaue we him; and to thy selfe descend;

Whom, not in Argos, Fate nor Death shall end;

But the immortall ends of all the earth,

So rul'd by them, that order death by birth,

(The fields Elisian) Fate to thee will giue:

Elisium described.

Where Rhadamanthus rules; and where men liue

A neuer-troubld life: where snow, nor showres,

Nor irksome Winter spends his fruitlesse powres;

But from the Ocean, Zephyre still resumes

A constant breath, that all the fields perfumes.

Which, since thou marriedst Hellen, are thy hire;

And Ioue himselfe, is by her side thy Sire.

This said; he diu'd the d [...]epsome watrie heapes;

Proteus leaueth M [...]nelau [...].

I, and my tried men, tooke vs to our ships;

And worlds of thoughts, I varied with my steps.

Arriu'd and shipt, the silent solemne Night,

And Sleepe bereft vs of our visuall light.

At morne, masts, sailes reard, we sate; left the shores,

And beate the fomie Ocean with our oares.

Againe then we, the Ioue-falne flood did fetch,

As farre as Aegypt: where we did beseech

The Gods with Hecatombs; whose angers ceast;

I toomb'd my brother, that I might be blest.

All rites performd; all haste I made for home;

And all the prosprous winds about were come;

I had the Pasport now of euery God,

And here closde all these labours period.

Here stay then, till th'eleuenth or twelfth daies light;

And Ile dismisse thee well; gifts exquisite

Preparing for thee: Chariot, horses three;

[Page] A Cup of curious frame to serue for thee,

To serue th'immortall Gods with sacrifice;

Mindfull of me, while all Sunnes light thy skies.

He answe [...]d:

Telemach [...]st [...] Menela [...]s.

Stay me not too long time here;

Though I could sit, attending all the yeare:

Nor should my house, nor parents, with desire,

Take my affections from you; so on fire

With loue to heare you, are my thoughts: but so;

My Pylian friends, I shall afflict with wo,

Who mourne euen this stay. Whatsoeuer be

The gifts your Grace is to bestow on me;

Vouchsafe them such, as I may beare and saue,

For your sake euer. Horse, I list not haue,

To keepe in Ithaca: but leaue them here,

To your soiles dainties; where the broad fields beare

Sweet Cypers grasse; where men-fed Lote doth flow;

Where wheate-like Spelt; and wheate it selfe doth grow;

Where Barley,

Ithaca described by Telemachus.

white, and spreading like a tree:

But Ithaca, hath neither ground to be

(For any length it comprehends) a race

To trie a horses speed: nor any place

To make him fat in: fitter farre to feed

A Cliffe-bred Goate, then raise▪ or please a Steed.

Of all Iles, Ithaca doth least prouide,

Or meades to feed a horse, or wayes [...]o ride.

He, smiling said: Of good bloud art thou (sonne):

What speech, so [...]yong? what obseruation

Hast thou made of the world? I well am pleasde

To change my gifts to thee; as being confessd

Vnfit indeed: my store is such, I may.

Of all my house-gifts then, that vp I lay

For treasure there, I will bestow on thee

The fairest, and of greatest price to me.

I will bestow on thee a rich caru'd Cup

Of siluer all: but all the brims wrought vp

With finest gold: it was the onely thing

That the Heroicall Sydonian King

Presented to me, when we were to part

At his receit of me; and twas the Art

Of that great Artist, that of heauen is free;

And yet euen this, will I bestow on thee.

This speech thus ended; guests came, and did bring

Muttons (for Presents) to the God-like King:

And spirit-prompting wine, that strenuous makes.

Their Riband-wreathed wiues, brought fruit and cakes.

Thus, in this house, did these their Feast apply:

And in Vlysses house,

The wooers conspiracie against Telemachus.

Actiuitie

The wooers practisde: Tossing of the Speare;

[Page] The Stone, and hurling: thus delighted, where

They exercisde such insolence before:

Euen in the Court, that wealthy [...] wo [...]e.

Antinous did still their strifes decide;

And he that was in person dei [...]ide

Eury [...]ach [...]; both ring leaders of all;

For in their vertues they were principall.

These, by Noem [...]n (sonne to [...])

Were sided now; who made the question thus:

Antinous! does any friend here know,

When this Telemachus returnes? or no,

From sandie Pylos? He made bold to take

My ship with him: of which, I now should make

Fit vse my selfe; and saile in her as fa [...]e

As spacious Elis; where, of mine, there are

Twelue delicate Mares; and vnder their sides, go

Laborious Mules, that yet did neuer know

The yoke, nor labour: some of which should beare

The taming now, if I could fetch them there.

This speech, the rest admir'd; nor dreamd that he

Neleian Pyles, euer thought to see;

But was at field about his flocks suruay:

Or thought, his heardsmen [...]eld him so away.

Enpitheus sonne, Antino [...]s, then replied:

When went he? or with what Traine dignified

Of his selected Ithacensi [...] youth?

Prest men, or Bond men were they? Tell the truth.

Could he effect this? let me truly know:

To gaine thy vessell, did he violence show,

And vsde her gainst thy will? or had her free,

When fitting question, he had made with thee?

Noemon answerd: I did freely giue

My vessell to him; who deserues to liue,

That would do other? when such men as he,

Did in distresse aske? he should churlish be,

That would denie him: Of our youth, the best

Amongst the people; to the interest

His charge did challenge in them; giuing way,

With all the tribute, all their powres could pay.

Their Captaine (as he tooke the ship) I knew;

Who Mentor was, or God. A deities shew,

Maskt in his likenesse. But to thinke twas he,

I much admire; for I did clearly see,

But yester morning, God like Mentor here;

Yet, th'other euening, he tooke shipping there,

And went for Pylos. Thus went he for home,

And left the rest, with enuie ouercome:

Who sate; and pastime left. Enpitheus sonne

[Page] (Sad, and with rage, his entrailes ouerrunne)

His eyes like flames; thus interposde his speech.

Strange thing; an action of how proud a reach,

Antinous anger for the scape of Telemachus.

Is here committed by Telemachus?

A boy, a child; and we, a sort of vs,

Vowd gainst his voyage; yet admit it thus,

With ship, and choise youth of our people too?

But let him on; and all his mischiefe do;

Ioue shall conuert vpon himselfe his powres,

Before their ill presum'd, he brings on ours.

Prouide me then a ship, and twentie men

To giue her manage; that against again

He turnes for home; on th' Ithacensian seas,

Or Cliffie Samian; I may interprease;

Way-lay, and take him; and make all his craft,

Saile with his ruine, for his Father saf't.

This, all applauded; and gaue charge to do;

Rose, and to greete Vlysses house, did go.

But long time past not, ere Penelope

Had notice of their far-fetcht trecherie.

Medon the Herald told her; who had heard

Without the Hall, how they within conferd:

And hasted strait, to tell it to the Queene:

Who from the entrie, hauing Medon seene

Preuents him thus: Now Herald; what affaire

Intend the famous woo'rs,

Penelope to Medon.

in your repaire?

To tell Vlysses maids, that they must ceasse

From doing our worke, and their banquets dresse?

I would to heauen, that (leauing wooing me,

Nor euer troubling other companie)

Here might the last Feast be, and most extreme,

That euer any shall addresse for them.

They neuer meete, but to consent in spoile,

And reape the free fruites of anothers toile.

O did they neuer, when they children were,

What to their Fathers, was Vlysses, heare?

Who neuer did gainst any one proceed,

With vniust vsage, or in word or deed?

Tis yet with other Kings, another right,

One to pursue with loue, another spight;

He still yet iust; nor would, though might deuoure;

Nor to the worst, did euer taste of powre.

But their vnruld acts, shew their minds estate:

Good turnes receiu'd once, thanks grow our of date.

Medon, the learn'd in wisedome, answerd her:

M [...]don to Penelo [...]e relates [...]he voyage of [...].

I wish (O Queene) that their ingratitudes were

Their worst ill towards you: but worse by farre,

And much more deadly their endeuours are;

[Page] Which loue will faile them in. [...]

Their purpose is (as he returnes to vs)

To giue their sharpe steeles in a cruell death:

Who now is gone to learne, if Fame can breathe

Newes of his Sire; and will the [...]ylian shore,

And sacred Sparta, in his search explore.

This newes dissolu'd to her both knees and heart,

Long silence held her, ere one word would part:

Her eyes stood full of teares; her small soft voice,

All late vse lost; that yet at last had choice

Of won [...]ed words; which briefly thus she vsde:

Why left my sonne his mother? why refusde

His wit the solid shore, to trie the seas,

And put in ships the trust of his distresse?

That are at sea to men vnbridld horse,

And tunne, past rule, their farre-engaged course,

Amidst a moisture, past all meane vnstaid?

No need compeld this: did he it, afraid

To liue and leaue posteritie his name?

I know not (he replide) if th'humor came

From current of his owne instinct, or flowd

From others instigations; but he vowd

Attempt to Pylos; or to see descried

His Sires returne, or know what death he died.

This said; he tooke him to Vlysse [...] house

After the wooers; the Vlyssean Spouse

(Runne through with woes) let Tort [...]e seise her mind,

Nor, in her choice of state-chaires, stood enclin'd

To take her seate; but th'abiect threshold chose

Of her faire chamber, for her loth'd repose;

And mournd most wretch-like. Round about her fell

Her handmaids, ioynd in a continuate yell.

From euery corner of the Pallace, all

Of all degrees, tun'd to her comforts fall

Their owne deiections: to whom, her complaint

She thus enforc't: The Gods beyond constraint

Of any measure, vrge these teares on me;

Nor was there euer Dame of my degree,

So past degree grieu'd. First, a Lord, so good,

That had such hardie spirits in his blood.

That all the vertues was adornd withall;

That all the Greeks did their Superiour call,

To part with thus, and lose. And now a sonne

So worthily belou'd, a course to runne

Beyond my knowledge; whom rude tempests haue

Made farre from home,

Penelope re [...]uk [...]th [...]er Ladies for not telling her of Telemachus.

his most inglorious graue.

Vnhappie wenches, that no one of all,

(Though in the reach of euery one, must fall

[Page] His taking ship) sustaind the carefull mind,

To call me from my bed; who, this designd,

And most vowd course in him, had either staid,

(How much soeuer hasted) or dead laid

He should haue left me. Many a man I haue,

That would haue calld old Dolius my slaue,

(That keepes my Orchard, whom my Father gaue

At my departure) to haue runne, and told

Laertes this; to trie if he could hold

From running through the people; and from teares,

In telling them of these vowd murtherers;

That both diuine Vlysses hope, and his,

Resolue to end in their conspiracies.

His Nurse then, Euryclaea made reply:

Deare Soueraigne,

E [...]ryel [...]as pio [...] comfort of Pe [...]elope.

let me with your owne hands die;

Or cast me off here; Ile not keepe from thee▪

One word of what I know: He trusted me

With all his purpose; and I gaue him all

The bread and wine, for which he pleasd to call.

But then a mightie oath he made me sweare,

Not to report it to your [...]oyall eare,

Before the twelfth day either should appeare,

Or you should aske me, when you heard him gone.

Empaire not then your beauties with your mone,

But wash, and put vnteare-staind garments on:

Ascend your chamber, with your Ladies here;

And pray the seed of Goat-nurst Iupiter,

(Diuine Athenia) to preserue your sonne;

And she will saue him from confusion.

Th'old King, to whom your hopes stand so inclin'd,

For his graue counsels, you perhaps may find

Vnfit affected, for his ages sake.

But heauen-kings waxe not old; and therefore make

Fit pray'rs to them; for my thoughts neuer will

Beleeue the heauenly powres conceit so ill,

The seed of righteous Arcesiades,

To end it vtterly;

Laertes sonne to Arcesius the son of Iupiter.

but still will please

In some place euermore, some one of them

To saue; and decke him with a Diadem:

Giue him possession of erected Towres,

And farre-stretcht fields, crownd all of fruits and flowres.

This easd her heart, and dride her humorous [...]ies,

When hauing washt, and weeds of sacrifise

(Pure, and vnstaind with her distrustfull teares)

Put on; (with all her women-ministers)

Vp to a chamber of most height, she rose;

And cakes of salt and barly did impose

Within a wicker basket; all which broke

[Page] In decent order; thus she did inuoke:

Penelope to Pall [...]s.

Great Virgin of the Goat-preserued God;

If euer the inhabited abode

Of wise Vlysses, held the [...]atted Thi [...]s

Of sheepe and Oxen, made thy sacrifice

By his deuotion; heare me; nor [...]

His pious seruices; but [...]a [...]e [...]ee [...]e [...]

His deare sonne, on these shores; and [...]

These wooers, past all meane in insolence.

This said, she shriekt; and [...] her [...].

The wooers broke with tumult all [...]

About the shadie house; and one of them,

Whose pride, his youth had made the more [...],

Said; Now the many-wooer- [...] Queene,

Will surely fatiate her [...] [...]

And one of vs, in instant [...].

Poore Dame, she dreames not, what designe we make,

Vpon the life and slaughter of her sonne.

So said he; but so said, was not so done;

Whose arrogant spirit,

Antinous to the rest.

in a [...] so vaine,

Antinous chid; and said; For shame [...]

These brauing speeches; who [...]

Are we not now in reach of [...]

If our intentions please vs, let vs call

Our spirits vp to them, and let [...].

By watchfull Danger, men must [...]:

What we resolue on, let's not say, but do.

This said; he chusde out twentie men, that bore

Best reckning with him; and to ship and shore,

All [...]asted; reacht the ship, lanchit, raisd the ma [...]t;

Put sailes in; and with leather loopes made [...]a [...]t

The oares; Sailes hoisted; Armes their men did bring;

All giuing speed, and forme to euery thing.

Then to the high-deepes, their riggd vessell dri [...]en,

They supt; expecting the approching E [...]en.

Meane space, Penelope her chamber kept,

And bed, and neither eate, nor dranke, nor slept;

Her strong thoughts wrought so on her blamelesse sonne;

Still in contention, if he should be done

To death; or scape the impious wooers designe.

Looke how a Lion, whom then [...]roopes combine

To hunt, and close him in a craftie [...];

Much varied thought conceiues; and feare doth sting

For vrgent danger: So far'd she [...] sleepe,

All iuncture of her ioynts, and nerues did s [...]eepe

In his dissoluing humor. When (at rest)

Pallas her fauours varied; and addrest

An Idoll, that Iphthima did present

[Page] In

[...] membrorum struct [...].

structure of her euery lineament;

Great-sould Icarius daughter: whom, for Spouse

Eum [...]lus tooke, that kept in Pheris house.

This, to diuine Vlysses house she sent,

To trie her best meane, how she might content

Mournfull Penelope; and make Relent

The strict addiction in her to deplore.

This Idoll (like a

[...], affectus curculionis significat quod Iongior & gracilior cualerit.

worme, that lesse or more,

Contracts or straines her) did it selfe conuey,

Beyond the wards, or windings of the key,

Into the chamber; and aboue her head,

Her seate assuming, thus she comforted

Distrest Penelope. Doth sleepe thus sease

Thy powres,

Minerua sub Iphthimae persona, solatur Penelopen in somnis.

affected with so much disease?

The Gods, that nothing troubles, will not see

Thy teares nor griefes, in any least degree,

Sustaind with cause; for they will guard thy sonne,

Safe to his wisht, and natiue mansion;

Since he is no offender of their States;

And they to such, are firmer then their Fates.

Penelope to the Dreame.

.

The wise Penelope receiu'd her thus;

(Bound with a slumber most delicious,

And in the Port of dreames) O sister, why

Repaire you hither? since so farre off lie

Your house and houshold? You were neuer here

Before this houre; and would you now giue cheare

To my so many woes and miseries?

Affecting fitly all the faculties

My soule and mind hold: hauing lost before

A husband, that of all the vertues bore

The Palme amongst the Greeks; and whose renowne

So ample was, that Fame the sound hath blowne

Through Greece and Argos, to her very heart.

And now againe; a sonne that did conuert

My whole powres to his loue, by ship is gone.

A tender Plant, that yet was neuer growne

To labours taste, nor the commerce of men;

For whom, more then my husband I complaine▪

And lest he should at any sufferance touch

(Or in the sea, or by the men so much

Estrang'd to him, that must his consorts be)

Feare and chill tremblings, shake each ioynt of me.

Besides: his danger sets on, foes profest

To way-lay his returne; that haue addrest

Plots for his death. The scarce-discerned Dreame,

Said: Be of comfort; nor feares so extreme,

Let thus dismay thee; thou hast such a mate

Attending thee, as some at any rate

[Page] Would wish to purchase; for her powre is great;

Mineru [...] pities thy delights defeate:

Whose Grace hath sent me to foretell thee theese.

If thou (said she) be of the Goddesses,

Penelope to the Idoll.

And heardst her tell thee these; thou mayst as well

From her, tell all things else; daigne then to tell,

If yet the man, to all misfortunes borne,

(My husband) liues; and sees the Sunne adorne

The darksome earth; or hides his wretched head

In Plutos house, and liues amongst the dead?

I will not (she replide) my breath exhale,

In one continude, and perpetuall tale;

Liues he, or dies he. Tis a filthy vse,

To be in vaine and idle speech profuse.

This said; she through the key-hole of the dore

Vanisht againe into the open blore.

Icarius daughter started from her sleepe,

And Ioyes fresh humor, her lou'd brest did s [...]eepe:

When now so cleare, in that first watch of night,

She saw the seene dreame vanish from her sight.

The wooers (shipt) the seas moist waues did plie;

And thought the Prince, a haughtie death should die.

There lies a certaine Iland in the sea,

Twixt rockie Samos and rough Ithaca,

That cliffie is it selfe, and nothing great;

Yet holds conuenient hauens, that two wayes let

Ships in and out; calld Asteris: and there

The wooers hop't to make their massakere.

Finis libri quarti Hom. Odyss.

THE FIFTH BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES.
Another.

[Page]

THE ARGVMENT.

A Second Court, on Ioue attends;

Who, Hermes to Calypso sends;

Commanding her to cleare the wayes

Vlysses sought; and she obayes.

When Neptune saw Vlysles free,

And, so in safetie, plow the sea;

Enrag'd, he ruffles vp the waues,

And splits his ship. Leucothea saues

His person yet; as being a Dame,

Whose Godhead gouernd in the frame

Of those seas tempers. But the meane

By which she curbs dread Neptunes splene.

Is made a Iewell; which she takes

From off her head; and that she makes

Vlysses on his bosome weare,

About his necke, she ties it there:

And when he is with waues beset,

Bids weare it as an Amulet;

Commanding him, that not before

He toucht vpon Phaeacias shore,

He should not part with it; but then

Returne it to the sea agein,

And ca [...]t it from him. He performes;

Yet after this, bides bitter stormes;

And in the rockes, sees Death engrau'd;

But on Phaeacias shore is sau'd.

[...].

Vlysses builds

A ship; and gaines

The Gassie fields;

Payes Neptune paines.

AVrora rose from high-borne Tithons Bed,

That men and Gods might be illustrated:

And then the Deities sate. Imperiall Ioue,

That makes the horrid murmure beate aboue,

Tooke place past all; whose height for euer springs;

And from whom flowes th'eternall powre of things.

Then Pallas (mindfull of Vlysses) told

The many Cares, that in Calypsos hold,

He still sustaind; when he had felt before,

So much affliction, and such dangers more.

[Page] O Father,

Pallas to the Gods.

(said she) and ye euer blest;

Giue neuer King hereafter, interest

In any aide of yours, by seruing you;

By being gentle, humane, iust; but grow

Rude, and for euer scornfull of your rights;

All iustice ordring by their appetites.

Since he that rul'd, as it in right behou'd,

That all his subiects, as his children lou'd,

Finds you so thoughtlesse of him, and his birth.

Thus men begin to say, ye rule in earth;

And grudge at what ye let him vndergo;

Who yet the least part of his sufferance know:

Thralld in an Iland; shipwrackt in his teares;

And in the fancies that Calypso beares,

Bound from his birthright; all his shipping gone;

And of his souldiers, not retaining one.

And now his most-lou'd Sonnes life doth inflame

Their slaughterous enuies; since his Fathers fame

He puts in pursuite; and is gone as farre

As sacred Pylos; and the singular

Dame breeding Sparta. This, with this reply,

The Cloud-assembler answerd:

Ioue to Pallas.

What words flie

Thine owne remembrance (daughter?) hast not thou

The counsell giuen thy selfe, that told thee how

Vlysses shall with his returne addresse

His wooers wrongs? And, for the safe accesse,

His Sonne shall make to his innatiue Port,

Do thou direct it, in as curious sort,

As thy wit serues thee: it obeys thy powers;

And in their ship returne the speedlesse wowers.

Then turnd he to his issue Mercurie,

And said:

Ioue to Mercury

Thou hast made good our Ambassie

To th'other Statists; To the Nymph then now,

On whose faire head a t [...]ft of gold doth grow;

Beare our true-spoken counsell; for retreat

Of patient Vlysses; who shall get

No aide from vs, nor any mortall man;

But in a

[...]. in rate multis vinculis ligatus.

patcht-vp skiffe, (built as he can,

And suffering woes enow) the twentith day

At fruitfull Scheria, let him breathe his way,

With the Phaeacians, that halfe Deities liue;

Who like a God will honour him; and giue

His wisedome clothes, and ship, and brasse, and gold,

More then for gaine of Troy he euer told;

Where, at the whole diuision of the prey,

If he a sauer were, or got away

Without a wound (if he should grudge) twas well;

But th'end shall crowne all; therefore Fate will deale

[Page] So well with him; to let him land, and see

His natiue earth, friends, house and family.

Thus charg'd he; nor Argicides denied;

But to his feete,

Mercurij descriptio.

his faire wingd shooes he tied;

Ambrosian, golden; that in his command,

Put either sea, or the vnmeasur'd land,

With pace as speedie as a puft of wind.

Then vp his Rod went; with which he declin'd

The eyes of any waker, when he pleasd,

And any sleeper, when he wisht, diseasd.

This tooke; he stoopt Pierea; and thence

Glid through the aire; and Neptunes Confluence

Kist as he flew; and checkt the waues as light

As any Sea-mew, in her fishing flight,

Her thicke wings soucing in the sauorie seas.

Like her, he past a world of wildernesse;

But when the far-off Ile, he toucht; he went

Vp from the blue sea, to the Continent,

And reacht the ample Cauerne of the Queene;

Whom he within found; without, seldome seene.

A Sun-like fire vpon the harth did flame;

Descriptio sp [...]t cus Calypsus.

The matter precious, and diuine the frame;

Of Cedar cleft, and Incense was the Pile,

That breath'd an odour round about the Ile.

Her selfe was seated in an inner roome,

Whom sweetly sing he heard; and at her loome,

About a curious web; whose yarne she threw

In, with a golden shittle. A Groue grew

In endlesse spring about her Cauerne round;

With odorous Cypresse, Pines, and Poplars crownd,

Where Haulks, Sea-owles, and long-tongu'd Bittours bred;

And other birds their shadie pinions spred.

All Fowles maritimall; none roosted there,

But those whose labours in the waters were.

A Vine did all the hollow Caue embrace;

Still greene, yet still ripe bunches gaue it grace.

Foure Fountaines, one against another powrd

Their siluer streames; and medowes all enflowrd

With sweete Balme-gentle, and blue Violets hid,

That deckt the soft brests of each fragrant Mead.

Should any one (though he immortall were)

Arriue and see the sacred obiects there;

He would admire them, and be ouer-ioyd;

And so stood Hermes rauisht powres employd.

But hauing all admir'd, he enterd on

The ample Caue; not could be seene vnknowne

Of great Calypso, (for all Deities are

Prompt in each others knowledge; though so farre

[Page] Seuerd in dwellings) but he could not see

Vlysses there within. Without was he

Set sad ashore; where twas his vse to view

Th'vnquiet sea; sigh'd, wept, and emptie drew

His heart of comfort. Plac't here in her throne

(That beames cast vp, to Admiration)

Diuine Calypso, question'd Hermes thus:

For what cause (deare,

Calypso to Mer [...] curie.

and much-esteem'd by vs,

Thou golden-rod-adorned Mercurie)

Arriu'st thou here? thou hast not vsde t'apply

Thy passage this way. Say, what euer be

Thy hearts desire, my mind commands it thee,

If in my meanes it lie, or powre of fact.

But first, what hospitable rights exact,

Come yet more neare, and take. This said, she set

A Table forth, and furnisht it with meate,

Such as the Gods taste; and seru'd in with it,

Vermilion Nectar. When with banquet, fit

He had confirmd his spirits; he thus exprest

His cause of coming:

Mercurie to Calypso.

Thou hast made request

(Goddesse of Goddesses) to vnderstand

My cause of touch here: which thou shalt command,

And know with truth: Ioue causd my course to thee,

Against my will; for who would willingly

Lackey along so vast a lake of Brine?

Neare to no Citie; that the powres diuine

Receiues with solemne rites and Hecatombs?

But Ioues will euer, all law ouercomes;

No other God can crosse or make it void.

And he affirmes, that one, the most annoid

With woes and toiles, of all those men that fought

For Priams Citie; and to end hath brought

Nine yeares in the contention; is with thee.

For in the tenth yeare, when roy Victorie

Was wonne, to giue the Greeks the spoile of Troy;

Returne they did professe, but not enioy,

Since Pallas they incenst; and she, the waues

By all the winds powre, that blew ope their graues.

And there they rested. Onely this poore one,

This Coast, both winds and waues haue cast vpon:

Whom now forthwith he wils thee to dismisse;

Affirming that th'vnalterd destinies,

Not onely haue decreed, he shall not die

Apart his friends; but of Necessitie

Enioy their sights before those fatall houres,

His countrie earth reach, and erected Towres.

This strook, a loue-checkt horror through her powres;

When (naming him) she this reply did giue:

[Page] Insatiate are ye Gods,

Calypsos displeased reply to Mercurie.

past all that liue,

In all things you affect; which still conuerts

Your powres to Enuies. It afflicts your hearts,

That any Goddesse should (as you obtaine

The vse of earthly Dames) enioy the men:

And most in open mariage. So ye far'd,

When the delicious-fingerd Morning shar'd

Orions bed: you easie-liuing States,

Could neuer satisfie your emulous hates;

Till in Ortygia, the precise-liu'd Dame

(Gold-thron'd Diana) on him rudely came,

And with her swift shafts slue him. And such paines,

(When rich-haird Ceres pleasd to giue the raines

To her affections; and the grace did yeeld

Of loue and bed amidst a three-cropt field,

To her Iasion) he paid angrie Ioue;

Who lost, no long time, notice of their loue;

But with a glowing lightning, was his death.

And now your enuies labour vnderneath

A mortals choice of mine; whose life, I tooke

To liberall safetie; when his ship, Ioue strooke

With red-hote flashes, peece-meale in the seas,

And all his friends and souldiers, succourlesse

Perisht but he. Him, cast vpon this coast

With blasts and billowes; I (in life giuen lost)

Preseru'd alone; lou'd, nourisht, and did vow

To make him deathlesse; and yet neuer grow

Crooked, or worne with age, his whole life long.

But since no reason may be made so strong,

To striue with Ioues will, or to make it vaine;

No not if all the other Gods should straine

Their powres against it; let his will be law;

So he affoord him fit meanes to withdraw,

(As he commands him) to the raging Maine:

But meanes from me, he neuer shall obtaine,

For my meanes yeeld, nor men, nor ship, nor oares,

To set him off, from my so enuied shores.

But if my counsell and goodwill can aide

His safe passe home, my best shall be assaid.

Vouchsafe it so, (said heauens Ambassador)

And daigne it quickly. By all meanes abhorre

T'incense Ioues wrath against thee; that with grace

He may hereafter, all thy wish embrace.

Thus tooke the Argus-killing God,

Mercurie leaues Calypso.

his wings.

And since the reuerend Nymph, these awfull things

Receiu'd from Ioue; she to Vlysses went:

Whom she ashore found, drownd in discontent;

His eyes kept neuer drie, he did so mourne,

[Page] And waste his deare age, for his wisht returne.

Which still without the Caue he vsde to do,

Because he could not please the Goddesse so.

At night yet (forc't) together tooke their rest,

The willing Goddesse, and th'vnwilling Guest.

But he, all day in rockes, and on the shore

The vext sea viewd; and did his Fate deplore.

Him, now, the Goddesse (coming neare) bespake:

Vnhappie man;

Calypso to Vlysses

no more discomfort take,

For my constraint of thee; nor waste thine age;

I now will passing freely disengage

Thy irksome stay here. Come then, fell thee wood,

And build a ship, to saue thee from the flood.

Ile furnish thee with fresh waue; bread and wine,

Ruddie and sweet, that will the

Hunger.

Piner pine;

Put garments on thee; giue thee winds foreright;

That euery way thy home-bent appetite

May safe attaine to it; if so it please

At all parts, all the heauen-housd Deities!

That more in powre are, more in skill then I;

And more can iudge, what fits humanitie.

He stood amaz'd,

Vlysses to Calypso

at this strange change in her;

And said: O Goddesse! thy intents preferre

Some other proiect, then my parting hence;

Commanding things of too high consequence

For my performance. That my selfe should build

A ship of powre, my home assaies to shield

Against the great Sea, of such dread to passe;

Which not the best-built ship that euer was,

Will passe exulting; when such winds as Ioue

Can thunder vp, their trims and tacklings proue.

But could I build one, I would ne're aboord,

(Thy will opposde) nor (won) without thy word,

Giuen in the great oath of the Gods to me,

Not to beguile me in the least degree.

The Goddesse smilde; held hard his hand, and said:

O y'are a shrewdw one; and so habited

In taking heed; thou knowst not what it is

To be vnwary; nor vse words amisse.

How hast thou charmd me, were I ne're so slie?

Let earth know then;

Calypsos oath.

and heauen, so broad, so hie;

And th'vnder-sunke waues of th'infernall streame;

(Which is an oath, as terribly supreame,

As any God sweares) that I had no thought,

But stood with what I spake; nor would haue wrought,

Nor counseld any act, against thy good;

But euer diligently weighd, and stood

On those points in perswading thee; that I

[Page] Would vse my selfe in such extremitie.

For my mind simple is, and innocent;

Not giuen by cruell sleights to circumuent;

Nor beare I in my breast a heart of steele,

But with the Sufferer, willing sufferance feele.

This said; the Grace of Goddesses led home;

He tract her steps; and (to the Cauerne come)

In that rich Throne, whence Mercurie arose,

He sate. The Nymph her selfe did then appose

For food and beuridge to him; all best meate

And drinke, that mortals vse to taste and eate.

Then sate she opposite; and for her Feast,

Was Nectar and Ambrosia addrest

By handmaids to her. Both, what was prepar'd,

Did freely fall to. Hauing fitly far'd,

The Nymph Calypso this discourse began:

Ioue-bred Vlysses! many-witted man!

Still is thy home so wisht? so soone, away?

Be still of cheare, for all the worst I say;

But if thy soule knew what a summe of woes

For thee to cast vp, thy sterne Fates impose,

Ere to thy country earth thy hopes attaine;

Vndoubtedly thy choice would here remaine;

Keepe house with me,

Calypsos promise of immortalitie to Vlysses.

and be a liuer euer.

Which (me thinkes) should thy house and thee disseuer;

Though for thy wife there, thou art set on fire;

And all thy dayes are spent in her desire;

And though it be no boast in me to say,

In forme and mind, I match her euery way.

Nor can it fit a mortall Dames compare,

T'affect those termes with vs, that deathlesse are.

The great in counsels, made her this reply:

Renowm'd, and to be reuerenc'd Deitie!

Let it not moue thee, that so much I vow

My comforts to my wife; though well I know

All cause my selfe, why wise Penelope

In wit is farre inferiour to thee;

In feature, stature, all the parts of show;

She being a mortall; an Immortall thou;

Old euer growing, and yet neuer old.

Yet her desire, shall all my dayes see told;

Adding the sight of my returning day,

And naturall home. If any God shall lay

His hand vpon me, as I passe the seas;

Ile beare the worst of what his hand shall please;

As hauing giuen me such a mind, as shall

The more still rise, the more his hand lets fall.

In warres and waues, my sufferings were not small.

[Page] I now haue sufferd much; as much before;

Hereafter let as much result, and more.

This said; the Sunne set; and earth shadowes gaue;

When these two (in an in-roome of the Caue,

Left to themselues) left Loue no rites vndone.

The early Morne vp; vp he rose; put on

His in and our-weed. She, her selfe inchaces

Amidst a white robe, full of all the Graces;

Ample, and plea [...]ed, thicke, like fishie skales.

A golden girdle then, her waste empales;

Her head, a veile decks; and abroad they come;

And now began Vlysses to go home.

A great Axe, first she gaue, that two wayes cut;

In which a faire wel-polisht helme was put,

That from an Oliue bough receiu'd his frame:

A plainer then. Then led she till they came

To loftie woods, that did the Ile confine.

The Fi [...]e tree, Poplar, and heauen-scaling Pine,

Had there their ofspring. Of which, those that were

Of driest matter, and grew longest there,

He chusde for lighter saile. This place, thus showne,

The Nymph turnd home. He fell to felling downe;

And twentie trees he stoopt, in litle space;

Plaind, vsde his Plumb; did all with artfull grace.

In meane time did Calypso wimbles bring.

He bor'd, closde, naild, and orderd euery thing;

And tooke how much a ship-wright will allow

A ship of burthen; (one that best doth know

What fits his Art) so large a Keele he cast.

Wrought vp her decks, and hatches, side-boords, mast;

With willow watlings armd her, to resist

The billowes outrage; added all she mist;

Sail-yards, and sterne for guide. The Nymph then brought

Linnen for sailes; which, with dispatch, he wrought.

Gables, and halsters, tacklings. All the Frame

In foure dayes space,

This foure dayes worke (you will say) is too much for one man: and Plinie affirmes, that Hiero (a king of Sicilie) in fiue and forty dayes built two hundred and twentie ships, r [...]gged them, and p [...]t to sea with them.

to full perfection came.

The fift day, they dismist him from the shore;

Weeds, neate, and odorous gaue him; victles store;

Wine, and strong waters, and a prosperous wind.

To which, Vlysses (fit to be diuin'd)

His sailes exposd, and hoised. Off he gat;

And chearfull was he. At the Sterne he sat,

And ster'd right artfully. No sleepe could seise

His ey-lids: he beh [...]ld the Ple [...]ades;

The Beare, surnam'd the Waine, that round doth moue

About Orion; and keepes still aboue

The billowie Oc [...]an. The slow-setting starre,

Bootes calld, by some, the Waggonar.

[Page] Calypso warnd him, he his course should stere

Still to his left hand. Seuenteene dayes did cleare

The cloudie Nights command, in his moist way;

And by the eighteenth light, he might display

The shadie hils of the Phaeacian shore;

For which, as to his next abode, he bore.

The countrie did a pretie figure yeeld,

And lookt from off the darke seas, like a shield.

Imperious Neptune (making his retreate

From th' Aethiopian earth; and taking seate

Vpon the mountaines of the Solymi;

From thence, farre off discouering) did descrie

Vlysses, his fields plowing. All on fire

The sight strait set his heart; and made desire

Of wreake runne ouer, it did boile so hie.

When (his head nodding) O impietie

(He cried out) now, the Gods inconstancie

Is most apparent; altring their designes

Since I the Aethiops saw: and here confines

To this Vlysses fate, his misery.

The great marke, on which all his hopes rely,

Lies in Phaeacia. But I hope he shall

Feele woe at height, ere that dead calme befall.

This said;

[...] Mendicando colligo.

he (begging) gatherd clouds from land;

Frighted the seas vp; snatcht into his hand,

His horrid Trident; and aloft did tosse

(Of all the winds) all stormes he could engrosse.

All earth tooke into sea with clouds; grim Night

Fell tumbling headlong from the cope of Light.

The East and Southwinds iustld in the aire;

The violent Zephire, and North-making faire,

Rould vp the waues before them: and then, bent

Vlysses knees; then all his spirit was spent.

In which despaire, he thus spake: Woe is me!

What was I borne to? man of miserie?

Feare tels me now, that all the Goddesse said,

Truths selfe will author; that Fate would be paid

Griefes whole summe due from me, at sea, before

I reacht the deare touch of my countries shore.

With what clouds Ioue, heauens heightned forehead binds?

How tyrannize the wraths of all the winds?

How all the tops, he bottomes with the deepes?

And in the bottomes, all the tops he steepes?

Thus dreadfull is the presence of our death.

Thrice foure times blest were they that sunke beneath

Their Fates at Troy; and did to nought contend,

But to renowme Atrides with their end?

I would to God, my houre of death, and Fate,

[Page] That day had held the power to terminate;

When showres of darts, my life bore vndeprest,

About diuine Aeacides deceast.

Then had I bene allotted to haue died,

By all the Greeks, with funerals glorified;

(Whence Death, encouraging good life, had growne)

Where now I die, by [...]o man mournd, nor knowne.

This spoke; a huge waue tooke him by the head,

And hurld him o're-boord: ship and all it laid

Inuerted quite amidst the waues; but he

Farre off from her sprawld, strowd about the sea:

His Sterne still holding, broken off; his Mast

Burst in the midst: so horrible a blast

Of mixt winds strooke it. Sailes and saile-yards fell

Amongst the billowes; and himselfe did dwell

A long time vnder water: nor could get

In haste his head out: waue with waue so met

In his depression; and his garments too,

(Giuen by Calypso) gaue him much to do,

Hindring his swimming; yet he left not so

His drenched vessell, for the ouerthrow

Of her nor him; but gat at length againe

(Wrestling with Neptune) hold of her; and then

Sate in her Bulke, insulting ouer Death;

Which (with the salt streame, prest to stop his breath)

He scap't, and gaue the sea againe; to giue

To other men. His ship so striu'd to liue,

Floting at randon, cufft from waue to waue;

As you haue seene the Northwind when he draue

In Autumne, heapes of thorne-fed Grashoppers▪

Hither and thither; one heape this way beares,

Another that; and makes them often meete

In his confusde gales; so Vlyss [...]s fleete,

The winds hurl'd vp and downe: now Boreas

Tost it to Notus, Notus gaue it passe

To Eurus; Eurus, Zephire made it pursue

The horrid Tennis. This sport calld the view

Of Cadmus daughter, with the narrow heele;

(Ino Leucothea) that first did feele

A mortall Dames desires; and had a tongue.

But now had th'honor to be nam'd among

The marine Godheads. She, with pitie saw

Vlysses iustl'd thus, from flaw to flaw;

And (like a Cormorand, in forme and flight)

Rose from a whirl-poole: on the ship did light,

And thus bespeake him:

Leucothea to Vlysses.

Why is Neptune thus

In thy pursuite extremely furious,

Oppressing thee with such a world of ill,

[Page] Euen to thy death? He must not serue his will,

Though tis his studie. Let me then aduise,

As my thoughts serue; thou shalt not be vnwise

To leaue thy weeds and ship, to the commands

Of these rude winds; and worke out with thy hands,

Passe to Phaeacia; where thy austere Fate,

Is to pursue thee with no more such hate.

Take here this Tablet, with this riband strung,

And see it still about thy bosome hung;

By whose eternall vertue, neuer feare

To suffer thus againe, nor perish here.

But when thou touchest with thy hand the shore,

Then take it from thy necke, nor weare it more;

But cast it farre off from the Continent,

And then thy person farre ashore present.

Thus gaue she him the Tablet; and againe

(Turnd to a Cormorand) diu'd past sight the Maine.

Patient Vlysses sighd at this; and stucke

In the conceit of such faire-spoken Lucke:

And said;

Vlysses stil suspicious of faire fortunes.

Alas, I must suspect euen this;

Lest any other of the Deities

Adde sleight to Neptunes force; to counsell me

To l [...]aue my vessell, and so farre off see

The shore I aime at. Not with thoughts too cleare

Will I obey her: but to me appeare

These counsels best; as long as I perceiue

My ship not quite dissolu'd, I will not leaue

The helpe she may affoord me; but abide,

And suffer all woes, till the worst be tride.

When she is split, Ile swim: no miracle can

Past neare and cleare meanes, moue a knowing man.

While this discourse emploid him, Neptune raisd

A huge, a high, and horrid sea, that seisd

Him and his ship,

Neptuni [...] Vlystem inclementia.

and tost them through the Lake;

As when the violent winds together take

Heapes of drie chaffe, and hurle them euery way;

So his long woodstacke, Neptune strooke astray.

Then did Vlysses mount on rib, perforce,

Like to a rider of a running horse,

To stay himselfe a time, while he might shift

His drenched weeds, that were Calypsos gift.

When putting strait, Leucotheas Amulet

About his necke; he all his forces set

To swim; and cast him prostrate to the seas.

When powrefull Neptune saw the ruthlesse prease

Of perils siege him thus; he mou'd his head,

And this betwixt him and his heart, he said:

So, now feele ils enow, and struggle so,

[Page] Till to your Ioue-lou'd Ilanders you row.

But my mind sayes, you will not so auoid

This last taske too, but be with sufferance cloid.

This said; his rich-man'd horse he mou'd; and reacht

His house at Aegas. But Minerua fetcht

The winds from sea; and all their wayes but one

Barrd to their passage; the bleake North alone

She set to blow; the rest, she charg'd to keepe

Their rages in; an bind themselues in sleepe.

But Boreas still flew high, to breake the seas,

Till Ioue-bred Ithacus, the more with ease,

The nauigation-skild Phaeacian States

Might make his refuge; Death, and angrie Fates,

At length escaping. Two nights yet, and daies,

He spent in wrestling with the sable seas;

In which space, often did his heart propose

Death to his eyes. But when Aurora rose,

And threw the third light from her orient haire;

The winds grew calme, and cleare was all the aire;

Not one breath stirring. Then he might descrie

(Raisd by the high seas) cleare, the land was nie.

And then,

Simile.

looke how to good sonnes that esteeme

Their fathers life deare, (after paines extreame,

Felt in some sicknesse, that hath held him long

Downe to his bed; and with affections strong,

Wasted his bodie; made his life his lode;

As being inflicted by some angrie God)

When on their praires, they see descend at length

Health from the heauens, clad all in spirit and strength;

The sight is precious: so, since here should end

Vlysses toiles; which therein should extend

Health to his countrie, (held to him, his Sire)

And on which, long for him, Disease did tire.

And then besides, for his owne sake to see

The shores, the woods so neare; such ioy had he,

As those good sonnes for their recouerd Sire.

Then labourd feete and all parts, to aspire

To that wisht Continent; which, when as neare

He came, as Clamor might informe an eare;

He heard a sound beate from the sea-bred rocks,

Against which gaue a huge sea horrid shocks,

That belcht vpon the firme land, weeds and fome;

With which were all things hid there; where no roome

Of fit capacitie was for any port;

Nor (from the sea) for any mans resort;

The shores, the rocks, and cliffes so prominent were.

O (said Vlysses then) now Iupiter

Hath giuen me sight of an vnhop't for shore,

[Page] (Though I haue wrought these seas so long, so sore)

Of rest yet, no place shewes the slendrest prints;

The rugged shore so bristl'd is with flints:

Against which, euery way the waues so flocke;

And all the shore shewes as one eminent rocke.

So neare which, tis so deepe, that not a sand

Is there, for any tired foote to stand:

Nor flie his death-fast following miseries,

Lest if he land, vpon him fore-right flies

A churlish waue, to crush him gainst a Cliffe;

Worse then vaine rendring, all his landing strife.

And should I swim to seeke a hauen elsewhere,

Or land, lesse way-beate; I may iustly feare

I shall be taken with a gale againe,

And cast a huge way off into the Maine.

And there, the great Earth-shaker (hauing seene

My so neare landing; and againe, his spleene

Forcing me to him) will some Whale send out,

(Of which a horrid number here about,

His Amphitrite breeds) to swallow me.

I well haue prou'd, with what malignitie

He treds my steps. While this discourse he held;

A curst Surge, gainst a cutting rocke impeld

His naked bodie, which it gasht and tore;

And had his bones broke, if but one sea more

Had cast him on it. But

Palla [...].

she prompted him,

That neuer faild; and bad him no more swim

Still off and on; but boldly force the shore,

And hug the rocke, that him so rudely tore.

Which he, with both hands, sigh'd and claspt; till past

The billowes rage was; which scap't; backe, so fast

The rocke repulst it, that it reft his hold,

Sucking him from it, and farre backe he rould.

And as the Polypus, that (forc't from home

Amidst the soft sea; and neare rough land come

For shelter gainst the stormes that beate on her

At open sea, as she abroad doth er [...]e)

A deale of grauill, and sharpe little stones,

Needfully gathers in her hollow bones:

So he forc't hither,

Per asperiora vitare laeuia.

(by the sharper ill,

Shunning the smoother) where he best hop't, still

The worst succeeded: for the cruell friend,

To which he clingd for succour, off did rend

From his broad hands, the soken flesh so sore,

That off he fell, and could sustaine no more.

Quite vnder water fell he; and, past Fate,

Haplesse Vlysses, there had lost the state

He held in life; if (still the grey-eye Maid,

[Page] His wisedome prompting) he had not assaid

Another course; and ceast t'attempt that shore;

Swimming, and casting round his eye, t'explore

Some other shelter. Then, the mouth he found

Of faire Callicoes flood; whose shores were crownd

With most apt succors: Rocks so smooth, they seemd

Polisht of purpose: land that quite redeemd

With breathlesse couerts, th'others blasted shores.

The flood he knew; and thus in heart implores:

King of this Riuer! heare; what euer name

Makes thee inuokt: to thee I humbly frame

My flight from Neptunes furies; Reuerend is

To all the euer-liuing Deities,

What erring man soeuer seekes their aid.

To thy both flood and knees, a man dismaid

With varied sufferance sues. Yeeld then some rest

To him that is thy suppliant profest.

This (though but spoke in thought) the Godhead heard;

Her Current strait staid; and her thicke waues cleard

Before him, smooth'd her waters; and iust where

He praid, halfe drownd; entirely sau'd him there.

Then forth he came, his both knees faltring; both

His strong hands hanging downe; and all with froth

His cheeks and nosthrils flowing. Voice and breath

Spent to all vse; and downe he sunke to Death.

The sea had soakt his heart through: all his vaines,

His toiles had rackt, t'a labouring

[...]: á partu doleo.

womans paines.

Dead wearie was he. But when breath did find

A passe reciprocall; and in his mind,

His spirit was recollected: vp he rose,

And from his necke did th'Amulet vnlose,

That Ino gaue him; which he hurld from him

To sea. It sounding fell; and backe did swim

With th'ebbing waters; till it strait arriu'd,

Where Inos faire hand, it againe receiu'd.

Then kist he th'humble earth; and on he goes,

Till bulrushes shewd place for his repose;

Where laid, he sigh'd, and thus said to his soule:

O me, what strange perplexities controule

The whole skill of thy powres, in this euent?

What feele I? if till Care-nurse Night be spent,

I watch amidst the flood; the seas chill breath,

And vegetant dewes, I feare will be my death:

So low brought with my labours. Towards day,

A passing sharpe aire euer breathes at sea.

If I the pitch of this next mountaine scale,

And shadie wood; and in some thicket fall

Into the hands of Sleepe: though there the cold

[Page] May well be checkt; and healthfull slumbers hold

Her sweete hand on my powres; all care allaid,

Yet there will beasts deuoure me. Best appaid

Doth that course make me yet; for there, some strife,

Strength, and my spirit, may make me make for life.

Which, though empaird, may yet be fresh applied,

Where perill, possible of escape is tried.

But he that fights with heauen, or with the sea,

To Indiscretion, addes Impietie.

Thus to the woods he hasted; which he found

Not farre from sea; but on farre-seeing ground;

Where two twin vnder-woods, he enterd on;

With Oliue trees, and oile-trees ouergrowne:

Through which, the moist force of the loud-voic't wind,

Did neuer beate; nor euer Phoebus shin'd;

Nor showre beate through; they grew so one in one;

And had, by turnes, their powre t'exclude the Sunne.

Here enterd our Vlysses; and a bed

Of leaues huge, and of huge abundance spred

With all his speed. Large he made it; for there,

For two or three men, ample Couerings were;

Such as might shield them from the Winters worst;

Though

A met aphoricall Hyperbole, expressing the Winters extremitie of sharpnesse.

steele it breath'd; and blew as it would burst.

Patient Vlysses ioyd, that euer day

Shewd such a shelter. In the midst he lay,

Store of leaues heaping high on euery side.

And as in some out-field, a man doth hide

A kindld brand, to keepe the seed of fire;

Simile.

No neighbour dwelling neare; and his desire

Seru'd with selfe store; he else would aske of none;

But of his fore-spent sparks, rakes th'ashes on:

So this out-place, Vlysses thus receiues;

And thus nak't vertues seed, lies hid in leaues.

Yet Pallas made him sleepe, as soone as men

Whom Delicacies, all their flatteries daine.

And all that all his labours could comprise,

Quickly concluded, in his closed eies.

Finis libri quinti Hom. Odyss.

THE SIXTH BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES.
Another.

[Page]

THE ARGVMENT.

MInerua in a vision stands

Before Nausica [...]; and commands

She to the flood her weeds should beare,

For now her Nuptiall day was neare.

Nausicaa her charge [...]b [...]yes;

And then with other virgins playes.

Their sports make [...]ak't Vlysses rise;

Walke to them, and beseech supplies

Of food and clothes. His naked sight

Puts th'other Maids, afraid to flight.

Nausicaa onely boldly stayes,

And gladly his desire obayes.

He (furnis [...] with her f [...]ours showne)

Attends her, and the re [...]t, to Towne.

[...].

Here Oliue leaues

T'hide shame, began.

The Maide receiues

The naked man.

THe much-sustaining, patient, heauenly Man,

Whom Toile and

[...]. Somno & labore afflictus. Sleep ( [...]) for the want of sleepe.

Sleepe had worne so weake and wan;

Thus wonne his rest. In meane space Pallas went

To the Phaeacian citie; and descent

That first did broad Hyperias lands diuide,

Neare the vast Cyclops, men of monstrous pride.

That preyd on those Hyperians, since they were

Of greater powre; and therefore longer there

Diuine Nausithous dwelt not; but arose,

And did for Scheria, all his powres dispose:

Farre from ingenious Art-inuenting men.

But there did he erect a Citie then.

First, drew a wall round; then he houses builds;

And then a Temple to the Gods; the fields

Lastly diuiding. But he (stoopt by Fate)

Diu'd to th'infernals: and Alcinous sate

In his command: a man, the Gods did teach,

Commanding counsels. His house held the reach

Of grey Miner [...]as proiect; to prouide,

That great-sould Ithacus might be supplide

[Page] With all things fitting his returne. She went

Vp to the chamber, where the faire

Nausicaa.

descent

Of great Alcinous slept. A maid, whose parts

In wit and beautie, wore diuine deserts.

Well deckt her chamber was: of which, the dore

Did seeme to lighten; such a glosse it bore

Betwixt the posts: and now flew ope, to find

The Goddesse entire. Like a puft of wind

She reacht the Virgin bed. Neare which, there lay

Two maids; to whom, the Graces did conuay,

Figure, and manners. But aboue the head

Of bright Nausicaa, did Pallas tred

The subtle aire; and put the person on

Of Dymas daughter; from comparison

Exempt in businesse Nauall. Like his seed,

Minerua lookt now;

Intending Dymas daughter.

whom one yeare did breed,

With bright Nausicaa; and who had gaind

Grace in her loue; yet on her thus complaind:

Nausicaa! why bred thy mother one

So negligent, in rites so stood vpon

By other virgins? Thy faite garments lie

Neglected by thee; yet thy Nuptials nie.

When, rich in all attire, both thou shouldst be,

And garments giue to others honoring thee,

That leade thee to the Temple. Thy good name

Growes amongst men for these things; they enflame

Father, and reuerend Mother with delight.

Come; when the Day takes any winke from Night,

Let's to the riuer, and repurifie

Thy wedding garments: my societie

Shall freely serue thee, for thy speedier aid,

Because thou shalt no more stand on the Maid.

The best of all Phaeacia wooe thy Grace,

Where thou wert bred, and ow'st thy selfe a race.

Vp, and stirre vp to thee thy honourd Sire,

To giue thee Mules and Coach; thee and thy tire;

Veiles, girdles, mantles, early to the flood,

To beare in state. It suites thy high-borne blood;

And farre more fits thee, then to foote so farre;

For far from towne thou knowst the Bath-founts are.

This said; away blue-eyd Minerua went

Vp to Olympus: the firme Continent,

Olympus described.

That beares in endlesse being, the deified kind;

That's neither souc't with showres, nor shooke with wind;

Nor chilld with snow; but where Serenitie flies,

Exempt from clouds; and euer-beamie skies

Circle the glittering hill. And all their daies,

Giue the delights of blessed Deitie praise.

[Page] And hither Pallas flew; and left the Maid,

When she had all that might excite her, said.

Strait rose the louely Morne, that vp did raise

Faire-veild Nausicaa; whose dreame, her praise

To Admiration tooke. Who no time spent

To giue the rapture of her vision vent,

To her lou'd parents: whom she found within.

Her mother set at fire, who had to spin

A Rocke, whose tincture with sea-purple shin'd;

Her maids about her. But she chanc't to find

Her Father going abroad: to Counsell calld

By his graue Senate. And to him, exhald

Her smotherd bosome was.

This familiar & neare wanton cariage of Nausicaa to her father, ioyned with that virgin modestie exprest in her after, is much prais [...]d by the grauest of Homers exposit [...]rs; with her fathers louing allowance of it; know [...]ng her shamefastnes and iudgement, would not let her exceed at any part. Which note [...]here inserted, not as if this were more worthy the obseruation then other euery where strewd flowers of pr [...]cept; but because this more generally pleasing su [...]ect may p [...]rhaps finde more fitnesse for the stay of most Readers.

Lou'd Sire (said she)

Will you not now command a Coach for me?

Stately and complete? fit for me to beare

To wash at flood, the weeds I cannot weare

Before repurified? Your selfe it fits

To weare faire weeds; as euery man that sits

In place of counsell. And fiue sonnes you haue;

Two wed; three Bachelors; that must be braue

In euery dayes shift, that they may go dance;

For these three last, with these things must aduance

Their states in mariage: and who else but I

Their sister, should their dancing rites supply?

This generall cause she shewd; and would not name

Her mind of Nuptials to her Sire, for shame.

He vnderstood her yet; and thus replide:

Daughter! nor these, nor any grace beside,

I either will denie thee, or deferre,

Mules, nor a Coach, of state and circular,

Fitting at all parts. Go; my seruants shall

Serue thy desires, and thy command in all.

The seruants then (commanded) soone obaid;

Fetcht Coach, and Mules ioynd in it. Then the Maid

Brought from the chamber her rich weeds, and laid

All vp in Coach: in which, her mother plac't

A maund of victles, varied well in taste,

And other iunkets. Wine she likewise filld

Within a goat-skin bottle, and distilld

Sweete and moist oile into a golden Cruse,

Both for her daughters, and her handmaids vse;

To soften their bright bodies, when they rose

Clensd from their cold baths. Vp to Coach then goes

T [...]'obserued Maid: takes both the scourge and raines;

And to her side, her handmaid strait attaines.

Nor these alone, but other virgins grac't

The Nuptiall Chariot. The whole Beuie plac't;

Nausicaa scourgd to make the Coach Mules runne;

[Page] That neigh'd, and pac'd their vsuall speed; and soone,

Both maids and weeds, brought to the riuer side;

Where Baths for all the yeare, their vse supplide.

Whose waters were so pure, they would not staine;

But still ran faire forth; and did more remaine

Apt to purge staines; for that purg'd staine within,

Which, by the waters pure store, was not seen.

These (here arriu'd,) the Mules vncoacht, and draue

Vp to the gulphie riuers shore, that gaue

Sweet grasse to them. The maids from Coach then tooke

Their cloaths, and steept them in the sable brooke.

Then put them into springs, and trod them cleane,

With cleanly feet; aduentring wagers then,

Who should haue soonest, and most cleanly done.

When hauing throughly cleansd, they spred them on

The floods shore, all in order. And then, where

The waues the pibbles washt, and ground was cleare,

They bath'd themselues; and all with glittring oile,

Smooth'd their white skins: refreshing then their toile

With pleasant dinner, by the riuers side.

Yet still watcht when the Sunne, their cloaths had dride.

Till which time (hauing din'd) Nausicae

With other virgins, did at stool-ball play;

Their shoulder-reaching head-tires laying by.

Nausicae (with the wrists of Ivory)

The liking stroke strooke; singing first a song;

(As custome orderd) and amidst the throng,

Made such a shew; and so past all was seene;

As when the Chast-borne, Arrow-louing Queene,

Simile.

Along the mountaines gliding; either ouer

Spartan Taygetus, whose tops farre discouer;

Or Eurymanthus; in the wilde Bores chace;

Or swift-hou'd Hart; and with her, Ioues faire race

(The field Nymphs) sporting. Amongst whom, to see

How farre Diana had prioritie

(Though all were faire) for fairnesse; yet of all,

(As both by head and forhead being more tall)

Latona triumpht; since the dullest sight,

Might easly iudge, whom her paines brought to light;

Nausicaa so (whom neuer husband tam'd)▪

Aboue them all, in all the beauties flam'd.

But when they now made homewards, and araid;

Ordring their weeds, disorderd as they plaid;

Mules and Coach ready; then Minerua thought,

What meanes to wake Vlysses, might be wrought,

That he might see this louely sighted maid,

Whom she intended, should become his aid:

Bring him to Towne; and his returne aduance.

[Page] Her meane was

The pietie and wisedome of the Po [...]t was such, that (agreeing with the sacred letter) not the least of things he makes come to passe, sine Numinis prouidentia. As Spond well notes of him

this, (though thought a stool-ball chance)

The Queene now (for the vpstroke) strooke the ball

Quite wide off th'other maids; and made it fall

Amidst the whirlpooles. At which, out shriekt all;

And with the shrieke, did wise Vlysses wake:

Who, sitting vp, was doubtfull who should make

That sodaine outcrie; and in mind, thus striu'd:

On what a people am I now arriu'd?

At ciuill hospitable men, that feare

The Gods? or dwell iniurious mortals here?

Vniust, and churlish? like the female crie

Of youth it sounds. What are they? Nymphs bred hie,

On tops of hils? or in the founts of floods?

In herbie marshes? or in leauy woods?

Or are they high-spoke men, I now am neare?

Ile proue, and see. With this, the wary Peere

Crept forth the thicket; and an Oliue bough

Broke with his broad hand; which he did bestow

In couert of his nakednesse; and then,

Put ha [...]tie head out: Looke how from his den,

A mountaine Lion lookes,

Simile.

that, all embrewd

With drops of trees; and weather-beaten hewd;

(Bold of his strength) goes on; and in his eye,

A burning fornace glowes; all bent to prey

On sheepe, or oxen; or the vpland Hart;

His belly charging him; and he must part

Stakes with the Heards-man, in his beasts attempt,

Euen where from rape, their strengths are most exempt:

So wet, so weather-beate, so stung with Need,

Euen to the home-fields of the countries breed,

Vlysses was to force forth his accesse,

Though meerly naked; and his sight did presse

The eyes of soft-haird virgins. Horrid was

His rough appearance to them: the hard passe

He had at sea, stucke by him. All in flight

The Virgins scatterd, frighted with this sight,

About the prominent windings of the flood.

All but Nausicaa fled; but she fast stood:

Pall [...]s had put a boldnesse in her brest;

And in her faire lims, tender Feare comprest.

And still she stood him, as resolu'd to know

What man he was; or out of what should grow

His strange repaire to them. And here was he

Put to his wisedome; if her virgin knee,

He should be bold, but kneeling, to embrace;

Or keepe aloofe, and t [...]ie with words of grace,

In humblest suppliance, if he might obtaine

Some couer for his nakednes; and gaine

[Page] Her grace to shew and guide him to the Towne.

The last, he best thought, to be worth his owne,

In weighing both well: to keepe still aloofe,

And giue with soft words, his desires their proofe;

Lest pressing so neare, as to touch her knee,

He might incense her maiden modestie.

This faire and fil'd speech then, shewd this was he.

Let me beseech (O Queene) this truth of thee;

Are you of mortall, or the deified race?

Vlysses to Na [...] sicaa.

If of the Gods, that th'ample heauens embrace;

I can resemble you to none aboue,

So neare as to the chast-borne birth of Ioue,

The beamie Cynthia. Her you full present,

In grace of euery God-like lineament;

Her goodly magnitude; and all th'addresse

You promise of her very perfectnesse.

If sprong of humanes, that inhabite earth;

Thrice blest are both the authors of your birth;

Thrice blest your brothers, that in your deserts,

Must, euen to rapture, beare delighted hearts;

To see so like the first trim of a tree,

Your forme adorne a dance. But most ble [...]t, he

Of all that breathe, that hath the gift t'engage

Your bright necke in the yoke of mariage;

And decke his house with your commanding merit.

I haue not seene a man of so much spirit.

Nor man, nor woman, I did euer see,

At all parts equall to the parts in thee.

T'enioy your sight, doth Admiration seise

My eies, and apprehensiue faculties.

Lately in Delos (with a charge of men

Arriu'd, that renderd me most wretched then,

Now making me thus naked) I beheld

The burthen of a Palme, whose issue sweld

About Apollos Phane; and that put on

A grace like thee; for Earth had neuer none

Of all her Syluane issue so adorn'd:

Into amaze my very soule was turnd,

To giue it obseruation; as now thee

To view (O Virgin) a stupiditie

Past admiration strikes me; ioynd with feare

To do a suppliants due, and prease so neare,

As to embrace thy knees. Nor is it strange;

For one of fresh and firmest spirit, would change

T'embrace so bright an obiect. But, for me,

A cruell habite of calamitie,

Prepar'd the strong impression thou hast made:

For this last Day did flie Nights twentith shade

[Page] Since I, at length, escapt the sable seas;

When in the meane time, th'vnrelenting prease

Of waues and sterne stormes, tost me vp and downe,

From th'Ile Ogygia: and now God hath throwne

My wracke on this shore; that perhaps I may

My miseries vary here: for yet their stay,

I feare, heauen hath not orderd: though before

These late afflictions, it hath lent me store.

O Queene, daine pitie then, since first to you

My Fate importunes my distresse to vow.

No other Dame, nor man, that this Earth owne,

And neighbour Citie, I haue seene or knowne.

The Towne then shew me; giue my nakednes

Some shroud to shelter it, if to these seas,

Linnen or woollen, you haue brought to clense.

God giue you, in requitall, all th'amends

Your heart can wish: a husband, family,

And good agreement: Nought beneath the skie,

More sweet, more worthy is, then firme consent

Of man and wife, in houshold gouernment.

It ioyes their wishers well; their enemies wounds;

But to themselues, the speciall good redounds.

She answerd:

Nausica [...] to Vlysses.

Stranger! I discerne in thee,

Nor Sloth, nor Folly raignes; and yet I see,

Th'art poore and wretched. In which I conclude,

That Industry nor wisedome make endude

Men with those gifts, that make them best to th'eie;

Ioue onely orders mans felicitie.

To good and bad, his pleasure fashions still,

The whole proportion of their good and ill.

And he perhaps hath formd this plight in thee,

Of which, thou must be patient, as he, free.

But after all thy wandrings, since thy way,

Both to our Earth, and neare our Citie, lay,

As being exposde to our cares to relieue;

Weeds, and what else, a humane hand should giue,

To one so suppliant, and tam'd with woe;

Thou shalt not want. Our Citie, I will show;

And tell our peoples name: This neighbor Towne,

And all this kingdome, the Phaeacians owne.

And (since thou seemdst so faine, to know my birth;

And mad'st a question, if of heauen or earth)

This Earth hath bred me; and my Fathers name

Alcinous is; that in the powre and frame

Of this Iles rule, is supereminent.

Thus (passing him) she to the Virgins went.

And said: Giue stay, both to your feet and fright;

Why thus disperse ye, for a mans meere sight?

[Page] Esteeme you him a Cyclop, that long since

Made vse to prey vpon our Citizens?

[...]. Cui vitalis vel sensualis humiditas inest. [...]; vt dicatur quasi [...], quod nihil sit magis fluxum quam homo.

This man, no moist man is; (nor watrish thing,

That's euer flitting; euer rauishing

All it can compasse; and, like it, doth range

In rape of women; neuer staid in change)

This man is truly

[...]. virili animo praeditus, fortis, magnanimus. Nor are those affirmed to be men; qui seruile quidpiam & abiectum faciunt; vel, [...]acere [...]ustinent: according to this of Herod [...]tus in Poly: [...]. Many, mens formes sustaine, but few are men.

manly, wise, and staid;

In soule more rich; the more to sense decaid.

Who, nor will do, nor suffer to be done,

Acts leud and abiect; nor can such a one

Greete the Phaeacians, with a mind enuious;

Deare to the Gods they are; and he is pious.

Besides, diuided from the world we are;

The outpart of it; billowes circulare

The sea reuoluing, round about our shore;

Nor is there any man, that enters more

Then our owne countrimen, with what is brought

From other countries. This man, minding nought

But his reliefe: a poore vnhappie wretch,

Wrackt here; and hath no other land to fetch.

Him now we must prouide for; from Ioue▪ come

All strangers,

According to an other translator: Ab loue nam supplex pauper, procedit & holpes: Res breuis, at chara est, Magni quoque mune [...]is i [...]star. Which I cite to shew his good when he keepes him to the Originall; and neare in any degree expounds it.

and the needie of a home.

Who any gift, though ne're so small it be,

Esteeme as great, and take it gratefully.

And therefore Virgins, giue the stranger food,

And wine; and see ye bath him in the flood;

Neare to some shore, to shelter most enclin'd;

To cold Bath-bathers, hurtfull is the wind.

Not onely rugged making th'outward skin,

But by his thin powres, pierceth parts within.

This said; their flight in a returne they set;

And did Vlysses with all grace entreate:

Shewd him a shore, wind [...] proofe, and full of shade:

By him a shirt, and vtter mantle laid.

A golden Iugge of liquid oile did adde;

Bad wash; and all things as Nausicaa bad.

Diuine Vlysses would not vse their aid;

But thus bespake them:

Vlysses modestie to the Virgins.

Euery louely maid,

Let me entreate to stand a litle by;

That I alone the fresh flood may apply,

He taught their youths modestie, by his aged iudgment. As receiuing the custome of maids then [...] sed to that entertainment of men: notwithstanding the modestie of that age, could not be corrupted inwardly, for those outward kind obseruations of guests and strangers, and was therefore priuiledged. It is easie to a [...]oide shew: and those that most curiously auoid the outward construction, are euer most tainted with the inward corruption.

To clense my bosome of the sea-wrought brine.

And then vse oile; which long time did not shine

On my poore shoulders. Ile not wash in sight

Of faire-haird maidens. I should blush outright,

To bathe all bare by such a virgin light.

They mou'd, and musde, a man had so much grace;

And told their Mistris, what a man he was.

He clensd his broad-soild-shoulders; backe and head

[Page] Yet neuer tam'd. But now, had fome and weed,

Knit in the faire curles. Which dissolu'd; and he

Slickt all with sweet oile: the sweet charitie,

The vntoucht virgin shewd in his attire,

He cloth'd him with. Then Pallas put a fire,

More then before, into his sparkling eies;

His late soile set off, with his soone fresh guise.

His locks (clensd) curld the more; and matcht (in power

To please an eye) the Hyacinthian flower.

And as a workman, that can well combine

Siluer and gold; and make both striue to shine;

As being by Vulcan, and Minerua too,

Taught how farre either may be vrg'd to go,

Simile.

In strife of eminence; when worke sets forth

A worthy soule, to bodies of such worth;

No thought reprouing th'act, in any place;

Nor Art no debt to Natures liueliest grace:

So Pallas wrought in him, a grace as great,

From head to shoulders; and ashore did seate

His goodly presence. To which, such a guise

He shewd in going, that it rauisht eies.

All which (continude) as he sate apart;

Nausicaas eye strooke wonder through her heart;

Nausicaas admiration of Vlysses.

Who thus bespake her consorts: Heare me, you

Faire-wristed Virgins; this rare man (I know)

Treds not our country earth, against the will

Of some God, thron'd on the Olympian hill.

He shewd to me, till now, not worth the note;

But now he lookes, as he had Godhead got.

I would to heauen, my husband were no worse;

And would be calld no better; but the course

Of other husbands pleasd to dwell out here:

Obserue and serue him, with our vtmost cheare.

She said; they heard, and did. He drunke and eate

Like to a Harpy; hauing toucht no meate

A long before time. But Nausicaa now

Thought of the more grace, she did lately vow:

Had horse to Chariot ioynd; and vp she rose:

Vp chear'd her guest, and said: Guest, now dispose

Your selfe for Towne; that I may let you see

My Fathers Court; where all the Peeres will be

Of our Phaeacian State. At all parts then,

Obserue to whom, and what place y'are t'attain;

Though I need vsher you with no aduice,

Since I suppose you absolutely wise.

While we the fields passe, and mens labours there;

So long (in these maids guides) directly beare

Vpon my Chariot (I must go before,

[Page] For cause that after comes: to which, this more

Be my induction) you shall then soone end

Your way to Towne; whose Towres you see ascend

To such a steepnesse. On whose either side,

A faire Port stands; to which is nothing wide

An enterers passage: on whose both hands ride

Ships in faire harbors;

The Cities description so far forth as may in part, induce her promist reason, why she tooke no [...] Vlysses to coach with her.

which, once past, you win

The goodly market place, (that circles in

A Phane to Neptune, built of curious stone,

And passing ample) where munition,

Gables, and masts men make, and polisht oares;

For the Phaeacians are not conquerors

By bowes nor quiuers; Oares, masts, ships they are,

With which they plow the sea, and wage their warre.

And now the cause comes, why I leade the way,

Not taking you to Coach. The men that sway

In worke of those tooles, that so fit our State,

Are rude Mechanicals; that rare and late

Worke in the market place; and those are they

Whose bitter tongues I shun; who strait would say,

(For these vile vulgars are extreamly proud,

And fouly languag'd) What, is he allowd

To coach it with Nausicaa? so large set,

And fairely fashiond? where were these two met?

He shall be sure her husband. She hath bene

Gadding in some place; and (of forraine men,

Fitting her fancie) kindly brought him home

In her owne ship. He must, of force, be come

From some farre region; we haue no such man.

It may be (praying hard, when her heart ran

On some wisht husband) out of heauen, some God

Dropt in her lap; and there lies she at rode,

Her complete life time. But, in sooth, if she

Ranging abroad, a husband such as he,

Whom now we saw, laid hand on; she was wise,

For none of all our Nobles, are of prise

Enough for her: he must beyond-sea come,

That wins her high mind, and will haue her home.

Of our Peeres, many haue importun'd her,

Yet she will none. Thus these folks will conferre

Behind my backe; or (meeting) to my face,

The foule-mouth rout dare put home this disgrace.

And this would be reproches to my fame;

For euen my selfe, iust anger would enflame,

If any other virgin I should see

(Her parents liuing) keepe the companie

Of any man; to any end of loue,

Till open Nuptials should her act approue.

[Page] And therefore heare me guest; and take such way,

That you your selfe may compasse, in your stay,

Your quicke deduction, by my Fathers grace;

And meanes to reach the roote of all your race.

We shall, not farre out of our way to Towne,

A neuer-felld Groue find, that Poplars crowne;

To Pallas sacred, where a fountaine flowes;

And round about the Groue, a Medow growes;

In which, my Father holds a Mannor house;

Deckt all with Orchards, greene, and odorous;

As farre from Towne, as one may heare a shout.

There stay, and rest your foote paines; till full out

We reach the Citie. Where, when you may guesse

We are arriu'd, and enter our accesse

Within my Fathers Court: then put you on

For our Ph [...]cian State; where, to be showne

My Fathers house, desire. Each infant there

Can bring you to it; and your selfe will cleare

Distinguish it from others: for no showes,

The Citie buildings make; compar'd with those

That King Alcinous seate doth celebrate.

In whose roofes, and the Court, (where men of state,

And suiters sit and stay) when you shall hide:

Strait passe it, entring further: where abide

My Mother, with her withdrawne houswiferies;

Who still sits in the fire [...]shine, and applies

Her Rocke, all purple, and of pompous show:

Her Chaire plac't gainst a Pillar: all arow

Her maids behind her set; and [...]o her here,

My Fathers dining Throne lookes. Seated where

He powres his choice of wine in, like a God.

This view once past; for th'end of your abode,

Addresse suite to my Mother; that her meane,

May make the day of your redition scene.

And you may frolicke strait, though farre away

You are in distance from your wished stay.

For if she once be won to wish you well,

Your Hope may instantly your Pasport seale;

And thenceforth sure abide to see your friends,

Faire house, and all, to which your heart contends.

This said; she vsde her shining scourge, and lasht

Her Mules, that soone the shore left, where she washt;

And (knowing well the way) their pace was fleet,

And thicke they gatherd vp their nimble feet.

Which yet

Not without some litle note of our omnisufficient Homers generall touch of the least fitnesse lying in his way, may this courtly discretion he describes in Nausicaa, be obs [...]rud, if you please.

she temperd so; and vsde her scourge

With so much skill; as not to ouer-v [...]ge

The foote behind; and make them straggle so,

From close societie. Firme together go

[Page] Vlysses and her maids. And now the Sunne

Sunke to the waters; when they all had wonne

The neuer-feld, and sound-exciting wood,

Sacred to Pallas: where the God-like good

Vlysses rested; and to Pallas praid:

Heare me, of Goate-kept Ioue, th'vnconquerd Maid;

Now throughly heare me;

More of our Poets curious and sweat pi [...]ti [...].

since in all the time

Of all my wracke, my pray'rs could neuer clime

Thy far-off eares; when noisefull Neptune tost

Vpon his watry brissels, my imbost

And rock [...] torne body: heare yet now, and daine

I may of the Phaeacian State obtaine

Pitie, and grace. Thus praid he; and she heard:

By no meanes yet (exposde to sight) appear'd,

For feare t'offend her Vnkle; the supreme

Of all the

Neptun [...].

Sea-Gods; whose wrath still extreme

Stood to Vlysses; and would neuer cease,

Till with his Country shore, he crownd his peace.

Finis libri sexti Hom. Odyss.

THE SEVENTH BOOK OF HOMERS ODYSSES.
Another.

[Page]

THE ARGVMENT.

NAusicaa arriues at Towne;

And then Vlysses. He makes knowne

His suite to Arete: who, view

Takes of his vesture; which she knew;

And asks him, from whose hands it came.

He tels, with all the haplesse frame

Of his affaires, in all the while,

Since he forsooke Calypsos Ile.

[...].

The honord minds,

And welcome things,

Vlysses finds,

In Scherias Kings.

THus praid the wise, and God-obseruing Man.

The Maid, by free force of her Palfreys, wan

Accesse to Towne; and the renowmed Court,

Reacht of her Father; where, within the Port,

She staid her Coach; and round about her came

Her Brothers, (made as of immortall frame.)

Who yet disdaind not, for her loue, meane deeds;

But tooke from

Haec fuit illi [...] saeculi simplicita [...]: nam vel fratern [...] quoque Amor, tantus fuit, vt libenter [...]anc redeunti charissimae sorori, operam praestiter [...]nt.

Spond.

Coach her Mules, brought in her weeds.

And she ascends her chamber; where puruaid

A quicke fire was, by her old chamber-maid

Eurymedusa, th' Aper [...]n borne;

And brought by sea, from Apera, t'adorne

The Court of great Alcinous; because

He gaue to all, the blest Phaeacians lawes;

And, like a heauen-borne Powre in speech, acquir'd

The peoples eares. To one then so admir'd,

Eurymedusa was esteemd no worse,

Then worth the gift: yet now growne old, was Nurse

To Ivory-armd Nausicaa; gaue heate

To all her fires, and drest her priuie meate.

Then rose Vlysses, and made way to Towne;

Which ere he reacht, a mightie mist was throwne

By Pallas round about him; in her Care,

Lest in the sway of enuies popular,

Some proud Phaeacian might foule language passe,

Iustle him vp, and aske him what he was.

[Page] Entring the louely Towne yet:

Vlys [...]es, à Minerua in aedes [...]lcinoi perducitur, septus nebula.

through the cloud

Pallas appeard; and like a yong wench showd

Bea [...]ng a pitcher; Stood be [...]ore him so,

As if obiected purposely to know

What there he needed; whom he questiond thus:

Know you not (daughter) where Alcino [...]s,

That rules this Towne, dwels? I, a poore distrest

Meere stranger here; know none I may request,

To make this Court knowne to me. She wordreplied:

Strange Father; I will see you satisfied

In that request: my Father dwels, iust by

The house you seeke for; but go silently;

Nor aske, nor speake to any other; I

Shall be enough to shew your way: the men

That here inhabite, do not entertain

With ready kindnesse, strangers; of what worth

Or state soeuer: nor haue taken forth

Lessons of ciuill vsage, or respect

To men beyond them. They (vpon their powres

Of swift ships building) top the watry towres:

And Ioue [...]ath giuen them ships,

[...] ▪ naues veloces veluti penna, atque cogitatio.

for saile so wrought,

They cut a fether, and command a thought.

This said; she vsherd him; and after, he

Trod in the swift steps of the Deitie.

The free-saild sea-men could not get a sight

Of our Vlysses, yet: though he foreright,

Both by their houses and their persons past:

Pallas about him, such a darknesse cast,

By her diuine powre, and her reuerend care,

She would not giue the Towne-borne, cause to stare.

He wonderd, as he past, to see the Ports;

The shipping in them; and for all resorts,

The goodly market steds; and Iles beside

For the Heroes; walls so large and wide;

Rampires so high, and of such strength withall;

It would with wonder, any eye appall.

At last they reacht the Court; and Pallas said:

Now, honourd stranger; I will see obaid

Your will, to shew our Rulers house; tis here;

Where you shall find, Kings celebrating cheare;

Enter amongst them; nor admit a feare;

More bold a man is, he preuailes the more;

Though man nor place, he euer saw before.

You first shall find the Queene in Court, whose name

Is Arete:

Arete the wife of Alcinous.

of parents borne, the same

That was the King her Spouse: their Pedigree

I can report: the great Earth-shaker, he

Of Periboea, (that her sex out-shone,

[Page] And yongest daughter was, t'Eurymedon;

Who of th'vnmeasur'd-minded Giants, swaid

Th'Imperiall Scepter; and the pride allaid

Of men so impious,

For the more perspicuitie of this pedigree, I haue here set down the Diagrā, as Spon danus hath it. Neptune begat Nausithous of Periboea. By Nausithous, Rhexenor, Alcinous, were begot. By Rhexenor, Ar [...]te, the wife of her vnkle Alcinous.

with cold death; and died

Himselfe soone after) got the magnified

In mind, Nausithous; who the kingdomes state

First held in supreame rule. Nausithous gat

Rhexenor, and Aicinous, now King:

Rhexenor (whose seed did no male fruite spring;

And whom the siluer-bow-glac't Phoebus slue

Yong in the Court) his shed blood did renew

In onely Arete; who now is Spouse

To him that rules the kingdome, in this house,

And is her Vnkle; King Alcinous.

Who honors her, past equall. She may boast

More honor of him,

The honor of Arete (or vertue) alleg.

then the honord most

Of any wife in earth, can of her Lord;

How many more soeuer, Realmes affoord,

That keepe house vnder husbands. Yet no more

Her husband honors her, then her blest store

Of gracious children. All the Citie cast

Eyes on her, as a Goddesse; and giue taste

Of their affections to her, in their praires,

Still as she decks the streets. For all affaires,

Wrapt in contention, she dissolues to men.

Whom she affects, she wants no mind to deigne

Goodnesse enough. If her heart stand inclin'd

To your dispatch; hope all you wish to find;

Your friends, your longing family, and all,

That can within your most affections fall.

This said; away the grey-eyd Goddesse flew

Along th'vntamed sea. Left the louely hew,

Scheria presented. Out flew Marathon,

And ample-streeted Athens lighted on.

Where, to the house th [...] casts so

[...], spissus:

thicke a shade,

Of Erectheus; she ingression made.

Vlysses,

The Court of Alcinous.

to the loftie-builded Court

Of King Alcinous, made bold resort;

Yet in his heart cast many a thought, before

The brazen pauement of the rich Court, bore

His enterd person. Like heauens two maine Lights,

The roomes illustrated, both daies and nights.

On euery side stood firme a wall of brasse,

Euen from the threshold to the inmost passe;

Which bore a roofe vp, that all Saphire was;

The brazen thresholds both sides, did enfold

Siluer Pilasters, hung with ga [...]es of gold;

Whose Portall was of silue [...]; ouer which

[Page] A golden Cornish did the front enrich.

On each side, Dogs of gold and siluer fram'd,

The houses Guard stood; which the Deitie (

Vulcan▪

lam'd)

With knowing inwards had inspir'd; and made,

That Death nor Age, should their estates inuade.

Along the wall, stood euery way a throne;

From th'entry to the Lobbie: euery one,

Cast ouer with a rich-wrought cloth of state.

Beneath which, the Phaeacian Princes sate

At wine and food; and feasted all the yeare.

Youths forg'd of gold, at euery table there,

Stood bolding flaming torches; that, in night

Gaue through the house, each honourd Guest, his light.

And (to encounter feast with houswifry)

In one roome fiftie women did apply

Their seuerall tasks. Some, apple-colourd corne

Ground in faire Quernes; and some did spindles turne.

Some worke in loomes: no hand, least rest receiues;

But all had motion, apt, as Aspen leaues.

And from the weeds they woue, (so fast they laid,

And so thicke thrust together, thred by thred)

That th'oile (of which the wooll had drunke his fill)

Did with his moisture, in light dewes distill.

As much as the Phaeacian men exceld

All other countrimen, in Art to build

A swift-saild ship: so much the women there,

For worke of webs, past other women were.

Past meane, by Pallas meanes, they vnderstood

The grace of good works; and had wits as good.

Without the Hall, and close vpon the Gate,

A goodly Orchard ground was situate,

Of neare ten Acres; about which, was led

A loftie Quickset. In it flourished

High and broad fruit trees, that Pomegranats bore;

Sweet Figs,

Hortus Alcinoi memorabilis.

Peares, Oliues, and a number more

Most vsefull Plants, did there produce their store.

Whose fruits, the hardest Winter could not kill;

Nor hotest Summer wither. There was still

Fruite in his proper season, all the yeare.

Sweet Zephire breath'd vpon them, blasts that were

Of varied tempers: these, he made to beare

Ripe fruites: these blossomes: Peare grew after Peare;

Apple succeeded apple; Grape, the Grape;

Fig after Fig came; Time made neuer rape,

Of any daintie there. A spritely vine

Spred here his roote; whose fruite, a hote sun-shine

Made ripe betimes. Here grew another, greene.

Here, some were gathering; here, some pressing seene.

[Page] A large-allotted seuerall, each fruite had;

And all th'adornd grounds, their apparance made,

In flowre and fruite, at which the King did aime,

To the precisest order he could claime.

Two Fountaines grac't the garden; of which, one

Powrd out a winding streame, that ouer-runne

The grounds for their vse chiefly: th'other went

Close by the loftie Pallace gate; and lent

The Citie his sweet benefit: and thus

The Gods the Court deckt of Alcinous.

Patient Vlysses stood a while at gaze;

But (hauing all obseru'd) made instant pace

Into the Court; where all the Peeres he found,

And Captaines of Phaeacia; with Cups crownd,

Offring to sharp-eyd

Mercurie.

Hermes: to whom, last

They vsde to sacrifise; when Sleepe had cast

His inclination through their thoughts. But these,

Vlysses past; and forth went; nor their eies

Tooke note of him: for Pallas stopt the light

With mists about him; that, vnstaid, he might

First to Alcinous, and Arete,

Present his person; and, of both them, she

(By Pallas counsell) was to haue the grace

Of foremost greeting. Therefore his embrace,

He cast about her knee. And then off flew

The heauenly aire that hid him. When his view,

With silence and with Admiration strooke

The Court quite through: but thus he silence broake:

Diuine Rhexenors of spring,

Areten, Vlysses supplex orat.

Arete;

To thy most honourd husband, and to thee,

A man whom many labours haue distrest,

Is come for comfort; and to euery guest:

To all whom, heauen vouchsafe delightsome liues;

And after, to your issue that suruiues,

A good resignement of the Goods ye leaue;

With all the honor that your selues receiue

Amongst your people. Onely this of me,

Is the Ambition; that I may but see

(By your vouchsaft meanes; and betimes vouchsaft)

My country earth; since I haue long bin left

To labors, and to errors, barrd from end;

And farre from benefit of any friend.

He said no more; but left them dumbe with that;

Went to the harth, and in the ashes sat,

Aside the fire. At last their silence brake;

And Echinaeus, th'old Heroe spake.

A man that all Phaeacians past in yeares,

And in perswasiue eloquence, all the Peeres;

[Page] Knew much, and vsde it well; and thus spake he:

Alcinous!

Echin [...]us to Alcinous.

it shewes not decently;

Nor doth your honor, what you see, admit;

That this your guest, should thus abiectly sit:

His chaire the earth; the harth his cushion;

Ashes, as if apposde for food: a Throne

Adornd with duerites, stands you more in hand

To see his person plac't in; and command

That instantly your Heralds fill in wine;

That to the God that doth in lightnings shine,

We may do sacrifice: for he is there,

Where these his reuerend suppliants appeare.

Let what you haue within, be brought abroad,

To sup the stranger. All these would haue showd

This fit respect to him; but that they stay

For your precedence, that should grace the way.

When this had wordadded to the well-inclin'd,

And sacred order of Alcinous mind;

Then, of the great in wit, the hand he seisd;

And from the ashes, his faire person raisd;

Ad [...]a [...]'t him to a well-adorned Throne;

And from his seate raisd his most loued sonne,

(Laodamas, that next himselfe was set)

To giue him place▪ The handmaid then did get

An Ewre of gold, with water fild; which plac't

Vpon a Caldron, all with siluer grac't)

She powrd out on their hands. And then was spred

A Table, which the Butler set with bread;

As others seru'd with other food, the boord;

In all the choise, the present could affoord.

Vlysses, meate and wine tooke; and then thus;

The King the Herald calld: Pontonous!

Serue wine through all the house; that all may pay

Rites to the Lightner, who is still in way

With humble suppliants; and them pursues,

With all benigne, and hospitable dues.

Pontonous, gaue act to all he willd,

And hony sweetnesse-giuing-minds-

The word that beares this long Epith [...], is translated only dolce: which signifies more. [...] Vinum quod mellea dulce. dine, animum perfundit, & oblectat.

wine filld;

Disposing it in cups for all to drinke.

All hauing drunke, what eithers heart could thinke

Fit for due sacrifice; Alcinous said:

Heare me, ye Dukes, that the Phaeacians leade;

And you our Counsellors; that I may now

Discharge the charge, my mind suggests to you,

For this our guest: Feast past, and this nights sleepe;

Next morne (our Senate summond) we will keepe

Iusts, sacred to the Gods; and this our Guest

Receiue in solemne Court, with fitting Feast:

[Page] Then thinke of his returne; that vnder hand

Of our deduction; his naturall land

(Without more toile or care; and with delight;

And that soone giuen him; how farre hence dissite

Soeuer it can be) he may a [...]cend;

And in the meane time,

Ascent to his Countries shore.

without wrong attend,

Or other want; fit meanes to that ascent.

What, after, austere Fates, shall make th'euent

Of his lifes thred (now spinning, and began

When his paind mother, freed his roote of man)

He must endure in all kinds.

Eustathius will haue this comparison of the Phaeacians with the Giants and Cyclops, to proceede out of the inueterate virulency of Anti [...]ous to the Cyclops, who were cause (as is before said) of their remoue from their country; & with great endeuour labors the approbation of it: but (vnder his peace) from the purpose: for the sence of the Poet is cleer, that the Cyclops & Giants being in part the issue of the Gods, and yet afterward their defiers, (as Polyp, hereafter dares professe) Antinous (out of bold a [...]d manly reason, euen to the face of one that might haue bin a God, for the past manly appearāce he made there) would tell him, and the rest in him, that if they graced those Cyclops with their open appearance, that thogh d [...]scended from them, durst yet denie them; they might much more do them the honor of their open presence that adored them.

If some God,

Perhaps abides with vs, in his abode;

And other things will thinke vpon then we;

The Gods wils stand: who euer yet were free

Of their appearance to vs; when to them

We offerd Hecatombs, of fit esteem.

And would at feast sit with vs; euen where we

Orderd our Session. They would likewise be

Encountrers of vs, when in way, alone

About his fit affaires, went any one.

Not let them cloke themselues in any care,

To do vs comfort; we as neare them are,

As are the Cyclops; or the impious race,

Of earthy Giants, that would heauen outface.

Vlysses answerd; Let some other doubt

Employ your thoughts, then what your words giue out;

Which intimate a kind of doubt, that I

Should shadow in this shape, a Deitie.

I beare no such least semblance; or in wit,

Vertue, or person. What may well befit

One of those mortals, whom you chiefly know,

Beares vp and downe, the burthen of the woe

Appropriate to poore man; giue that to me;

Of whose mones I sit, in the most degree;

And might say more; sustaining griefes that all

The Gods consent to: no one twixt their fall

And my vnpitied shoulders, letting downe

The least diuersion. Be the grace then showne,

To let me taste your free-giuen food, in peace:

Through greatest griefe, the belly must haue ease.

Worse then an enuious belly, nothing is.

It will command his strict Necessities,

Of men most grieu'd in body or in mind,

That are in health, and will not giue their kind,

A desperate wound. When most with cause I grieue,

It bids me still, Eate man, and drinke, and liue;

And this makes all forgot. What euer ill

I euer beare; it euer bids me fill.

[Page] But this ease is but [...]orc't, and will not last,

Till what the mindlikes, be as well embrac't;

And therefore let me wish you would partake

In your late purpose; when the Morne shall make

Her next appearance; daigne me but the grace,

(Vnhappie man) that I may once embrace

My country earth: though I be still thrust at,

By ancient ils; yet make me but [...]ee that;

And then let life go. When (withall) I see

My high-rooft large house, lands and family.

This, all approu'd; and each, willd euery one;

Since he hath said so fairly; set him gone.

Feast past, and sacrifice; to sleepe, all vow

Their eies at eithers house. Vlysses now,

Was left here with Alcinous, and his Queene,

The all-lou'd Arete. The handmaids then

The vessell of the Banquet, tooke away.

When Arete set eye on his array;

Knew both his out, and vnderweed, which she

Made with her maids; and musde by what meanes he

Obtaind their wearing: which she made request

To know; and wings gaue to these speeches: Guest!

First let me aske,

Arete to Vlysses.

what, and from whence you are?

And then, who grac't you with the weeds you weare?

Said you not lately, you had err'd at seas?

And thence arriu'd here? Laertides

To this,

Vlysses to Arete.

thus answerd: Tis a paine (O Queene)

Still to be opening wounds wrought deepe and greene;

Of which, the Gods haue opened store in me;

Yet your will must be seru'd: Farre hence, at sea,

There lies an Ile, that beares Ogygias name;

Where Atlas daughter, the ingenious Dame,

Faire-haird Calypso liues: a Goddesse graue,

And with whom, men, nor Gods, societie haue.

Yet I (past man vnhappie) liu'd alone,

By heau'ns wrath forc't) her house companion.

For Ioue had with a feruent lightning cleft

My ship in twaine; and farre at blacke sea left

Me and my souldiers; all whose liues I lost.

I, in mine armes the keele tooke, and was tost

Nine dayes together vp from waue to waue.

The tenth grim Night, the angry Deities draue

Me and my wracke, on th'Ile, in which doth dwell

Dreadfull Calypso; who exactly well

Receiu'd and nourisht me; and promise made,

To make me deathlesse: nor should Age inuade

My powres with his deserts, through all my dayes.

All mou'd not me; and therefore, on her stayes,

[Page] Seuen yeares she made me lie: and there spent I

The long time; steeping in the miserie

Of ceaslesse teares, the Garments I did weare

From her faire hand. The eight reuolued yeare,

(Or by her chang'd mind; or by charge of Ioue)

She gaue prouokt way to my wisht remoue;

And in a many-ioynted ship, with wine,

(Daintie in sauour) bread, and weeds diuine;

Sign'd with a harmlesse and sweet wind, my passe.

Then, seuenteene dayes at sea, I homeward was;

And by the eighteenth, the darke hils appeard,

That your Earth thrusts vp. Much my heart was cheard;

(Vnhappie man) for that was but a beame;

To shew I yet, had agonies extreame,

To put in sufferance: which th'Earth-shaker sent;

Crossing my way, with tempests violent;

Vnmeasur'd seas vp-lifting: nor would giue

The billowes leaue, to let my vessell liue

The least time quiet: that euen sigh'd to beare

Their bitter outrage: which, at last, did teare

Her sides in peeces, set on by the winds.

I yet, through-swomme the waues, that your shore binds,

Till wind and water threw me vp to it;

When, coming forth, a ruthlesse billow smit

Against huge rocks, and an acceslesse shore

My mangl'd body. Backe againe I bore,

And swom till I was falne vpon a flood,

Whose shores, me thought, on good aduantage stood,

For my receit: rock-free, and fenc't from wind.

And this I put for, gathering vp my mind.

Then the diuine Night came; and tredding Earth,

Close by the flood, that had from Ioue her birth.

Within a thicket I reposde; when round

I ruffld vp falne leaues in heape; and found

(Let fall from heauen) a sleepe interminate.

And here, my heart (long time excruciate)

Amongst the leaues I rested all that night;

Euen till the morning and meridian light.

The Sunne declining then; delightsome sleepe,

No longer laid my temples in his steepe;

But forth I went, and on the shore might see

Your daughters maids play. Like a Deitie

She shin'd aboue them; and I praid to her:

And she, in disposition did prefer

Noblesse, and wisedome, no more low then might

Become the goodnesse of a Goddesse height.

Nor would you therefore hope (supposde distrest

As I was then, and old) to find the least

[Page] Of any Grace from her; being yonger farre.

With yong folkes, Wisedome makes her commerce rare.

Yet she in all abundance did bestow,

Both wine (that makes the

[...], Vinum calefaciendi vim habens.

blood in humanes grow)

And food; and bath'd me in the flood; and gaue

The weeds to me, which now ye see me haue.

This, through my griefes I tell you; and tis true.

Alcinous answerd: Guest! my daughter knew

Least of what most you giue her; nor became

The course she tooke, to let, with euery Dame,

Your person lackey; nor hath with them brought

Your selfe home to; which first you had besought.

O blame her not (said he) Heroicall Lord;

Nor let me heare, against her worth, a word.

She faultlesse is; and wisht I would haue gone

With all her women home: but I alone

Would venture my receit here; hauing feare

And reuerend aw of accidents that were

Of likely issue: both your wrath to moue,

And to inflame the common peoples loue,

Of speaking ill: to which they soone giue place;

We men are all a most suspicious race.

My guest (said he) I vse not to be stird

To wrath too rashly; and where are preferd

To mens conceits, things that may both waies faile;

The noblest euer should the most preuaile.

Would Ioue our Father, Pallas, and the Sunne,

That (were you still as now, and could but runne

One Fate with me) you would my daughter wed,

And be my son-in-law; still vowd to leade

Your rest of life here. I, a house would giue,

And houshold goods; so freely you would liue,

Confin'd with vs: but gainst you will, shall none

Containe you here; since that were violence done

To Ioue our Father. For your passage home,

That you may well know, we can ouercome

So great a voyage; thus it shall succeed:

To morrow shall our men take all their heed

(While you securely sleepe) to see the seas

In calmest temper; and (if that will please)

Shew you your Country and your house ere night;

Though farre beyond Euboea be that sight.

And this Euboea (as our subiects say,

That haue bin there, and seene) is farre away

Farthest from vs, of all the parts they know.

And made the triall, when they helpt to row

The gold-lockt Rhadamanth; to giue him view

Of Earth-borne Tityus: whom their speeds did shew

[Page] (In that far-off Euboea) the same day

They set from hence; and home made good their way,

With ease againe, and him they did conuay.

Which, I report to you, to let you see

How swift my ships are; and how matchlesly

My yong Phaecians, with their oares preuaile,

To beate the sea through, and assist a saile.

This cheard Vlysses; who in priuate praid:

I would to Ioue our Father, what he said,

He could performe at all parts; he should then

Be glorified for euer; and I gaine

My naturall Country. This discourse they had;

When faire-armd Arete, her handmaids bad

A bed make in the Portico; and plie

With cloaths; the Couering Tapestrie;

The Blankets purple. Wel [...]napt Wastcoates too,

To weare for more warmth. What these had to do,

They torches tooke, and did. The Bed puruaid;

They mou'd Vlysses for his rest; and said:

Come Guest, your Bed is fit; now frame to rest.

Motion of sleepe, was gracious to their Guest;

Which now he tooke profoundly; being laid

Within a loop-hole Towre, where was conuaid

The sounding Portico. The King tooke rest

In a retir'd part of the house; where drest

The Queene her selfe, a Bed, and Trundlebed;

And by her Lord, reposde her reuerend head.

Finis libri septimi Hom. Odyss.

THE EIGHTH BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES.
Another.

[Page]

THE ARGVMENT.

THe Peeres of the Phaeacian State,

A Councell call, to consolate

Vlysses, with all meanes for Home.

The Councell to a Banquet come.

Innited by the king: which done;

Assaies for hurling of the stone,

The Youths make with the stranger king.

Demodecus, at feast, doth sing

Th' Adulterie of the God of Armes

With her that rules, in Amorous charmes.

And after, sings the entercourse

Of Acts about th' Epaean Horse.

[...].

The Councels frame,

At fleete applied;

In strifes of Game,

Vlysses tried.

NOw when the Rosie-fingerd morne arose;

The sacred powre Alcinous did dispose

Did likewise rise; and like him, left his Ease,

The Cittie-racer Laertiades.

The Councell at the Nauie was design'd;

To which Alcinous, with the sacred mind,

Came first of all. On polisht stones they sate

Neare to the Nauie. To increase the state,

Minerua tooke the heralds forme on her

That seru'd Alcinous; studious to prefer

Vlysses Suite for home. About the towne

She made quicke way;

Pallas like the Herald.

and fild with the renowne

Of that designe, the eares of euery man:

Proclaiming thus; Peers Phaeacensian!

And men of Councell: all haste to the Court;

To heare the stranger that made late resort

To king Alcinous: long time lost at Sea;

And is in person, like a Deitie.

This, all their powres set vp; and spirit instild;

And straight the Court and seats, with men were fild.

The whole State wonderd at Laertes Son

When they beheld him. Pallas put him on

[Page] A supernaturall, and heauenly dresse;

Enlarg'd him with a height, and goodlinesse

In breast, and shoulders; that he might appeare

Gracious, and graue, and reuerend; and beare

A perfect hand on his performance there,

In all the trials they resolu'd t'impose.

All met; and gatherd in attention close;

Alcinous thus bespake them:

Alcinous exhorts the Phaeacians to the beliefe of Vlysses.

Dukes, and Lords;

Heare me digest, my hearty thoughts in words:

This Stranger here whose trauels found my Court;

I know not; nor can tell if his resort

From East or West comes: But his suite is this;

That to his Countrey earth we would dismis

His hither-forced person; and doth beare

The minde to passe it vnder euery Peere:

Whom I prepare, and stirre vp; making knowne

My free desire of his deduction.

Nor shall there euer, any other man

That tries the goodnesse Phaeacensian,

In me, and my Courts entertainement; stay

Mourning for passage, vnder least delay.

Come then; A ship into the sacred seas,

New-built, now lanch we; and from out our prease;

Chuse two and fiftie Youths; of all, the best

To vse an oare. All which, see straight imprest;

And in their Oare-bound seates. Let others hie

Home to our Court; commanding instantly

The solemne preparation of a feast;

In which, prouision may for any guest

Be made at my charge. Charge of these low things,

I giue our Youth. You Scepter-bearing kings,

Consort me home; and helpe with grace to vse

This guest of ours: no one man shall refuse.

Some other of you, haste, and call to vs

The sacred singer, graue Demodocus;

To whom hath God giuen, song that can excite

The heart of whom he listeth with delight.

This said, he led. The Scepter-bearers lent

Their free attendance; and with all speede, went

The herald for the sacred man in song.

Youths two and fiftie; chosen from the throng

Went, as was willd, to the vntam'd seas shore;

Where come; they lancht the ship: the Mast it bore

Aduanc't, sailes hoised; euery seate, his Ore

Gaue with a lether thong: the deepe moist then

They further reacht. The drie streets flowd with men;

That troup't vp to the kings capacious Court.

Whose Porticos, were chok't with the resort:

[Page] Whose wals were hung with men: yong, old, thrust there,

In mighty concourse; for whose promist cheere

Alcinous slue twelue Sheepe; eight white-toothd Swine:

Two crook-hancht Beeues; which flead, and drest, diuine

The show was of so many a iocund Guest

All set together, at so set a feast.

To whose accomplisht state, the Herald then

The louely Singer led;

Demodocus Poeta.

Who past all mean

The Muse affected; gaue him good, and ill;

His eies put out; but put in soule at will.

His place was giuen him, in a chaire, all grac't

With siluer studs, and gainst a Pillar plac't;

Where, as the Center to the State, he rests;

And round about, the circle of the Guests.

The Herald, on a Pinne, aboue his head

His soundfull harpe hung: to whose height, he led

His hand for taking of it downe at will.

A Boord set by, with food; and forth did fill

A Bowle of wine, to drinke at his desire.

The rest then, fell to feast; and when the fire

Of appetite was quencht: the Muse inflam'd

The sacred Singer. Of men highliest fam'd,

He sung the glories; and a Poeme pend,

That in applause,

The contention of Achilles and Vlysses.

did ample heauen ascend.

Whose subiect was, the sterne contention

Betwixt Vlysses, and Great Thetis Sonne;

As, at a banket, sacred to the Gods

In dreadfull language, they exprest their ods.

When Agamemnon, sat reioyc't in soule

To heare the Greeke Peeres iarre, in termes so foule;

For Augur Phoebus, in presage had told

The king of men, (desirous to vnfold

The wars perplexed end; and being therefore gone

In heauenly Pythia, to the Porch of stone,)

That then the end, of all griefes should begin,

Twixt Greece, and Troy; when Greece (with strife to winne

That wisht conclusion) in her kings should iarre;

And pleade, if force, or wit must end the warre.

This braue contention did the Poet sing;

Expressing so the spleene of either king;

That his large purple weede,

Vlys [...]i mouetur fletus.

Vlysses held

Before his face, and eies; since thence distilld

Teares vncontaind; which he obscur'd, in feare

To let th'obseruing Presence, note a teare.

But when his sacred song the meere Diuine

Had giuen an end; a Goblet crownd with wine

Vlysses (drying his wet eies) did seise;

And sacrifisde to those Gods that would please

[Page] T'inspire the Poet with a song so fit

To do him honour,

The continued pie [...]ie of Vlysses through all places, times, and occasions.

and renowme his wit.

His teares then staid. But when againe began

(By all the kings desires) the mouing man;

Againe Vlysses, could not chuse but yeeld

To that soft passion: which againe, withheld,

He kept so cunningly from sight; that none

(Except Alcinous himselfe, alone)

Discern'd him mou'd so much. But he sat next;

And heard him deeply sigh. Which, his pretext

Could not keepe hid from him. Yet he conceal'd

His vtterance of it; and would haue it held

From all the rest. Brake off the song, and this

Said to those Ore-affecting Peeres of his:

Princes, and Peeres! we now are satiate

With sacred song, that fits a feast of state:

With wine, and food. Now then, to field, and try;

In all kinds our approu'd actiuity;

That this our Guest, may giue his friends to know

In his returne: that we, as little owe

To fights, and wrestlings, leaping, speede of race,

As these our Court-rites; and commend our grace

In all, to all superiour. Foorth he led

The Peeres and people, troup't vp to their head:

Nor must Demodocus be left within;

Whose harpe, the Herald hung vpon the pinne;

His hand, in his tooke; and abroad he brought

The heauenly Poet: out, the same way wrought

That did the Princes: and what they would see

With admiration, with his companie

They wisht to honour. To the place of Game

These throng'd; and after, routs of other came,

Of all sort, infinite. Of Youths that stroue,

Many,

Since the Phaeacians were not only dwellers by sea, bu [...] studious also of sea qua [...]lities: their names se [...]me to vsurpe their faculties therein.

and strong, rose to their trials loue.

Vp rose Acroneus, and Ocyalus;

Elatreus, Prymneus, and Anchyalus;

Nauteus, Eretmeus, Thoo [...], Proreus;

Pontaeus, and the strong Amphialus,

Sonne to Tectonides, Polinius.

Vp rose to these,

All consisting of sea-faring signification, except Laodamas.

the great Euryalus;

In action like the homicide of warre.

Naubolides, that was for person farre

Past all the rest:

As Acroneus, sūma seu extrema Nauis pars. Ocyalus velox in mari [...] Elatreus, or [...], Remex. &c.

but one he could not passe;

Nor any thought improue; Laodamas.

Vp Anabesinzus then arose;

And three sonnes of the Scepter state, and those;

Were Halius, and fore-praisde Laodamas;

And Clytonaeus, like a God in grace.

[Page] These first the foote-game tride; and from the lists

Took start together. Vp the dust, in mists

They hurld about; as in their speede, they flew;

But Clytonaeus, first, of all the crew

A Stiches length in any fallow field

Made good his pace; when where the Iudges yeeld

The prise, and praise, his glorious speed arriu'd.

Next, for the boistrous wrestling Game they striu'd;

At which, Euryalus, the rest outshone.

At leape, Amphialus. At the hollow stone

Elatreus exceld. At buffets, last,

Laodamas, the kings faire sonne surpast.

When all had striu'd in these assaies their fill;

Laodamas said; Come friends; let's proue what skill

This Stranger hath attaind to, in our sport;

Me thinks, he must be of the actiue sort.

His calues, thighs, hands, and well-knit shoulders show,

That Nature disposition did bestow

To fit with fact their forme. Nor wants he prime.

But sowre Affliction, made a mate with Time,

Makes Time the more seene. Nor imagine I,

A worse thing to enforce debilitie,

Then is the Sea: though nature ne're so strong

Knits one together. Nor conceiue you wrong,

(Replied Eu [...]yalus) but proue his blood

With [...]hat you question. In the midst then stood

Renowm'd Laodamas, and prou'd him thus;

Come (stranger Father) and assaie with vs

Your powrs in these contentions:

Laodamas vrgeth Vlysses to their sports.

If your show

Be answerd with your worth, tis fit that you

Should know these conflicts: nor doth glorie stand

On any worth more, in a mans command,

Then to be strenuous, both of foote and hand:

Come then, make proofe with vs; discharge your mind

Of discontentments:

The word is [...] signif [...]ing: deductio: qua transue [...]endum curamus [...]um q [...]i nobiscum aliquandiu est versatus.

for not farre behind

Comes your deduction. Ship is ready now;

And men, and all things. Why (said he) dost thou

Mocke me Laodamas! and these strifes bind

My powrs to answer? I am more inclind

To cares, then conflict. Much sustaind I haue;

And still am suffering. I come here to craue

In your assemblies, meanes to be dismist,

And pray, both Kings, and subiects to assist.

Euryalus, an open brawle began;

And said: I take you Sir,

Euryalu [...] vpbraids Vlysses,

for no such man

As fits these honord strifes. A number more

Strange men there are, that I would chuse before.

To one that loues to lie a ship-boord much;

[Page] Or is the Prince of sailours; or to such

As traffique farre and neare, and nothing minde

But freight, and passage, and a foreright winde;

Or to a victler of a ship: or men

That set vp all their powrs for rampant Gaine,

[...].

I can compare, or hold you like to be:

But, for a wrestler, or of qualitie

Fit for contentions noble; you abhor

From worth of any such competitor.

Vlysses (frowning) answerd;

Vlysses angry.

Stranger! farre

Thy words are from the fashions regular

Of kinde, or honour. Thou art in thy guise

Like to a man, that authors iniuries.

I see,

[...] Damnorum magnorum auctor.

the Gods to all men, giue not all

Manly addiction; wisedome; words that fall

(Like dice) vpon the square still. Some man takes

Ill forme from parents; but God often makes

That fault of forme vp, with obseru'd repaire

Of pleasing speech: that makes him held for faire;

That makes him speake securely: makes him shine

In an assembly, with a grace di [...]ine.

Men take delight, to see how euenly lie

His words asteepe, in honey modestie.

Another then, hath fashion like a God;

But in his language, he is foule, and broad:

And such art thou. A person faire is giuen;

But nothing else is in thee, sent from heauen.

For in thee lurkes, a base, and earthy soule

And t'hast compelld me, with a speech most foule

To be thus bitter. I am not vnseene

In these faire strifes, as thy words ouerweene:

But in the first ranke of the best I stand.

At least, I did, when youth and strength of hand

Made me thus confident: but now am worne

With woes, and labours; as a humane borne

To beare all anguish. Sufferd much I haue.

The warre of men, and the inhumane waue

Haue I driuen through at all parts: but with all

My waste in sufferance: what yet may fall

In my performance, at these strifes Ile trie;

Thy speech hath mou'd, and made my wrath runne hie.

This said; with robe, and all, he graspt a stone,

A little grauer then was euer throwne

By these Phaeacians, in their wrestling rout;

More firme, more massie; which (turnd round about)

He hurried from him, with a hand so strong

It sung, and flew: and ouer all the throng

(That at the others markes stood) quite it went:

[Page] Yet downe fell all beneath it; fearing spent

The force that draue it flying from his hand,

As it a dart were, or a walking wand.

And, farre past all the markes of all the rest

His wing stole way. When Pallas straight imprest

A marke at fall of it; resembling then

One of the nauy-giuen Phaeacian men;

And thus aduanc't Vlysses: One, (though blinde)

(O stranger!) groping, may thy stones fall finde;

For not amidst the rout of markes it fell,

But farre before all. Of thy worth, thinke well;

And stand in all strifes: no Phaeacian here,

This bound, can either better or come nere.

Vlysses ioyd, to heare that one man yet

V [...]de him benignly; and would Truth abet

In those contentions. And then, thus smooth

He tooke his speech downe: Reach me that now Youth,

You shall (and straight I thinke) haue one such more;

And one beyond it too. And now, whose Core

Stands sound, and great within him (since ye haue

Thus put my splene vp) come againe and braue

The Guest ye tempted, with such grosse disgrace:

At wrestling, buffets, whirlbat, speed of race.

At all, or either, I except at none,

But vrge the whole State of you; onely one

I will not challenge, in my forced boast,

And that's Laodamas; for hee's mine Host.

He names Laodamas onely for all the other brothers; since in his exception, the others enuies were curbd: for brother [...] either are or should be of one acceptation in all fit things.

And who will fight, or wrangle with his friend?

Vnwise he is, and base, that will contend

With him that feedes him, in a forreigne place;

And takes all edge off, from his owne sought grace.

None else except I here; nor none despise;

But wish to know, and proue his faculties,

That dares appeare now. No strife ye can name

Am I vnskilld in;

And Laodamas, he calles his host, being eldest son to Alcinous: the heire being euer the yong master; nor might he conueniently prefer Alcinous in his exception, since he stood not in competition at these contentions.

(reckon any game

Of all that are, as many as there are

In vse with men) for Archerie I dare

Affirme my selfe not meane. Of all a troupe

Ile make the first foe with mine arrow stoupe;

Though, with me ne're so many fellowes bend

Their bowes at markt men, and affect their end;

Onely was Philocte [...]es with his bow

Still my superiour; when we Greekes would show

Our Archerie against our foes of Troy:

But all that now by bread, fraile life enioy,

I farre hold my inferiours. Men of old

None now aliue, shall witnesse me so bold

To vant equality with such men as these;

[Page] O [...]chalian, Euritus, Hercules;

Who with their bowes, durst with the Gods contend.

And therefore caught Eurytus soone his end.

Nor did at home,

Apollo.

in age, a reuerend man;

But by the Great incensed Delphian

Was shot to death, for daring competence

With him, in all an Archers excellence.

A Speare Ile hurle as farre, as any man

Shall shoote a shaft. How at a race I can

Bestirre my feete; I onely yeeld to Feare,

And doubt to meete with my superiour here.

So many seas, so too much haue misusde

My lims for race; and therefore haue diffusde

A dissolution through my loued knees.

This said,

The ingen [...]ous and ro [...]all speech of Alcinous to Vlysses.

he stilld all talking properties;

Alcinous onely answerd: O my Guest

In good part take we, what you haue bene prest

With speech to answer. You would make appeare

Your vertues therefore, that will still shine where

Your onely looke is. Yet must this man giue

Your worth ill language; when, he does not liue

In sort of mortals (whence so ere he springs

That iudgement hath to speake becoming things)

That will depraue your vertues. Note then now

My speech, and what, my loue presents to you;

That you may tell Heroes, when you come

To banquet with your Wife, and Birth at home,

(Mindfull of our worth) what deseruings Ioue

Hath put on our parts likewise; in remoue

From Sire to Sonne, as an inherent grace

Kinde, and perpetuall. We must needs giue place

To other Countreymen; and freely yeeld

We are not blamelesse, in our fights of field;

Buff [...]ts, nor wrestlings: but in speede of feete;

And all the Equipage that fits a fleete,

We boast vs best. For table euer spred

With neighbour feasts, for garments varied;

For Poesie, Musique, Dancing, Baths, and Beds.

And now, Phaeacians, you that beare your heads

And feete with best grace, in enamouring dance;

Enflame our guest here; that he may aduance

Our worth past all the worlds, to his home friends;

As well for the vnmatcht grace, that commends

Your skills in footing of a dance; as theirs

That flie a race best. And so, all affaires,

At which we boast vs best; he best may trie;

As Sea-race, Land-race, Dance, and Poesie.

Some one, with instant speede to Court retire,

[Page] And fetch Demodocus, his soundfull lyre.

This said, the God-grac't king, and quicke resort

Pontonous made, for that faire harpe, to Court.

Nine of the lot-chusde publique Rulers rose,

That all in those contentions did dispose;

Commanding a most smooth ground, and a wide,

And all the people, in faire game, aside.

Then with the rich harpe, came Pontonous;

And in the midst, tooke place Demodocus.

About him then stood foorth, the choise yong men,

[...] signifies splendor vibran [...]; a twinckd splendor: [...] Vibrare vel [...]ti radios solares.

That on mans first youth, made fresh entrie then:

Had Art to make their naturall motion sweete

And shooke a most diuine dance from their feete;

That twinckld Star-like; mou'd as swift, and fine,

And beate the aire so thinne, they made it shine.

Vlysses wonderd at it; but amazd

He stood in minde,

Ayre rar [...]fied turns first.

to heare the dance so phras'd.

For, as they danc't; Demodocus did sing,

The bright-crownd Venus loue, with Battailes king;

As first they closely mixt, in t'house of fire.

What worlds of gifts, wonne her to his desire;

Who then, the night-and-day-bed did defile

Of good king Vulcan. But in little while

The Sunne their mixture saw; and came, and told.

The bitter newes, did by his [...]ares take hold

Of Vulcans heart. Then to his Forge he went;

And in his shrewd mind, deepe stuffe did inuent.

His mightie Anuile, in the stocke he put;

And forg'd a net, that none could loose, or cut;

That when it had them, it might hold them fast.

Which, hauing finisht, he made vtmost haste

Vp to the deare roome, where his wife he wowd:

And (madly wrath with Mars) he all bestrowd

The bed, and bed posts: all the beame aboue

That crost the chamber;

The matter whereof none can see.

and a circle stroue,

Of his deuice, to wrap in all the roome.

And twas as pure, as of a Spiders Ioome,

The woofe before tis wouen. No man nor God

Could set his eie on it: a sleight so odde,

His Art shewd in it. All his craft bespent

About the bed:

[...]

. he faind, as if he went

To well-built Lemnos; his most loued towne,

Of all townes earthly. Nor left this vnknowne

To golden-bridle-vsing Mars; who kept

No blinde watch ouer him: but, seeing stept

His riuall so aside, he hasted home

With faire-wreath'd Venus loue stung; who was come

New from the Court of her most mightie Sire.

[Page] Mars enterd; wrung her hand; and the retire

Her husband made to Lemnos told; and said;

Now (Loue) is Vulcan gone; let vs to bed,

Hee's for the barbarous Sintians. Well appaid

Was Venus with it; and afresh assaid

Their old encounter. Downe they went; and straight

About them clingd, the artificiall sleight

Of most wise Vulcan; and were so ensnar'd,

That neither they could stirre their course prepar'd,

In any lim about them; nor arise.

And then they knew, they could no more disguise

Their close conueiance; but lay, forc't, stone still.

Backe rusht the Both foote cook't; but straight in skill,

From his neare skout-hole turnd; nor euer w [...]nt

To any Lemnos; but the sure euent

Left Phoebus to discouer, who told all.

Then, home hopt Vulcan, full of griefe, and gall;

Stood in the Portall, and cried out so hie;

That all the Gods heard. Father of the skie

And euery other deathlesse God (said he)

Come all,

Vulcans complaint.

and a ridiculous obiect see;

And yet not sufferable neither; Come,

And witnesse, how when still I step from home,

(Lame that I am) Ioues daughter doth professe

To do me all the shamefull offices;

Indignities, despites, that can be thought;

And loues this all-things-making-come to nought

Since he is faire forsooth; foote-sound, and I

Tooke in my braine a little; leg'd awrie;

And no fault mine; but all my parents fault,

Who should not get, if mocke me, with my halt.

But see how fast they sleepe, while I, in mone,

Am onely made, an idle looker on.

One bed their turne serues; and it must be mine;

I thinke yet, I haue made their selfe-loues shine.

They shall no more wrong me, and none perceiue:

Nor will they sleepe together, I beleeue

With too hote haste againe. Thus both shall lie

In craft, and force; till the extremitie

Of all the dowre, I gaue her Sire (to gaine

A dogged set-fac't Girle, that will not staine

Her face with blushing, though she shame her head)

He paies me backe: She's faire, but was no maide.

While this long speech was making, all were come

To Vulcans wholie-brazen-founded home.

Earth-shaking Neptune; vsefull Mercurie,

And far-shot Phoebus. No She Deitie

For shame, would show there: all the giue-good Gods

[Page] stood in the Portall; and past periods

Gaue length to laughters; all reioyc't to see

That which they said; that no impietie

Finds good successe at th'end. And now (said one)

The slow outgoes the swift. Lame Vulcan, knowne

To be the slowest of the Gods; outgoes

Mars the most swift; And this is that, which growes

To greatest iustice; that Adulteries sport

Obtain'd by craft, by craft of other sort,

(And lame craft too) is plagu'd, which grieues the more,

That sound lims turning lame; the lame,

Intending thē sound of foote; when they outgoe the soundest.

restore.

This speech amongst themselues they entertaind

When Phoebus, thus askt Hermes: Thus enchaind

Would'st thou be Hermes, to be thus disclosde?

Though, with thee, golden Venus were repos'de?

He soone gaue that an answer: O (said he

Thou king of Archers) would twere thus with me.

Though thrice so much shame; nay, though infinite

Were powrd about me; and that euery light

In great heauen shining, witnest all my harmes,

So golden Venus slumberd in mine Armes.

The Gods againe laught; euen the watry state

Wrung out a laughter: But propitiate

Was still for Mars, and praid the God of fire

He would dissolue him; offering the desire

He made to Ioue, to pay himselfe; and said,

All due debts, should be, by the Gods repaid.

Pay me, no words (said he) where deeds lend paine;

Wretched the words are, giuen for wretched men.

How shall I binde you in th'Immortals sight

If Mars be once loos'd; nor will pay his right?

Vulcan (said he) if Mars should flie,

This is [...]. &c. Parua mag [...]e dicere▪ graue sentence out of lightest vapor.

nor see

Thy right repaid, it should be paid by me:

Your word, so giuen, I must accept (said he)

Which said; he loosd them: Mars then rusht from skie

And stoop't cold Thrace. The laughing Deity

For Cyprus was, and tooke her Paphian state

Where, She a Groue, ne're cut, hath consecrate:

All with Arabian odors fum'd; and hath

An Altar there, at which the Graces bathe,

And with immortall Balms besmooth her skin;

Fit for the blisse, Immortals solace in;

Deckt her in to-be-studied attire,

And apt to set beholders hearts on fire.

This sung the sacred Muse, whose notes and words

The dancers feete kept; as his hands his cords.

Vlysses, much was pleased, and all the crew:

This would the king haue varied with a new

[Page] And pleasing measure; and performed by

Two, with whom none would striue in dancerie.

And those, his sonnes were; that must therefore dance

Alone; and onely to the harp aduance,

Without the words; And this sweete couple, was

Yong Halius, and diuine Laodamas:

Who danc't a Ball dance. Then the rich-wrought Ball,

(That Polybus had made, of purple all)

They tooke to hand: one threw it to the skie,

And then danc't backe; the other (capring hie)

Would surely catch it, ere his foote toucht ground;

And vp againe aduanc't it; and so found

The other, cause of dance; and then did he

Dance lofty trickes; till next it came to be

His turne to catch; and serue the other still.

When they had kept it vp to eithers will;

They then danc't ground tricks; oft mixt hand in hand;

And did so gracefully their change command;

That all the other Youth that stood at pause,

With deafning shouts, gaue them the great applause.

Then said Vlysses; O past all men here

Cleare,

Vlysses to Alcinous.

not in powre, but in desert as clere,

You said your dancers, did the world surpasse;

And they performe it, cleare, and to amaze.

This wonne Alcinous heart; and equall prise

He gaue Vlysses; saying; Matchlesse wise

(Princes, and Rulers) I perceiue our guest;

And therefore let our hospitable best

In fitting gifts be giuen him: twelue chiefe kings

There are that order all the glorious things

Of this our kingdome; and the thirteenth, I

Exist, as Crowne to all: let instantly

Be thirteene garments giuen him: and, of gold

Precious, and fine, a Talent. While we hold

This our assembly; be all fetcht, and giuen;

That to our feast prepar'd, as to his heauen

One guest may enter. And that nothing be

Left vnperformd, that fits his dignity;

Euryalus shall here conciliate

Himselfe, with words and gifts; since past our rate

He gaue bad language. This did all commend

And giue in charge; and euery king did send

His Herald for his gift. Euryalus▪

(Answering for his part) said; Alcinous!

Our chiefe of all; since you command, I will

To this our guest, by all meanes reconcile;

And giue him this entirely mettald sword:

The handle massie siluer; and the bord

[Page] That giues it couer, all of Ivorie,

New, and in all kinds, worth his qualitie.

This put he strait into his hand, and said:

Frolick [...], O Guest and Father; if words, fled,

Haue bene offensiue; let swift whirlwinds take,

And rauish them from thought. May all Gods make

Thy wifes sight good to thee; in quicke retreate

To all thy f [...]iends, and best-lou'd breeding seate;

Their long misse quitting with the greater ioy;

In whose sweet, vanish all thy worst annoy.

And frolicke thou, to all height, Friend (said he)

Which heauen confirme, with wisht felicitie.

Nor euer giue againe desire to thee,

Of this swords vse, which with affects so free,

In my reclaime, thou hast bestowd on me.

This said; athwart his shoulders he put on

The right faire sword; and then did set the Sunne.

When all the gifts were brought; which backe againe

(With King Alcinous, in all the traine)

Were by the honourd Heralds borne to Court;

Which his faire sonnes tooke; and from the resort

Laid by their reuerend Mother. Each his throne

Of all the Peeres (which yet were ouershone

In King Alcinous command) ascended:

Whom he, to passe as much in gifts contended;

And to his Queene, said: Wife! see brought me here

The fairest Cabinet I haue; and there

Impose a well-cleansd, in, and vtter weed;

A Caldron heate with water, that with speed

Our Guest well bath'd, and all his gifts made sure,

It may a ioyfull appetite procure

To his succeeding Feast; and make him heare

The Poets Hymne, with the securer eare.

To all which, I will adde my boll of gold,

In all frame curious, to make him hold

My memory alwaies deare; and sacrifise

With it at home, to all the Deities.

Then Arete, her maids charg'd to set on

A well-siz'd Caldron quickly. Which was done;

Cleare water powr'd in, flame made so entire,

It gilt the brasse, and made the water fire.

In meane space, from her chamber brought the Queene

A wealthy Cabinet, where (pure and cleane)

She put the garments, and the gold bestowd

By that free State: and then, the other vowd

By her Alcinous, and said: Now Guest▪

Make close and fast your gifts, lest when you rest

A ship-boord sweetly, in your way you meet

[Page] Some losse, that lesse may make your next sleepe sweet.

This when Vlysses heard; all sure he made;

Enclosde and bound safe; for the sauing trade,

The Reuerend for her wisedome (Circe) had

In foreyeares taught him. Then the handmaid bad

His worth to bathing; which reioyc't his heart.

For since he did with his Calypso part,

He had no [...]ote baths. None had fauourd him;

Nor bin so tender of his kingly lim.

But all the time he spent in her abode,

He liu'd respected, as he were a God.

Cleansd then and balmd; faire shirt, and robe put on;

Fresh come from bath, and to the Feasters gone;

Nausicaa, that from the Gods hands tooke

The soueraigne beautie of her blessed looke,

Stood by a well-caru'd Columne of the roome,

And through her eye, her heart was ouercome

With admiration of the Port imprest

In his aspect;

Nausicaa enflamed with Vlysses

and said: God saue you Guest!

Be chearfull, as in all the future state,

Your home will shew you, in your better Fate.

But yet, euen then, let this rememberd be,

Your lifes price, I lent, and you owe it me.

The varied in all counsels gaue reply:

Nausicaa! flowre of all this Empery!

So Iunos husband, that the strife for noise

Makes in the clouds, blesse me with strife of Ioyes,

In the desir'd day, that my house shall show,

As I, as I to a Goddesse, there shall vow,

To thy faire hand, that did my Being giue;

Which Ile acknowledge [...]uery houre I liue.

This said; Alcinous plac't him by his side;

Then tooke they feast, and did in parts diuide

The seuerall dishes; filld out wine, and then

The striu'd-for,

[...] ▪ Poetam cuius hominibus digna est societas.

for his worth, of worthy men,

And reuerenc't of the State; Demodocus

Was brought in by the good Pontonous.

In midst of all the guests, they gaue him place,

Against a loftie Pillar; when, this grace

The grac't with wisedome did him. From the Chine

That stood before him of a white-tooth'd Swine,

(Being farre the daintiest ioynt) mixt through with fat,

He caru'd to him, and sent it where he sat,

By his old friend, the Herald; willing thus:

Herald! reach this to graue Demodocus;

Say, I salute him; and his worth embrace.

Poets deserue past all the humane race,

Reuerend respect and honor; since the Queene

[Page] Of knowledge, and the supreme worth in men

(The Muse) informes them; and loues all their race.

This, reacht the Herald to him; who, the grace

Receiu'd encourag'd: which, when feast was spent,

Vlysses amplified to this ascent:

Demodocus! I must preferre you farre,

Past all your sort; if, or the Muse of warre,

Ioues daughter prompts you; (that the Greeks respects)

Or if the Sunne, that those of Troy affects.

For I haue heard you, since my coming, sing

The Fate of Greece, to an admired string.

How much ou [...] sufferance was; how much we wrought;

How much the actions rose to, when we fought.

So liuely forming, as you had bin there;

Or to some free relator, lent your [...]are.

Forth then, and sing the woodden horses frame,

Built by Epeus; by the martiall Dame,

Taught the whole Fabricke; which, by force of sleight,

Vlysses brought into the Cities height;

When he had stuft it with as many men,

As leueld loftie Ilion with the Plaine.

With all which, if you can as well enchant,

A [...] with expression quicke and elegant,

You sung the rest; I will pronounce you cleare,

Inspir'd by God, past all that euer were.

This said; euen stird by God vp, he began;

And to his Song fell, past the forme of man;

Beginning where, the Greeks a ship-boord went,

And euery Chiefe, had set on fire his Tent.

When th'other Kings, in great Vlysses guide,

In Troys vast market place, the horse did hide:

From whence, the Troians, vp to Ilion drew

The dreadfull Engine. Where (sate all arew)

Their Kings about it: many counsels giuen,

How to dispose it. In three waies were driuen

Their whole distractions: first, if they should feele

The hollow woods heart, (searcht with piercing steele)

Or from the battlements (drawne higher yet)

Deiect it headlong; or, that counterfet,

So vast and nouell, set on sacred fire;

Vowd to appease each angerd Godheads ire.

On which opinion, they, thereafter, saw,

They then should haue resolu'd: th'vnalterd law

Of Fate presaging; that Troy then should end,

When th'hostile horse, she should receiue to friend;

For therein should the Grecian Kings lie hid,

To bring the Fate and death, they after did.

He sung besides, the Greeks eruption

[Page] From those their hollow crafts; and horse forgone;

And how they made Depopulation tred

Beneath her feete, so high a Cities head.

In which affaire, he sung in other place,

That of that ambush, some man else did race

The Ilion Towres, then

Vlysses.

Laertiades;

But here he

As by the diuine fury directly inspired so, for Vlysses glory.

sung, that he alone did seise

(With Menelaus) the ascended roofe

Of Prince Deiphobus; and Mars- like proofe

Made of his valour: a most dreadfull fight,

Daring against him. And there vanquisht quite,

In litle time (by great Mineruas aid)

All Ilions remnant, and Troy leuell laid.

This the diuine Expressor, did so giue

Both act and passion, that he made it liue;

And to Vlysses facts did breathe a fire,

So

In that the slaughters he made were exprest so liuely.

deadly quickning, that it did inspire

Old death with life; and renderd life so sweet,

And passionate, that all there felt it fleet;

Which made him pitie his owne crueltie,

And put into that ruth, so pure an [...]ie

Of humane frailtie; that to see a man

Could so reuiue from Death; yet no way can

Defend from death; his owne quicke powres it made

Feele there deaths horrors: and he felt life fade

In

[...], Metaph. signifying, consumo, tabes [...]o.

teares, his feeling braine swet: for in things

That moue past vtte [...]ance, teares ope all their springs.

Nor are there in the Powres, that all life beares,

More true interpreters of all, then teares.

And as a Ladie mournes her sole-lou'd Lord,

Simile.

That falne before his Citie, by the sword,

Fighting to rescue from a cruell Fate,

His towne and children; and, in dead estate

Yet panting, seeing him; wraps him in her armes,

Weeps, shriekes, and powres her health into his armes;

Lies on him, striuing to become his shield

From foes that still as [...]aile him; speares impeld

Through backe and shoulders; by whose points embrude,

They raise and leade him into seruitude,

Labor and languor: for all which, the Dame

Eates downe her cheekes with teares, and feeds lifes flame

With miserable sufferanc: So this King,

Of teare-swet anguish, op't a boundlesse spring:

Nor yet was seene to any one man there,

But King Alcinous, who sate so neare,

He could not scape him: sighs (so chok't) so brake

From all his tempers, which the King d [...]d take

Both note, and graue resp [...]ct of, and thus spake:

[Page] Heare me, Phaeacian Counsellers and Peeres;

And ceasse, Demodocus; perhaps all eares

Are not delighted with his song; for, euer

Since the diuine Muse sung, our Guest hath neuer

Containd from secret mournings. It may fall,

That something sung, he hath bin grieu'd withall,

As touching his particular. Forbeare;

That Feast may ioyntly comfort all hearts here;

And we may cheare our Guest vp; tis our best,

In all due honor. For our reuerend Guest,

Is all our celebration, gifts, and all,

His loue hath added to our Festiuall.

A Guest, and suppliant too; we should esteeme

Deare as our brother; one that doth but dreame

He hath a soule; or touch but at a mind

Deathlesse and manly; should stand so enclin'd.

Nor cloke you, longer, with your curious wit,

(Lou'd Guest) what euer we shall aske of it.

It now stands on your honest state to tell;

And therefore giue your name; nor more conceale,

What of your parents, and the Towne that beares

Name of your natiue; or of forreiners

That neare vs border, you are calld in fame.

There's no man liuing, walkes without a name;

Noble nor base; but had one from his birth;

Imposde as fit, as to be borne. What earth,

People, and citie, owne you? Giue to know:

Tell but our ships all, that your way must show;

For our

This [...] or affirmation of miracles, how impossible soeuer in these times assured, yet in those ages they were neither absurd nor strāge. Those inanimate things hauing (it seemd [...] certain [...], in whose powers, they supposed, their ships faculties. As others haue affirmed Okes to haue sence of hearing: and so the ship of Argos was said to haue a Mast made of D [...]don [...] an Oke, that was vocall, and co [...]l [...] speake▪

ships know th'expressed minds of men;

And will so most intentiuely retaine

Their scopes appointed, that they neuer err [...];

And yet vse neuer any man to stere:

Nor any Rudders haue, as others need.

They know mens thoughts; and whither tends their speed.

And there will set them. For you cannot name

A Citie to them; nor fat Soile, that Fame

Hath any notice giuen; but well they know,

And will flie to them, though they ebbe and flow,

In blackest clouds and nights; and neuer beare

Of any wracke or rocke, the slendrest feare.

But this I heard my Sire Nausithous say

Long since, that Neptune seeing vs conuay

So safely passengers of all degrees,

Was angry with vs; and vpon our seas,

A well-built ship we had (neare habor come,

From safe deduction of some stranger home)

Made in his flitting billowes, sticke stone still;

And dimm'd our Citie, like a mightie hill,

[Page] With shade cast round about it. This report,

The old

Intending his father Nausithous.

King made; in which miraculous sort,

If God had done such things, or left vndone;

At his good pleasure be it. But now, on,

And truth relate vs; both whence you errd;

And to what Clime of men would be transferrd;

With all their faire Townes; be they, as they are;

If rude, vniust, and all irregular;

Or hospitable, bearing minds that please

The mightie D [...]itie. Which one of these

You would be set at, say; and you are there;

And therefore what afflicts you? why, to heare

The Fate of Greece and Ilion, mourne you so?

The Gods haue done it; as to all, they do

Destine destruction; that from thence may rise

A Poeme to instruct posterities.

Fell any kinsman before Ilion?

Some worthy Sire-in-law, or like-neare sonne?

Whom next our owne blood, and selfe-race we loue?

Or any friend perhaps, in whom did moue

A knowing soule, and no vnpleasing thing?

Since such a good one, is no vnderling

To any brother: for, what fits true friends,

True wisedom [...] is,

True wisedome fits true friends.

that blood and birth transcends.

Finis libri octaui Hom. Odyss.

THE NINTH BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES.
Another.

[Page]

THE A [...]GVMENT.

VLysses here, is first made knowne;

Who tels the sterne contention,

His powres did gainst the Cicons trie;

And thence to the Lotophagie

Extends his conquest: and from them,

Assayes the Cyclop Polypheme;

And by the crafts, his wits apply,

He puts him out his onely eye.

[...].

The strangely fed

Lotophagie.

The Cicons fled.

The Cyclops eye.

VLysses thus resolu'd the Kings demands.

Alcinous! (in whom this Empire stands)

You should not of so naturall right disherit

Your princely feast, as take from it the spirit.

To heare a Poet, that in accent brings

The Gods brests downe;

He begins where Alcinous commanded Demo [...]ocus to end.

and breathes them as he [...]

Is sweet, and sacred; nor can I conceiue,

In any common weale, what more doth giue

Note of the iust and blessed Empery,

Then to see Comfort vniuersally

Cheare vp the people. When in euery roofe,

She giues obseruers a most humane proofe

Of mens contents. To see a neighbours Feast

Adorne it through; and thereat, heare the breast

Of the diuine Muse; men in order set;

A

[...].

wine-page waiting. Tables crownd with meate;

Set close to guests, that are to vse it skilld;

The Cup-boords furnisht; and the cups still filld.

This shewes (to my mind) most humanely faire.

Nor should you, for me, still the heauenly aire,

That stirrd my soule so; for I loue such teares,

As fall from fit notes; beaten through mine eares,

With repetitions of what heauen hath done;

And breake from heartie apprehension

Of God and goodnesse, though they shew my ill.

And therefore doth my mind excite me still,

[Page] To tell my bleeding mone; but much more now,

To serue your pleasure; that, to ouer-flow

My teares with such cause, may by sighs be driuen;

Though ne're so much plagu'd, I may seeme by heauen.

And now my name; which, way shall leade to all

My miseries after: that their sounds may fall

Through your eares also; and shew (hauing fled

So much affliction) first, who rests his head

In your embraces; when (so farre from home)

I knew not where t'obtaine it resting roome.

I am Vlysses Laertiades;

The feare of all the world for policies;

For which, my facts as high as heauen resound.

I dwell in Ithaca, Earths most renownd:

All ouer-shadow'd with the

[...]. quatientem seu agitantem frondes.

Shake-leafe hill

Tree-fam'd Neritus; whose neare confines fill

Ilands a number, well inhabited,

That vnder my obseruance taste their bread.

Dulichius, Samos, and the-full-of-

quaedam quibus corp [...]s ali [...]ur & vita sustentatur [...] appellantur.

food

Zacynthus, likewise grac't with store of wood.

But Ithaca, (though in the seas it lie)

Yet lies she so aloft, she casts her eye

Quite ouer all the neighbour Continent.

Farre▪ Norward situate; and (being lent

But litle fauour of the Morne, and Sunne)

With barren rocks and cliffes is ouer-runne.

And yet of hardie youths, a Nurse of Name.

[...] could I see a Soile, where ere I came,

More sweete and wishfull. Yet, from hence was I

Withheld with horror, by the Deitie

Diuine Calypso, in her cauie house;

Enflam'd to make me her sole Lord and Spouse.

Circe Aeaea too, (that knowing Dame,

Whose veines, the like affections did inflame)

Detaind me likewise. But to neithers loue,

Could I be tempted; which doth well approue;

Nothing so sweete is as our countries earth,

Amor patriae.

And ioy of those, from whom we claime our birth.

Though roofes farre richer, we farre off possesse,

Yet (from our natiue) all our more, is lesse.

To which, as I contended, I will tell

The much-distrest-conferring-facts, that fell

By Io [...]es diuine preuention; since I set,

From ruin'd Troy, my first foote in retreat.

From Ilion, ill winds cast me on the Coast

The Cicons hold; where I emploid mine hoast

For Ismarus, a Citie, built iust by

My place of landing; of which, Victory

[Page] Made me expugner. I depeopl'd it,

Slue all the men, and did their wiues remit,

With much spoile taken; which we did diuide,

That none might need his part. I then applide

All sp [...]ed for flight: but my command therein,

(Fooles that they were) could no obseruance win

Of many souldiers, who with spoile fed hie,

Would yet fill higher; and excessiuely

Fell to their wine; gaue slaughter on the shore,

Clouen-footed beeues and sheepe, in mightie store.

In meane space, Cicons did to Cicons crie;

When, of their nearest dwellers, instantly

Many and better souldiers made strong head,

That held the Continent, and managed

Their horse with high skill: on which they would fight,

When fittest cause seru'd; and againe alight,

(With soone seene vantage) and on foote contend.

Their concourse swift was, and had neuer end;

As thicke and sodaine twas, as flowres and leaues

Darke Spring discouers, when she

After Night, in the first of the Morning.

Light receaues.

And then began the bitter Fate of Ioue

To alter vs vnhappie; which, euen stroue

To giue vs suffrance. At our Fleet we made

Enforced stand; and there did they inuade

Our thrust-vp Forces: darts encountred darts,

With blowes on both sides: either making parts

Good vpon either, while the Morning shone,

And sacred Day her bright increase held on;

Though much out-matcht in number. But as soone

As Phoebus Westward fell, the Cicons wonne

Much hand of vs; sixe proued souldiers fell

(Of euery ship) the rest they did compell

To seeke of Flight escape from Death and Fate.

Thence (sad in heart) we saild: and yet our State

Was something chear'd; that (being ouer-matcht so much

In violent number) our retreate was such,

As sau'd so many▪ Our deare losse the lesse,

That they suruiu'd; so like for like successe.

Yet left we not the Coast, before we calld

Home to our country earth, the soules exhald,

Of all the friends, the Cicons ouercame.

Thrice calld we on them,

The ancient custome of calling [...]ome the dead.

by their seuerall name,

And then tooke leaue. Then from the angry North,

Cloud-gathering Ioue, a dreadfull storme calld forth

Against our Nauie; couerd shore and all,

With gloomie vapors. Night did headlong fall

From frowning Heauen. And then hurld here and there

Was all our Nauie; the rude winds did teare,

[Page] In three, in foure parts, all their sailes; and downe

Driuen vnder hatches were we, prest to drowne.

Vp rusht we yet againe; and with tough hand

(Two daies, two nights entoild) we gat nere land;

Labours and sorrowes, eating vp our minds.

The third cleare day yet, to more friendly winds

We masts aduanc't, we white sails spred, and sate.

Forewinds, and guides, againe did iterate,

Our ease and home-hopes; which we cleare had reacht;

Had not, by chance, a sodaine North-wind fetcht,

With an extreame sea, quite about againe,

Our whole endeuours; and our course constraine

To giddie round; and with our bowd sailes greete

Dreadfull Maleia; calling backe our fleet [...],

As farre forth as Cythaera. Nine dayes more,

Aduerse winds tost me; and the tenth, the shore,

Where dwell the blossome-fed Lotophagie,

I fetcht▪ fresh water tooke in; instantly

Fell to our food aship-boord; and then sent

Two of my choice men to the Continent,

(Adding a third, a Herald) to discouer,

What sort of people were the Rulers ouer

The land next to vs. Where,

The Lotophagie.

the first they met,

Were the Lotophagie▪ that made them eate

Their Country diet; and no ill intent,

Hid in their hearts to them: and yet th'euent,

To ill conuerted it; for, hauing eate

Their daintie viands; they did quite forget

(As all men else, that did but taste their feast)

Both country-men and country; nor addrest

Any returne, t'informe what sort of men

Made fixt abode there; but would needs maintaine,

Abode themselues there; and eate that food euer.

I made out after; and was faine to seuer

Th'enchanted knot; by forcing their retreate;

That striu'd, and wept, and would not leaue their meate

For heauen it selfe. But, dragging them to fleete;

I wrapt in sure bands, both their hands and feete,

And cast them vnder hatches; and away

Commanded all the rest, without least stay;

Lest they should taste the Lote too; and forget

With such strange raptures, their despisde retreate.

All then aboord, we beate the sea with Ores;

And still with sad hearts saild by out-way shores;

Till th'out-lawd Cyclops land we fetcht; a race

Of proud-liu'd loiterers,

The idle Cyclops.

that neuer sow,

Nor put a plant in earth, nor vse a Plow;

But trust in God for all things; and their earth,

[Page] (Vnsowne, vnplowd) giues euery of-spring birth,

That other lands haue. Wheate, and Ba [...]ley; Vines

That beare in goodly Grapes, delicious wines;

And Ioue sends showres for all: no counsels there,

Nor counsellers, nor lawes; but all men beare

Their heads aloft on mountaines, and those steepe,

And on their tops too: and there, houses keepe

In vaultie Caues; their housholds gouernd all

By each mans law, imposde in seuerall;

Nor wife, nor child awd; but as he thinks good.

None for another caring. But there stood

Another litle Ile, well stor'd with wood,

Betwixt this and the entry; neither nie

The Cyclops Ile, nor yet farre off doth lie.

Mens want it sufferd; but the mens supplies,

The Goates made with their inarticulate cries.

Goates beyond number, this small Iland breeds,

So [...]ame, that no accesse disturbs their feeds.

No hunters (that the tops of mountaines scale,

And rub through woods with toile) seeke them at all.

Nor is the soile with flocks fed downe, nor plowd;

Nor euer in it any seed was sowd.

Nor place the neighbour Cyclops their delights,

In braue Vermilion prow-deckt ships; nor wrights

Vsefull and skilfull, in such works, as need

Perfection to those trafficks, that exceed

Their naturall confines: to flie out and see

Cities of men; and take in, mutually

The prease of others; To themselues they liue,

And to their Iland, that enough would giue

A good inhabitant; and time of yeare

Obserue to all things Art could order there.

There, close vpon the sea, sweet medowes spring,

That yet of fresh streames want no watering

To their soft burthens: but of speciall yeeld,

Your vines would be there; and your common field,

But gentle worke make for your plow; yet beare

A loftie haruest when you came to sheare.

For passing fat the [...]oile is▪ In it lies

A harbor so opportune, that no ties,

Halsers, or gables need; nor anchors cast.

Whom stormes

The descriptions of all these countries, haue admirable alleg [...]ries, besides their artly and pleasing relation.

put in there, are with stay embrac't;

Or to their full wils safe; or winds aspire

To Pilots vses their more quicke desire.

At entry of the hauen, a siluer foord

Is from a rock-impressing fountaine powr'd,

All set with sable Poplars; and this Port

Were we arriu'd at, by the sweet resort

[Page] Of some God guiding vs: for twas a night

So gastly darke, all Port was past our sight,

Clouds [...]id our ships, and would not let the Moone

Affoord a beame to vs; the whole Ile wonne,

By not an eye of ours. None thought the Blore

That then was vp, shou'd waues against the shore,

That then to an vnmeasur'd height put on.

We still at sea esteemd vs, till alone

Our fleet put in it selfe. And then were strooke

Our gatherd sailes: our rest ashore we tooke,

And day expected. When the Morne gaue fire,

We rose, and walkt, and did the Ile admire.

The Nymphs, Ioues daughters, putting vp a heard

Of mountaine Goates to vs, to render cheard

My fellow souldiers. To our Fleet we flew;

Our crooked bowes tooke, long-pil'd darts, and drew

Our selues in three parts out; when, by the grace

That God vouch-saft, we made a gainfull chace.

Twelue ships we had, and euery ship had nine

Fat Goates allotted; ten onely mine.

Thus all that day, euen till the Sunne was set,

We sate and feasted; pleasant wine and meate,

Plenteously taking; for we had not spent

Our ruddie wine aship-boord: supplement

Of large sort, each man to his vessell drew,

When we the sacred Citie ouerthrew,

That held the Cicons. Now then saw we neare,

The Cyclops late-praisd Iland; and might heare

The murmure of their sheepe and goates; and see

Their smokes ascend. The Sunne then set, and we

(When Night succeeded) tooke our rest ashore.

And when the world the Mornings fauour wore,

I calld my friends to councell; charging them

To make stay there, while I tooke ship and streame,

With some associates; and explor'd what men

The neighbour Ile held: if of rude disdaine,

Churlish and tyrannous, or minds bewraid

Pious and hospitable. Thus much said,

I boorded, and commanded to ascend

My friends and souldiers, to put off, and lend

Way to our ship. They boorded, sate, and beate

The old sea forth, till we might see the seate,

The greatest Cyclop held for his abode;

Which was a deepe Caue, neare the common rode

Of ships that toucht there; thicke with Lawrels spred,

Where many sheepe and goates lay shadowed:

And neare to this, a Hall of torne-vp stone,

High built with Pines, that heauen and earth attone;

[Page] And loftie-fronted Okes: in which kept house,

A man in shape, immane, and monsterous,

Fed all his flocks alone; nor would affoord

Commerce with men; but had a wit abhord;

His mind, his body answering. Nor was he

Like any man, that food could possibly

Enhance so hugely; but (beheld alone)

Shewd like a steepe hils top, all ouergrowne

With trees and brambles; litle thought had I

Of such vast obiects. When, arriu'd so nie;

Some of my lou'd friends, I made stay aboord,

To guard my ship; and twelue▪ with me I shor'd,

The choice of all. I tooke besides along,

A Goat-skin flagon of wine, blacke and strong,

That Maro did present; Euantheus sonne,

And Priest to Phoebus; who had mansion

In Thracian Ismarus (the Towne I tooke)

He gaue it me; since I (with reuerence strooke,

Of his graue place, his wife and childrens good)

Freed all of violence. Amidst a wood

Sacred to Phoebus, stood his house; from whence

He fetcht me gifts of varied excellence;

Seuen talents of fine gold; a boll all fram'd

Of massie siluer. But his gift, most fam'd,

Was twelue great vessels, filld with such rich wine,

As was incorruptible, and diuine.

He kept it as his iewell, which none knew

But he himselfe, [...]is wife, and he that drew.

It was so strong, that neuer any filld

A cup, where that was but by drops instilld,

And drunke it off; but twas before allaid

With twentie parts in water; yet so swaid

The spirit of that litle, that the whole,

A sacred odour breath'd about the boll.

Had you the odour smelt,

Vi [...]um Maroneum memorabile.

and sent it cast,

It would haue vext you to forbeare the taste.

But then (the taste gaind too) the spirit it wrought,

To dare things high, set vp an end my thought.

Of this, a huge great flagon full I bore,

And in a good large knapsacke, victles store;

And longd to see this heape of fortitude,

That so illiterate was, and vpland rude,

That lawes diuine nor humane he had learnd.

With speed we reacht the Cauerne, nor discernd

His presence there. His flocks he fed at field.

Entring his den; each thing beheld, did yeeld

Our admiration: shelues with cheeses heapt;

Sheds stuft with Lambs and Goates, distinctly kept;

[Page] Distinct the biggest; the more meane distinct;

Distinct the yongest. And in their precinct

(Proper and placefull) stood the troughs and pailes,

In which he milkt; and what was giuen a [...] meales,

Set vp a creaming: in the Euening still,

All scouring bright, as deaw vpon the hill.

Then were my fellowes instant to conuay

Kids, cheeses, lambs, aship [...]boord; and away

Saile the salt billow. I thought best, not so,

But better otherwise; and first would know,

What guest-gifts he would spare me. Little knew

My friends, on whom they would haue preyd: his view

Prou'd after, that his inwards were too rough

For such bold vsage: we were bold enough,

In what I sufferd; which was there to stay;

Make fire and feed there, though beare none away.

There sate we, till we saw him feeding come,

And on his necke a burthen lugging home,

Most highly huge of Sere-wood; which the pile

That fed his fire, supplide all supper while.

Downe by his den he threw it; and vp rose

A tumult with the fall. Afraid, we close

Withdrew our selues, while he into a Caue

Of huge receit, his high-fed cattell draue,

All that he milkt; the males he left without

His loftie roofes, that all bestrowd about

With Rams and buck-goates were. And then a rocke

He lift aloft, that damd vp to his flocke,

The doore they enterd: twas so hard to wield,

That two and twentie Waggons, all foure-wheeld,

(Could they be loaded, and haue teames that were

Proportion'd to them) could not stirre it there.

Thus, making sure, he kneeld and milkt his Ewes,

And braying Goates, with all a milkers dues.

Then let in all their yong: then, quicke did dresse,

His halfe milke vp for cheese, and in a presse

Of wicker prest it; put in bolls the rest,

To drinke, and eate, and serue his supping feast.

All works dispatcht thus; he began his fire;

Which blowne, he saw vs; and did thus enquire:

Ho! Guests! what are ye? whence saile ye these seas?

Trafficke, or roue ye? and like theeues oppresse

Poore strange aduenturers; exposing so

Your soules to danger, and your liues to wo?

This vtt [...]rd he; when Feare from our hearts tooke

The very life; to be so thunder-strooke

With such a voice, and such a monster see.

But thus I answerd: Er [...]ing Grecians we,

[Page] From Troy were turning homewards;

This his relation of Agamemnon, and his glory & theirs for Troyes sacke, with the pietie of suppliants receit, to him that was so barbarous and impious, must be intended spoken by Vlysses, with supposition that his hearers wold note, still as he spake; how vaine they would shew to the Cyclops: who respected litle Agamemnon, or their valiant exploit against Troy, or the Gods themselues. For oth [...]rwise, the serious obseruatiō of the words (though good & graue, if spoken to another) want their intentional sharpnesse and life.

but by force

Of aduerse winds, in far-diuerted course,

Such vnknowne waies tooke, and on rude seas tost,

(As Ioue decreed) are cast vpon this Coast.

Of Agamemnon (famous Atreus sonne)

We boast our selues the souldiers; who hath wonne

Renowme that reacheth heauen; to ouerthrow

So great a Citie, and to ruine so,

So many nations. Yet at thy knees lie

Our prostrate bosomes; forc't with praires to trie,

If any hospitable right, or Boone

Of other nature, (such as haue bin wonne

By lawes of other houses) thou wilt giue.

Reuerence the Gods, thou greatst of all that liue.

We suppliants are; and hospitable Ioue

Poures wreake on all, whom praires want powre to moue:

And with their plagues, together will prouide,

That humble Guests shall haue their wants supplide.

He cruelly answerd: O thou foole (said he)

To come so farre, and to importune me

With any Gods feare, or obserued loue;

We Cyclops care not for your Goat-fed Ioue;

Nor other Blest ones; we are better farre.

To Ioue himselfe, dare I bid open warre;

To thee, and all thy fellowes, if I please.

But tell me: where's the ship, that by the seas

Hath brought thee hither? If farre off, or neare;

Informe me quickly. These his temptings were.

But I, too much knew, not to know his mind;

And craft, with craft paid; telling him the wind

(Thrust vp from Sea, by him that shakes the Shore)

Had dasht our ships against his rocks, and tore

Her ribs in peeces, close vpon his Coast;

And we from high wracke sau'd; the rest were lost.

He answerd nothing; but rusht in, and tooke

Two of my fellowes vp from earth, and strooke

Their braines against it. Like two whelps they flew

About his shoulders; and did all embrew

The blushing earth. No mountaine Lion tore

Two Lambs so sternly; lept vp all their gore,

Gusht from their torne-vp bodies; lim by lim,

(Trembling with life yet) rauisht into him.

Both flesh and marrow-stuffed bones he eate,

And euen th'vncleansed entrails made his meate.

We weeping, cast our hands to heauen, to view,

A sight so horrid. Desperation flew

With all our after liues, to instant death,

In our beleeu'd destruction. But when breath,

[Page] The fury of his appetite had got,

Because the gulfe his belly, reacht his throte;

Mans flesh, and Goates milke, laying laire on laire,

Till neare chokt vp, was all the passe for aire.

Along his den, amongst his cattell, downe

He rusht, and streakt him. When my mind was growne

Desperate, to step in; draw my sword, and part

His bosome, where the strings about the heart

Circle the Liuer, and adde strength of hand.

But that rash thought, More staid, did countermand;

For there we all had perisht, since it past

Our powres to lift aside a log so vast,

As barrd all outscape; and so sigh'd away

The thought all Night, expecting actiue Day.

Which come, he first of all, his fire enflames,

Then milks his Goates and Ewes; then to their dams

Lets in their yong; and wondrous orderly,

With manly haste, dispatcht his houswifery.

Then to his Breakfast, to which, other two

Of my poore friends went: which eate; out then go

His heards and fat flocks; lightly putting by

The churlish barre, and closde it instantly;

For both those works, with ease, as much he did,

As you would ope and shut your Quiuer lid.

With stormes of whistlings then, his flocks he draue

Vp to the mountaines; and occasion gaue

For me to vse my wits; which to their height,

I striu'd to skrew vp; that a vengeance might

By some meanes fall from thence; and Pallas now

Affoord a full eare to my neediest vow.

This then, my thoughts preferd: a huge club lay

Close by his milk-house, which was now in way

To drie, and season; being an Oliue tree

Which late he feld; and being greene, must be

Made lighter for his manage. Twas so vast,

That we resembl'd it to some fit Mast,

To serue a ship of burthen, that was driuen

With twentie Ores; and had a bignesse giuen,

To beare a huge sea. Full so thicke, so tall

We iudg'd this club; which I, in part, hewd small,

And cut a fathome off. The peece I gaue

Amongst my souldiers, to take downe, and shaue;

Which done, I sharpn'd it at top, and then

(Hardn'd in fire) I hid it in the den,

Within a nastie dunghill reeking there,

Thicke, and so moist, it issude euery where.

Then made I lots cast, by my friends to trie,

Whose fortune seru'd to dare the bor'd out eie

[Page] Of that man-eater: and the lot did fall

On foure I wisht to make my aid, of all;

And I, the fift made, chosen like the rest.

Then came the Euen; and he came from the feast

Of his fat cattell; draue in all; nor kept

One male abroad: if, or his memory slept

By Gods direct will; or of purpose was

His driuing in of all then, doth surpasse

My comprehension. But he closde againe

The mightie barre; milkt, and did still maintaine

All other obseruation, as before.

His wo [...]ke, all done; two of my souldiers more,

At once he snatcht vp; and to supper went.

Then dar'd I words to him, and did present

A boll of wine, with these words: Cyclop! take

A boll of wine from my hand, that may make

Way for the mans flesh thou hast eate; and show

What drinke our ship held; which in sacred vow,

I offer to thee; to take ruth on me

In my dismission home. Thy rages be

Now no more sufferable. How shall men

(Mad and inhumane that thou art) againe

Greet thy abode, and get thy actions grace,

If thus thou ragest, and eatst vp their race.

He tooke, and drunke; and vehemently ioyd

To taste the sweet cup; and againe employd

My flagons powre; entreating more, and said:

Good Guest, againe affoord my taste thy aid;

And let me know thy name; and quickly now;

That in thy recompence I may bestow

A hospitable gift on thy desert;

And such a one as shall reioyce thy heart;

For to the Cylops too, the gentle Earth

Beares generous wine; and Ioue augments her birth,

In store of such, with showres. But this rich wine,

Fell from the riuer that is meere diuine,

Of Nectar and Ambrosia. This againe

I gaue him; and againe; nor could the foole abstaine,

But drunke as often. When the noble Iuyce

Had wrought vpon his spirit; I then gaue vse

To fairer language; saying: Cylop! now

As thou demandst, Ile tell thee my name; do thou

Make good thy hospitable gift to me;

My name is No-Man; No-Man, each degree

Of friends, as well as parents, call my name.

He answerd, as his cruell soule became:

No-Man! Ile eate thee last of all thy friends;

And this is that, in which so much amends

[Page] I vowd to thy deseruings; thus shall be

My hospitable gift, made good to thee.

This said; he vpwards fell; but then bent round

His fleshie necke; and Sleepe (with all crownes, crownd)

Subdude the Sauage. From his throte brake out

My wine, with mans flesh gobbets, like a spout;

When loded with his cups, he lay and snor'd.

And then tooke I the clubs end vp, and gor'd

The burning cole-heape, that the point might heate.

Confirmd my fellowes minds, lest Feare should let

Their vowd assay, and make them flie my aid.

Strait was the Oliue Leuer, I had laid

Amidst the huge fire, to get hardning, hot;

And glowd extremely, though twas greene; (which got

From forth the cinders) close about me stood

My hardie friends: but that which did the good,

Was Gods good inspiration, that gaue

A spirit beyond the spirit they vsde to haue:

Who tooke the Oliue sparre, made keene before,

And plung'd it in his eye: and vp I bore,

Bent to the top close; and helpt poure it in,

With all my forces:

Simile.

And as you haue seene

A ship-wright bore a nauall beame; he oft

Thrusts at the Augurs Froofe; works still aloft;

And at the shanke, helpe others; with a cord

Wound round about, to make it sooner bor'd;

All plying the round still: So into his eye,

The firie stake, we labourd to imply.

Out gusht the blood that scalded; his eye-ball

Thrust out a flaming vapour, that scorcht all

His browes and eye-lids; his eye-strings did cracke,

As in, the sharpe and burning rafter brake.

And as a Smith to harden any toole,

Simile.

(Broad Axe, or Mattocke) in his Trough doth coole

The red-hote substance, that so feruent is,

It makes the cold waue strait to seethe and hisse:

So sod, and hizd his eye about the stake.

He roar'd withall; and all his Cauerne brake

In claps like thunder. We, did frighted flie,

Disperst in corners. He from forth his eie,

The fixed stake pluckt: after which, the blood

Flowd freshly forth; and, mad, he hurl'd the wood

About his houill. Out he then did crie

For other Cyclops, that in Cauernes by,

Vpon a windie Promontorie dwelld;

Who hearing how impetuously he yelld,

Rusht euery way about him; and enquir'd,

What ill afflicted him, that he expir'd

[Page] Such horrid clamors; and in sacred Night,

To breake their sleepes so? Askt him, if his fright

Came from some mortall, that his flocks had driuen?

Or if by craft, or might, his death were giuen?

He answerd from his den; By craft, nor might,

No man hath giuen me death. They then said right;

If no man hurt thee, and thy selfe alone;

That which is done to thee, by Ioue is done.

And what great Ioue inflicts, no man can flie;

Pray to thy Father yet,

Neptune.

a Deitie;

And proue, from him, if thou canst helpe acquire.

Thus spake they, leauing him. When all on fire,

My heart with ioy was; that so well my wit,

And name deceiu'd him; whom now paine did split;

And groning vp and downe, he groping tride,

To find the stone, which found, he put aside;

But in the doore sate, feeling if he could

(As his sheepe issude) on some man lay hold;

Esteeming me a foole, that could deuise

No stratageme to scape his grosse surprise.

But I, contending what I could inuent,

My friends and me, from death so imminent,

To get deliuerd: all my wiles I woue,

(Life being the subiect) and did this approue;

Fat fleecie Rams, most faire, and great, lay there,

That did a

Wooll of a violet colour.

burthen like a Violet beare.

These (while this learn'd in villanie did sleepe)

I yokt with Osiers cut there, sheepe to sheepe;

Three in a ranke; and still the mid sheepe bore

A man about his belly: the two more,

Marcht on his each side for defence. I then,

Chusing my selfe the fairest of the den,

His fleecie belly vnder-crept; embrac't

His backe, and in his rich wooll wrapt me fast

With both my hands, arm'd with as fast a mind.

And thus each man hung, till the Morning shin'd;

Which come, he knew the houre, and let abroad

His male-flocks first: the females, vnmilkt stood

Bleating and braying; their full bags so sore,

With being vnemptied; but their shepheard more,

With being vnsighted; which was cause, his mind

Went not a milking. He (to wreake enclin'd)

The backs felt as they past, of those male dams:

(Grosse foole) beleeuing, we would ride his Rams.

Nor euer knew, that any of them bore

Vpon his belly, any man before.

The last Ram came to passe him, with his wooll,

And me together, loded to the full:

[Page] For there did I hang: and that Ram he staid;

And me withall had in his hands; my head

Troubl'd the while, not causlesly, nor least.

This Ram he grop't, and talkt to: Lazie beast!

Why last art thou now? thou hast neuer vsde

To lag thus hindmost: but still first hast brusde

The tender blossome of a flowre; and held

State in thy steps, both to the flood and field:

First still at Fold, at Euen; now last remaine?

Doest thou not wish I had mine eye againe,

Which that abhord man No-Man did put out,

Assisted by his execrable rout,

When he had wrought me downe with wine? but he

Must not escape my wreake so cunningly.

I would to heauen thou knewst, and could but speake,

To tell me where he lurks now; I would breake

His braine about my Caue, strewd here and there,

To ease my heart of those foule ils, that were

Th'inflictions of a man, I prisde at nought.

Thus let he him abroad; when I (once brought

A litle from his hold) my selfe first losde,

And next, my friends. Then draue we, and disposde,

His strait-leggd fat fleece-bearers ouer land,

Euen till they all were in my ships command;

And to our lou'd friends, shewd our praid-for sight,

Escap't from death. But for our losse, outright

They brake in teares; which with a looke I staid,

And bad them take our Boote in. They obaid;

And vp we all went; sate, and vsde our Ores,

But hauing left as farre the sauage shores,

As one might heare a voice; we then might see

The Cyclop at the hauen; when instantly

I staid our Ores, and this insultance vsde:

Cyclop!

Vlysses insults [...]uer the Cyclop.

thou shouldst not haue so much abusde

Thy monstrous forces, to oppose their least,

Against a man immartiall, and a guest;

And eate his fellowes: thou mightst know there were

Some ils behind (rude swaine) for thee to beare;

That feard not to deuoure thy guests, and breake

All lawes of humanes: Ioue sends therefore wreake,

And all the Gods, by me. This blew the more

His burning furie; when the top he tore

From off a huge Rocke; and so right a throw

Made at our ship, that iust before the Prow,

It ouerflew and fell: mist Mast and all

Exceeding litle; but about the fall,

So fierce a waue it raisd, that backe it bore

Our ship so farre, it almost toucht the shore.

[Page] A bead-hooke then (a far-extended one)

I snatcht vp, thrust hard, and so set vs gone

Some litle way; and strait commanded all

To helpe me with their Ores; on paine to fall

Againe on our confusion. But a signe,

I with my head made; and their Ores were mine,

In all performance. When we off were set,

(Then first, twice further) my heart was so great,

It would againe prouoke him: but my men

On all sides rusht about me, to containe;

And said: Vnhappie! why will you prouoke

A man so rude; that with so dead a stroke,

Giuen with his Rock-dart, made the sea thrust backe

Our ship so farre; and neare hand forc't our wracke?

Should he againe, but heare your voice resound,

And any word reach; thereby would be found

His Darts direction; which would, in his fall,

Crush peece-meale vs, quite split our ship and all;

So much dart weilds the monster. Thus vrg'd they

Impossible things, in feare; but I gaue way

To that wrath, which so long I held deprest,

(By great Necessitie conquerd) in my brest.

Cyclop!

Vlysses continued insolēce, no more to repeate what he said to the Cyclop, then to let his hearers know Epithetes, and estimation in the world.

if any aske thee, who imposde

Th'vnsightly blemish that thine eye enclosde;

Say that Vlysses (old Laertes sonne,

Whose seate is Ithaca; and who hath wonne

Surname of Citie-racer) bor'd it out.

At this, he braid so loud, that round about

He draue affrighted Ecchoes through the Aire;

And said: O beast! I was premonisht faire,

By aged Prophecie, in one that was

A great, and good man; this should come to passe;

And how tis prou'd now? Augur Telemus,

Surnam'd Eurymedes (that spent with vs

His age in Augurie; and did exceed

In all presage of Truth) said all this deed,

Should this euent take; author'd by the hand

Of one Vlysses; who I thought was mand

With great and goodly personage; and bore

A vertue answerable: and this shore

Should shake with weight of such a conqueror,

When now a weakling came, a dwarfie thing,

A thing of nothing; who yet wit did bring,

That brought supply to all; and with his wine,

Put out the flame, where all my light did shine.

Come, land againe, Vlysses! that my hand,

May Guest-rites giue thee; and the great command,

That Neptune hath at sea, I may conuert

[Page] To the deduction, where abides thy heart,

With my sollicitings; whose Sonne I am;

And whose fame boasts to beare my Fathers [...]ame.

Nor thinke my hurt offends me; for my S [...]e

Can soone repose in it the visuall fire,

At his free pleasure; which no powre beside

Can boast: of men, or of the Deifide.

I answerd: Would to God I could compell

Both life and soule from thee; and send to hell

Those spoiles of nature. Hardly Nept [...]ne then

Could cure thy hurt, and giue th [...]e all again.

Then flew fierce vowes to Nept [...]ne;

Polyphems imprecation against Vlysses.

both his hands

To starre-borne heauen cast: O tho [...] that all lands

Girdst in thy ambient Cir [...]le; and in aire

Shak'st the curld Tresses of thy Saphire haire;

If I be thine, or thou maist iustly vant,

Thou art my Father: heare me now, and grant

That this Vlysses (old Laertes sonne,

That dwels in Ithaca; and name hath wonne

Of Citie-ruiner) may neuer reach

His naturall region. Or if to fetch,

That, and the sight of his faire roo [...]es and friends,

Be fatall to him; let him that Amends

For all his miseries, long time and ill,

Smart for, and faile of: nor that Fate fulfill,

Till all his souldiers quite are cast away

In others ships. And when, at last, the day

Of his sole-landing, shall his dwelling show,

Let Detriment prepare him wrongs enow.

Thus praid he Neptune; who, his Sire appeard;

And all his praire, to euery syllable heard.

But then a Rocke, in size more amplified

Then first, he rauisht to him; and implied

A dismall strength in it; when (wheeld about)

He sent it after vs; nor flew it out

From any blind aime; for a litle passe

Beyond our Fore-decke, from the fall there was:

With which the sea, our ship gaue backe vpon,

And shrunke vp into billowes from the stone;

Our ship againe repelling, neare as neare

The shore as first. But then our Rowers were

(Being warnd, more armd) and stronglier stemd the flood

That bore backe on vs, till our ship made good

The other Iland, where our whole Fleet lay;

In which our friends lay mourning for our stay;

And euery minute lookt when we should land.

Where (now arriu'd) we drew vp to the sand;

The Cyclops sheepe diuiding, that none there

[Page] (Of all our priuates) might be wrung, and beare

Too much on powre. The Ram yet was alone,

By all my friends, made all my portion,

Aboue all others; and I made him then,

A

No occasion let passe to Vlysses pietie, in our Poets singular wit and wisedom [...].

sacrifice for me, and all my men,

To cloud-compelling Ioue, that all commands.

To whom I burnd the Thighs: but my sad hands,

Receiu'd no grace from him; who studied how

To offer, men and fleete to Ouerthrow.

All day, till Sun-set yet, we sate and eate;

And liberall store tooke in, of wine and meate.

The Sunne then downe, and place resign'd to shade,

We slept; Morne came, my men I raisd, and made

All go aboord; weigh Anker, and away.

They boorded, sate and beate the aged sea;

And forth we made saile; sad for losse before,

And yet had comfort, since we lost no more.

Finis libri noni Hom. Odyss.

THE TENTH BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES.
Another.

[Page]

THE ARGVMENT.

VLysses now relates to vs,

The grace he had with Aeolus,

Great Guardian of the hollow winds:

Which in a leather bag he binds,

And giues Vlysses; all but one,

Which Zephyre was; who filld alone

Vlysses sailes. The Bag once seene

(While he slept) by Vlysses men;

They thinking, it did gold inclose;

To find it▪ all the winds did lose.

Who backe flew to their guard againe.

Forth saild he; and did next attaine

To where the Laestrigonians dwell.

Where he eleuen ships lost; and fell

On the Aeaean coast; whose shore

He sends Eurylochus t'explore,

Diuiding with him halfe his men:

Who go, and turne no more againe;

(All saue Eurylochus, to swine

By Circe turnd.) Their stayes encline

Vlysses to their search; who got

Of Mercurie an Antidote,

(Which Moly was) gainst Ci [...]ces charmes,

And so auoids his souldiers harmes.

A yeare with Circe all remaine,

And then their natiue formes regaine.

On vtter shores, a time they dwell,

While Ithacus descends to hell.

[...].

Great Aeolus

And Circe, friends,

Finds Ithacus;

And Hell descends.

TO the Aeolian Iland we attaind,

That swumme about still on the sea; where raign'd

The God-lou'd Aeolus Hippotydes.

A wall of steele it had; and in the seas,

A waue-beat-smooth-rocke, mou'd about the wall.

Twelue children, in his house imperiall,

Were borne to him: of which, sixe daughters were,

And sixe were sonnes, that youths sweet flowre did beare.

[Page] His daughters, to his sonnes he gaue, as wiues;

Who spent in feastfull comforts▪ all their liues;

Close seated by their Sire, and his graue Spouse.

Past number were the dishes, that the house

Made euer sauour; and still full the Hall;

As long as day shin'd; in the night-time, all

Slept with their chaste wiues. Each his faire caru'd bed

Most richly furnisht; and this life they led.

We reacht the Cittie, and faire roofes of these;

Where, a whole moneths time; all things that might please

The King vouchsaf't vs. Of great Troy enquir'd,

The Grecian fleete, and how the Greekes retir'd:

To all which, I gaue answer, as behou'd.

The fit time come; when I dismission mou'd;

He nothing would denie me, but addrest

My passe with such a bountie, as might best

Teach me contentment. For he did enfold

Within an Oxe hide, flead at nine yeares old,

All th'airie blasts, that were of stormie kinds.

Saturnius made him Steward of his winds;

I [...]piter.

And gaue him powre, to raise and to asswage;

And these he gaue me, curbd thus of their rage.

Which in a glittering siluer band I bound

And hung vp in my ship: enclosd so round,

That no egression, any breath could find.

Onely he left abroad the Westerne wind;

To speede our ships and vs, with blasts secure.

But our securities, made all vnsure:

Nor could he consummate our course alone,

When all the rest had got egression.

Which thus succeeded. Nine whole daies and nights

We saild in safetie; and the tenth, the lights

Borne on our Countrey earth, we might descrie:

So neere we drew, and yet euen then fell I

(Being ouerwatcht) into a fatall sleepe:

For I would suffer no man else to keepe

The foote that rul'd my vessels course;

[...] He calles the Sterne, the foote of the ship.

to leade

The faster home. My friends then Enuy fed,

About the bag I hung vp; and supposde,

That gold, and siluer, I had there enclosde,

As gift from Aeolus. And said, O heauen!

What grace, and graue price, is by all men giuen

To our Commander? Whatsoeuer coast

Or towne, he comes to, how much he engrost

Of faire and precious prey, and brought from Troy?

We the same voiage went; and yet enioy

In our returne, these emptie hands for all.

This bag now, Aeolus was so liberall

[Page] To make a Guest-gift to him. Let vs trie

Of what consists, the faire-bound Treasurie;

And how much gold, and siluer it containes.

‘Ill counsaile, present approbation gaines.’

They op't the bag, and out the vapours brake;

When instant tempest did our vessell take,

That bore vs backe to Sea; to mourne anew

Our absent Countrey. Vp amazd I flew,

And desperate things discourst; if I should cast

My selfe to ruine in the seas; or taste

Amongst the liuing more mone, and sustaine?

Silent, I did so; and lay hid againe

Beneath the hatches: while an ill winde tooke

My ships, backe to Aeolia: my men strooke

With woe enough. We pumpt and landed then;

Tooke foode, for all this; and (of all my men,)

I tooke a Herald to me, and away

Went to the Court of Aeolus; Where they

Were feasting still: he, wife and children set

Together close. We would not (at their meate)

Thrust in; but humbly on the threshold sat.

He then, amazd, my presence wonderd at;

And calld to me: Vlysses! how, thus backe

Art thou arriu'd here? what foule spirit brake

Into thy bosome to retire thee thus?

We thought we had deduction, curious

Giuen thee before; to reach thy shore and home:

Did it not like thee? I (euen ouercome

With worthy sorrow) answerd: My ill men

Haue done me mischiefe; and to them hath bene

My sleepe th'vnhappie motiue. But do you

(Dearest of friends) daigne succour to my vow:

Your powres command it. Thus endeuord I

With soft speech to repaire my misery.

The rest, with ruth, sat dumbe: but thus spake he;

Auant; and quickly quit my land of thee,

Thou worst of all that breathe; it fits not me

To conuoy, and take in, whom heauens expose.

Away, and with thee go, the worst of woes,

That seek'st my friendship, and the Gods thy foes.

Thus he dismist me, sighing; foorth we saild,

At heart afflicted: and now wholy faild

The minds my men sustaind▪ so spent they were

With toiling at their oares; and worse did beare

Their growing labours; that they causd their grought,

By selfe-willd follies; nor now, euer thought

To see their Countrey more. Six nights and daies

We saild; the seuenth, we saw faire Lamos raise

[Page] Her loftie Towres (The Laestrigonian State)

That beares her Ports, so farre disterminate.

Where

This place suffers different construction, in all the Commentors, (in which all erre from the mind of the Poet: as in a hundred other places (which yet I want time to approue) especially about [...] ▪ &c. Prope enim noctis & diei [...]unt viae; (or similiter which [...] signifies) which they will haue to be vnderstood, that the daies in that region are long and the nights short; where Hom. intends, that the Equinoctiall is there: (for how else is the course of day and night neare or equall?) But therefore the nights-man bath his double hire, being as long about his charge as the [...] [...]her: and the night being more dangerous, &c. And if the day were so long▪ why should the nightsman, be preferred in wages?

Shepheard, Shepheard calls out; he a home

Is calld out by the other that doth come

From charge abroad; and then goes he to sleepe,

The other issuing. He whose turne doth keepe

The Night obseruance, hath his double hire;

Since Day and Night, in equall length expire,

About that Region; and the Nights watch weigh'd

At twice the Daies ward; since the charge thats laid

Vpon the Nights-man (besides breach of sleepe)

Exceeds the Daies-mans: for one, oxen keepe,

The other sheepe. But when the hauen we found,

(Exceeding famous; and enuirond round

With one continuate rocke: which, so much bent,

That both ends almost met; so prominent

They were; and made, the hauens mouth passing streight)

Our whole fleete, in we got; in whole receipt

Our Ships lay anchord close: nor needed we

Feare harme on any

For being cast on the staies, as ships are by weather.

Staies; Tranquillitie

So purely sate there: that waues great, nor small

Did euer rise to any height at all.

And yet would I, no entrie make; but staid

Alone without the hauen; and thence suruaid

From out a loftie watch-towre raised there,

The Countrie round about: nor any where

The worke of man or beast, appeard to me;

Onely a smoke from earth breake, I might see.

I then made choice of two; and added more,

A Herald for associate, to explore

What sort of men liu'd there. They went, and saw

A beaten way, through which, carts vsde to draw

Wood from the high hils, to the Towne; and met

A maid without the Port; about to get

Some neare spring-water. She, the daughter was

Of mightie Laestrigonian, Antiphas:

And to the cleare spring, cald Artacia, went;

To which the whole Towne, for their water sent.

To her they came, and askt who gouernd there?

And what the people, whom he orderd were?

She answerd not, but led them through the Port,

As making haste, to shew her fathers Court.

Where, enterd; they beheld (to their affright)

A woman like a mountaine top, in height.

Who rusht abroad; and from the Counsaile place

Cald home her horrid husband Antiphas.

Ant [...]ph [...] [...] king there.

Who (deadly minded) straight he snatcht vp one,

And fell to supper. Both the rest were gone;

[Page] And to the fleete came. Antiphas, a crie

Draue through the Citie; (which heard,) instantly

This way, and that, innumerable sorts,

Not men, but Gyants, issued through the Ports;

And mightie flints from rocks tore; which they threw

Amongst our ships; through which, an ill noise flew,

Of shiuerd ships, and life-expiring men,

That were, like fishes, by the monsters slaine,

And borne to sad feast. While they slaughterd these,

That were engag'd in all th'aduantages,

The close-mouth'd, and most dead-calme hauen could giue;

I (that without lay) made some meanes to liue;

My sword drew; cut my gables; and to oares

Set all my men; and, from the plagues, those shores

Let flie amongst vs, we made haste to flie;

My men, close working, as men loth to die.

My ship flew freely off; but theirs that lay

On heapes in harbors, could enforce no way

Through these sterne fates, that had engag'd them there.

Forth our sad remnant saild; yet still retaind,

The ioyes of men, that our poore few remaind,

Then to the Ile Aeae [...] we attaind;

Where faire-haird, dreadfull, eloquent Circe raignd;

Aeaetas sister, both by Dame and Sire;

Both daughters to heauens man-enlightning fire;

And Perse, whom Oceanus begat.

The ship-fit Port here, soone we landed at:

Some God directing vs. Two daies; two nights,

We lay here pining in the fatall spights

Of toile and sorrow. But the next third day

When faire Aurora had informd; quicke way

I made out of my ship; my sword and lance

Tooke for my surer guide; and made aduance

Vp to a prospect, I assay to see

The works of men; or heare mortalitie

Expire a voice. When I had climb'd a height

Rough and right hardly accessible; I might

Behold from Circes house (that in a groue

Set thicke with trees, stood; a bright vapor moue.

I then grew

[...] Curiose cogito.

curious in my thought to trie

Some fit enquirie;

[...] signifiyng rutilus: by reason of the fire mixt with it. Fumus qui fit dum aliquid accendi [...]ur.

when so spritely flie

I saw the yeallow smoke. But my discourse,

A first retiring to my ship gaue force

To giue my men their dinner, and to send,

(Before th'aduenture of my selfe) some friend.

Being neare my ship; of one so desolate

Some God had pittie, and would recreate

My woes a little, putting vp to me

[Page] A great and high-palmd Hart; that (fatallie,

Iust in my way it selfe, to taste a flood)

Was then descending: the Sunne heate had sure

Importun'd him, besides the temperature

His naturall heate gaue. Howsoeuer, I

Made vp to him, and let my Iauelin flie,

That strooke him through the mid-part of his chine;

And made him (braying) in the dust confine

His flying forces. Forth his spirit flew;

When I stept in, and from the deaths wound drew

My shrewdly-bitten lance; there let him lie

Till I, of cut-vp Osiers, did imply,

A With; a fathome long, with which, his feete

I made together, in a sure league meete;

Stoop't vnder him, and to my necke, I heau'd

The mightie burthen; of which, I receau'd

A good part on my lance: for else I could

By no meanes, with one hand alone, vphould

(Ioynd with one shoulder) such a deathfull lode.

And so, to both my shoulders, both hands stood

Needfull assistents: for it was a Deare

Goodly-wel-growne: when (coming something neare

Where rode my ships) I cast it downe, and rer'd

My friends with kind words; whom, by name I cheer'd,

In note particular, and said; See friends,

We will not yet to Plutos house, our ends

Shall not be hastend, though we be declind

In cause of comfort; till the day design'd

By Fates fixt finger. Come, as long as food

Or wine lasts in our ship; lets spirit our blood

And quit our care and hunger, both in one.

This said; they frolikt, came, and lookt vpon

With admiration, the huge bodied beast;

And when their first-seru'd eyes, had done their feast;

They washt, and made a to-be-striu'd-for meale,

In

[...]. The whole end of this counsaile was to perswade his souldiers to explore those parts: which he kn [...]w would proue a most vnpleasing motion to them: for their fellowes terrible entertainement with Antiphas, and Polyph▪ and therefore he prepares the little he hath to say, with this long circumstance: implying a necessitie of that seruice, and necessary resolution to adde the triall of the euent, to their other aduentures,

point of honour. On which all did dwell

The whole day long. And, to our venzons store,

We added wine till we could wish no more.

Sunne set, and darknesse vp; we slept, till light

Put darknesse downe: and then did I excite

My friends to * counsaile, vttering this: Now, friends,

Affoord vnpassionate eare; though ill Fate lends,

So good cause to your passion; no man knowes

The reason whence, and how, the darknesse growes;

The reason, how the Morne is thus begunne:

The reason, how the Man-enlightning Sunne

Diues vnder earth: the reason how againe

He reres his golden head. Those counsailes then

[Page] That passe our comprehension, we must leaue

To him that knowes their causes; and receaue

Direction from him, in our acts, as farre

As he shall please to make them regular;

And stoope them to our reason. In our state,

What then behoues vs? Can we estimate

With all our counsailes, where we are? or know

(Without instruction, past our owne skils) how

(Put off from hence) to stere our course the more?

I thinke we can not. We must then explore

These parts for information; in which way

We thus farre are: last Morne I might display

(From off a high-raisd cliffe) an Iland lie

Girt with th'vnmeasur'd Sea; and is so nie

That in the midst I saw the smoke arise

Through tufts of trees. This rests then to aduise,

Who shall explore this. This strooke dead their hearts,

Remembring the most execrable parts

That Laestrigonian Antiphas had plaid:

And that foule Cyclop, that their fellowes braid

Betwixt his iawes; which mou'd them so; they cried.

But idle teares, had neuer wants supplied.

I, in two parts diuided all; and gaue

To either part his Captaine: I must haue

The charge of one; and one of God-like looke,

Eurylochus, the other. Lots we shooke,

(Put in a caske together,) which of vs

Should leade th'attempt; and twas Eurylochus.

He freely went; with two and twenty more:

All which, tooke leaue with teares; and our eyes wore

The same wet badge, of weake humanity.

These, in a dale, did Circes house

Circes house.

descrie;

Of bright stone built, in a conspicuous way:

Before her gates; hill-wolues, and Lyons lay;

Which with her virtuous drugs, so tame she made;

That Wolfe, nor Lyon, would one man inuade

With any violence; but all arose;

Their huge long tailes wagd; and in fawnes would close,

As louing dogs,

Simile.

when masters bring them home

Relicks of feast; in all obseruance, come

And sooth their entries, with their fawnes and bounds;

All guests, still bringing, some scraps for their hounds:

So, on these men, the Wolues, and Lyons rampt;

Their horrid paws set vp. Their spirits were dampt

To see such monstrous kindnesse; staid at gate,

And heard within, the Goddesse eleuate

A voice diuine, as at her web, she wrought,

Subtle, and glorious, and past earthly thought;

[Page] As all the houswiferies of Deities are.

To heare a voice, so rauishingly rare;

Polites (one exceeding deare to me,

A Prince of men; and of no meane degree

In knowing vertue; in all Acts,

[...] C [...]ius animus curas prudentes versat.

[...] whose mind

Discreete cares all wayes, vsde to turne, and wind)

Was yet surprisd with it; and said; O friends,

Some one abides within here, that commends

The place to vs; and breathes a voice diuine;

As she some web wrought; or her spindles twine

She cherisht with her song: the pauement rings▪

With imitation of the tunes she sings;

Some woman, or some Goddesse tis; Assay

To see with knocking. Thus said he; and they

Both knockt, and calld; and straight her shining gates

She opened, issuing: bade them in, to cates.

Led, and (vnwise) they follow'd; all, but one

Which was Eurylochus; who stood alone

Without the gates; suspicious of a sleight;

They enterd, she made sit; and her deceit

She cloakt with Thrones; and goodly chaires of State;

Set hearby honey, and the delicate

Wine brought from Smyrna, to them; meale and cheese;

But harmefull venoms, she commixt with these;

That made their Countrey vanish from their thought.

Which, eate; she toucht them, with a rod that wrought

Their transformation, farre past humane wunts;

Swines snowts, swines bodies, tooke they, bristles, grunts;

But still retaind the [...]oules they had before;

Which made them mourne their bodies change the more.

She shut them straight in sties; and gaue them meate

Oke-mast, and beech, and Cornell fruite, they eate,

Groueling like swine on earth, in fowlest sort.

Eurylochus, straight hasted the report

Of this his fellowes most remorcefull fate.

Came to the ships; but so excruciate

Was with his woe; he could not speake a word:

His eyes stood full of teares; which shew'd how stor'd,

His mind with mone remaind. We all admir'd;

Askt what had chanc't him, earnestly desir'd

He would resolue vs. At the last, our eyes,

Enflam'd in him, his fellowes memories:

And out his griefe burst thus;

Seeing them, he thought of his fellowes.

You willd; we went

Through those thicke woods you saw; when, a descent

Shew'd vs a faire house, in a lightsome ground,

Where (at some worke) we heard a heauenly sound

Breath'd from a Goddesse, or a womans brest:

They knockt, she op't her bright gates; each, her guest

[Page] Her faire inuitement made: nor would they stay,

(Fooles that they were) when she once led the way.

I enterd not, suspecting some deceit.

When all together vanisht; nor the sight

Of any one, (though long I lookt) mine eye

Could any way discouer. Instantly,

(My sword,

Viysses mo [...]'d for his souldiers. Euryloch [...].

and bow reacht) I bad shew the place,

When, downe he fell; did both my knees embrace,

And praid with teares thus; O thou kept of God,

Do not thy sel [...]e lose; nor to that aboad

Leade others rashly; both th [...] selfe, and all

Thou ventur'st thither, I know well, must fall

In one sure ruine: with these few then flie;

We yet may shunne the others destinie.

I answerd him: Euryloch [...]s! stay thou

And keepe the ship then; eate and drinke: I now

Will vndertake th'aduenture; there is cause

In great Necessities vnalterd lawes.

This said, I left both ship and seas; and on

Along the sacred vallies all alone

Went in discouery: till at last I came

Where, of the maine [...] medcine-making D [...]me

I saw the great house: where, encounterd me,

The golden-rod-sustaining Merc [...]rie;

Vlysses encounters Mercurie.

Euen entring Circes doores. He met me in

A young mans likenesse, of the first-flowr'd chin,

Whose forme hath all the grace, of one so yong:

He first cald to me: then my hand, he wrung,

And said; Thouno-place-finding-for repose;

Whither, alone, by these hill-confines, goes

Thy erring foote? Th'art entring Circes house,

Where, (by her medcines, blacke, and sorcerous)

Thy souldiers all are shut, in well-armd sties,

And turnd to swine. Art thou arriu'd with prise

Fit for their ransomes? Thou com'st out no more

If once thou enterst. Like thy men before

Made to remaine here; But Ile guard [...]hee free;

And saue thee in her spite: receiue of me

This faire and good receipt; with which, once arm'd;

Enter her roofes; for th'art to all proofe charm'd

Against the ill day: I will tell thee all

Her banefull counsaile. With a festiuall

Sheele first receiue thee; but will spice thy bread

With flowrie poysons: yet vnaltered

Shall thy firme forme be; for this remedy

Stands most approu'd, gainst all her Sorcery.

Which, thus particularly shunne: When she

Shall with her long rod strike thee; instantly

[Page] Draw from thy thigh thy sword; and flie on her

As to her slaughter. She, (surprisde with feare

And loue) at first, will bid thee to her bed;

Nor say the Goddesse nay; that welcomed

Thou maist with all respect be; and procure

Thy fellowes freedomes. But before, make sure

Her fauours to thee; and the great oath take

With which the blessed Gods, assurance make

Of all they promise: that no preiudice

(By stripping thee of forme, and faculties)

She may so much as once attempt on thee.

This said, he gaue his Antidote to me;

Which from the earth he pluckt; and told me all

The vertue of it:

The herbe Moly which with Vlysses whole Narration, ha [...]h in chi [...]e [...]an Allegoricall exposition. Notwithstanding I say▪ with our Spondanus, Credo in hoc vasto mundi ambitu extare res innumerasmirandae facultatis▪ adeo, vt ne quidē ista quae ad tran [...] formanda co [...] pora pe [...]tine [...] ▪ iure è mundo eximi possit, &c

With what Deities call

The name it beares. And Moly they impose

For name to it. The roote is hard to loose

From hold of earth, by mortals: but Gods powre

Can all things do. Tis blacke, but beares a f [...]owre

As white as milke. And thus flew Mercurie

Vp to immense Olympus, gliding by

The syl [...]an Iland. I, made backe my way

To Circes house: my mind, of my assay

Much thought reuoluing. At her gates I staid

And cald: she heard, and her bright doores displaid;

Inuited, led; I followed in: but tract

With some distraction. In a Throne she plac't

My welcome person. Of a curious frame

Twas, and so bright; I sate as in a flame.

A foote-stoole added. In a golden boule

She then subornd a potion: in her soule,

Deformd things thinking; for amidst the wine

She mixt her man-transforming medicine:

Which when she saw I had deuourd; she then,

No more obseru'd me with her soothing vaine;

But strooke me with her rod, and, To her Sty,

Bad; out, away, and with thy fellowes lie.

I drew my sword, and charg'd her, as I ment

To take her life. When out she cri'd, and bent

Beneath my sword, her knees; embracing [...];

And (full of teares) said, Who? of what high line

Art thou the issue? whence? what shores sustaine

Thy natiue Citie? I amaz'd remaine

That drinking these my venomes, th'art not turnd.

Neuer drunke any this cup; but he mournd

In other likenesse; if it once had past

The iuorie bounders of his tongue, and taste.

All but thy selfe, are brutishly declind:

Thy breast holds firme yet, and vnchang'd thy mind:

[Page] Thou canst be therefore, none else but the man

Of many virtues: Ith [...]censi [...],

Deepe-soul'd Vlysses: who, I oft was told,

By that slie God, that beares the rod of gold,

Was to arriue here, in retreat from Tr [...]y.

Sheath then thy sword, and let my bed enioy

So much a man; that when the bed we proue,

We may beleeue in one anothers loue.

I then: O Circe, why entreat'st thou me

To mixe in any humane league with thee;

When thou, my friends hast beasts turnd? and thy bed

Tenderst to me; that I might likewise leade

A beasts life with thee; softn'd, naked stript;

That in my blood, thy banes, may more be steept.

I neuer will ascend thy bed, before

I may affirme; that in heauens sight you swore

The great oath of the Gods; that all attempt

To do me ill, is from your thoughts exempt.

I said; she swore: when, all the oath-rites said,

I then ascended her adorned bed;

But thus prepar'd: foure handmaids seru'd her there;

That daughters to her siluer fountaines were,

To her bright-sea-obseruing sacred floods;

And to her vncut consecrated woods.

One deckt the Throne-tops, with rich clothes of state;

And did, with silkes, the foote-pace, consecrate.

Another, siluer tables set before

The pompous Throne; and golden dishes store

Seru'd in with seuerall feast. A third fild wine;

The fourth brought water, and made fewell shine

In ruddy fires; beneath a wombe of brasse.

Which heat, I bath'd; and odorous water was

Disperpled lightly, on my head, and necke;

That might my late, he [...]t-hurting sorrowes checke

With the refreshing sweetnesse; and, for that▪

Men sometimes, may be something delicate.

Bath'd, and adorn'd; she led me to a Throne

Of massie siluer; and of fashion

Exceeding curious. A faire foote-stoole set;

Water apposde, and euery sort of meate

Set on th'elaborately polisht boord.

She wisht my taste emploid; but not a word

Would my eares taste, of taste: my mind had food

That must digest; eye meate would do me good.

Circe (obseruing, that I put no hand

To any banquet; hauing countermand

From weightier cares; the light cates could excuse)

Bowing her neare me; these wing'd words did vse:

[Page] Why sits Vlysses, like one dumbe? his mind

Lessening with languors? Nor to food enclind;

Nor wine? Whence comes it? out of any feare

Of more illusion? You must need forbeare

That wrongfull doubt, since you haue heard me sweare.

O Circe! (I replied) what man is he,

Awd with the rights of true humanitie,

That dares taste food or wine; before he sees

His friends redeem'd from their deformities?

If you be gentle, and indeed incline

To let me taste the comfort of your wine;

Dissolue the charmes, that their forc't formes encheine

And shew me here, my honord friends, like men.

This said, she left her Throne, and tooke her rod;

Went to her Stie, and let my men abroad,

Like swine of nine yeares old. They opposite stood;

Obseru'd their brutish forme; and look't for food;

When, with another medicine, (euery one

All ouer smeer'd) their bristles all were gone,

Produc't by malice of the other bane;

And euery one, afresh, lookt vp a man.

Both yonger then they were; of stature more;

And all their formes, much goodlier then before.

All knew me; clingd about me, and a cry

Of pleasing mourning, flew about so hie,

The horrid roofe resounded; and the Queene

Her selfe, was mou'd, to see our kinde so keene.

Who bad me now; bring ship and men ashore;

Our armes, and goods, in caues hid; and restore

My selfe to her, with all my other men.

I granted, went, and op't the weeping veine

In all my men; whose violent ioy to see

My safe returne, was passing kindly free

Of friendly teares, and miserably wept.

You haue not seene youg Heiffers (highly kept;

Filld full of daisies at the field, and driuen

Home to their houels; all so spritely giuen

That no roome can containe them; but about,

Bace by the Dams, and let their spirits out

In ceasselesse bleating) of more iocund plight

Then my kind friends, euen crying out with sight

Of my returne so doubted. Circl'd me

With all their welcomes, and as cheerfully

Disposde their rapt minds, as if there they saw

Their naturall Countrie, cliffie Itbaca;

And euen the roofes where they were bred and borne.

And vowd as much, with teares: O your returne

As much delights vs; as in you had come

[Page] Our Countrie to vs, and our naturall home.

But what vnhappie fate hath re [...]t our friends?

I gaue vnlookt for answer; That amends

Made for their mourning, bad them first of all,

Our ship ashore draw; then in Cauerns stall

Our foodie cattell, hide our mutuall prise;

And then (said I) attend me, that your eies,

In Circes sacred house, may see each friend,

Eating and drinking, banquets out of end.

They soone obeid; all but Euryl [...]chus;

Who needes would stay them all; and counselld thus;

O wretches! whither will ye? why are you

Fond of your mischiefs? and such gladnesse show

For Circes house; that will transforme ye all

To Swine, or Wolues, or Lions? Neuer shall

Our heads get out; if once within we be,

But stay compelld by strong Necessitie.

So wrought the Cycl [...]p, when t'his caue, our friends

This bold on, led one, and brought all their ends

By his one indiscretion. I, for this

Thought with my sword (that desperate head of his

Hewne from his necke) to gash vpon the ground

His mangld bodie, though my blood was bound

In neare alliance to him. But the rest

With humble suite containd me, and request,

That I would leaue him, with my ship alone;

And to the sacred Pallace leade them on.

I led them; nor Eurylochus would stay,

From their attendance on me: Our late fray

Strooke to his heart so. But meane time, my men,

In Circes house, were all▪ in seuerall baine

Studiously sweetn'd, smugd with oile▪ and deckt

With, in, and outweeds: and a feast secret

Seru'd in before them: at which, close we found

They all were set, cheer'd, and caro [...]sing round.

When (mutuall sight had, and all thought on) then

Feast was forgotten;

[...].

and the mone againe

About the house flew,

Commemorabantque omnia. Intending all their miseries, escapes, and meetings▪

driuen with wings of ioy.

But then spake Circe; Now, no more annoy:

I know my selfe, what woes by sea, and shore,

And men vniust, haue plagu'd enough before

Your iniur'd vertues: here then, feast as long;

And be as cheerfull, till ye grow as strong,

As when ye first forsooke your Countrie earth.

Ye now fare all, like exiles; not a mirth

Flasht in amongst ye, but is quencht againe

With still-renewd teares: though the beaten vaine

Of your distresses, should (me thinke) be now

[Page] Benumb with sufferance. We did well allow

Her kind perswasions; and the whole yeare staid

In varied feast with her. When, now arraid

The world was with the Spring; and orbie houres

Had gone the round againe, through herbs and flowres,

The moneths absolu'd in order; till the daies

Had runne their full race, in Apollos raies;

My friends rememberd me of home; and said,

If euer Fate would signe my passe; delaid

It should be now no more. I heard them well;

Yet that day, spent in feast, till darknesse fell;

And sleepe, his virtues, through our vapours shed.

When I ascended, sacred Circes bed;

Implor'd my passe; and her performed vow

Which now, my soule vrg'd; and my souldiers now

Afflicted me with teares to get them gone.

All these I told her; and she answerd these;

Much skilld Vlysses Laertiades!

Remaine no more, against your wils with me:

But take your free way: onely this must be

Perform'd before you stere your course for home;

You must the way to Pluto ouercome;

And sterne Persephone, to forme your passe,

By th'aged Theban Soule Tiresias;

The dark-browd Prophet: whose soule yet can see

Clearely, and firmely: graue Persephone,

(Euen dead) gaue him a mind; that he alone

Might sing Truths solide wisedome, and not one

Proue more then shade, in his comparison.

This broke my heart; I sunke into my bed;

Mourn'd, and would neuer more be comforted

With light, nor life. But hauing now exprest

My paines enough to her, in my vnrest,

That so I might prepare her ruth; and get

All I held fit, for an affaire so great;

I said; O Circe, who shall stere my course

To Plutos kingdome? Neuer ship had force

To make that voiage. The diuine in voice,

Said, Seeke no guide, raise you your Mast, and hoice

Your ships white sailes; and then, sit you at peace;

The fresh North spirit, shall wa [...]t ye through the seas.

But, hauing past th'Ocean, you shall see;

A little shore, that to Persephone

Puts vp a consecrated wood; where growes,

Tall Firres, and Sallowes, that their fruits soone loose:

Cast anchor in the gulphes: and go, alone

To Plutos darke house, where, to Acheron

Cocytus runnes, and Pyriphlegiton:

[Page] Cocytus borne of Styx, and where a Rocke

Of both the met floods, beares the roring shocke,

The darke Heroe, (great Tiresias)

Now coming neare, (to gaine propitious passe)

Dig (of a cubit euery way) a pit;

And powre (to all that are deceast) in it

A solemne sacrifice. For which; first take

Honey and wine, and their commixtion make:

Then sweete wine, neate; and thirdly; water powre;

And lastly, adde to these, the whitest flowre▪

Then vow to all the weake necks of the dead,

Offerings a number: and when thou shalt tread

The Ithacensian shore; to sacrifice

A Heifer neuer tam'd, and most of prise;

A pyle of all thy most-esteemed goods

Enflaming to the deare streames of their bloods:

And, in secret Rites, to Tiresias vow

A Ram cole blacke, at all parts, that doth flow

With fat, and fleece; and all thy flockes doth leade:

When the all-calling nation of the dead

Thou thus hast praid to;

[...] Which is expounded Inclyta examina mortuorum. But [...], is the Epithete of Pluto; and by Analogie belongs to the dead, quod ad se omnes aduocet.

offer on the place,

A Ram and Ewe all blacke: being turn'd in face

To dreadfull Erebus; thy selfe aside

The floods shore walking. And then, gratified

With flocks of Soules, of Men, and Dames deceast,

Shall all thy pious Rites be. Straight, addrest

See then the offering that thy fellowes slew;

Flayd, and imposde in fire; and all thy Crew,

Pray to the state of either Deitie,

Graue Pluto, and seuere Persephone.

Then draw thy sword, stand firme; nor suffer one

Of all the faint shades, of the dead and gone,

T'approch the blood, till thou hast heard their king,

The wise Tiresias: who, thy offering

Will instantly do honour: thy home wayes,

And all the measure of them, by the seas

Amply vnfolding. This the Goddesse told;

And then, the morning in her Throne of gold,

Suruaid the vast world; by whose orient light,

The Nymph adorn'd me with attires as bright;

Her owne hands putting on, both shirt and weede,

Robes fine, and curious; and vpon my head,

An ornament that glitterd like a flame:

Girt me in gold; and forth betimes I came

Amongst my souldiers; rousd them all from sleepe;

And bad them now; no more obseruance keepe

Of ease, and feast; but straight, a shipboard fall,

For now the Goddesse had inform'd me all:

[Page] Their noble spirits agree'd; nor yet so cleare

Could I bring all off; but Elpenor there

His heedlesse life left: he was yongest man

Of all my company, and one that wanne

Least fa [...]e for armes; as little for his braine;

Who (too much steept in wine, and so made faine;

To get refreshing by the coole of sleepe;

Apart his fellowes; plung'd in vapors deepe;

And they as high in tumult of their way)

Sodainly wak't, and (quite out of the stay

A sober mind had giuen him) would descend

A huge long Ladder, forward; and an end

Fell from the very roofe; full pitching on

The dearest ioynt, his head was plac't vpon;

Which (quite dissolu'd,) let loose his soule to hell.

I, to the rest; and Circes meanes did tell

Of our returne (as crossing cleane the hope

I gaue them first) and said; You thinke the scope

Of our endeuours now, is straight for home,

No: Circe otherwise design'd; whose doome

Enioynd vs first, to greet the dreadfull house

Of Austere Pluto, and his glorious spouse;

To take the counsaile of Tiresias

(The reuerend Theban) to direct our passe.

This brake their hearts, and griefe made teare their haire

But griefe was neuer good, at great affaire.

It would haue way yet. We went wofull on

To ship and shore, where, was arriu'd as soone

Circe vnseene; a blacke Ewe, and a Ram,

Binding for sacrifice; and as she came

Vanisht againe, vnwitnest by our eyes;

Which grieu'd not vs, nor checkt our sacrifice;

For who would see God, loath to let vs see?

This way, or that bent; still his waies are free.

Finis decimi libri Hom. Odyss.

THE XI. BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES.
Another.

[Page]

THE ARGVMENT.

VLysses way to Hell appeares;

Where he, the gr [...]e Tiresias [...]eares;

Enquires his owne, and others fates.

His mother sees, and th'after flates▪

In which, were held, by sad Decease

Heroes, and Herocsses;

A number, [...] that at Troy [...]ag'dwarre;

As Aiax that was still as iarre

With Ithacus, for th'armes he lost;

And with the great Achilles Ghost.

[...].

Vlysses here

Inuokes the dead;

The liues appeare,

Hereafter led.

ARriu'd now at our ship; we lancht, and set

Our Mast vp, put forth saile; and in did get

Our late got Cattell. Vp our sailes, we went;

My wayward fellowes mourning now th'euent.

A good companion yet▪

They mournd the [...]ent before they knew it.

a foreright wind;

Circe, (the excellent vtterer of her mind)

Supplied our murmuring consorts with, that was

Both speed, and guide to our aduenturous passe.

All day our sailes stood to the winds; and made

Our voiage prosprous. Sunne then set, and shade

All wayes obscuring: on the bounds we fell

Of deepe Oceanus; where people dwell

Whom a perpetuall cloud obscures outright:

To whom the cheerfull Sunne lends neuer light;

Nor when he mounts the star-sustaining heauen;

Nor when he stoopes earth, and sets vp the Euen:

But Night holds fixt wings, fetherd all with Banes,

Aboue those most vnblest Cimmeri [...]nes.

Here drew we vp our ship: our sheepe wit-drew;

And walkt the shore till we attaind the view

Of that sad region Circe had foreshow'd;

And then the sacred offerings, to be vow'd,

Eurylochus, and Persimedes bore.

When I, my sword drew, and earths wombe did gore

[Page] Till I, a pit digg'd of a cubite round;

Which with the liquid sacrifice, we crown'd

First, honey mixt with wine; then, sweete wine neate;

Then water powr'd in; last the flowre of wheate.

Much I importun'd then, the weake-neckt dead,

And vowd, when I the barren soile should tread

Of cliffie Ithaca; amidst my hall

To kill a Heifer, my cleare best of all,

And giue in offering: on a Pile composd

Of all the choise goods, my whole house enclosd.

And to Tiresias, himselfe, alone

A sheepe cole-blacke, and the selectest one

Of all my flockes. When to the powres beneath,

The sacred nation, that suruiue with Death,

My prayrs, and vowes, had done deuotions fit;

I tooke the offrings, and vpon the pit

Bereft their liues. Out gusht the sable blood;

And round about me, fled out of the flood,

The Soules of the deceast. There cluster'd then,

Youths, and their wiues, much suffering aged men,

Soft tender virgins, that but new came there,

By timelesse death, and greene their sorrowes were.

There, men at Armes, with armors all embrew'd,

Wounded with lances, and with faulchions hew'd:

In numbers, vp and downe the ditch, did stalke;

And threw vnmeasur'd cries, about their walke;

So horrid that a bloodlesse feare surprisde,

My daunted spirits. Straight then, I aduisde

My friends to flay the slaughter'd sacrifice;

Put them in fire, and to the Deities;

Sterne Pluto, and Persephone, apply

Excitefull prayrs. Then drew I from my Thy,

My well-edg'd sword; stept in, and firmely stood

Betwixt the prease of shadowes, and the blood;

And would not suffer any one to dip

Within our offring, his vnsolide lip;

Before Tiresias, that did all controule.

The first that preast in, was Elpenors soule;

His body, in the broad-waid earth, as yet

Vnmournd, vnburied by vs; since we swet

With other vrgent labours. Yet his smart,

I wept to see; and ru'd it from my heart;

Enquiring how, he could before me be,

That came by ship? He mourning, answerd me:

In Circes house; the spite some Spirit did beare;

And the vnspeakable good licour there

Hath bene my bane. For being to descend

A ladder much in height; I did not tend

[Page] My way well downe; but forwards made a proofe

To tread the rounds; and from the very roofe

Fell on my necke, and brake it. And this made

My soule thus visite this infernall shade.

And here, by them that next thy selfe are deare,

Thy Wife, and Father, that a little one

Gaue food to thee; and by thy onely Sonne

At home behind thee left, (Telemachus)

Do not depart by stealth, and leaue me thus,

Vnmourn'd, vnburied: left neglected I▪

Bring on thy selfe, th'incensed Deitie.

I know, that saild from hence, thy ship must touch

On th'Ile Ae [...]; where vouchsafe thus much

(Good king) that, landed, thou wilt instantly,

Bestow on me, thy royall memory;

To this grace; that my body; armes and all,

May rest consum'd in firie funerall.

And on the fomie shore, a Sepulchre

Erect to me; that after times may heare

Of one so haplesse. Let me these implore;

And fixe vpon my Sepulcher,

Misenus apud Virgilium, ingenti mole, &c▪

the Ore

With which aliue, I shoooke the aged seas;

And had, of friends, the deare societies.

I told the wretched Soule, I would fulfill

And execute to th'vtmost point, his will;

And, all the time, we sadly talk [...]; I still

My sword aboue the blood held; when aside

The Idoll of my friend, still amplified

His plaint, as vp and downe, the shades he err'd.

Then, my deceased mothers Soule appeard;

Faire daughter of Antolicus, the Great;

Graue Anticlae [...], Whom, when forth I set

For sacred Ilion, I had left aliue.

Her sight, much mou'd me; and to teares did driue

My note of her deceasse: and yet, not she

(Though in my ruth, she held the highest degree)

Would I admit to touch the sacred blood;

Till from Tiresias, I had vnderstood

What Circes told me. At the length did land,

Theban Tiresias soule; and in his hand

Sustaind a golden Scepter,

Tiresi [...] to Vlyss [...].

knew me well;

And said; O man vnhappy, why to hell

Admitst thou darke arriuall; and the light

The Sunne giues, leau'st; to haue the horrid sight

Of this blacke region, and the shadowes here?

Now sheath thy sharpe sword; and the pit forbeare.

That I the blood may taste; and then relate

The truth of those acts, that affect thy Fate.

[Page] I sheath'd my sword; and left the pit, till he

The blacke blood tasting, thus instructed me;

Renoum'd Vlysses! all vnaskt, I know

That all the cause of thy arriuall now,

Is to enquire thy wisht retreate, for home:

Which hardly God will let thee ou [...]rcome;

Since Neptune still will his opposure trie,

With all his laid-vp anger, for the eye

His lou'd Sonne lost to thee. And yet through all

Thy suffring course, (which must be capitall)

If both thine owne affections, and thy friends

Thou wilt containe; when thy accesse ascends

The three-forckt Iland, hauing scap't the seas;

(Where ye shall find fed, on the flowrie leas,

Fat flocks, and Oxen; which the Sunne doth owne;

To whom are all things, as well heard as showne:

And neuer dare, one head of those to slay;

But hold, vnharmefull on, your wished way)

Though through enough affliction; yet secure

Your Fates shall land ye. But Presage saies sure,

If once ye spoile them; spoile to all thy friends;

Spoile to thy Fleete; and if the iustice ends

Short of thy selfe; it shall be long before,

And that length, forc't out, with inflictions store:

When, losing all thy fellowes, in a saile

Of forreigne built (when most thy Fates preuaile

In thy deliuerance) thus th'euent shall sort;

Thou shalt find shipwracke, raging in thy Port:

Proud men, thy goods consuming; and thy Wife

Vrging with gifts; giue charge vpon thy life.

But all these wrongs, Reuenge shall end to thee;

And force, or cunning, set with slaughter, free

Thy house of all thy spoilers. Yet againe,

Thou shalt a voyage make; and come to men

That know no Sea; nor ships, nor oares, that are

Wings to a ship; nor mixe with any fare,

Men that neuer eate salt with their foode.

Salts sauorie vapor. Where thou first shalt land,

This cleare-giuen signe, shall let thee vnderstand,

That there those men remaine: assume ashore,

Vp to thy roiall shoulder, a ship oare;

With which, when thou shalt meete one on the way,

That will, in Countey admiration, say

What dost thou with that wanne, vpon thy necke?

There, fixe (that wanne) thy oare; and that shore decke

With sacred Rites to Neptune: slaughter there

A Ram, a Bull, and, (who for strength doth beare

The name of husband to a herd) a Bore.

And, coming home, vpon thy naturall shore,

[Page] Giue pious Hecatombs, to all the Gods

(Degrees obseru'd). And then the Periods

Of all thy labors, in the peace shall end

Of easie death; which shall the lesse extend

His passion to thee; that thy foe, the Sea

Shall not enforce it, but Deaths victory,

Shall chance in onely-earnest-pray-vow'd age:

[...]. Which all translate senectute sub molli. The Epeth [...]te [...], not of [...], viz. pinguis; or [...], pinguiter. But [...] signifying flagitanter orando. To which, pious age is euer altogether addicted.

Obtaind at home, quite emptied of his rage;

Thy subiects round about thee, rich and blest:

And here hath Truth summ'd vp, thy vitall rest.

I answerd him; We will suppose all these

Decreed in Deity; let it likewise please

Tiresias to resolue me, why so neare

The blood and me, my mothers Soule doth beare;

And yet, nor word, not looke, vouchsafe her Sonne?

Doth she not know me? No (said he) nor none

Of all these spirits, but my selfe alone;

Knowes any thing, till he shall taste the blood;

But whomsoeuer, you shall do that good,

He will the truth, of all you wish, vnfold;

Who, you enuy it to, will all withhold.

Thus said the kingly soule, and made retreate,

Amidst the inner parts of Plutos Sea [...]e,

When he had spoke thus, by diuine instinct:

Still I stood firme, till to the bloods precinct

My mother came, and drunke; and then she knew,

I was her Sonne; had passion to renew

Her naturall plaints; which thus she did pursew:

How is it, (O my Sonne) that you aliue,

This deadly-darksome region vnderdiue?

Twixt which, and earth, so many mighty seas,

And horrid currents, interpose their prea [...]e?

Oceanus, in chiefe; which none (vnlesse

More helpt then you) on foote now can transgresse.

A well built ship he needs, that ventures there:

Com'st thou from Troy but now? enforc't to erre

All this time with thy souldiers? Nor hast seene,

Ere this long day, thy Countrey, and thy Queene?

I answerd; That a necessary end

To this infernall state, made me contend;

That from the wise Tiresias Theb [...] Soule,

I might, an Oracle, inuolu'd, vnrowle:

For I came nothing neare Achaia y [...]t;

Nor on our lou'd earth, happy foote had set;

But (mishaps suffering) err'd from Coast to Coast;

Euer since first, the mighty Graecian hoast

Diuine Atrides, led to Ilion;

And I, his follower, to set warre vpon

[Page] The rapefull Troyans: and so praid she would

The Fate of that vngentle death vnfould,

That forc't her thither: if some long disease;

Or that the Splene, of her that arrowes please,

(Diana, enuious of most eminent Dames)

Had made her th'obiect of her deadly aimes?

My Fathers state, and sonnes, I sought; if they

Kept still my goods? or they became the prey

Of any other, holding me no more

In powre of safe returne, or if my store

My wife had kept together, with her Sonne?

If she, her first mind held; or had bene wonne

By some chiefe Grecian, from my loue, and bed?

All this she answerd; that Affliction fed

On her blood still at home; and that to griefe,

She all the dayes, and darknesse, of her life,

In teares, had consecrate. That none possest

My famous kingdomes Throne; but th'interest

My sonne had in it; still he held in peace.

A Court kept, like a Prince; and his increase

Spent in his subiects good; administring lawes

With iustice, and the generall applause

A king should merit; and all calld him king.

My Father, kept the vpland, labouring;

And shun'd the Citie: vsde no sumptuous beds;

Wonderd at furnitures; nor wealthy weeds;

But, in the Winter, strew'd about the fire

Lay with his slaues in ashes; his attire

Like to a beggers. When the Sommer came;

And Autumne all fruits ripend with his flame;

Where Grape-charg'd vines, made shadows most abound,

His couch with falne leaues, made vpon the ground:

And here lay he; his Sorrowes fruitfull state,

Increasing, as he faded, for my Fate.

And now, the part of age, that irksome is

Lay sadly on him. And that life of his,

She led, and perisht in; not slaughterd by

The Dame, that dartslou'd, and her archerie;

Nor, by disease inuaded, vast, and foule

That wasts the body, and sends out the soule

With shame and horror: onely in her mone,

For me, and my life; she consum'd her owne.

She thus; when I, had great desire to proue

My armes, the circle, where her soule did moue;

Thrice prou'd I, thrice she vanisht, like a sleepe;

Or fleeting shadow, which strooke much more deepe

The wounds, my woes made; and made, aske her why

She would my Loue to her embraces flie;

[Page] And not vouchsafe, that euen in hell we might,

Pay pious Nature, her vnalterd right,

And giue Vexation here, her cruell fill?

Should not the Queene here,

Proserpina or Persephon [...].

to augment the ill

Of euery sufferance (which her office is)

Enforce thy idoll, to affoord me this?

O Sonne (she answerd) of the race of men

The most vnhappy; our most equall Queene,

Will mocke no solide armes, with empty shade;

Nor suffer empty shades, againe t'inuade

Flesh, bones, and nerues: nor will defraud the fire

Of his last dues; that, soone as spirits expire,

And leaue the white bone, are his natiue right;

When, like a dreame, the soule assumes her flight.

The light then, of the liuing, with most haste

(O Sonne) contend to: this thy little taste

Of this state is enough; and all this life,

Will make a tale, fit, to be told thy wife.

This speech we had;

The old Her [...] [...]sses appeare to Vlysses.

when now repair'd to me

More female spirits; by Persep [...],

Driuen on before her. All t'heroes wiues

And daughters, that, led there their second liues,

About the blacke blood throngd. Of whom, yet more

My mind impell'd me to enquire, before

I let them altogether taste the gore;

For then would all haue bene disperst, and gone,

Thicke as they came. I therefore, one by one

Let taste the pit: my sword drawne from my Thy

And stand betwixt them made; when, seuerally

All told their stockes. The first that quencht her fire,

Was Tyro,

Tyr [...] ▪

issu'd of a noble Sire.

She said she sprong from pure, [...] bed;

And Crethe [...]s, Sonne of Ae [...]lus did wed.

Yet the diuine flood E [...]ipeus, lou'd,

Who much the most faire streame, of all floods mou'd.

Neare whose streames, Tyr [...] walking: Neptune came,

Like Enipeus, and enioyd the Dame:

Like to a hill; the blew, and Snakie flood

Aboue th'immortall, and the mortall stood;

And hid them both; as both together lay,

Iust where his current, falles into the Sea.

Her virgine wast, dissolu'd, she slumberd then;

But when the God had done the worke of men,

Her faire hand gently wringing; thus he said;

Woman! Reioyce in our combined bed;

For when the yeare hath runne his circle, round

(Because the Gods loues, must in fruite abound)

My loue shall make (to cheere thy teeming mones)

[Page] Thy one deare burthen, beare two famous Sonnes;

Loue well, and bring them vp: go home, and see

That, though of more ioy yet▪ I shall be free;

Thou dost not tell, to glorifie thy birth:

Thy Loue is Neptune shaker of the earth.

This said; he plung'd into the sea, and she

(Begot with child by him) the light let see

Great Pelias, and Neleus; that became

In Ioues great ministrie, of mighty fame.

Pelias, in broad Iolcus held his Throne,

Wealthy in cattell; th'other roiall Sonne

Rul'd sandy Pylos. To these, issue more

This Queene of women to her husband bore▪

Aeson, and Pheres, and Amythaon,

That for his fight on horsebacke, stoopt to none.

Next her, I saw admir'd Antiope

Asopus

Antiope like Tyro.

daughter; who (as much as she

Boasted attraction, of great Neptunes loue)

Boasted to slumber in the armes of Ioue:

And two Sonnes likewise, at one burthen bore,

To that, her all-controlling Paramore:

Amphion, and faire Z [...]thus; that first laid

Great Thebes foundations; and strong wals conuaid

About her turrets, that seuen Ports enclosde.

For though the Theb [...]ns, much in strength reposde,

Yet had not they, the strength to hold their owne,

Without the added aides, of wood, and stone.

Alcmena,

Al [...]m [...]na.

next I saw; that famous wife

Was to Amphytri [...]; and honor'd life

Gaue to the Lyon-hearted Hercule [...],

That was, of Ioues embrace, the great increase.

I saw besides, proud Craeons daughter there,

Bright Megara;

Megara.

that nuptiall yoke did weare

With Ioues great Sonne; who neuer field did try,

But bore to him, the flowre of victory.

The mother then, of Oedipus, I saw,

Faire Epicasta;

Epicasta the mother of Oedipu [...].

that beyond all law,

Her owne Sonne maried, ignorant of kind;

And, he (as darkly taken, in his mind)

His mother wedded, and his father slew;

Whose blind act, heauen exposde at length to view.

And he, in all-lou'd Thebes, the supreame state

With much mone manag'd; for the heauy Fate

The Gods laid on him. She made violent flight

To Plutos darke house, from the lothed light;

Beneath a steepe beame, strangl'd with a cord;

And left her Sonne, in life, paines as abhord,

As all the furies powr'd on her in hell.

[Page] Then saw I Chloris,

Chl [...]ris.

that did so excell

In answering beauties, that each part had all;

Great Neleus married her, when gifts not small,

Had wonne her fauour; term'd by name of dowre.

She was of all Amphions seed, the flowre:

(Amphion, calld l [...]sides, that then

Ruld strongly, Myni [...]an [...])

And now his daughter rul'd the Pylean Throne;

Because her beauties Empire ouershone.

She brought her wise-awd husband, Neleus,

Nest [...]r, much honord; Peryclimenus,

And Chromius; Sonnes, with soueraigne vertues grac' [...];

But after, brought a daughter that surpast;

Rare-beautied Per [...], so for forme exact;

That Nature, to a miracle, was rackt,

In her perfections, blaz'd with th'eyes of men.

That made of all the Countries hearts, a chaine,

And drew them suiters to her. Which her Sire

Tooke vantage of; and (since he did aspire

To nothing more, then to the broad-browd herd

Of Oxen, which the common fame so rer'd,

Own'd by Iphiclus) not a man should be

His Peros husband, that from Phylace,

Those neuer-yet-driuen Oxen, could not driue:

Yet these; a strong hope held him to atchieue;

Because a Prophet that had neuer err'd,

Had said, that onely he should be prefer'd

To their possession. But the equall Fate

Of God, withstood his stealth: inextricate

Imprisoning Bands; and sturdy churlish Swaines

That were the Heardsmen; who withheld with chaines

The stealth attempter: which was onely he

That durst abet the Act with Prophecie;

None else would vndertake it; and he must:

The king would needs, a Prophet should be iust;

But when some daies and moneths, expired were,

And all the Houres had brought about the yeare;

The Prophet, did so satisfie the king

(Iphiclus; all his cunning questioning)

That he enfranchisde him; and ( [...] worst done)

Ioues counsaile made, th'all-safe conclusion.

The saw I Laeda;

Leada,

(linkt in nuptiall chaine

With Tynd [...]rus) to whom, she did sustaine

Sonnes much renowm'd for wisedome; C [...]st [...] one,

That past, for vse of horse, comparison;

And Poll [...]x, that exceld, in whirlbat fight;

Both these, the fruitfull Earth bore; while the light

Of life inspir'd them; After which, they found

[Page] Such grace with Ioue, that both liu'd vnder ground,

By change of daies: life still did one sustaine,

While th' [...]ther died; the dead then, liu'd againe,

The liuing dying; both, of one selfe date,

Their liues and deaths made, by the Gods and Fate.

Iphemedia,

Iph [...]medi [...].

after Laeda came,

That did de [...]iue from Neptune too, the name

Of Father to two admirable Sonnes:

Life yet made short their admirations;

Who God-opposed Otus had to name,

And Ephialtes, farre in sound of Fame.

The prodigall Earth so fed them, that they grew

To most huge stature; and had fairest hew

Of all men, but Orion, vnder heauen;

At nine yeares old, nine cubits they were driuen

Abroad in breadth, and sprung nine fathomes hie.

They threatn'd to giue battell to the skie,

And all th'Immortals. They were setting on

Ossa vpon Olympus; and vpon

Steepe Ossa, leauie Pelius, that euen

They might a high-way make, with loftie heauen.

And had perhaps perform'd it, had they liu'd

Till they were Striplings. But Ioues Sonne depriu'd

Their lims of life; before th'age that begins

The flowre of youth; and should adorne their chins.

Phaedra and Procris,

Phaedra and Pr [...]cris.

with wise Minos flam [...],

(Bright Ariadne) to the offring came.

Whom whilom Theseus made his prise from Crete;

That Athens sacred soile, might kisse her feete.

But neuer could obtaine her virgin Flowre;

Till, in the Sea-girt Dia, Dians powre

Detain'd his homeward haste; where (in her Phane,

By Bacchus witnest) was the fatall wane

Of her prime Glorie. Maera, Clymene,

Maera and Clymene.

I witn [...]st there; and loth'd Eryphile;

That honou [...]'d

Amphiaraus was [...]r husband: whō she betrayd to his ruine at Thebes, for gold taken of Adrastus her brother.

gold more, then she lou'd her Spouse.

But all th'He [...]oesses in Plutos house,

That then encounterd me, exceeds my might

To name or number; and Ambrosian Night

Would quite be spent; when now the formall houres,

Present to Sleepe, our all-disposed powres.

If at my ship, or here, my home-made vow,

I leaue for fit grace, to the Gods and you.

This said; the silence his discourse had made,

With pleasure held still, through the houses shade.

When, white-arm'd Arete this speech began:

Phaeacians! how appeares to you this man?

So goodly person'd, and so matcht with mind?

[Page] My guest he is; but all you stand combin'd,

In the renowne he doth vs. Do not then

With carelesse haste dismisse him: nor the maine

Of his dispa [...]ch, to one so needie, maime;

The Gods free bountie, giues vs all iust claime

To goods enow. This speech, the oldest man

Of any other Phaeacensian,

The graue Heroe, Echineus gaue

All approbation; saying: Friends! ye haue

The motion of the wise Queene; in such words,

As haue not mist the ma [...]ke; with which, accords

My cleare opinion. But Alcinous,

In word and worke, must be our rule. He thus;

And then Alcinous said: This then must stand,

If while I liue, I rule in the command

Of this well-skild-in-Nauigation State.

Endure then (Guest) though most importunate

Be your affects for home. A litle stay

If your expectance beare; perhaps it may

Our gifts make more complete. The cares of all,

Your due deduction asks; but Principall

I am therein, the ruler▪ He replied:

Alcinous! the most duly glorifi [...]d,

With rule of all; of all men; if you lay

Commandment on me, of a whole yeares stay;

So all the while, your preparations rise,

As well in gifts, as

Venustè & sal [...]è dictum.

time: ye can deuise

No better wish for me; for I shall come

Much fuller handed, and more honourd home;

And dearer to my people: in who [...]e loues,

The richer euermore the better proues.

He answerd: There is argude in your sight,

A worth that works not men for benefit,

Like P [...]ollers or Impostors; of which crew,

The gentle blacke Earth feeds not vp a few;

Here and there wanderers, blanching tales and lies,

Of neither praise, nor vse: you moue our eies

With forme; our minds with matter, and our [...]ares

With elegant oration; such as beares,

A musicke in the orderd historie

It layes before vs. Not Demodocus,

With swee [...]er straines hath vsde to sing to vs,

All the Greeke sorrowes, wept out in your owne.

But say; of all your worthy friends, were none

Obiected to your eyes; that Consorts were

To [...]lion with you? and seru'd destinie there?

This Night is passing long, vnmeasur'd: none

Of all my houshold would to bed yet: On,

[Page] Relate these wondrous things. Were I with you;

If you would tell me but your woes, as now,

Till the diuine Aurora shewd her head,

I should in no night relish thought of bed.

Most emin [...]nt King, (said he) Times, all must keepe;

There's time to speake much, time as much to sleepe.

But would you heare still, I will tell you still,

And vtter more, more miserable ill,

Of Friends then yet, that scap't the dismall warres,

And perisht homewards, and in houshold iarres.

Wag'd by a wicked woman. The chaste

Here he begins his other relatiō. Proserpin [...].

Queene,

No sooner made these Ladie-ghosts vnseene,

(Here and there flitting) but mine eie-sight wonne

The Soule of Agamemnon, (Atreus sonne)

Sad; and about him, all his traine of friends,

That in Aegysthus house, endur'd their ends,

With his sterne Fortune. Hauing dr [...]nke the blood,

He knew me instantly; and forth a flood

Of springing teares gusht. Out he thrust his hands,

With will t'embrace me; but their old commands,

Flowd not about him; nor their weakest part.

I wept to see; and mon'd him from my heart.

And askt▪ O Agamemnon! King of men!

What sort of cruell death, hath renderd slaine

Thy royall person? Neptune, in thy Fleete?

Heauen, and his hellish billowes making meete,

Rowsing the winds? Or haue thy men by land

Done thee this ill; for vsing thy command,

Past their consents, in diminution

Of those full sha [...]es, their worths by lot had wonne,

Of sheepe or oxen? or of any towne?

In couetous strife, to make their rights, thine owne,

In men or women prisoners? He replied:

By none of these▪ in any right, I died;

But by Aegysthus, and my murtherous wife,

(Bid to a banquet at his house) my life

Hath thus bene reft me: to my slaughter led,

Like to an Oxe, pretended to be fed.

So miserably fell I; and with me,

My friends lay massacred: As when you see

At any rich mans nuptials, shot, or feast,

About his kitchin, white-tooth'd swine lie drest.

The slaughters of a world of men, thine eies,

Both priuate, and in prease of enemies,

Haue personally witnest; but this one,

Would all thy parts haue broken into mone:

To see how strewd about our Cups and Cates,

As Tables set with Feast, so we with Fates,

[Page] All gasht and slaine, lay; all the floore embrude

With blood and braine. But that which most I ru'd,

Flew from the heauie voice, that Priams seed,

Cassandra breath'd; whom, she that wit doth feed

With banefull crafts, false Clytemnestra slew,

Close sitting by me; vp my hand [...] I threw

From earth to heauen; and tumbling on my sword,

Gaue wretched life vp. When the most abhord,

By all her sexes shame, forsooke the roome;

Nor daind (though then so neare this heauie home)

To shut my lips, or close my broken eies.

Nothing so heapt is with impieties,

As such a woman, that would kill her Spouse,

That maried her a maid. When to my house

I brought her, hoping of her loue in heart,

To children▪ maids, and slaues. But she (in th'Art

Of onely mischiefe heartie) not alone

Cast on her selfe, this foule aspersion;

But louing Dames, hereafter, to their Lords

Will beare, for good deeds, her bad thoughts and words.

Alas (said I) that Ioue should hate the liues

Of Atreus seed, so highly for their wiues.

For Menelaus wife, a number fell;

For dangerous absence, thine sent thee to hell.

For this, (he answerd) Be not thou more kind

Then wise to thy wife; neuer, all thy mind

Let words expresse to her. Of all she knowes,

Curbs for the worst still, in thy selfe repose.

But thou by thy wifes wiles, shalt lose no blood;

Exceeding wise she is, and wise in good.

Icarius daughter, chaste Penelope,

We left a yong Bride; when for batte [...]l, we

Forsooke the Nuptiall peace; and at her brest,

Her first child sucking. Who, by this houre, blest,

Sits in the number of suruiuing men.

And his blisse, she hath, that she can containe;

And her blifse, thou hast, that she is so wise;

For, by her wisedome, thy returned eies

Shall see thy sonne; and he shall greete his Sire,

With fitting welcom [...]s. When in my retire,

My wife denies mine eyes, my sonnes deare sight;

And, as from me, will take from him the light;

Before she addes one iust delight to life;

Or her false wit, one truth that sits a wife.

For her sake therefore, let my harmes aduise;

That though thy wife be ne' [...]e so chaste and wise,

Yet come not home to her in

This aduice [...]e foll [...]d at his coming home.

open view,

With any ship, or any personall shew.

[Page] But take close shore disguisde: nor let her know;

For tis no world, to trust a [...]oman now.

But what sayes Fame? Doth my Sonne yet suruiue,

In Orch [...]men, or Pylos? or doth liue

In Sparta, with his Vnkle? yet I see

D [...]uine Orestes is not here with me.

I answerd, asking: Why doth A [...]reus sonne▪

Enquire of me? who yet arriu'd where none

Could giue to these newes any cer [...]aine wings?

And tis absurd, to tell vncertaine things.

Such sad speech past vs; and as thus we stood,

With kind teares rendring vnkind fortunes good;

Achilles and Patroclus Soule appear'd;

And his Soule, of whom neuer ill was heard,

The good Antilochus: and the Soule of him,

That all the Greeks past, both for force and lim,

Excepting the vnmatcht Aeacides,

Illustrous Aiax. But the first of these,

That saw, acknowledg'd, and saluted me,

Was

Achill [...]s.

Thetis co [...]quering Sonne, who (heauily

His state here taking) said: Vnworthy breat [...] ▪

What act, yet mightier, imagineth

Thy ventrous spirit? How doest thou descend

These vnder regions: where the dead mans end,

Is to be lookt on? and his foolish shade?

I answerd him: I was induc'd t'inuade

These vnder parts, (most excellent of Greece)

To visite wise Tir [...]sias, for ad [...]ce

Of vertue to direct my voyage home

To rugged Ithaca; since I could come

To note in no place, where Achaia stood;

And so liu'd euer, tortur'd with the blood

In mans vaine veines. Thou therefore (Thetis sonne)

Hast equald all, that euer yet haue wonne

The blisse the earth yeelds; or hereafter shall.

In life, thy eminence was ador'd of all,

Euen with the Gods. And now, euen dead, I see

Thy vertues propagate thy Emperie,

To a renewd life of command beneath;

So great Achilles

Achilles of the next life.

triumphs ouer death.

This comfort of him, this encounter found;

Vrge not my death to me, nor rub that wound;

I rather wish, to liue in earth a Swaine,

Or serue a Swaine for hire, that scarce can gaine

Bread to sustaine him; then (that life once gone)

Of all the dead, sway the Imperiall thone.

But say; and of my Sonne, some comfort yeeld;

If he goes on, in first fights of the field;

[Page] Or lurks for safetie in the obscure Rere?

Or of my Father, if thy royall eare

Hath bene aduertisde, that the Phthian Throne,

He still commands, as greatest Myrmidon?

Or that the Phthian and Thessalian rage,

(Now feete and hands are in the hold of Age)

Despise his Empire? Vnder those bright rayes,

In which, heauens feruour hurles about the dayes;

Must I no more shine his reuenger now;

Such as of old, the Ilion ouerthrow

Witnest my anger: th'vniuersall hoast,

Sending before me, to this shadie Coast,

In fight for Grecia. Could I now resort,

(But for some small time) to my Fathers Court;

In spirit and powre, as then: those men should find

My hands inaccessible; and of fire, my mind,

That durst, with all the numbers they are strong,

Vnseate his honour, and suborne his wrong.

This pitch still flew his spirit, though so low;

And this, I answerd thus: I do not know,

Of blamelesse Peleus, any [...]ast r [...]port;

But of your sonne, in all the vtmost sort,

I can informe your care wi [...]h truth; and thus:

From Scyros,

Vlysses report of Neoptolemus the son of [...]e [...]lles.

princely Neoptol [...]us,

By Fleete, I conuaid to the Greeks; where he

Was Chiefe, at both parts: when our gr [...]uitie

Retir'd to councell; and our youth to fight.

In councell still (so firie was Conceit,

In his quicke apprehension of a cause)

That first he euer spake; nor past the lawes

Of any graue stay, in his greatest hast.

None would contend with him, that counseld last;

Vnlesse illustrous Nestor, he and I

Would sometimes put a friendly contrary,

On his opinion. In our fights, the prease

Of great or common, he would neuer sease;

But farre before fight euer. No man there,

For force, he forced. He was slaughterer

Of many a braue man, in most dreadfull fight.

But one and other, whom he reft of light,

(In Grecian succour) I can neither name,

Nor giue in number. The particular fame,

Of one mans slaughter yet, I must not passe;

Eurypilus Telephides he was,

That fell beneath him; and with him, the falls

Of such huge men went, that they shewd like

This place (and a number more) is most miserably mistaken by all translators and commentors.

whales▪

Ra [...]pi [...]'d abou [...]him. Neoptolemus

Set him so sharply, for the sumptuous

[Page] Fauours of Mistresses, he saw him weare;

For past all doubt, his beauties had no peere,

Of all that mine eies noted; next to one,

And that was Memnon, Tithons Sun-like sonne.

Thus farre, for fight i [...]publicke, may a tast

Giue of his eminence. How farre surpast

His spirit in priuate; where he was not seene;

Nor glorie could be said, to prais [...] his spleene;

This close note, I exce [...]pted. When we sate

Hid in Epaeus horse; no Optimate

Of all the Greeks there, had the charge to ope

And shut the

Th [...] [...] said▪

Stratageme, but I. My scope

To note then, each mans spirit, in a streight

Of so much danger; much the better might

Be hit by me, then others: as, prouokt▪

I shifted place still; when, in some I smokt

Both priuie tremblings, and close vent of teares.

In him yet, not a soft conceit of theirs,

Could all my search see, either his wet eies

Plied still with wiping [...]; or the goodly guise,

His person all waies put forth; in least part,

By any tremblings, shewd his toucht-at heart.

But euer he was vrging me to make

Way to their sally; by his signe to shake

His sword hid in his scabberd; or his Lance

Loded with iron, at me. No good chance,

His thoughts to Troy intended. In th'euent,

(High Troy depopulate) he made ascent

To his faire ship, with prise and treasure store:

Safe, and no touch, away with him he bore,

Of farre-off hurl'd Lance, or of close-fought sword,

Whose wounds, for fauours▪ Warre doth oft affoord;

Which he (though sought) mist, in warres closest wage;

In close fights, Mars doth neuer fight, but rage.

This made the soule of swift Achilles tred

A March of glorie, through the herbie meade;

For ioy to heare me so renowme his Sonne;

And vanisht stalking. But with passion

Stood th'other Soules strooke: and each told his bane.

Onely the spirit

Ai [...]x the sonn [...] of Telamo [...] ▪

Telamonian

Kept farre off; angrie for the victorie

I wonne from him at Fleete; though Arbit [...]ie

Of all a Court of warre, pronounc't it mine,

And Pallas selfe. Our prise were th'armes diuine,

Of great

Achill [...]s.

Aeacides; propo [...]de t'our fames

By his bright

The [...]is.

Mother, at his funerall Games.

I wish to heauen, I ough [...] not to haue wonne;

Since for those Armes, so high a he [...]d, so soone

[Page] The base earth couerd. Aiax, that of all

The hoast of Greece, had person capitall,

And acts as eminent; excepting his,

Whose armes those were; in whom was nought amisse.

I tride the great Soule with soft words, and said:

Aiax! great sonne of Telamon; arraid

In all our glories! what? not dead resigne

Thy wrath for those curst Armes? The Powres diuine,

In them forg'd a [...] our banes; in thine owne One;

In thy graue fall, our Towre was ouerthrowne.

We mourne (for euer maimd) for thee as much,

As for Achilles: nor thy wrong doth touch,

In sentence,

Iupiter.

any, but Saturnius doome;

In whose hate, was the hoast of Greece become

A very horror. Who exprest it well,

In signing thy Fate, with this timelesse Hell.

Approch then (King of all the Grecian merit)

Represse thy great mind, and thy flamie spirit;

And giue the words I giue thee, worthy eare.

All this, no word drew from him; but lesse neare

The sterne Soule kept. To other Soules he fled;

And glid along the Riuer of the dead.

Though Anger mou'd him; yet he might haue spoke;

Since I to him. But my desires were strooke

With sight of other Soules. And then I saw

Minos,

[...].

that ministred to Death a law;

And Ioues bright sonne was. He was set, and swaid

A golden Scepter; and to him did pleade

A sort of others, set about his Throne,

In Plutos wide-door'd house; when strait came on,

Mightie Orion,

Orion.

who was hunting there,

The heards of those beasts he had slaughterd here,

In desart hils on earth. A Club he bore,

Entirely steele, whos [...] vertues ne [...]er wore.

[...] Tityus

Tityus.

I saw: to whom the glorious Earth

Opened her wombe, and gaue vnhappie birth;

Vpwards, and flat vpon the Pauement lay

His ample lims; that spred in their display,

Nine Acres compasse. On his bosome sat

Two Vultures, digging through his caule of fat,

Into his Liuer, with their crooked Beakes;

And each by turnes, the concrete entraile breakes,

(As Smiths their steele beate) set on either side.

Nor doth he euer labour to diuide

His Liuer and their Beakes; nor with his hand,

Offer them off: but suffers by command,

Of th'angrie Thunderer; off [...]ing to en [...]orce,

His loue Latona in the close recou [...]s [...],

[Page] She vsde to Pytho, through the dancing land,

Smooth Panopaeus. I saw likewise stand,

Vp to the chin, amidst a liquid lake,

Tormented Tantalus; yet could not slake

His burning thirst. Oft as his scornfull cup,

Th'old man would taste; so oft twas swallowd vp;

And all the blacke ea [...]th to his feete descried;

Diuine powre (plaguing him) the lake still dried.

About his head, on high trees, clustering, hung

Peares, Apples, Granets, Oliues, euer yong;

Delicious [...]igs, and many fruite trees more,

Of other burthen; whose alluring store,

When th'old Soule striu'd to pluck, the winds from sight,

In gloomie vapours, made them vanish quite.

There saw I Sisyphus,

Sisyphu [...].

in infinite mone,

With both hands heauing vp a massie stone;

And on his tip-toes, racking all his height,

To wrest vp to a mountaine top, his freight;

When prest to rest it there (his nerues quite spent)

Downe rusht the deadly Quarrie: the euent

Of all his torture, new to raise againe;

To which, strait set his neuer rested paine.

The sweate came gushing out from euery Pore;

And on his head a standing mist he wore;

Reeking from thence, as if a cloud of dust

Were raisd about i [...]. Downe with th [...]se was thrust,

The Idoll of the force of Hercules.

H [...]c [...]les.

But his firme selfe, did no such Fate oppresse;

He feasting liues amongst th'immortall States;

White-ankled Hebe, and himselfe, made mates,

In heauenly Nuptials. Hebe, Ioues deare race,

And Iunos; whom the golden Sandals grace.

About him flew the clamors of the dead,

Like Fowle [...]; and still stoopt cuffing at his head.

He, with his Bow, like Night, stalkt vp and downe;

His shaft still nockt; and hurling round his frowne,

At thos [...] v [...]xt houerers, aiming at them still;

And still, as shooting out, desire to still.

A horrid Bawdricke, wore he thwart his brest;

The Thong all gold, in which were formes imprest,

Where Art and Miracle, drew equall breaths,

In Beares, Bores, Lions, Battles, Combats, Deaths.

Who wrought that worke, did neuer such before;

Nor so diuinely will do euer more.

Soone as he saw, he [...]new me; and gaue speech:

Sonne of Laertes; high in wisedomes reach;

And yet vnhappie wretch; for in this heart,

Of all exploits atchieu'd by thy desert,

[Page] Thy worth but works out some sinister Fate.

As I in earth did. I was generate

By Ioue himselfe; and yet past meane, opprest

By one my farre inferiour; whose proud hest,

Imposde abhorred labours, on my hand.

Of all which, one was, to descend this Strand,

And hale the dog from thence. He could not thinke

An act that Danger could make deeper sinke;

And yet this depth I drew; and fetcht as hie,

As this was low, the dog▪ The Deitie,

Of sleight and wisedome, as of downe-right powre,

Both stoopt, and raisd, and made me Conquerour.

This said; he made descent againe as low

As Plutos Court; when I stood firme; for show

Of more Her [...]es, of the times before;

And might perhaps haue seene my wish of more;

(As Theseus and Pirithous, deriu'd

From rootes of Deitie) but before th'atchieu'd

Rare sight of these; the rank-soul'd multitude

In infinite flocks rose; venting sounds so rude,

That pale Feare tooke me, lest the Gorgons head

Rusht in amongst them; thrust vp▪ in my dread,

By grim Persephone. I therefore sent

My men before to ship; and after went.

Where, boorded, set, and lancht; th'Ocean waue,

Our Ores and forewinds, speedie passag [...] gaue.

Finis libri vndecimi Hom. Odyss.

THE XII. BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES.
Another.

[Page]

THE ARGVMENT.

HE shewes from Hell his safe retreate,

To th' Ile A [...]aea, Circes seate.

And how he scapt the Sirens calls.

With th'erring Rock [...]s, and waters falls,

That Scylla and Chary [...]dis breake.

The Sunnes st [...]lne Herds; and his sad wreake▪

Both of Vlysses ship and men,

His owne head scaping sc [...]rce the paine.

[...].

The Rockes that errd;

The Sirens call;

The Sunnes stolne Herd;

The souldiers fall.

OVr Ship now past the streights of th'Ocean flood;

She plowd the broad seas billowes; and made good,

The Ile Aeaea, where the Pallace stands

Of th'early Riser, with the rosie hands,

Actiue Aurora; where she loues to dance;

And where the Sunne doth his prime beames aduance.

When here arriu'd; we drew her vp to land,

And trod our selues the resaluted sand:

Found on the shore, fit resting for the Night;

Slept, and expected the celestiall light.

Soone as the white-and-red-mixt-fingerd Dame,

Reditur ab inferis ad Circen.

Had guilt the mountaines with her Saffron flame;

I sent my men to Circes house before,

To fetch dece [...]st Elpenor to the shore.

Strait swelld the high banks with feld heapes of trees;

And (full of teares) we did due Exequies

To our dead friend.

Elpenor tum [...] latur.

(Whose Corse consum'd with fire,

And honourd Armes▪ whose Sepulcher entire;

And ou [...]r that, a Columne raisd) his Ore,

Curi [...]usly car [...]'d (to his desire before)

Vpon the top of all his Tombe, we fixt.

Of all Rites fit, his Funerall Pile was mixt.

Nor was our s [...]fe ascent [...]rom hell, conceald

From Circes knowledge; nor so soone reueald,

But she was wi [...]h v [...], with her bread and food,

And ruddie wine, brought by her sacred brood

[Page] Of woods and Fountaines. In the midst she [...] stood,

And thus saluted vs: Vnhappie men,

That haue (inform'd with all your sences) bene

In Plutos dismall mansion. You shall die

Twice now; where others that Mortalitie,

In her faire armes▪ holds; shall but once decease.

But eate and drinke out all conceit of these;

And this day dedicate to food and wine;

The following Night to Sleepe. When next shall shine

The chearfull Morning; you shall proue the seas.

Your way, and euery act ye must addresse,

My knowledge of their order shall designe:

Lest with your owne bad counsels, ye encline

Euents as bad against ye; and sustaine

By sea and shore, the wofull ends that raigne

In wilfull act [...]ons. Thus did she adui [...]e;

And, for the time, our Fortunes were so wise,

To follow wise directions. All that day

We sate and feasted. When his lower way,

The Sunne had enterd; and the Euen, the hi [...]:

My friends slept on their Gables; she and I,

(Led by her faire hand, to a place apart,

By her well sorted) did to sleepe conuert

Our timed powres. When, all things Fate let fall

In our affaire, she askt; I told her all.

To which she answerd: These things thus tooke end:

And now to those that I informe, attend:

Which (you remembring) God himselfe shall be,

The blessed author of your memorie.

First,

Circe praesagit futura pet [...]cula.

to the Sirens ye shall come, that taint

The minds of all men, whom they can acquaint

With their attractions. Whosoeuer shall

(For want of knowledge mou'd)

Si [...]ena [...]um des [...]riptio.

but heare the call

Of any Siren: he will so despise

Both wife and children, for their sorceries,

That neuer home turnes his affections streame;

Nor they take ioy in him, nor he in them.

The Sirens will so soften with their song,

(Shrill, and in sen [...]uall appetite so strong)

His loose affections, that he giues them head.

And then obserue: They sit amidst a meade;

And round about it [...]unnes a h [...]dge or wall

Of dead mens bones: their witherd skins and all,

Hung all along vpon it; and these men

Were such as they had fawnd into their Fen,

And then their skins hung on their hedge of bones.

Saile by them therefore; thy companions

Before hand causing to stop euery [...]are

[Page] With sweete soft waxe so close▪ that none may heare

A note of all their charmings. Yet may you

(If you affect it) open eare allow

To trie their motion: but presume not so

To trust your iudgement; when your senses go

So loose about you; but giue straight command

To all your men, to bind you foote and hand▪

Sure to the Mast; that you may safe approue

How strong in instigation to their loue

Their rapting tunes are. If so much they moue,

That, spite of all your reason, your will stands

To be enfranchisde, both of feete and hands;

Charge all your men before, to sleight your charge,

And rest so farre, from fearing to enlarge,

That much more sure they bind you. When your friends

Haue outsaild these: the danger that tra [...]scends

Rests not in any counsaile to preuent;

Vnlesse your owne mind, finds the tract and bent

Of that way, that auoids it. I can say

That in your course, there lies a twofold way;

The right of which, your owne, taught, present wit

And grace diuine, must prompt. In generall yet

Let this informe you: Neare these Sirens shore

Moue two steepe Rocks; at whose feete, lie and rore

The blacke seas cruell billowes: the blest Gods

Call them the Rouers. Their abhord abods

No bird can passe: no not the *

[...]. Columbae t [...]midae. What these D [...]ues were, and the whole mind [...] of this place: th [...] Great Macedo [...] [...]sking Ch [...]ron Am [...]hip [...]lites, he [...]nswered, They were the Pl [...]iad [...]s or seuen Stares. One of which (besides his proper imperfection, of being [...]. i. adeo exilis, vel subobscurus, [...]t vi [...] appare [...]t) is vtterly obscured or let b [...] thes [...] Rocks. Why then, or how, Ioue still supplied the lost one, that the [...]u [...]ber might be full: Athen [...] falles to it, and helps the other out: Interpreting it to be affirmed of their perpetu [...]ll septenary nu [...]ber▪ though there appeared but sixe. But how lame and loathsome these prozers shew in their affected expositions of the P [...]eticall Minde, this and an hundred others▪ spent in meere p [...]esumptu [...]s guesse at this inaccessible Po [...]t; I hope will mak [...] plain [...] enough to the most enuious of any thing done, besides their [...]wne set censur [...]s, and most arrogan [...] ouer weenings. In the 23. of the Iliads, (being t) at the Games celebrated [...] at Patrocl [...]s fnerals, they tied t [...] the top of a Mast, [...], [...]imidam Columbam, to sh [...] at for a ga [...]: so that (by these great mens abouesaid expositions.) they sh [...] at the Plei [...]es.

Doues, whose feare

Sire Ioue so loues, that they are said to beare

Ambrosia to him; can their rauine scape;

But one of them, falles euer to the rape

Of those slie rocks. Yet [...]oue, another still

Adds to the rest; that so may euer fill

The sacred number. Neuer ship could shunne

The nimble perill wing'd there; but did runne

With all her bulke, and bodies of her men

To vtter ruine. For the seas retaine

Not onely their outragious aesture there;

But fierce assistents, of particular feare,

And supernaturall mischiefe, they expire;

And those are whirlewinds of deuouring fire

Whisking about still. Th' Argiue ship, alone

[Page] (Which bore the

[...], &c. Naui [...] omnibus Curae: the ship th [...]t [...]ld the c [...]re of all men, or of [...]ll things: which our Critickes will needs restraine, omnibꝰ heroibꝰ Po [...]tisom [...]ibus, vel Historicis, when the care of all mens preser [...]atiō is affirmed to be the freight of it: [...] if Po [...]ts and Historians comprehended all things, when I scarce know any that makes them any part of their care. But this likewise is garbige good enough for the monster. Nor wil I tempt [...]ur spic't consciences with expressing the diuin [...] mind it i [...]cl [...]des. Being [...]fra [...]d to affirme any good of poore Po [...]s [...]e, since n [...] man gets any goods by it▪ And notwithstanding many of our bird- [...]d starters [...] prophanation are for nothing s [...] afraid of it; as that lest their galled consciences (scarce beleeuing the most reall truth, in approbation of their liues) should be r [...]bbed with t [...]e confirmation of it, even in these contemned vaniti [...]s (as their [...]pieties please to call them,) which by much more lear [...]ed and pio [...]s the [...] th [...]selues, haue euer bene called the raptures of di [...]ine inspiration By which▪ Homo supra humanam n [...]turam erigitur, & in D [...]um transit▪ Plat.

care of all men) got her gone,

Come from Aret [...]. Yet perhaps euen she

Had wrackt at those Rocks; if the Deitie

That lies by Ioues side, had not lent her hand

To their transmission; since the man that mann'd

In chiefe that voyage, she, in chiefe did loue.

Of these two spitefull Rocks, the one doth shoue

Against the height of heauen, her pointed brow.

A blacke cloud binds it round, and neuer show

Lends to the sharp point: not the cleare blew skie

Lets euer view it. Not the Somners eye;

Not feruent Aut [...]mnes. None, that Death could end

Could euer skale it; or if vp, descend.

Though twenty hands and feete he had for hold:

A polisht ice-like glibnesse doth enfold

The rocke so round, whose midst, a gloomie cell

Shrowds, so farre Westward, that it sees to hell.

From this, keepe you as farre, as from his bow

An able yong man can his shaft bestow.

For here, the

[...], &c. Grauiter vociferans; as all, most [...]truly tr [...]nslat [...] i [...]. As they [...] in the next ve [...]se, these words [...] Catuli Leonis. No Lion being here dreamed of, n [...]r any vocifcr [...]tio [...] ▪ [...] ▪ signifying indignam, dissim [...]lem, or horribilem vocem edens: But in what kind horribilem? Not for the gra [...]itie or greatnesse of her voice, b [...]t for the rnworthy or disproportionable small▪ wh [...]ling of it: she being in the vast fr [...]e of her body, as the eery words [...] signifie, monst [...]um ingens: whose dispr [...]portion and defor [...]itie, is too Poeticaley (and therei [...] [...]) ordered, f [...]r fat and fla [...] Prozers to compreh [...]nd. N [...]r could they make the P [...]ets w [...]rds s [...]rue their comprehension; and therefore they adde of their owne, [...] ▪ from whence [...] is deri [...]ed▪ signifying crepo, or stridule clamo. And [...], is to be expoanded, c [...]tuli [...]uper or recen [...] [...]ti, not Leonis. But thus they botch and ab [...]se the incompar [...]ble expressor: Becaus [...] they knew [...]ot how otherwise to be [...] enough the [...]sel [...]es, to helpe out the Monster. Imagining so huge a great body▪ must needs haue a voice as huge: and the [...] would n [...]t our Homer ha [...]e like [...]ed it t [...] a Lions whelps voyce, but to the Lions [...]wne: and all had bene much too little, to make [...] voyce answerable to h [...]r h [...]genesse. And therefore found our inimitable master, a [...]ew way to expresse her monstrous disproportio [...]: performing it so, as there can be [...]i [...]il supra. And I would faine lear [...]e of [...]y learn [...]d De [...]r [...]ctor, that will needs haue m [...] o [...]ely tr [...]nslate out of the Lati [...]e, what Latine translation telles me this? or what Grecia [...] hath euer found this and a hundred other s [...]ch▪ Which may be some poore instance, or proofe of my Greci [...]n fac [...]lt [...], as far as [...]ld H [...]m [...]r goes in his two simple Poems, but not a sill [...]ble further will my silli [...] spirit presume.

whuling Scylla, shrowds her face:

That breaths a voice, at all parts, no more base

Then are a newly-kitn'd kitlings cries;

Her selfe a monster yet, of boundlesse sise;

Whose sight would nothing please a mortals eies;

No nor the eyes of any God, if he

(Whom nought should fright) fell foule on her; and she

Her full shape shew'd. Twelue foule feete beare about

Her ougly bulke. Sixe huge long necks lookt out

Of her ranke shoulders: euery necke, doth let

A ghastly head out: euery head; three set

Thicke thrust together, of abhorred teeth;

And euery tooth stucke with a sable death.

She lurkes in midst of all her denne; and streakes

From out a ghastly whirle-poole, all her necks;

Where, (gloting round her rocke) to fish she falles;

[Page] And vp rush Dolphins, Dogfish; somewhiles, Whale [...],

If got within her, when her rapine feeds;

For euer-groning Amphitrite breeds

About her whirlepoole, an vnmeasur'd store▪

No Sea-man euer boasted touch of shore

That there toucht with his ship; but still she fed

Of him, and his. A man for euery head

Spoiling his ship of. You shall then descrie

The other humbler Rocke, that moues so nie,

Your dart may mete the distance. It receaues

A huge wilde Fig-tree, curl'd with ample leaues;

Beneath whose shades, diuine C [...]arybdis sits

Supping the blacke deepes. Thrice a day her pi [...]s

She drinking all dry; and thrice a day againe,

All, vp she belches; banefull to sustaine.

When she is drinking, dare not neare her draught,

For not the force of Neptune, (if once caught)

Can force your freedome. Therefore in your strife

To scape Charybdis, labour all, for life

To row neare Scylla; for she will but haue

For her sixe heads, sixemen; and better saue

The rest, then all, make offerings to the waue.

This Neede she told me of my loss [...], when I

Desir'd to know, if that Necessitie

(When I had scap't Ch [...]r [...]bdis outrages)

My powres might not reuenge; though not redresse?

She answerd: O vnhappy! a [...]t thou yet

Enflam'd with warre? and thirst to drinke thy swet?

Not to the Gods giue vp, both Armes, and will?

She, deathlesse is, and that immortall ill

Graue, harsh, outragious, not to be subdu'd,

That men must suffer till they be renew'd▪

Nor liues there any virtue that can flie

The vicious outrage of their crueltie.

Shouldst thou put Armes on, and approch [...]he Rock [...] ▪

I feare, sixe more must expiate the shocke.

Sixe heads, sixe men aske still. Hoise [...]aile, and flie;

And in thy flight, aloud, on Cratis crie

(Great Scyllas Mother, who, exposde to light

That bane of men;) and she will do such right

To thy obseruance, that she, downe will tread

Her daughters rage; nor let her shew a head.

From thenceforth then, for euer past her care;

Thou shalt ascend, the I [...]e Triangular [...];

Where many Oxen of the Sunne are fed;

And fatted flocks. Of Oxen, fifty head

In euery herd feed; and their herds are seuen;

And of his fat flocks is their number, Euen.

[Page] Increase they yeeld not, for they neuer die;

There euery shepherdesse, a Deitie.

Faire Phaethusa, and Le [...]petie,

The louely Ny [...]phs are, that their Guardians be.

Who, to the daylights lofty-going flame

Had gracious birthright, from the heauenly Dame

Still yong Neaera; who (brought forth and bred)

Farre off dismist them; to see duly fed

Their Fathers herds and flocks in Sicilie.

These herds, and flocks, if to the Deitie

Ye leaue, as sacred things, vntoucht; and on

Goe with all fit care of your home, alone,

(Though through some sufferance) you yet sase shall land

In wished Ithac [...]. But if impious hand

You lay on those herds to their hurts: I then

Presage sure ruine, to thy [...]hip and men.

If thou escap'st thy selfe, extending home

Thy long'd for landing; thou shalt loded come

With store of losses, most exceeding late,

And not consorted with a saued mate.

This said; the golden-thron'd Aurora rose;

She, her way went, and I did mine dispose

Vp to my ship; weigh'd Anchor, and away.

When reuerend Circe; helpt vs to conuaie

Our vessell safe, by making well inclind

A Sea mans true companio [...], a forewind;

With which she filld our sailes, when, fitting all

Our Armes close by vs; I did sadly fall

To graue relation, what conce [...]nd in Fate

My friends to know, and told them that the state

Of our affaires successe, which Circe had

Presag'd to me alone, must yet be made

To one, nor onely two knowne; but to all:

That since their liues and deaths were left to fall

In their elections; the [...] [...]ight life elect,

And giue what would preserue it, fit effect.

I first inform'd them, that we were to flie

The heauenly-singing Sire [...]s harmony,

And flowre-adorned Medow▪ And that I

Had charge to heare their song; but f [...]tte [...]d [...]st

In bands, vnfauor'd, to th'erected Mast;

From whence, if I should pray; or vse command

To be enlarg'd; they should with much more [...]and

Containe my struglings. This I simply told

To each particular; nor would withold

What most enioyn'd mine owne affections stay,

That theirs the rather might be taught t'obay.

In meane time, flew our ships; and straight we fetcht

[Page] The Sirens Ile; a spleenelesse wind, so stretcht

Her wings to waft vs, and so vrg'd our keele.

But hauing reacht this Ile, we could not [...]eele

The least gaspe of it: it was striken dead,

And all the Sea, in prostrate slumber spread:

The Sirens diuell charm'd all. Vp then flew

My friends to worke; strooke saile, together drew,

And vnder hatches stowd them: sat, and plied

Their polisht oares; and did in curls diuide

The white-head waters. My part then came on;

A mighty waxen Cake, I set vpon;

Chopt it in fragments, with my sword; and wrought

With strong hand, euery peece, till all were soft.

The great powre of the Sunne, in such a beame

As then flew burning from his Diademe,

To liquefaction helpt vs. Orderlie,

I stopt their eares; and they, as faire did ply

My feete, and hands with cords; and to the Mast

With other halsers, made me soundly fast.

Then tooke they seate; and forth our passage strooke;

The fomie Sea, beneath their labour shooke.

Rowd on, in reach of an erected voice;

The Sirens soone tooke note, without our noice;

Tun'd those sweete accents, that made charmes so strong;

And these learn'd numbers, made the Sirens song:

Come here, thou, worthy of a world of praise;

That dost so high, the Grecian glory raise;

Vlysses! stay thy ship; and that song heare

That none past [...]uer, but it bent his eare:

But left him r [...]uish, and instructed more

By vs, then any, euer heard before.

For we know all things whatsoeuer were

In wide Troy labour'd▪ whatsoeuer there

The Grecians and the Troians both sustain'd;

By those high issues that the Gods ordain'd.

And whatsoeuer, all the earth can show

T'informe a knowledge of desert, we know.

This they gaue accent in the sweetest straine

That euer open'd an enamour'd vaine.

When, my constrain'd heart, needs would haue mine eare

Yet more delighted; force way forth, and heare.

To which end I commanded, with all signe

Sterne lookes could make (for not a ioynt of mine

Had powre to stirre) my friends to rise, and giue

My limbs free way. They freely striu'd to driue

Their ship still on. When (farre from will to lose)

Eurylochus, and Perimedes rose

To wrap me surer; and opprest me more

[Page] With many a halser, then had vse before.

When, rowing on, without the reach of sound;

My friends vnstopt their eares; and me, vnbound;

And, that Ile quite we quitted. But againe

Fresh feares emploid vs. I beheld a maine

Of mighty billows, and a smoke ascend:

A horrid murmure hearing. Euery friend

Astonisht sat: from euery hand, his oare

Fell quite forsaken: with the dismall Rore

Where all things there made Echoes, stone still stood

Our ship it selfe: because the ghastly flood

Tooke all mens motions from her, in their owne:

I, through the ship went, labouring vp and downe

My friends recouerd spirits. One by one

I gaue good words, and said: That well were knowne

These ills to them before: I told them all;

And that those could not proue, more capitall

Then those the Cyclop blockt vs vp in; yet

My vertue, wit, and heauen-helpt Counsailes, set

Their freedomes open. I could not beleeue

But they rememberd it, and wisht them giue

My equall care, and meanes, now equall trust:

The strength they had, for stirring vp, they must

Rouze, and extend, to trie if Ioue had laid

His powres in theirs vp, and would adde his aid

To scape euen that death. In particular then

I told our Pylot, that past other men

He, most must beare firme spirits; since he swaid

The Continent, that all our spirits conuaid

In his whole guide of her. He saw there boile

The fierie whirlpooles; that to all our spoile

Inclosde a Rocke: without which, he must stere,

Or all our ruines stood concluded there.

All heard me, and obaid; and little knew

That, shunning that Rocke, sixe of them should rue

The wracke▪ another hid. For I conceal'd

The heauy wounds that neuer would be heal'd,

To be by Scylla opened; for their feare

Would then haue robd all, of all care to stere;

Or stirre an oare, and made them hide beneath:

When they, and all▪ had died an idle death.

But then, euen I forgot to shunne the harme

Circe forewarnd: who willd I should not arme,

Nor shew my selfe to S [...]ylla, lest in vaine

I ventur'd life. Yet could not I containe

But arm'd at all parts; and two lances tooke:

Vp to the foredecke went, and thence did looke

That Rockie Scylla would haue first appear'd,

[Page] And taken my life, with the friends I feard.

From thence yet, no place could afford her sight;

Though through the darke rocke, mine eye threw her light,

And ransackt all waies. I then tooke a streight

That gaue my selfe, and some few more receipt

Twixt Scylla, and Charybdis; whence we saw

How horridly Charybdis throat did draw

The brackish sea vp, which, when all abroad

She spit againe out: neuer Caldron sod

With so much feruor, fed with all the store

That could enrage it. All the Rocke did rore

With troubl'd waters: round about the tops

Of all the steepe crags, flew the fomy drops.

But, when her draught, the sea and earth dissunderd,

The troubl'd bottoms turnd vp, and she thunderd;

Farre vnder shore, the swart sands naked lay.

Whose whole sterne sight, the startl'd blood did fray

From all our faces. And while we on her

Our eyes bestowd thus, to our ruines feare;

Sixe friends had Scylla snatcht out of our keele,

In whom, most losse, did force and virtue feele.

When looking to my ship, and lending eye

To see my friends estates, their heeles turnd hie,

And hands cast vp, I might discerne; and heare

Their calles to me for helpe, when now they were

To try me in their last extremities.

And as an Angler, medcine for surprise

Of little fish, sits powring from the rocks,

From out the crookt horne, of a fold-bred Oxe;

And then with his long Angle, hoists them hie

Vp to the Aire; then sleightly hurles them by,

When, helplesse sprauling on the land they lie:

So easely Scylla to her Rocke had rapt

My wofull friends; and so vnhelpt, entrapt

Strugling they lay beneath her violent rape;

Who in their tortures, desperate of escape;

Shriekt as she tore; and vp, their hands to me

Still threw for swee [...]e life. I did neuer see

In all my sufferance ransacking the seas,

A spectacle so full of miseries.

Thus hauing fled these rocks (these cruell dames

Scylla, Charybdis.) where the king of flames

Hath offerings burnd to him; our ship put in

The Iland, that from all the earth doth winne

The Epithete, F [...]ultlesse: where the broad of head

And famous Oxen, for the Sunne are fed,

With many fat flocks of that high-gone God.

Set in my ship, mine eare reacht, where we rod

[Page] The bellowing of Oxen, and the bleate

Of fleecie sheepe; that in my memories seate

Put vp the formes, that late had bene imprest

By dread Aeaean Circe; and the best

Of Soules, and Prophets, the blind Theb [...] Seer;

The wise Tiresias, who was graue decreer

Of my returnes whole meanes. Of which, this one

In chiefe he vrg'd; that I should alwaies shunne

The Iland of the Man-delighting Sunne.

When, (sad at heart for our late losse) I praid

My friends to heare fit counsaile, (though dismaid

With all ill fortunes) which was giuen to me

By Circes, and Tiresias Prophecie;

That I should flie the Ile, where was ador'd

The Comfort of the world: for ills, abhorr'd

Were ambusht for vs there; and therefore, willd

They should put off, and leaue the Ile. This kill'd

Their tender spirits; when Eurylochu [...]

A speech that vext me vtter'd; answering thus:

Cruell Vlysses! Since thy nerues abound

In strength, the more spent; and no toyles confound

Thy able lims, as all beate out of steele;

Thou ablest vs to, as vnapt to feele

The teeth of Labor, and the spoile of Sleepe,

And therefore still, wet wast vs in the deepe;

Nor let vs land to eate; but madly, now;

In Night, put forth, and leaue firme land to strow

The Sea with errors. All the rabide flight

Of winds that ruine ships, are bred in Night.

Who is it, that can keepe off cruell Death,

If suddainly should rush out th'angry breath

Of Notus, or the eager-spirited West?

That cuffe ships, dead; and do the Gods their best!

Serue black Night still, with shore, meate, sleepe, and ease;

And offer to the Morning for the seas.

This all the rest approu'd; and then knew I

That past all doubt, the diuell did apply

His slaughterous works. Nor would they be withheld;

I was but one; nor yeelded, but compell'd.

But all that might containe them, I assaid:

A sacred oath, on all their powres I laid;

That if with herds, or any richest flocks

We chanc't t'encounter; neither sheepe, nor Oxe

We once should touch; nor (for that constant ill

That followes folly) scorne aduice, and kill:

But quiet sit vs downe, and take such food

As the immortall Circe had bestowd.

They swore all this, in all seuerst sort;

[Page] And then we ancord, in the winding Port;

Neare a fresh Riuer, where the longd [...] for shore

They all flew out to; tooke in victles store;

And, being full, thought of their friends, and wept

Their losse by Scylla; weeping till they slept.

In Nights third part; when stars began to stoope;

The Cloud-assembler, put a Tempst vp.

A boistrous spirit he gaue it; draue out all

His flocks of clouds; and let such darknesse fall,

That Earth, and Seas for feare, to hide were driuen;

For, with his clouds, he thrust out Night from heauen.

At Morne, we drew our ships into a caue;

In which the Ny [...]phs, that Phoebus cattaile draue;

Faire, dancing Roomes had, and their seates of State.

I vrg'd my friends then, that to shunne their Fate,

They would obserue their oath; and take the food

Our ship afforded; nor attempt the blood

Of those faire Herds and Flocks; because they were,

That dreadfull Gods, that all could see, and heare.

They stood obseruant, and in that good mind

Had we bene gone: but so aduerse the wind

Stood to our passage, that we could not go.

For o [...]e whole moneth, perpetually did blow

Impetuous Notus; not a breaths repaire

But his, and Eurus, rul'd in all the Aire.

As long yet, as their ruddy wine, and bread

Stood out amongst them; so long, not a head

Of all those Oxen, fell in any strife

Amongst those students for the gut, and life.

But when their victles faild, they fell to prey:

Necessitie compell'd them then, to stray

In rape of fish, and fowle: what euer came

In reach of hand or [...] ▪ the bellies flame

Afflicted to it. I then, fell to praire;

And (making to a close Retreate, repaire

Free from, both friends, and winds) I washt my hands,

And all the Gods besought, that held commands

In liberall heauen; to yeeld some meane to stay

Their desperate hunger; and set vp the way

Of our returne restraind. The Gods, in steed

Of giuing what I prayd for, powre of deed;

A deedlesse sleepe, did on my lids distill,

For meane to worke vpon, my friends their fill.

For, whiles I slept, there wak't no meane to curb

Their headstrong wants; which he that did disturb

My rule, in chiefe, at all times; and was chiefe

To all the rest in counsaile to their griefe;

Knew well, and of, my present absence tooke

[Page] His fit ad [...]antage; and their iron strooke

At highest heate. For (feeling their desire

In his owne Entrailes, to allay the fire

That Famine blew in them) he thus gaue way

To that affection: Heare what I shall say,

(Though words will stanch no hunger) euery death

To vs poore wretches, that draw temporall b [...]eath,

You know, is hatefull; but all know, to die

The Death of Famine, is a miserie

Past all Death loathsome. Let vs therefore take

The chiefe of this faire herd; and offerings make

To all the Deathlesse that in broad heauen liue;

And, in particular, vow, if we arriue

In naturall Ithaca, to strait erect

A Temple to the haughtie in aspect;

Rich, and magnificent, and all within

Decke it with Relicks many, and diuine.

If yet, he stands incenst, since we haue slaine

His high-browd herd; and therefore will sustaine

Desire to wracke our ship: he is but one;

And all the other Gods, that we attone

With our diuine Rites, will their suff [...]age giue

To our design'd returne, and let vs liue.

If not; and all take part, I rather craue

To serue with one sole Death, the yawning waue;

Then, in a desert Iland, lie and sterue;

And, with one pin'd life, many deaths obserue.

All cried, He counsailes nobly; and all speed

Made to their resolute driuing. For the feed

Of those coleblacke, faire, broad-browd, Sun-lou'd Beeues:

Had place, close by our ships. They tooke the liues

Of sence, most eminent. About their fall

Stood round, and to the States celestiall

Made solemne vowes: But, other Rites, their ship

Could not afford them; they did therefore strip

The curld-head Oke, of fresh yong leaues, to make

Supply of seruice for their Barly cake.

And, on the sacredly enflam'd, for wine

Powrd purest water; all the parts diuine

Spitting, and rosting: all the Rites beside

Orderly vsing. Then did light diuide

My low, and vpper lids; when, my repaire

Made neare my ship; I met the delicate ayre

Their rost exhal'd. Out instantly I cried;

And said, O Ioue, and all ye Deified,

Ye haue opprest me with a cruell sleepe;

While ye conferd on me, a losse as deepe

As Death descends to. To themselues, alone

[Page] My rude men, left vngouernd; they haue done

A deed so impious, (I stand well assur'd)

That you will not forgiue, though ye procur'd.

Then flew Lempetie, with the ample Robe,

Vp to her Father, with the golden Globe;

Ambassadresse, t'informe him, that my men

Had slaine his Oxen. Heart-incensed then;

He cried; Reuenge me (Father, and the rest

Both euer liuing, and for euer blest.)

Vlysses impious men, haue drawne the blood

Of those my Oxen, that it did me good

To looke on, walking, all my starrie round;

And when I trod earth, all with medowes crown'd

Without your full amends, Ile leaue heauen quite;

Dis, and the Dead, adorning with my light.

The Cloud-herd answerd; Son! thou shalt be ours,

And light those mortals, in that Mine of flowres;

My red hote flash, shall grase but on their ship,

And eate it, burning, in the boyling deepe.

This by Calypso, I was told, and she

Inform'd it, from the verger Mercurie.

Come to our ship; I chid, and told by name

Each man, how impiously he was to blame.

But chiding got no peace; the Beeues were slaine:

When straight the Gods, fore-went their following paine

With dire Ostents. The hides, the flesh had lost,

Crept, all before them. As the flesh did rost

It bellowd like the Oxe it selfe, aliue.

And yet my souldiers, did their dead Beeues driue

Through all these Prodigies, in daily feasts.

Sixe daies they banqueted, and slue fresh beasts,

And when the seuenth day, Ioue reduc't the wind

That all the monethrag'd; and so in did bind

Our ship, and vs; was turnd, and calm'd; and we

Lancht, put vp Masts; Sailes hoised, and to Sea.

The Iland left so farre; that land no where;

But onely sea, and skie, had powre t'appeare;

Ioue fixt a cloud aboue our ship; so blacke

That all the sea it darkned. Yet from wracke

She ranne a good free time: t [...]ll from the West

Came Zephyre ruffling forth; and put his breast

Out, in a singing tempest; so most vast,

It burst the Gables, that made sure our Mast;

Our Masts came tumbling downe: our cattell downe,

Rusht to the Pump: and by our Pylots crowne

The maine Mast, past his fall; pasht all his Skull,

And all this wracke, but one flaw, made at full.

Off from the Sterne, the Sternesman, diuing fell,

[Page] And from his sinews, flew his Soule to hell.

Together, all this time, Ioues Thunder chid;

And through, and through the ship, his lightning glid:

Till it embrac't her round: her bulke was filld

With nasty sulphur; and her men were killd:

Tumbl'd to Sea, like Sea-mews swumme about,

And there the date of their returne was out.

I tost from side to side still, till all broke

Her Ribs were with the storme: and she did choke

With let-in Surges; for, the Mast torne downe;

Tore her vp pecemeale; and for me to drowne

Left little vndissolu'd. But to the Mast

There was a lether Thong left; which I cast

About it, and the keele; and so sat tost

With banefull weather, till the West had lost

His stormy tyranny. And then arose

The South, that bred me more abhorred woes;

For backe againe his blasts expelld me, quite

On rauenous Charybdis. All that Night

I totter'd vp and downe, till Light, and I

At Scyllas Rocke encounterd; and the nie

Dreadfull Charybdis. As I draue on these,

I saw Charybdis, supping vp the seas;

And had gone vp together, if the tree

That bore the wilde figs, had not rescu'd me;

To which I leapt, and left my keele; and hi [...]

Chambring vpon it, did as close imply

My brest about it, as a Reremouse could:

Yet, might my feete, on no stub fasten hold

To ease my hands: the roots were crept so low

Beneath the earth; and so aloft did grow

The far-spred armes, that (though good height I gat)

I could not reach them. To the maine Bole, flat

I therefore still must cling; till vp againe

She belcht my Mast, and after that, amaine

My keele came tumbling: so at length it chanc't,

To me, as to a Iudge; that long aduanc't

To iudge a sort of hote yong fellowes iarres,

At length time frees him from their ciuill warres;

When, glad, he riseth, and to dinner goes;

So time, at length, releast with ioyes my woes,

And from Charybdis mouth, appear'd my keele.

To which (my hand, now loosd; and now, my heele)

I altogether, with a huge noise, dropt;

Iust in her midst fell, where the Mast was propt;

And there rowd off, with owers of my hands.

God, and Mans Father, would not, from her sands

Let Scylla see me; for I then had died

[Page] That bitter death, that my poore friends supplied.

Nine Daies at Sea, I houer'd: the tenth Night

In th'lle Ogygia, where about the bright

And right renoum'd Calypso, I was cast

By powre of Deitie; Where I liu'd embrac't

With Loue, and feasts. But why should I relate

Those kind occurrents? I should iterate

What I in part, to your chaste Queene and you

So late imparted. And for me to grow

A talker ouer of my tale againe,

Were past my free contentment to sustaine.

Finis duodecimi libri Hom. Odyss. Opus nouem dierum. [...].

THE THIRTEENTH BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES.
Another.

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THE ARGVMENT.

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HE said; And silence all their Tongues contain'd

(In admiration) [...]

[...]

[...]

[...]

[...]

[...]

[...]

To my high-rooft, and Brasse-foundation'd hou [...]:

I hope, such speede, and passe [...]

Our Loues shall yeeld you, that you shall no more

VVander, nor suffer, homewards, as before.

You then, whoeuer, that are euer grac' [...]t

VVith all choise of authoriz'd power, to tast

[Page] Such wine with me,

[...]. quod pro Honorario senibus datur And because the worde so Englisht, [...] no o [...]her to exp [...]esse it, sounding wel, & helping our Language, it is her [...] [...].

as warmes the sacred Rage;

And is an Honorarie giuen to Age.

With which, ye likewise, heare Diuinely sing

(In Honors praise) the Poet of the King:

I moue, by way of my command, to this;

That where, in an elaborate Chist, there lies

A Present for our Guest: Attires of price;

And Gold, engrauen with in [...]inite deuice:

I wish that each of vs should adde beside

A Tripod, and a Caldron, amplified

With size, and Mettall of most rate, and great.

For we (in counsaile of taxation, met)

Will from our Subiects, gaine their worth againe;

Since 'tis vnequall one man should sustaine

A charge so waighty, being the grace of all;

VVhich, borne by many, is a waight but small.

Thus spake Alcinous, and pleas'd the rest;

VVhen each man clos'd, with home, & sleep, his feast.

But when the colour-giuing light arose;

All, to the Ship, did

Intending in chiefe the Senators, with euery m [...]ns addition of gift.

all their speeds dispose;

And wealth (yt

[...], Bene-honestos-faciensaes.

honest men makes) broght with them.

All which; euen he, that wore the Diadem

Stow'd in the Ship himselfe, beneath the seats

The Rowers sate in; stooping, le [...]t their le [...]s

In any of their labors, he might pro [...]e.

Then home he turn'd: and after him, did moue

The whole assembly to expected [...].

Amongst whom, he a sacrifice [...].

And slue an Oxe, to weather-wielding [...];

Beneath whose Empire, all things are, and moue.

The thighs then rosting, they made glorious chere,

Delighted highly; and amongst them there,

The honor'd of the people vs'd his v [...]ice,

Diuine Demodocus. Yet through this choice

Of Cheere, and Musicke, had Vl [...]sses still

An Eye directed to the [...] hill,

To see Him rising, that illustrates all.

For now into his minde, a fire did fall

Of thirst for home▪ And as in hungry vow

To needfull food, a man at fixed Plow;

(To whom, the black Oxe all day long hath turn'd

The stubborne fallowes vp; his stomacke burn'd

VVith empty heate, and appetite to food;

His knees afflicted with his spirit-spent blood)

At length the long-expected Sun-set sees;

That the may sit to foode, and rest his knees:

So, to Vlysses, set the friendly light

The Sun affoorded, with as wish' [...]a [...]ight.

[Page] VVho, straight bespake, that Ore-affecting State:

But did in chiefe, his speech appropriate

To him by Name, that with their Rule was crown'd,

Alcinous? Of all men, most renown'd,

Vlysses to Alcinous.

Dismisse me, with as safe passe, as you vow;

(Your offering past) and may the Gods to you

In all contentment, vse as full a hand:

For now, my landing heere, and stay shall stand

In all perfection with my hearts desire;

Both my so safe deduction to aspire;

And louing gifts; which, may the Gods to me,

As blest in vse make, as your acts are free:

Euen to the finding firme, in loue, and life,

VVith all desir'd euent, my friends, and wife.

VVhen, as my selfe shall liue delighted there;

May you, with yourwiues, rest as happy here:

Your Sonnes and Daughters (in particular State)

With euery vertue rendred consummate:

And, in your generall Empire, may ill neuer

Approch your Land; but good your good quit euer.

This, all applauded, and all ioyntly cried;

Dismisse the Stranger: he hath dignified

With fit speech, his dismission. Then the King

Thus charg'd the Herrald:

Alcinous to the Herrald.

Fill for offering

A bowl of wine: which through the whol large house

Dispose to all men; that propitious,

Our Father Ioue made, with our prayers; we may

Giue home our Guest, in full and wished way.

This said; Pontonous commixt a Bowle

Of such sweete wine, as did delight the soule:

VVhich making sacred to the blessed Gods,

That hold in broad heauen their supreame abodes;

God-like Vlysses, from his chaire arose,

And in the hands of th'Empresse, did impose

The all-round Cup:

Vlysses to Arete.

To whom (faire spoke) he saide;

Reioyce, O Queene, and be your ioyes repaide

By heauen, for me, till age and death succeede;

Both which, inflict their most vnwelcome neede,

On Men and Dames, alike. And, first (for me)

I must from hence, to both: Liue you heere free;

And euer may, all liuing blessings spring;

Your ioy in Children, Subiects, and your King.

This saide, diuine Vlysses tooke his way:

Before whom, the vnalterable sway

Of King Alcinous virtue, did command

A Heralds fit attendance to the Strand

And Ship appointed. VVith him, likewise went

Handmaids, by Aretes iniunction sent.

[Page] One bore an Out and In-weede, faire and sweete;

The other an embroider'd Cabinet:

The third, had Bread to beare, and ruddy wine;

All which, (at Sea, and Ship arriu'd) resigne,

Their Freight confer'd. VVith faire attendants then,

The sheets and bedding of the Man of men,

VVithin a Cabin of the hollow Keele,

Spred, and made soft; that sleepe might sweetly seele

His restfull eyes; He enter'd, and his Bed,

In silence, tooke. The Rowers ordered

Themselues in seuerall seates: and then set gone

The Ship; the Gable from the hollow stone

Dissolu'd, and weigh'd vp: Altogether, close

Then beate the Sea. His lids, in swee [...]e repose

Sleepe bound so fast, it scarse gaue way to breath;

Inexcitable,

The sound [...]st epc of V [...]ysses. Similitude.

most deare, next of all to death.

And as amids a faire field, foure braue horse

Before a Chariot, stung into their course

With feruent lashes of the smarting Scourge;

That all their fire blowes high; and makes them vrge

To vtmost speede, the measure of their ground:

So bore the Ship aloft, her fiery Bound;

About whom rusht the billowes, blacke, and vast;

In which the Sea-roares burst. As firme as fast

She ply'd her Course yet: Nor her winged speede,

The Faulcou gentle, could for pace, exceede.

So cut she through▪ the waues, and bore a Man,

Euen with the Gods, in counsailes; that began

And spent his former life, in all misease:

Battailes of men, and rude waues of the Seas;

Yet now, securely slept, forgetting all.

And when heauens brightest star, that first doth call

The early morning out, aduanc't her head;

Then, neere to Ithaca, the Billow-b [...]ed

Ph [...]cian Ship approch't. There is a Port,

That th'aged Sea-God Ph [...]rcys makes his Fo [...]:

The description of Phor [...]ys Hauen.

Whose earth, the Ithace [...]si [...] people owne.

In which, two Rockes inaccessible, are growne

Farre forth into the Sea; vvhose each strength binds

The boistrous waues in, from the high-flowne winds

On both the out-parts so, that all within

The well-built Ships, that once their harbour win

In his calme bosome; without Anchor, rest

Safe, and vnstir'd. From forth the hauens high crest,

Branch the well-brawn'd armes of an Oliue tree.

Beneath which, runs a Caue, from all Sun free;

Coole, and delightsome: Sacred to th' accesse

Of Nymphs, whose sur-names are the [...]:

[Page] In which, flew humming Bees; in which lay throwne

Stone cups, Stone vessels, Shittles, all of stone;

With which, the Nymphs their purple Mantles woue:

In whose contexture, Art and wonder stroue.

In which, pure Springs perpetually ran;

To which, two entries were: the one for man,

(On which the North breath'd:) th'other, for the gods

(On which, the South:) and that, bore no abodes

For earthy men: But onely deathlesse feete

Had there free way. This Port, these men thoght meet

To Land Vlysses; being the first, they knew.

Drew then, their Ship in: but no further drew

Then halfe her bulke reach [...]t: by such cunning hand

Her course was manag'd. Then her men tooke land;

And first, brought forth Vlysses: Bed, and all

That richly furnisht it; he still in thrall

Of all-subduing sleepe. Vpon the sand

They set him softly downe; and then, the Strand

They strew'd with all the goods he had, bestow'd

By the renown'd Phaeacians; sinc [...] he show'd

So much Minerua. At the Oliue roote

They drew them then in heape, most far from foote

Of any Trauailer: least, ere his eyes

Resum'd their charge, they might be others prize.

These, then turn'd home: nor was the seas supreme

Forgetful of his threats, for Polypheme

Bent at diuine Vlysses: yet would proue

(Ere their performance) the decree of Ioue▪

Father!

Neptune to Iupiter.

No more the Gods shall honor me,

Since men despise me; and those men that see

The

The Phaeacians were descended Originally frō Neptune.

Light, in Linage of mine owne lou'd race.

I vow'd Vlysses, should before the grace

Of his returne, encounter woes enow

To make that purchase deare: yet, did not vow

Simply against it, since thy Brow had bent

To his reduction; in the fore-consent

Thou hadst vouchsaf't it: yet before, my minde

Hath full powre on him; the Phaeacians finde

Their owne minds satisfaction, vvith his Passe:

So farre from suffering, what my pleasure was;

That ease, and softnesse, now is habited

In his secure brest: and his carelesse head,

Return'd in peace of sleepe to Ithaca.

The Brasse and Gold of rich Phaeacia

Rocking his Temples. Garments richly wouen;

And worlds of Prize more, then was euer strouen

From all the conflicts he sustain'd at Troy,

If safe, he should his full share there, inioy.

[Page] The Showre-dissoluer answerd:

Iupiter to Neptun [...].

VVhat a speech

Hath past thy Pallate, O thou great in Reach

Of wrackfull Empire? Farre the Gods remaine

From scorne of thee: For, 'twere a worke of paine

To prosecute, with ignonimies, One

That swaies our ablest, and most ancient Throne.

For men; If any so beneath in power,

Neglect thy high will: now, or any houre

That moues heereafter; take reuenge to the [...];

Soothe all thy will, and be thy pleasure free.

VVhy then (said he) thou blacker of the fumes

That dimme the Sun;

Neptune to Iupiter.

my licenst power resumes

Act from thy speech: but I obserue so much,

And feare thy pleasure, that I dare not touch

At any inclination of mine owne,

Till thy consenting influence be kno [...]ne.

But now; this curious-built Ph [...]aci [...] Ship,

Returning from her Conuoy, I will strip

Of all her fleeting matter; and to stone

Transforme and fixe it (iust when she hath gone

Her full time home; and iets before their [...]

In all her trim) amids the Sable Seas.

That they may cease to conuoy strangers still,

VVhen they shall see, so like a mighty Hill

Their glory sticke before their Cities grace,

And my

[...]. Superinijcio aliquid, tanquam tegmen seu operi [...]entum.

hands cast a maske before her face.

O friend, (said Ioue) it shewes to me the best

Of al earths obiects; that their whole prease▪ drest

In all their wonder; neere their Towne shall stand

And stare vpon a Stone, so ne [...]re the Land,

So like a Ship, and dam vp all their lights,

As if a Mountaine interposde their sights.

VVhen Neptune heard this, he for Scheri [...] went,

VVhence the Phaeacians tooke their first descent.

VVhich when he reacht, and in her swiftest pride,

The water-treader, by the Cities side

Came cutting close; close he came swiftly on;

Tooke her in violent hand, and to a Stone

Turnd all her syluane substance▪ All below,

Firmd her with Rootes, & left her. This strange show

VVhen the Phaeacians saw, they stupid stood,

And askt each other, who amids the flood

Could fixe their Ship so, in her full speed home?

And quite transparant, make her bulke become?

Thus talkt they; but were farre from knowing how

These things had issue.

Alcinous tels his people how the Ship became a Stone.

VVhich their King did show,

And saide; O friends, the ancient Prophesies

My Father told to me, to all our eyes

[Page] Are now in proofe: he saide, the time would come,

VVhen Neptune, for our safe conducting home

All sorts of Strangers (out of enuy fir'd)

Would meete our fairest Ship as she retir'd;

And all the goodly Shape, and speed we bost,

Should like a Mountaine stand before vs lost,

Amids the mouing waters; which we see

Perform'd in full end to our prophesie.

Heare then my counsaile, and obey me then:

Renounce henceforth our conuoy home of men;

Who euer shall heereafter gree [...]e our Towne.

And to th'offended Deities Renowne;

Twelue chosen Oxen let vs sacred make,

That he may pitty vs: and from vs take

This shady Mou [...]taine. They, in feare, obaide;

Slew all the Beeues, and to the Godhead praide:

The Dukes and Princes, all ensphearing round

The sacred Altar. While whose Tops were croun'd,

Diuine Vlysses (on his Countries brest

Laid bound in sleepe) now rose out of his rest:

Nor (being so long remou'd) the Region knew.

(Besides which absence ye [...]) [...] threw

A cloud about him; to make strange the more

His safe arriuall: lest, vpon his Shore

He should make knowne his face, and vtter all

That might preuent, th'euent that was to fall.

VVhich she prepar'd so well, that not his wife

(Presented to him) should perceiue his life:

No Citizen, no Friend; till righteous Fate

Vpon the vvooers wrongs, [...].

Through which cloud, all things s [...]ow'd now to the King

Of forreign fashion. The [...] Spring▪

Amongst the Trees there. The perpetuall waues;

The Rockes, that did more high their foreheads raise

To his Rapt eye, then naturally they did:

And all the Hauen, in which a man seem'd hid

From winde, & weather, when storms loudest chid.

He therefore, being risen, stood and viewd

His countrey earth: which (not per [...]eiu'd) he rew'd:

And, striking with his hurld▪ downe hands his Thyes,

He mourn'd, and saide: O me! Againe where lyes

My desart way? To wrongfull men, and rude?

And with no Lawes of humane right indu'de?

Or are they humane, and of holy minds?

What fits my deede with these so many kinds

Of goods late giuen? VVhat, with my selfe, wil [...]oods

And Errors do? I would to God, these Goods

Had rested with their Owners: and that I

[Page] Had falne on Kings of more Regality,

To grace out my returne; that lou'd indeed,

And would haue giuen me Consorts of fit speed

To my distresses ending! But, as now

All knowledge flyes me, where I may bestow

My labour'd purchase. Heere they shall not stay,

Lest what I car'd for, others make their prey.

O Gods! I see, the great Phaeaci [...]s then

VVere not all iust, and vnderstanding men;

That land me elsewhere then their vants pretended:

Assuring me, my countrey should see ended

My miseries told them: yet now, eate their vants.

O Ioue! great Guardian of poore Supplian [...]s,

That others sees, and notes too; shutting in

All in thy plagues, that most presume on Sin,

Reuenge me on them. Let me number now

The goods they gaue, to giue my minde to know

If they haue stolne none, in their close retreat.

The goodly Caldrons then, and Tripods (set

In seuerall rankes from out the heape) he told.

His rich wrought garments too, and all his Gold:

And nothing lack't; and yet this Man did mourne,

The but supposd misse of his home returne.

And, creeping to the shore, with much complaint;

Minerua,

Minerua like a Shepheard (such as Kings sonnes vsde at those times to be) appear [...] to V [...]ysses.

(like a Shepheard, yong, and quaint,

As King sonnes are: a double Mantle cast

A' thwart his Shoulders, his faire goers g [...]ac'st

With fitted shooes; and in his hand, a Dart)

Appear'd to him, whose sight reioy [...]' [...] his hart.

To whom he came, and saide: O Friend? Since first

I meete your sight heere: Be all good, the worst

That can ioyne our encounter: Fare you Faire;

Nor with aduerse minde, welcome my repaire:

But guard these goods of mine, and succour me.

As to a God, I offer prayers to thee,

And low accesse make, to thy loued knee.

Say truth, that I may know, what countrey then?

What commune people liue heere? And what men?

Some famous Isle is this? Or giues it vent

(Being neere the Sea) to some rich Continent?

She answer'd;

Pallas to Vlysses.

Stranger, what so ere you are;

Y'are either foolish, or come passing farre,

That know not this Isle, and make that doubt, troble;

For 'tis not so exceedingly ignoble,

But passing many know it: and so many,

That, of all Nations, there abides not any,

From where the Morning rises, and the Sun;

To where the Euen, and Night their courses run,

[Page] But know this countrey. Rocky 'tis, and rough;

And so, for vse of horse vnapt enough:

Yet, with

[...], 1. Velut tri [...]tis, Ie [...]una [...]j, natura.

sad Barrennesse not much infested,

Since clowds are heere in frequent raines digested,

And flowry dewes. The compasse is not great;

The little yet, well fild with wine, and wheat.

It feeds a Goat, and Oxe well; being still

Water'd with floods, that euer ouer-fill

VVith heauens continual showers: and woodded so,

It makes a Spring of all the kindes that grow.

And therefore, Stranger, the extended name

Of this Dominion, makes accesse by Fame,

From this extreame part of Achaia,

As farre as Ilion; and 'tis Ithaca.

This ioy'd him much, that so vnknowne a Land,

Turn'd to his countrey. Yet so wise a hand

He carried, euen of this ioy, flowne so hye,

That other end he put to his reply,

Then straight to shew that ioy, and lay abrode

His life to Strangers. Therefore, he bestowd

A veile on Truth: For euermore did winde

About his bosome, a most crafty minde,

VVhich thus his words shew'd.

Vlysses to Pall [...]s.

I haue farre at Sea,

In spacious Crete, heard speake of Ithaca;

Of which, my selfe (it seemes) now reach the shore,

VVith these my Fortunes; whose whole value more

I left in Crete amongst my children there;

From whence I flye, for being the slaughter [...]

Of royall Idomens most loued Son▪

Swift-foote Orsilochus, that could out-run

Profest men for the race. Yet him I slue,

Because he would depriue me of my▪ due

In Troian prize: for which, I suffer'd so

(The rude waues piercing) the redoubled wo

Of minde and body, in the warres of men:

Nor did I gratifie his Father then

VVith any seruice; But, as well as he,

Sway'd in command of other Souldiery.

So, with a friend withdrawne, we way-laide him,

VVhen gloomy Night, the cope of heauen did dim,

And no man knew. But we (lodg'd close) he came,

And I put out, to him, his vitall flame.

VVhose slaughter, hauing author'd with my sword,

I instant flight made; and straight fell aboord

A Ship of the renown'd Phoenician State;

VVhen prayer, and pay, at a sufficient rate

Obtain'd my Passe, of men in her command:

VVhom I inioyn'd to set me on the land

[Page] Of Pylos, or of Elis, the diuine,

VVhere the Epeyans in great Empire shine.

But force of weather check't that course to them,

Though (loath to faile me) to their most extreme

They spent their willing pow'rs. But, forc't frō thence,

VVe err'd, and put in heere, with much expence

Of Care and Labour: and in dead of Night,

VVhen no man there, seru'd any appetite,

So much as with the Memory of food,

Though our estates exceeding Needy stood.

But, going ashore, we lay; when gentle sleepe

My weary pow'rs inuaded: and from Ship,

They fetching these my Riches, with iust hand

About me laide them: while vpon the sand

Sleepe bound my senses; and for Sydon, they

(Put off from hence) made saile: while heere I lay,

Left sad alone. The Goddesse laught, and tooke

His hand in hers; and with another looke,

(Assuming then the likenesse of a [...],

Louely and goodly, expert in the frame

Of vertuous Huswiferies) she answered thus.

He should be passing slie,

Pallas to Vlysses.

and couetous

[...] furandi auid [...]s.

Of stealth, in mens deceits, that coted thee,

In any craft; though any God should be

Ambitious to exceede in subtilty.

[...]. varia & multiplicia habens consilia.

Thou still-wit-varying wretch! Insatiate

In ouer-reaches: Not secure thy state

Without these wiles? Though on thy Natiue shore

Thou setst safe footing? But vpon thy store

Of false words, still spend? That euen from thy byrth

Haue bene thy best friends? Come: our either worth

Is knowne to either: Thou, of Men, art far

(For words and counsailes) the most singular;

But I, aboue the Gods, in both, may bost

My still-tried Faculties. Yet thou hast lost

The knowledge euen of me: the seede of Io [...]e,

Pallas Athenia; that haue still out-stroue

In all thy Labors, their extremes; and stood

Thy sure guard euer: making all thy good,

Knowne to the good phaeaci [...]s, and receiu'd.

And now againe, I gr [...]ete thee, to see weau'd

Fresh Counsailes for thee: and will take on me

The close reseruing of these goods for thee,

VVhich the renown'd phaeacian States bestow'd

At thy deduction homewards; Onely mou'd

VVith my, both spirit and counsell. All which grace

I now will amplifie, and tell what case

Thy houshold stands in; vttering all those paines,

[Page] That, of meere need, yet still must racke thy vaines;

Do thou then freely beare; Nor one word giue

To Man nor Dame, to shew thou yet dost liue:

But silent, suffer ouer all againe

Thy sorrowes past; and beare the wrongs of Men.

Goddesse (said he) vniust men, and vnwise,

[...]

That author iniuries, and vanities;

By vanities and wrongs, should rather be

Bound to this ill-abearing destiny,

Then iust, and wise men. VVhat delight hath heauen,

That liues vnhurt it selfe, to suffer giuen

Vp to all domage, those poore few that striue

To imitate it? and like the Deities liue?

But where you wonder, that I know you not

Through all your changes; that skill is not got

By sleigh [...] or Art: since thy most hard-hit face,

Is still distinguisht by thy free-giuen grace.

And therefore truly to acknowledge thee

In thy encounters, is a maistery

In men most knowing. For to all men, thou

Tak'st seuerall likenesse. All men thinke they know

Thee in their wits. But, since thy seeming view

Appeares to all; and yet thy truth, to few:

Through all thy changes, to discern thee right,

Askes chiefe Loue to thee; and inspired light.

But this, I surely know; that some yeares past,

I haue beene often with thy presence grac'st,

All time the sonnes of Greece wag'd warre at Tr [...]y:

But when Fates full houre, let our swords enioy

Our vowes, in sacke of [...] lo [...]ty Towne:

Our Ships all boorded; and when God had blowne

Our Fleete in sunder, I could neuer see

The seede of Io [...]e; Nor once distinguish thee

Boording my Ship, to take one woe from me.

But onely in my proper spirit in [...]olu'd,

Err'd, here and there quite slaine; til heauen dissolu'd

Me, and my ill: which chanc't not, [...]ill thy grace

By open speech confirm'd me; in a place

Fruitfull of people: where, in person, thou

Didst giue me guide, and all their City show;

And that was the renown'd [...] earth.

Now then; euen by the author of thy Birth,

Vouchsafe my doubt the Truth (for farre it flies

My thoughts; that thus should fall into mine eies

Conspicuous Ithaca: but feare I touch

At some farre Shore; and that thy wit is such,

Thou dost delude me) Is it sure the same

Most honor'd earth, that beares my countries name?

[Page] I see (sayd she) thou wilt be euer thus,

In euery worldly good, incredulous.

And therefore, haue no more the power, to see

Fraile life more plagu'd with infelicity;

In one so eloquent, ingenious wise.

Another man, that so long miseries

Had kept from his lou'd home; and thus return'd

To see his house, wife, children; would haue burn'd

In headlong lust to visit. Yet t'enquire,

VVhat states they hold, affects not thy desire,

Till thou hast tried: If in thy wife, there be

A Sorrow, wasting dayes, and nights for thee,

In Louing teares: That then the sight may proue

A full reward, for eithers mutuall Loue.

But I would neuer, credit in you both

Least cause of sorrow; but well knew, the troth

Of this thine owne returne: though all thy Friends,

I knew, as well, should make returnlesse ends.

Yet would not crosse mine Vnkle Neptune so

To stand their safegard; since so high did go

His wrath, for thy extinction of the eye

Of his lou'd sonne. Come then, Ile shew thee why

I call this Isle, thy Ithaca; To ground

Thy credit on my words: this hauen is own'd

By th'aged Sea god phor [...]ys: in whose Brow,

This is the Oliue with the ample bow;

And heere close by, the pleasant-shaded Caue,

That to the Fount-Nymphs, th' [...] gaue

As Sacred to their pleasures. Heere doth run

The large, and couer'd den, where thou hast done

Hundreds of Offerings to the [...].

Here, Mount Nerytus shakes his cur [...]d Tresse

Of shady woods. This sayd, she cleer'd the clowd

That first deceyu'd his eyes; and all things show'd

His countrey to him. Glad he stood with sight

Of his lou'd Soile; and kist it, with delight.

And instantly, to all the Nymphs hee paide

(With hands held vp to heauen) these vowes▪ & said.

Ye Nymphs the Naiades, great seed of Ioue:

I had conceite, that neuer more should moue

Your sight, in these spheres of my erring eyes;

And therefore, in the fuller Sacrifice

Of my hearts gratitude; Reioyce, till more

I pay your Names, in Offerings, as before.

VVhich heere I vow; if Io [...]es benigne descent

(The mighty Pillager) with life conuent

My person home; and to my sau'd decease,

Of my lou'd sonnes sight, adde the sweet increase.

[Page] Be confident (saide Pallas) nor oppresse

Thy spirits with care of these performances;

But these thy fortunes, let vs straight repose

In this diuine Caues besome, that may close

Reserue their value; and we then may see

How best to order other acts to thee.

Thus entred she the light-excluding Caue;

And through it, sought some inmost nooke to saue

The Gold, the great Brasse, & robes richly wrought,

Giuen to Vlysses. All which, in he brought;

Laid downe in heape; and she impos'd a stone

Close to the cauernes mouth. Then sat they on

The sacred Oliues roote, consulting how

To act th'insulting wooers ouerthrow.

VVhen Pallas saide; Examine now the means

That best may lay hand on the impudence

Of those proud wooers: that haue now three yeares

Thy Roofes rule swai'd; and bene bold Offerers

Of suite, and gifts, to thy renowned wife;

VVho for thy absence, all her desolate life,

Dissolues in teares till thy desir'd returne.

Yet all her wooers, while shee thus doth mourne

She holds in hope; and euery one affords

(In fore-sent message) promise. But her words

Beare other vtterance then her heart approues.

O Gods (said Ithacus) it now behoues

My Fate to end me, in the ill deceasse

That Agamemnon vnderwent, vnlesse

You tell me, and in time, their close intents.

Aduise then meanes, to the reueng'd euents

VVe both resolue on. Be thy selfe so kinde

To stand close to me; and but such a minde

Breath in my bosome, as when th'Ilio [...] Towres

VVe tore in Cinders. O if equall powres

Thou wouldst enflame, amids my Nerues as then,

I could encounter with three hundred men:

Thy onely selfe (great Goddesse) had to friend,

In those braue ardors thou wer't wont t'extend.

I will be strongly with thee, (answer'd she)

Nor must thou faile, but do thy part with me.

VVhen both whose pow'rs cōbine, I hope the bloods

And braines of some of these that waste thy goods

Shall strew thy goodly Pauements. Ioyne we then:

I first will render thee vnknowne to men.

And on thy solid Lineaments, make dry

Thy now smooth skin. Thy bright-brown curles imply

In hoary mattings: thy broad shoulders cloath

[Page] In such a cloake, as euery eye shall loath.

Thy bright eyes, bleare and wrinkle: and so change

Thy forme at all parts, that thou shalt be strange

To all the VVooers; thy yong sonne, and wife.

But, to thy Herdsman first present thy life;

That guards thy Swine, and wisheth well to thee;

That loues thy sonne, and wife [...].

Thy search shall finde him, set aside his Heard,

That are with tast-delighting Aco [...]nes rear'd:

And drinke the darke-deepe water of the Spring

Bright Arethusa; the most nourishing

Raiser of Heards. There stay, and (taking seate

Aside thy Heardsman) of the whole State, treate

Of home occurrents; while I make accesse

To faire-dame-breeding Sparta:

[...]

for regresse

Of lou'd Telemachus: who went in quest

Of thy lou'd fame; and l [...]u'd the welcome Guest

Of Menelaus. The much-knower saide:

Why wouldst not thou (in whose graue brest is bred

The Art to order all acts) tell in this

His error to him? Let those yeares of his

Amids the rude seas wander, and sustaine

The woes there raging? while vnworthy men

Deuoure his fortunes? Let not care extend

Thy heart for him (saide she) my selfe did send

His person in thy search, to set his worth

(By good fame blowne) to such a distance fo [...]th.

Nor suffers he, in any least degree

The griefe you feare: but all variety

That Plenty can yeeld, in her quie [...]st fa [...]e,

In Menelaus Court, doth sit and share.

In whose returne from home, the VVoo [...]rs yet

Lay bloudy ambush; and a Ship haue set

To Sea, to intercept his life before

He touch againe his births attempted shore.

All which, my thoughts say, they shall neuer do,

But rather, that the earth shall ouergo

Some one at least, of these Loue-making men;

By which thy goods, so much empaire sustain.

Thus vsing certaine secret words to him,

She toucht him with her rod; and euery lim

VVas hid all ouer with a wither'd skin:

His bright eies, blear'd; his brow curles, white & thin;

And all things did an aged man present.

Then (for his owne weeds) Shirt and coa [...], all rent;

Tann'd, and all sootied, with noisome smoke,

She put him on; and ouer all, a cloke

[Page] Made of a Stags huge hide: of which was worne

The haire quite off. A Scrip all patcht and torne,

Hung by a cord, oft broke, and knit againe,

And with a staffe did his old limbes sustaine.

Thus hauing both consulted of th'euent,

They parted both: and forth to Sparta went

The gray-ey'd Goddesse, to see all things done

That appertain'd to wise Vlysses sonne.

The End of the Thirteenth Booke of Homers Odysses.

THE FOVRTEENTH BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES.
Another.

[Page]

THE ARGVMENT.

VLysses meets amids the Field

His Swaine Eumaeus; who doth yeild

Kinde Guest-rites to him; and relate

Occurrents of his wrong'd estate.

[...]

Vlysses faines,

for his true Good:

His pious Swaines

faith vnderstood.

BVt he, the rough way tooke from forth the Port,

Through woods, and hill tops, seeking the resort

Where Pallas said, diuine Eumaeus liu'd:

Who, of the fortunes that were first atchieu'd

By God-like Ithac [...], in houshold rights,

Had more true care, then all his

[...], materiae adhaerens: Item, qui rebus Mundani [...] deditus est.

Prosylites.

He found him sitting in his Cottage dore;

VVhere he had rais'd to euery ayry Blore,

A Front of great height; and in such a place,

That round ye might behold: of circular grace

A walke so wound about it: which the Swain

(In absence of his farre-gone Soueraine)

Had built himselfe, without his Queenes supply,

Or old Laertes; to see safely lye

His housed herd. The inner part, he wrought

Of stones, that thither his owne labors brought;

Which with an hedge of Thorn he fenc't about,

And compast all the hedge, with pales cleft out

Of sable Oake; that here and there he fixt

Frequent and thicke. VVithin his yard, he mixt

Twelue Sties to lodge his Heard; and euery Sty

Had roome and vse, for fifty Swine to lye.

But those were females all. The male Swine slept

VVithout doores euer. Nor was their Herd kept

[Page] Faire like the Females, since they suffer'd still

Great diminution: he being forc't to kill

And send the fattest to the dainty Feasts,

Affected by th'vngodly wooing guests.

Their number therefore, but three hundred were,

And sixty: By them, Mastiues as austere

As sauage beasts, lay euer. Their fierce straine

Bred by the Herdsman; a meere Prince of Men:

Their number, foure. Himselfe was then appli'de

In cutting forth a faire hew'd Oxes hide,

To fit his feete with shooes. His seruants held

Guard of his Swine. Three, here and there, at field;

The fourth, he sent to City with a Sow,

VVhich must of force be offer'd to the Vow,

The VVoowers made to all saciety:

To serue which, still they did those Offrings ply.

[...] Ad latrandū fato quodam Na [...]us.

The Fate-borne-Dogs-to-Barke, tooke sodaine view

Of Odyss [...]eus; and vpon him flew

VVith open mouth. He (cunning, to appall

A fierce Dogs fury) from his hand let fall

His staffe to earth; and sat him carelesse downe.

And yet to him had one foule wrong bene showne

VVhere most his Right lay; had not instantly

The Herdsman let his hide fall; and his cry

(VVith frequent stones, flung at the dogges) repeld

This way, and that, their eager course they held:

VVhen through the entry past, he thus did mourne.

O Father! Howsoone,

Eumaeus to Vlysses.

had you neere bene torne

By these rude Dogges? whose hurt had branded me

VVith much neglect of you? But Deity

Hath giuen so many other sighes, and cares

To my attendant state: that well vnwares

You might be hurt for me: for heere I lie

Grieuing and mourning for the Maiestie

That God-like wonted to be ruling heere;

Since now, I fat his Swine, for others cheere:

VVhere he, perhaps, err's hungry vp and downe,

In Countries, Nations, Cities, all vnknowne.

If any where he liues yet; and doth see

The Sunnes sweet beames. But (Father) follow mee,

That (cheer'd with wine and foode) you may disclose

From whence you truly are; and all the woes

Your age is subiect to. This said, he led

Into his Cottage; and of Osiers, spred

A thickned hurdle; on whose top, he strow'd

A wilde Goats shaggy skin; and then bestow'd

His owne Couch on it, that was soft and great.

Vlysses ioy'd, to see him so entreat

[Page] His vncouth Presence; saying, Io [...]e requite,

And all th'immortall Gods, with that delight

Thou most defir'st, thy kinde receite of me;

O Friend, to humane Hospitality.

Eum [...]eus answer'd: Guest? If one much wurse

Arriu'd here then thy selfe; it were a curse

To my poore meanes, to let a Stranger tast

Contempt, for fit food. Poore men, and vnplac'st

In free seats of their owne; are all from Ioue

Commended to our entertaining Loue.

But poore is th'entertainment I can giue;

Yet free, and louing. Of such men as liue

The liues of seruants, and are still in feare

Where yong Lords gouerne; this is all the cheare

They can affoord a Stranger. There was One

That vsde to manage, this now desart Throne:

To whom the Gods deny returne; that show'd

His curious fauour to me, and bestow'd

Possessions on me: A most wished wife,

A house, and portion; and a Seruants life,

[...]it for the gift a gracious King should giue:

VVho still tooke pains himselfe; & God made thriue

His personall endeuour: and to me,

His worke the more increast; in which you see

I now am conuersant. And therefore much

His hand had help't me, had heauens wil beene such,

He might haue heere growne old. But he is gone,

And would to God the whole succession

Of Hellen might go with him; since for her

So many men di [...]de: whose Fate did confer

My Liege to Troy, in Ag [...]mem [...]o [...]s grace;

To spoile her People, and her Turrets race.

This said, his coate to him, he streight did gird;

And to his Sties went, that contain'd his Herd.

From whence, he tooke out two, slew both, and [...]ut

Both fairely vp. A fire enflam'd, and put

To spit the ioynts; which roasted well, he set

VVith spit and all to him, that he might eat

From thence his food, in all the sindging heat.

Yet dreg'd it first with Flowre: Then fil'd his Cup

VVith good sweet wine; Sate then, & cheard him vp.

Eate now (my guest) such leane Swine, as are meate

For vs poore Swaines: The fat, the wooers eate.

In whose minds, no shame, no remorse doth moue:

Though well they know, the blest Gods doe not loue

Vngodly actions; but respect the right,

And in the workes of pious men, delight.

But these are worse then impious; fo [...] those

[Page] That vow t'iniustice, and professe them foes

To other Nations, enter on their Land;

And Iupiter (to shew his punishing hand

Vpon th'inuaded, for their pennance then)

Giues fauour to their foes (though wicked men)

To make their prey on them; who, hauing freight

Their ships with spoile enough, weigh ancor streight;

And each man to his house; (and yet euen these,

Doth powrefull feare, of Gods iust vengeance seize

Euen for that prize, in which they so reioyce)

But these men, knowing (hauing heard the voyce

Of God, by some meanes) that sad Death hath reft

The Ruler heere; will neuer suffer left

Their vniust wooing of his wife, not take

Her often answere: and their owne Roofes make

Their fit retreats: But (since vncheck't, they may)

They therefore wil, make still his goods their pray,

Without all spare, or end. There is no day,

Nor night sent out from God, that euer they

Prophane with one beasts blood, or onely two,

But more make spoile of: and the wrongs they do

In meates excesse; to Wine as well extend;

VVhich as excessiuely, their ryots spend:

Yet still leaue store. For sure his meanes were great;

And no Heroe, that hath choisest seate

Vpon the fruitfull neighbour Continent;

Or in this Isle it selfe, so opulent

Was, as Vlysses: No, nor twenty such

Put altogether, did possesse so much.

VVhose Herds and Flockes Ile tell to euery Head:

Vlysses Wealth.

Vpon the Continent, he daily fed

Twelue Herds of O [...]en; No lesse, Flockes of Sheepe;

As many Herds of Swine. Stals, large and steepe,

And equall sort of Goats: which Tenants there,

And his owne Sheepherds kept. Then fed he here,

Eleuen faire stalles of Goats; whose food hath yeilde

In the extreame part of a neighbor Field.

Each Stall, his Herdsman hath: An honest Swaine,

Yet euery one, must euery day sustaine

The load of one Beast, (the most fat, and best

Of all the Stall-fed) to the VVoers Feast.

And I (for my part) of the Swine I keepe

(VVith foure more Herdsmen) euery day, help steep

The VVooers appetites, in blood of one,

The most select, our choise can fall vpon.

To this; Vlysses gaue good eare,

Vlysses incen [...]t against the wooers, with newes of their spoyle.

and fed;

And drunke his wine; and vext; and rauished

His food for meere vexation. Seeds of ill

[Page] His Stomacke sow'd, to heare his goods go still

To glut of wooers. But his dinner done,

And Stomacke fed to satisfaction:

He drunke a full Bowle, all of onely wine,

And gaue it to the Guardian of his Swine:

Who tooke it, and reioyc't. To whom he said;

O Friend, who is it that (so rich) hath paid

Price for thy seruice? Whose commended pow'r,

Thou sayst (to grace the Graecian Conquerour)

At Ilion perisht? Tell me; it may fall

I knew some such. The great God knowes, and all

The other deathlesse Godheads: if I can

(Farre hauing trauail'd) tell of such a man.

Eumaeus answer'd: Father, neuer one

Of all the Strangers that haue touch't vpon

This Coast with his lifes Newes, could euer yet

Of Queene, or lou'd sonne, any credit get.

These Trauailers for cloathes, or for a meale;

At all aduentures, any lye will tell.

Nor do they trade for truth: not any man

That saw the people I [...]hacensian,

Of all their sort; and had the Queenes supplies,

Did euer tell her any newes, but lies.

She graciously receiues them yet; enquires

Of all she can: and all, in teares expires.

It is th'accustom'd Law, that women keepe,

Their husbands, elsewhere dead, at home to weepe.

But do thou, quickly Father, forge a Tale;

Some Coat, or cloake, to keepe thee warme withall,

Perhaps some one may yeeld thee: But for him,

Vultures and Dogges, haue torne from euery lim

His porous skin; and forth his soule is fled:

His coarse at Sea, to Fishes forfeited:

Or on the Shore, lies hid in heapes of sand;

And there hath he his ebbe: his Natiue Strand

With friends teares flowing. But to me, past all

VVere teares created: For I neuer shall

Finde so humane a royall Mayster more;

VVhat euer Sea, I seeke; what euer Shore.

Nay, to my Father, or my Mothers loue

Should I returne; by whom, I breath and moue,

Could I so much ioy offer; nor these eyes

(Though my desires sustaine extremities

For their sad absence) would so faine be blest

VVith sight of their liues, in my natiue Nest,

As with Vlysses dead: in whose last rest,

(O friend) my soule shall loue him. Hee's not here,

Nor do I name him like a Flatterer.

[Page] But as one thankfull for his Loue and care

To me a poore man; in the rich so rare.

And be he past all shores, where Sun can shine,

I will inuoke him as a soule diuine.

O Friend (sayd he) to say, and to beleeue

He cannot liue, doth too much license giue

To incredulity. For (not to speake

At needy randon; but my breath to breake

In sacred Oath) Vlysses shall returne.

And when his sight recomforts those that mourne,

In his owne roofes; then giue me cloake, and cote,

And garments worthy of a man of note.

Before which, though neede vrg'd me neuer so,

Ile not receiue a thred, but naked go.

No lesse I hate him then the gates of hell,

That poorenesse can force, an vntruth to tell.

Let Ioue then (heauens chiefe God) iust witnes beare,

And this thy hospitable Table heere;

Together with vnblam'd Vlysses house,

In which I finde receipt so gracious;

VVhat I affirm'd of him shall all be true.

This instant yeare, thine eyes euen heere shall view

Thy Lord Vlysses. Nay, ere this moneths end

(Return'd full home) he shall reuenge extend

To euery one, whose euer deed hath done

VVrong to his wife, and his illustrous Sonne.

O Father (he replied) ile neither giue

Thy newes reward; nor doth Vlysses liue.

But come; enough of this; let's drinke and eate,

And neuer more his memory repeate.

It greeues my heart to be remembred thus

By any one, of one so glorious.

But stand your oath, in your assertion strong,

And let Vlysses come, for whom I long:

For whom his wife; for whom his aged Sire;

For whom his Son, consumes his God-like fire;

VVhose chance I now must mourne, and euer shall.

VVhom when the Gods had brought to be as tall

As any vpright plant: and I had saide,

He would amongst a Court of men haue swaide

In counsailes; and for forme, haue bene admir'd

Euen with his Father: some God misinspir'd,

Or man tooke from him, his owne equall minde;

And past him for the Pylia [...] Shore, to finde

His long-lost Father. In returne from whence,

The Wooers pride, way-layes his innocence;

That, of diuine Arcesius, all the race

May fade to Ithaca, and not the grace

[Page] Of any Name, left to it. But leaue we

His state, howeuer: if surpriz'd he be,

Or if he scape. And may Saturnius hand

Protect him safely to his natiue Land.

Do you then (Father) shew your griefes, and cause

Of your arriuall heere; nor breake the Lawes

That Truth prescribes you: but relate your name,

And of what race you are: your Fathers [...]ame,

And natiue Cities: Ship and men vnfold,

That to this Isle conuaid you: since I hold

Your heere arriuall, was not all by shore;

Nor that your feete, your aged person bore.

He answer'd him; Ile tell all strictly true,

I [...] time, and foode, and wine enough acrue

Within your roose to vs: that freely we

May sit and banquet: Let your businesse be

Discharg'd by others. For, when all is done,

I can not easly, while the yeare doth runne

His circle round, run ouer all the woes,

Beneath which (by the course the Gods dispose)

My sad age labours. First, Ile tell you then;

From ample Crete I fetch my Natiue straine;

My Father wealthy: whose house, many a life

Brought forth and bred besides, by his true wife.

But me; a Bond-maid bore; his Concubine:

Yet tender'd was I, as his lawfull line

By him; of whose race, I my life profes.

Castor, his name; surnam'd Hyl [...]cides.

A man, in fore-times, by the Cre [...]an State,

For goods, good children, and his fortunate

Successe in all acts; of no meane esteem.

But death-conferring Fates, haue banisht him

To Pluto's kingdome. After whom, his sons

By Lots diuided his possessions;

And gaue me passing little; yet bestow'd

A house on me: to which, my vertues woo'd

A wife from rich mens roofes; nor was borne low,

Nor last in fight, though all Ne [...]ues faile me now.

But I suppose, that you by thus much seene,

Know by the stubble, what the Corne hath bene.

For, past all doubt; affliction past all meane

Hath brought my age on: but, in seasons past,

Both Mars and Pallas, haue with boldnesse grac'st;

And Fortitude my fortunes; when I chus'd

Choise men for ambush, prest to haue produc'd

Ill to mine enemies; my too ventrous spirit,

Set neuer death before mine eyes, for merit.

But (farre the first aduanc't still) still I stroo [...]

[Page] Dead with my Lance, whoeuer ouertooke

My speed of foot. Such was I then for warre.

But rusticke actions, euer fled me farre,

And houshold thrift, which breeds a famous race.

In Ore-driuen Ships, did I my pleasures place:

In Battailes, light Darts, Arrowes. Sad things all,

And into others thoughts, with horror fall.

But what God put into my minde: to me

I still esteem'd as my felicity.

As men, of seuerall Mettals are addrest;

So, seuerall formes are in their soules imprest.

Before the sonnes of Greece, set foot in Troy,

Nine times, in Chiefe, I did Command enioy

Of Men and Ships, against our forreigne foe;

And all I fitly wish't, succeeded so.

Yet, after this, I much exploit atchieu'd;

VVhen straight, my house in all possessions thriu'd.

Yet after that, I great, and Reuerend grew

Amongst the Cretans: till the Thunderer drew

Our Forces out, in his foe-Tray decrees.

A hatefull seruice, that dissolu'd the knees

Of many a Soldier. And to this was I

And famous Idomene, enioyn'd t'apply

Our ships and powrs. Nor was there to be heard

One reason for deniall; so prefer'd

Was the vnreasonable peoples rumor.

Nine yeares we therefore fed the martiall humor;

And in the tenth (de-peopling [...] Towne)

We sail'd for home. But God had quickly blowne

Our Fleete in peeces; and to w [...]tched mee,

The Counsailor Io [...]e, did much mishap decree.

For, onely one month, I had leaue t'enioy

My wife, and children; and my goods t'employ.

But, after this, my minde for [...] stoode;

When nine faire ships, I rig'd forth for the flood:

Mann'd them with noble [...]ouldiers: all things fit

For such a voyage, soone were won to it.

Yet sixe dayes after, staid my friends in feast;

VVhile I, in banquets to the Gods, addrest

Much sacred matter for their sacrifice.

The seauenth, we boorded; and the Northerne skies

Lent vs a franke, and passing prosperous gale,

Fore which, we bore as free and easie [...]aile,

As we had back't a full and frolicke tide;

Nor felt one Ship misfortune for her pride;

But safe we sat, our Sailors and the winde

Consenting in our conuoy. VVhen heauen shin'de

In sacred radiance of the fift faire day:

[Page] To sweetly-water'd Egypt reach't our way,

And there we anchor'd: where I charg'd my men

To stay aboord, and watch. Dismissing then

Some scouts, to get the hill-tops, and discouer,

They (to their owne intemperance giuen ouer)

Straight fell to forrage the rich fields; and thence

Enforce both wiues and infants, with th'expence

Of both their bloods. When straight the rumor flew

Vp to the City: (which heard) vp they drew

By daies first breake; and all the field was fild

VVith foot & horse; whose Armes did all things gild.

And then the Lightning-louing Deity, cast

A foule flight on my soldiers: nor stood fast

One man▪ of all. About whom Mischiefe stood,

And with his stern steele, drew in streames the blood,

The greater part [...]ed in their dissolute vaines:

The rest were sau'd, and made enthralled Swaines,

To all the basest vsages there bred.

And then, euen Io [...]e himselfe supplyed my head▪

VVith sauing counsaile; (though I wisht to dye,

And there in Egypt, with their slaughters lye,

So much griefe seiz'd me) but I [...]e made me yeild;

Dishelme my head, take from my necke, my shield:

Hurle from my hand my Lance, and to the troop

Of horse, the King led, instantly made vp;

Embrac [...] and kisse his knees; whom pitty wun

To giue me safety, and (to make me shun

The peoples outrage, that made in amaine,

All ioyntly fir'd, with thirst to see me slaine)

He tooke me to his Chariot, weeping home;

Himselfe with feare of Io [...]es wrath ouercome,

VVho yeelding soules receiues; and takes most ill

All such as well may saue, yet loue to kill.

Seuen yeares I soiourn'd heere, and treasure gat

In good abundance of th'Egyptian state:

For all would giue. But when th'eight yeare began:

A knowing Fellow (that would gnaw a man

Like to a Vermine,

[...].

with his hellish braine,

And many an honest soule, euen quicke had slaine;

VVhose name was Phoenix) close accosted me:

And with insinuations, such as he

Practis'd on others, my consent he gain'd

To go into Phoenicia; where remain'd

His house, and liuing. And with him I liu'd▪

A compleat yeare. But, when were all arriu'd

The months and daies: and that the yeare againe

VVas turning round; and euery seasons raigne

Renew'd vpon vs; we for Lybia went:

[Page] VVhen (still inuenting crafts to circumuent)

He made pretext, that I should onely go

And helpe conuey his freight; but thought not so:

For his intent was, to haue sold me there,

And made good gaine, for finding me a yeare.

Yet him I follow'd, though suspecting this:

For, being aboord his Ship, I must be his

Of strong Necessity. She ran the flood

(Driuen with a Northerne gale, right free, and good)

Amids the full streame, full on Crete. But then,

Ioue plotted death to him, and all his men.

For (put off quite from Crete, and so farre gone

That Shore was lost; and we set eye on none:

But all shew'd heauen and sea) aboue our Keele

Ioue pointed right, a cloud as blacke as hell:

Beneath which, all the sea hid; and from whence

Ioue thunder'd, as his hand would neuer thence.

And thicke into our Ship, he threw his flash:

That'gainst a Rocke,

[...], qui terr [...]m rapido motu concu [...]it.

or Flat, her Keele did dash

VVith headlong Rapture. Of the sulphure all

Her bulke did sauour; and her men let fall

Amids the Surges: on which, all lay tost

Like Sea-guls, round about her sides, and lost.

And So, God tooke, all home-returne from them.

But Ioue himselfe (though plung'd in that extream)

Recouer'd me, by thrusting on my hand

The Ships long Mast. And (that my life might stand

A little more vp) I embrac't it round;

And on the rude windes, that did ruines sound,

Nine dayes we houer'd. In the tenth blacke night

A huge Sea cast me on Thesprotia's height:

VVhere the Heroe Phidon, that was chiefe

Of all the Thesprotes; gaue my wracke reliefe,

VVithout the price of that redemption

That Phoenix fish't for.

[...], sine emption [...]seu redemp [...]onis precio

VVhere the Kings lou'd son

Came to me; tooke me by the hand, & led

Into his Court; my poore life surffetted

VVith cold and labour: and because my wrack

Chanc't on his Fathers Shore: he let not lack

My plight; or coate, or cloake, or any thing

Might cherish heate in me. And heere the King,

Said, he receiu'd Vlysses as his Guest;

Obseru'd him Friend-like; and his course addrest

Home to his country: shewing there to me

Vlysses goods. A very Treasurie

Of Brasse, & Gold, & Steele of curious frame.

And to the tenth succession of his name

He laid vp wealth enough, to serue beside

[Page] In that Kings house; so hugely amplified

His treasure was. But from his Court, the King

Affirm'd him ship't, for the Dodonean Spring:

To heare, from out the high-hair'd Oake of Ioue,

Counsaile from him: for meanes to his remoue

To his lou'd country, whence so many a yeare

He had bene absent; If he should appeare

Disguisd, or manifest: and further swore

In his mid Court, at Sacrifice, before

These very eyes; that he had ready there

Both Ship and Souldiers, to attend and beare

Him to his country. But before; it chanc't

That a Thesprotean Ship, was to be lanch't

For the much-corne-renown'd Dulichian Land:

In which, the King gaue to his men command

To take, and bring me vnder tender hand

To King Acastus. But, in ill designe

Of my poore life, did their desires combine;

So farre forth, as might euer keepe me vnder

In fortunes hands, and teare my state in sunder.

And when the water-treader, farre away

Had left the Land: then plotted they the day

Of my long [...]eruitude; and tooke from me

Both coate and cloake, and all things that might be

Grace in my habit; and in place, put on

These tatter'd rags, which now you see vpon

My wretched bosom. When heauens light took

A [...] Sunneset.

sea▪

They fetcht the Field-workes of faire Ith [...]ca;

And in the arm'd Ship, with a wel-wreath'd cord

They streightly bound me, and did all disbord

To shore to supper, in contentious [...]out.

Yet straight, the Gods themselues, tooke from about

My pressed limbes the bands, with equall ease;

And I (my head in rags wrapt) tooke the Seas,

Descending by the smooth sterne; vsing then

My hands for Oares; and made from these bad men

Long way, in little time. At last, I fetcht

A goodly Groue of Okes; whose Shore I recht,

And cast me prostrate on it. When they knew

My thus-made-scape, about the Shores they flew:

But (soone not finding) held it not their best

To seeke me further; but return'd to rest

Aboord their Vessell. Me, the Gods lodg'd close,

Conducting me into the safe repose

A good mans stable yeelded. And thus, Fate

This poore houre added, to my liuing date.

O wretch of Guests (said he) thy Tale hath stirr'd

My minde to much ruth: both how thou hast err'd

[Page] And suffer'd hearing, in such good parts showne:

But what thy chang'd relation would make knowne

About Vlysses; I hold neither true,

Nor will beleeue: and what need'st thou pursue

A Lye so rashly? Since he sure is so

As I conceiue; for which, my skill shall go.

The safe returne my King lackes, cannot be;

He is so enuied of each Deity,

So cleere, so cruelly. For not in Troy

They gaue him end; nor let his Corpse enioy

The hands of Friends (wc well they might haue done▪

He manag'd armes to such perfection;

And should haue had his Sepulcher, and all;

And all the Greekes to grace his Funerall:

And this had giuen a glory to his Son

Through all times future.) But his head is run

Vnseene, vnhonor'd, into Harpies mawes.

For my part, Ile not meddle with the cause:

I liue a separate life, amongst my Swine;

Come at no Towne for any need of mine;

Vnlesse the

[...]

circularly witted Queene

(When any farre-come guest, is to be seene

That brings her newes) commands me bring a Brawn;

About which (all things being in question drawne,

That touch the King) they sit; and some are sad

For his long absence. Some againe, are glad

To waste his goods vnwreak't; all talking still.

But, as for me, I nourish't little will

T'enquire or question of him: since the man

That faign'd himselfe, the fled Etolian,

For slaughtering one, (through many Regions straid)

In my Stall (as his diuersory) staide.

VVhere well entreating him; he told me then,

Amongst the Cretans, with King Idomen,

He saw Vlysses; at his Ships repaire,

That had bene brush't with the enraged aire:

And that, in Summer, or in Autumne, sure

VVith all his braue friends, and rich furniture,

He would be heere: and nothing so, nor so.

But thou, an old man, taught with so much wo

As thou hast suffer'd, to be season'd true,

And brought by his [...]ate; do not heere pursue

His gratulations, with thy cunning Lies.

Thou canst not soake so through my Faculties.

For I did neuer, either honor thee

Or giue thee loue, to bring these tales to me.

But in my feare of Hospitable Ioue

Thou didst to this passe, my affections moue.

[Page] You stand exceeding much incredulous,

(Reply'd Vlysses) to haue witnest thus

My word, and Oath; yet yeeld no trust at all.

But make we now a couenant here, and call

The dreadfull Gods to witnesse, that take seat

In large Olympus: if your Kings retreat

Proue made, euen hither; you shall furnish me

With cloake, and coate, and make my passage free

For lou'd D [...]lichius. If (as fits my vow)

Your King returne not; let your seruants throw

My old limbes headlong, from some rock most hye,

That other poore men may take feare to lye.

The Herdsman, that had gifts in him diuine,

Replied; O Guest, how shal this Fame of mine

And honest vertue, amongst men, remaine

Now, and heereafter, without worthy staine;

If I, that led thee to my Houe [...] heere,

And made thee fitting hospitable cheere,

Should after kill thee; and thy lo [...]ed minde

Force from thy bones? Or how should stand enclin'd

With any Faith, my will t'importune [...]

In any prayer heereafter, for his loue?

Come, now 'tis supper's houre; and instant hast

My men wil make home: when our sweet repast

Wee'le taste together. This discourse they held

In mutual kinde; when from a neighbor field,

His Swine and Swine-herds came▪ who in their coats

Inclosd their Herds for sleepe: which, mighty throats

Laid out in entring. Then, the God-like Swaine

His men enioyn'd thus: Bring me to be slaine

A chiefe Swine female, for my stranger Guest:

VVhen, altogether we wil take our Fe [...]t,

Refreshing now our spirits, that all day take

Paines in our Swines good: who may therfore make

For our paines with them all, amends with one;

Since others eate our Labors, and take none?

This said; his sharpe steele hew'd down wood, & they

A passing fat Swine hal'd out of the Sty,

Of fiue yeares old, which to the fire they put.

VVhen first, E [...]m [...]eus from the Front did cut

The sacred haire, and cast it in the fire;

Then, pray'd to heauen: for stil, before desire

VVas seru'd with food, in their so rude abods,

Not the poore Swine-herd would forget the Gods.

Good soules they bore, how bad soeuer were

The habits, [...]hat their bodies parts did beare.

VVhen all, the deathlesse Deities besought▪

That wise Vlysses might be safely brought

[Page] Home, to his house; then with a logge of Oke

Left lying by (highlifting it) a stroke

He gaue so deadly, it made life expire.

Then cut the rest, her throat; and all in fire

They hid and sindg'd her: cut her vp, and then,

The Maister tooke the office from the men,

VVho on the Altar did the parts impose

That seru'd for sacrifice: beginning close

About the belly; thorough which he went,

And (all the chiefe fat gathering) gaue it vent

(Part dreg'd with Flowre) into the sacred flame;

Then cut they vp the ioynts, and roasted them:

Drew all from spit, and seru'd in dishes all.

Then rose E [...]maeus, (who was General

In skill to guide each act, his fit euent)

And (all, in seuen parts cut) the first part went

To seruice of the Nymphs, and Mercury;

To whose names, he did Rites of piety

In vowes particular; and all the rest

He shar'd to euery one: but his lou'd Guest

He grac't with all the Chine; and of that King

To haue his heart chear'd, set vp euery string.

VVhich he obseruing saide; I would to Ioue

(Eumaeus) thou liu'dst in his worthy loue

As great as mine; that giu'st to such a guest

As my poore selfe, of all thy goods the best.

Eumaeus answer'd;

[...].

Eate, vnhappy wretch,

And to what heere is, at thy pleasure reach.

This I haue; this thou want'st: thus God will giue,

Thus take away;

[...].

in vs, and all that liue.

To his wil's equall center, all things fall;

His minde he must haue, for he can do all.

Thus hauing eate, and to his wine descended;

Before he seru'd his owne thirst, he commended

The first vse of it, in fit sacrifice

(As of his meate) to all the Deities.

And to the City-racers hand, applide

The second cup;

Vlysses.

whose place was next his side:

Mesaul [...]us did distribute the meate,

(To which charge, was Eumaeus solely set

In absence of Vlysses; by the Queene

And old Laertes) and this man had beene

Bought by Eumaeus, with his faculties,

Employ'd then in the Taphian Merchandise.

But now; to food apposde, and order'd thus,

All fell. Desire suffic'd, Mesaulius

Did take away. For bed then next they were,

All throughly satisfied with compleat cheare.

[Page] The night then came;

[...].

ill, and no Taper shind:

Ioue rain'd her whole date. Th'euer wa [...]ry wind

Zephyre blew lowd; and Laertiades

(Approuing kinde Eum [...]us carefulnes

For his whole good) made farre about assay,

To get some cast-off Cassocke (least he lay

That rough night cold) of him, or any one

Of those his seruants: when he thus begun.

Heare me E [...]m [...]us, and my other friends;

Ile vse a speech that to my glory tends:

Since I haue drunke wine past my vsuall guise;

Strong Wine commands the Foole, and mo [...]es the wise;

Moues and impels him too, to sing and dance,

And breake in pleasant laughters; and (perchance)

Preferre a speech too, that were better in.

But when my spirits, once to speake begin,

I shall not then dissemble. Would to heauen,

I were as yong, and had my forces driuen

As close together, as when once our powres

VVe led to ambush, vnder th'Ilio [...] Towres:

VVhere Ithacus, and Me [...]el [...] were

The two Commanders; when it pleas'd them there

To take my selfe for third; when to the Towne

And lofty wals we led, we couch't close downe

All arm'd, amids the Osiers, and the Reeds,

Which oftentimes th'ore-flowing Riuer feeds.

The cold night came; and th'l [...]y Northerne gale

Blew bleake vpon vs: after which, did fall

A snow so cold, it cut, as in it bea [...]e

A frozen water; which was all concrete

About our Shields like Cristall. All made [...]aine

(Aboue our armes) to cloathe, and cloathe againe.

And so we made good shift (our shields beside

Clapt close vpon our cloathes) to rest and hide

From all discouery. But I (poore foole)

Left my weeds with my men, because so coole

I thought it could not proue: which thoght, my pride

A little strengthen'd; being loth to hide

A goodly glittering garment I had on.

And so I follow'd with my shield alone,

And that braue weed. But when the night nere ended

Her course on earth, and that the starres descended,

I [...]iog'd Vlysses (who lay passing neare)

And spake to him, that had a nimble eare;

Assuring him, that long I could not lye

Amongst the liuing; for the feruencie

Of that sharpe night would kill me; since as then,

My euill Angell, made me with my men

[Page] Leaue all weeds, but a fine one. But I know

'Tis vaine to talke; here wants all remedy now.

This said; he bore that vnderstanding part

In his prompt spirit, that still show'd his Art

In Fight and counsell; saying (in a word,

And that low whisper'd) Peace, least you afford

Some Greeke, note of your softnes. No word mor [...],

But made as if his sterne austerity, bore

My plight no pitty. Yet (as still he lay

His head reposi [...]g on his hand) gaue way

To this inuention; Heare me friends, a Dreame

(That was of some celestiall light a beame)

Stood in my sleepe before me: prompting me

VVith this fit notice: we are farre (saide he)

From out our Fleet. Let one go then, and try

If Agamemnon wil affoord supply

To what we now are strong. This stirr'd a speed

In Thoas to th'affaire. Whose purple weede

He left for hast. Which then I tooke, and lay

In quiet after, til the dawne of day.

This shift Vlysses made for one in neede;

And would to heauen, that youth such spirit did feed

Now in my Nerues; and that my ioynts were knit,

VVith such a strength, as made me then held fit

To leade men with Vlysses. I should then

Seeme worth a weed, that fit's a herdsmans men:

For two respects, to gaine a thankfull frend;

And to a good mans neede, a good extend.

O Father (said Eumaeus) thou hast showne

Good cause for vs, to giue thee good [...]

Not vsing any word, that was not freed

From all least ill. Thou therefore, shalt not need

Or coate, or other thing, that aptly may

Beseeme a wretched suppliant, for [...]

Of this nights neede. But when her golden [...]hrone

The Morne ascends, you must resum [...] your [...]

For, heere you must not dreame of many [...],

Or any change at all. VVe serue our needs,

As you do yours: One backe, one coate. But when

Vlysses loued sonne returnes, he then

Shal giue you coat and cassocke; and bestow

Your person where, your heart and soule is now.

This said, he rose; made neere the fire his bed,

VVhich all with Goats and Sheep-skins, he bespred.

All which, Vlysses with himselfe d [...]d line.

VVith whom, besides, he chang'd a gabberdine▪

Thicke lin'd, and soft; which stil he made his shift,

VVhen he would dresse him gainst the horrid drift

[Page] Of Tempest; when deepe winters season blowes.

Nor pleasde it him to lye there with his Sowes,

But while Vlysses slept there: and close by

The other yonkers, he abroad would [...]ly,

And therefore arm'd him. VVhich set cheerefull fare

Before Vlysses heart; to see such care

Of his goods taken; how farre off soeuer

His fate, his person, and his wealth should seuer.

First then; a sharpe edg'd sword, he girt about

His well-spred shoulders; and (to shelter out

The sharpe VVest wind that blew) he put him on

A thick-lin'd Iacket; and yet cast vpon

All that, the large hide of a Goat, well fed.

A Lance then tooke he, with a keene steele head,

To be his keepe-off, both 'gainst Men and Dogges:

And thus went he to rest with his male Hogges,

That still abroad lay, vnderneath a Rocke:

Shield to the North-winds euer eager shocke.

The End of the Fourteenth Booke of Homers Odysses.

THE FIFTEENTH BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES.
Another.

[Page]

THE ARGVMENT.

MInerua, to his Natiue seate

Exhorts Vlysses sonnes retreate,

In [...]ed, and waking. He receiues

Gifts of Atrides; and so leaues

The Spartan Court. And, going ab [...]ord

Doth fauourable way affo [...]rd

To Theoclymenus; that was

The Argiue A [...]gure, and sought passe;

Fled for a slaughter he had done.

Eumaeus tels Laertes son,

How he became his Fathers Man;

Being sold by the Phoenician

For some agreed on Faculties;

From forth the Syrian Isle, made prise.

Telemachus arriu'd at home,

Doth to Eumaeus Cottage come.

[...]

From Sparta's strand

makes safe ac [...]esse

To his own [...] Land

Vlyssides.

IN Laced [...]mon,

[...] In qua ampli vt pulchri chori duci possūt, vel ducuntur: which the vulgar translation turne therefore, latam, seu amplam.

large, and apt for dances;

Athenian Pallas, her accesse aduances

Vp to the great in soule, Vlysses seed,

Suggesting his returne, now fit for deed.

She found both him, and Nestors noble son

In bed; in front of that faire Mans [...]on:

Nestorides surpriz'd with pleasing sleepe.

But, on the watch Vlysses sonne did keepe,

Sleepe could not enter: cares did so excite

His soule, through all the solitary night,

For his lou'd Father. To him (neere) she said:

Telemachus! Tis time that now were staid

Thy forreigne trauailes; since thy goods are free

For those proud men, that all will eate from thee:

Diuide thy whole possessions, and leaue

Thy too-late presence nothing to receiue.

[Page] Incite the shrill-voic't Me [...]elaus then,

To send thee to thy Natiue seat agen;

VVhile thou mayst yet finde in her honor strong

Thy blamelesse Mother, 'gainst thy Father's wrong.

For both the Father, and the Brothers to

Of thy lou'd Mother, will not suffer so

Extended any more, her widdowes bed;

But make her now, her richest wooer wed,

Eurymachus: who chiefly may augment

Her gifts, and make her ioynture eminent.

And therefore hast thee; least in thy despight,

Thy house stand empty of thy Natiue right.

For well thou know'st what mind a woman beares,

The house of him, who euer she endeares

Her selfe in Nuptials to: she sees encreast,

The yssue of her first lou'd Lord deceast,

Forgotten quite, and neuer thought on more.

In thy returne then, the re-counted store

Thou find'st reseru'd; to thy most trusted Maid

Commit in guard, till heauens pow'rs haue puruaid

A wife in vertue, and in beauties grace

Of fit sort for thee, to supply her place.

And this note more Ile giue thee; which repose

In sure remembrance: The best sort of those,

That woo thy Mother, watchfull scouts addresse,

Both in the streights of th'Ithacensian Seas,

And dusty Samos; with intent t'inuade

And take thy life, ere thy returne be made.

VVhich yet, I thinke will faile: and some of them

That waste thy fortunes, taste of that extream

They plot for thee. But keepe off farre from shore,

And day and night saile: for, a fore-right blore

VVho euer of th'Immortals, that vow guard

And scape to thy returne, will see prepar'd.

As soone as thou arriu'st, dismisse to Towne

Thy Ship and Men: and first of all, make downe

To him that keepes thy Swine, and doth conceiue

A tender care to see thee well suruiue.

There sleepe; and send him to the Towne, to tell

The chast Penelope, that safe and well

Thou liu'st in his charge; and that Pyl [...]s sands

The place contain'd, from whence thy person Lands.

Thus she, to large Olympus, made ascent.

VVhen, with his heele, a little touch he lent

To Nestors son; whose sleepes sweet chain's he losde;

Bad rise, and see in Chariot inclosde

Their one-hoou'd horse; yt they might strait bee gone.

No such haste (he replied) night holds her throne,

[Page] And dims all way, to course of Chariot.

The Morne will soone get vp. Nor see forgot

The gifts with hast, that will, I know, be rich;

And put into our Coach with gracious speech,

By Lance-fam'd Menelaus. Not a Guest

Shall touch at his house, but shall store his brest

With fit mind of an hospitable man,

To last as long as any daylight can

His eyes re-comfort; in such gifts as he

Will proofes make of his hearty royalty.

He had no sooner said; but vp arose

Aurora, that the Golden hils repose.

And Menelaus (good at martiall cries)

From Hellens bed raisde, to his Guest applies

His first apparance. VVhose repaire made knowne

T'Vlysses lou'd sonne: On, his robe was throwne

About his gracious body: his cloake cast

Athwart his ample shoulders; and in hast

Abroad he went; and did the King accost.

Atrides,

Telemachus to M [...]nelaus.

guarded with heauens deified hoste;

Grant now remission to my Natiue right:

My minde now vrging mine owne houses sight.

Menel. answere

Nor will I stay (saide he) thy person long,

Since thy desires to go, are growne so strong.

I should my selfe be angry to sustein

The like detention, vrg'd by other men.

Who loues a guest past Meane, past Meane will hate;

The Meane in all acts, beares the best estate.

A like ill 'tis, to thrust out such a guest,

As would not go; as to detaine the rest.

VVe should a guest loue, while he loue's to stay,

And when he like's not, giue him louing way.

Yet suffer so, that we may gifts impose

In Coach to thee. Which ere our hands enclose,

Thine eies shall see; lest else, our loues may glose.

Besides, Ile cause our women to prepare

VVhat our house yeelds; and meerely so much fare

As may suffise for health. Both, well will do;

Both for our honor, and our profit to.

And seruing strength with food, you after may

As much earth measure, as wil match the day.

If you will turne your course from sea, and go

Through Greece and Argos: (that my selfe may so

Keepe kinde way with thee) Ile ioyne horse, & guide

T'our humane Cities. Nor vngratifide

VVill any one remit vs: some one thing

VVill each present vs, that along may bring

Our passe with loue; and proue our vertues blaz'd:

[Page] A Caldron or a Tripod, richly braz'd.

Two Mules; a bowle of Gold, that hath his price

Heightn'd with Emblemes of some rare deuice.

The wise Prince answer'd:

[...], poculum emblematis, & caelaturis ornatum.

I would gladly go

Home, to mine owne; and see that gouern'd so

That I may keepe, what I for certaine hold.

Not hazard that, for onely hop't for Gold:

I left behind me, none, so all wayes fit

To giue it guard; as mine owne trust with it.

Besides, in this broad course which you propose;

My Father seeking; I my selfe may lose.

VVhen this, the shrill-voic't Menelaus heard;

He charg'd his Queene and Maids, to see prepar'd

Breakfast, of what the whole house held for best.

To him, rose Et [...]eus from his rest;

VVhose dwelling was not farre off from the Court;

And his attendance, his command did sort,

VVith kindling fires, and furth'ring all the rost,

In act of whose charge heard, no time he lost.

Himselfe then, to an odorous roome descended,

VVhom Megapenthe, and his Queene attended.

Come to his treasury; a two-ear'd cup

He chusde of all, and made his Sonne beare vp

A Siluer bowle. The Queene then taking stand

Aside her Chist; where (by her owne faire hand

Lay Vests, of all hues wrought) She tooke out one

Most large, most Artfull: chiefly faire; and shone

Like to a Star; and lay of al, the last.

Then through the house, with eithers gift they past;

VVhen to Vlysses sonne, Atrides said:

Telemachus:

Menelaus to Tel [...]machus▪

since so entirely swaid

Thy thoghts are, with thy vow'd return, now tender'd;

May Iuno's thundring husband, see it render'd

Perfect at all parts; action answering thought.

Of all the rich gifts, in my treasure, sought

I giue thee heere, the most in grace, and best.

A Bowle, but Siluer; yet the brims comprest

With Gold; whose fabricke his desert doth bring

From Vulcans hand. Presented by the King

And great Heroe of Sydonia's State;

VVhen at our parting he did consummate

His whole house keeping. This do thou command.

This said; he put the round Bowle in his hand;

And then, his strong son Meg [...]penthe plac't

The Siluer cup before him; amply grac't

VVith worke, and luster. Hellen (standing by;

And in her hand, the Robe, her huswifery)

His name remembring, said: And I present

[Page] (Lou'd sonne) this gift to thee; the Monument

Of the so-many-loued Hellens hands:

VVhich, at the knitting of thy Nuptiall bands

Present thy wife. In meane space, may it ly

By thy lou'd Mother; but to me apply

Thy pleasure in it. And thus, take thy way

To thy faire house, and Countries wished stay.

Thus gaue she to his hands, the veile; and he,

The acceptation author'd ioyfully.

Which in the Chariots Chist, Pisi [...]ratus

Plac't with the rest, and held miraculous.

The yellow-headed King then, led them all,

To seates and Thrones plac't, in his spacious Hall.

The Hand-maid, water brought, and gaue it stream

From out a faire and golden Ewre to them.

From whose hands, to a siluer Caldron, fled

The troubl'd waue. A bright boord then she spred:

On which, another reuerend Dame set bread:

To which, more seruants, store of victuals seru'd▪

Et [...]onaeus was the man that keru'd;

And Megapenthe fil'd them all their wine.

All fed, and dranke; till all felt care decline

For those refreshings. Both the Guests did go

To horse, and coach; and forth the Portico

A little issu'd: When the yellow King

Brought wine himselfe: that, with an Offering

To all the Gods, they might their iourney take.

He stood before the Gods; and thus he spake.

Farewell yong Princes: to graue Nestors eare

This salutation from my gratitude, beare:

That I professe in all our Ilion warres

He stood, a carefull Father to my cares.

To him the wise Vlyssides, replied:

VVith all our vtmost shall be signified

(Ioue-kept Atrides) your right royall will:

A [...]d would to God, I could as wel fulfill

Mine owne mindes gratitude, for your free grace;

In telling to Vlysses, in the place

Of my returne; in what accomplish't kind

I haue obtain'd the office of a friend

At your deseruings: whose faire end you crowne

With gifts so many; and of such renowne.

His wish, that he might finde in his retreat

His Father safe return'd (to so repeat

The Kings loue to him) was saluted thus;

An Eagle rose; and in her Seres did trusse

A Goose, all white, & huge: A houshold one,

VVhich, men and women (crying out vpon)

[Page] Pursu'd: but she (being neere the guests) her flight

Made on their righthand; and kept still fore-right

Before their horses: which obseru'd by them,

The spirits in all their minds tooke ioyes extream;

VVhich Nestors son thus question'd:

Nestors son [...]e to M [...]nelaus His Ironi [...]ll question continuing stil [...] Homer [...] Ch [...]racter of M [...]n [...]laus.

Ioue-kept King,

Yeild your graue thoughts, if this ostentfull thing

(This Eagle, and this Goose) touch vs, or you?

He put to study, and not knowing how

To giue fit answer; Hellen tooke on her

Th'ostents solution, and did this prefer.

Heare me,

Hellen dissol [...]es the O [...]ent.

and I will play the Prophets part,

As the immortals cast it in my heart;

And (as I thinke) will make the true sense knowne:

As this Ioues Bird, from out the Mountaines flowne

(Where was her Arie; and whence rose her race)

Trust vp this Goose, that from the house did grase;

So shall Vlysses (coming from the wilde

Of Seas and sufferings) reach, vnreconcil'd

His Natiue home: where euen this houre he is:

And on those house-fed woo'rs, those wrongs of his,

VVill shortly wreake, with all their miseries.

O (said Telemachus) if Saturnian Ioue,

Telem. to He [...]len

To my desires, thy deare presage approue;

VVhen I arriue, I will performe to thee

My daily vowes, as to a Deity.

This said; he vsde his scourge vppon the horse,

That through the City freely made their course

To Field; and all day, made that first speed, good.

But when the Sun-set, and Obscur [...] stood

In each mans way; they ended their accesse

At Pheras, in the house of Diocles,

Sonne to Orsilochus, Alpheus seede;

VVho gaue them guest-rites: and sleeps naturall need

They that night seru'd there. VVhen [...] rose,

They ioyn'd their horse: tooke coach, and did dispose

Their course for Py [...]os; whose high City, soon

They reach't. Nor would Telemachus be woon

To Nestors house: and therefore order'd thus

His speech to Nestors son, Pisistratus;

How shall I win thy promise to a grace

That I must aske of thee?

Telem. to Pisist.

we both imbrace

The names of Bed-fellowes; and in that name

VVill glory as an Adiunct of our fame:

Our Fathers friendship: our owne equall age;

And our ioynt trauaile, may the more engage

Our mutuall concord. Do not then assay

(My God-lou'd friend) to leade me from my way▪

To my neere Ship; but take a course direct

[Page] And leaue me there; least thy old Sires respect

(In his

[...]. Cupiens diligere.

desire to loue me) hinder so

My way for home, that haue such need to go.

This said; Nestorides held all discourse

In his kinde soule, how best he might enforce

Both promise and performance; which, at last

He vow'd to venture; and directly cast

His horse about, to fetch the Ship and Shore.

Where, come: His frends most louely gifts, he bore

Aboord the Ship; and in her hin-deck plac't

The vaile that Hellens curious hand had grac't;

And Menelaus Gold: and said, Away;

Nor let thy men, in any least date, stay:

But quite put off, ere I get home, and tell

The old Duke, you are past: for passing well

I know his minde, to so exceed all force

Of any pray'r; That he wil stay your course:

Himselfe make hither, All your course call backe;

And when he hath you, haue no thought to racke

Him from his bounty; and to let you part

VVithout a Present: but be vext at heart

With both our pleadings; if we once but moue

The least repression of his fiery loue.

Thus took he coach: his faire-man'd steeds scourg'd on

Along the Pylian City: and anon

His Fathers Court reacht. VVhile Vlysses Sonne

Bad boord, and arme; which with a thought was done▪

His Rowers set, and he rich Odors firing

In his hin-decke; for his secure retiring

To great

Pallas.

Athenia: To his Ship came flying

A Stranger, and a Prophet; as relying

On wished passage: hauing newly slaine

A man at Argos: yet his Races vaine

[...]ow'd from Melampus; who in former date

In [...]ylos liu'd, and had a huge estate.

But fled his countrey; and the punishing hand

Of great-soul'd Neleus, in a forreigne Land

From that most famous Mortall; hauing held

A world of riches: nor could be compeld

To render restitution in a yeare.

In meane space, liuing as close prisoner

In Court of Phylacus: and for the sake

Of Neleus daughter, mighty cares did take;

Together with a greeuous Languor sent

From graue

One of the F [...] ries of [...]ell.

Erynnis, that did much torment

His vexed conscience; yet his lifes expence

He scapt, and draue the loud-voic't Oxen thence,

To breed-sheepe Pylos; bringing vengeance thus

[Page] Her foule demerit, to great Neleus;

And to his Brothers house reduc't his wife:

Who yet from Pylos, did remoue his life

For feed-horse Argos; where his Fate set downe

A dwelling for him: and in much renowne

Made gouerne many Argiues: where, a Spouse

He tooke to him, and built a famous house.

There had he borne to him Antiphates,

And forcefull Mantius. To the first of these

VVas great Oiclaeus borne: Oiclaeus gate

Amph [...]araus, that the popular State

Had all their health in: whom, euen from his heart

Ioue lou'd; and Phoebus in the whole desert

Of friendship hel'd him. Yet not blest so much

That Ages threshold, he did euer touch:

But lost his life, by

His wife betraid him for money.

Female bribery.

Yet two sonnes author'd his posterity;

Alcinaon, and renown'd Amphilochus.

Mantius had yssue; Polyphidius,

And Clytus: But Aurora rauish't him,

For excellence of his admired lim;

And interested him amongst the Gods.

His Brother knew, mens good and bad abods

The best of all men; after the decease

Of him that perish't in vnnaturall peace

At spacious Thebes. Apollo did inspire

His knowing soule with a Propheticke fire.

VVho (angry with his Father) tooke his way

To Hyperesia; where (making stay)

He prophesied to all men; and had there

A Sonne call'd Theoclymenus;

Theoclymenus to Telemachus.

who here

Came to Telemachus; and found abord

Himselfe at Sacrifice; whom in a word

He thus saluted: O Friend, since I finde

Euen heere at Ship, a sacrificing minde

Informe your actions: By your sacrifice;

And by that worthy choise of Deities,

To whom you offer: by your selfe, and all,

These men that serue your course maritimall;

Tell one that askes, the truth: Nor giue it glose,

Both who, and whence you are? From what seed rose

Your royall person? And what Cities Tow'rs

Hold habitation, to your parents pow'rs?

He answer'd: Stranger! The sure truth is this;

I am of Ithaca;

Telemachus to Theoclymenus▪

my Father is

(Or was) Vlysses: but austere death, now

Takes his state from him; whose euent to know,

(Himselfe being long away) I set forth thus

[Page] With ship and souldiers: Th [...]oclymenus,

As freely said; And I to thee am fled

From forth my country; for a man strooke dead

By my vnhappy hand: who was with me

Of one selfe-Tribe; and of his pedigree

Are many Friends and Brothers: and the sway

Of Achiue Kindred, reacheth farre away.

From whom (because I feare their spleenes suborne

Blood, and blacke fate against me (being borne

To be a wandrer among forreigne men)

Make thy faire ship, my rescue; and sustein

My life from slaughter. Thy deseruings may

Performe that m [...]r [...]y: and to them I pray.

Nor will I barre (said he)

Telem. Reply.

thy will to make

My meanes and equall ship, thy ayde: but take

(With what wee haue heere, in all friendly vse)

Thy life from any violence that pursues.

Thus tooke he in, his Lance; and it extended

Aloft the hatches; which himselfe ascended.

The Prince tooke seate at Sterne: on his right hand,

Set Theoclymenus; and gaue command

To all his men, to arme; and see made fast

Amidst the hollow Keele, the Beechen Mast

VVith able hal [...]ers; hoise saile, lanch: which soone

He saw obay'd. And then his Ship did runne

A merry course: Blew-ey'd Minerua sent

A fore-right gale; tumultuous, vehement,

Along the aire; that her waies vtmost yeeld

The ship might make, and plough the brackish field.

Then set the Sun, and Night black't all the waies.

The ship (with Ioues wind wing'd) wher th' Epian swaies

Fetcht [...]heras first: then Elis, the diuine;

And then for those Isles made, that Sea-ward shine,

For forme and sharpnesse, like a Lances head.

About which, lay the wooers ambushed.

On which he rush't, to try if he could scape

His plotted death; or serue Her treacherous Rape.

And now returne we to Eumaeus Shed;

VVhere (at their foode with others marshalled)

The stories [...] turn to [...]

Vlysses, and his noble Herdsman sate;

To try if whose loues curious estate

Stood firme to his abode, or felt it fade;

And so would take each best cause to perswade

His Guest to Towne; Vlysses thus contends:

Heare me, Eumaeus, and ye other Friends.

Next Morne, to Towne I couet to be gone,

To beg some others almes; not still charge one.

Aduise me well then; and as well prouide

[Page] I may be fitted with an honest guide.

For through the streets (since Need will haue it so)

Ile tread, to try if any will bestow

A dish of drinke on me, or bit of bread,

Till to Vlysses house I may be led▪

And there Ile tell all-wise Penelope, newes:

Mix with the wooers pride; and (since they vse

To fare aboue the full) their hands excite

To some small Feast, from out their infinite:

For which, Ile waite, and play the Seruingman,

Fairely enough; command the most they can.

For I will tell thee; note me well, and heare,

That if the will be of heauens Messenger,

(VVho to the workes of men, of any sort

Can grace infuse, and glory) nothing short

Am I of him, that doth to most aspire

In any seruice: as to builde a Fire,

To cleaue sere wood: to roast, or boile their meat;

To waite at boord, mixe wine, or know the Neate;

Or any worke, in which the poore-cal'd worst,

To serue the rich-cal'd best, in Fate are forc't.

He, angry with him,

Eum [...]us to Vlysses.

said; Alas poore Guest,

VVhy did this counsaile euer touch thy brest?

Thou seek'st thy vtter spoyle beyond all doubt,

If thou giu'st venture on the Wooers rout:

VVhose wrong the force, affects the Iron heauen.

Their light delights, are farre from being giuen

To such graue Seruitors. Youths richly trick't

In coats or Cassocks; Lockes diuinely slickt,

And lookes most rapting; euer haue the gift

To taste their crown'd cups, [...]and full Trenchers shift.

Their Tables euer like their Glasses shine;

Loaded with bread, with varied flesh, and wine.

And thou? go thither? Stay: for heere do none

Grudge at thy presence: nor my selfe, nor one

Of all I feed. But when Vlysses sonne

Againe shall greet vs, he shall put thee on

Both coat and cassocke; and thy quicke retreat

Set, where thy heart and soule desire thy seat.

Industrious Vlysses, gaue reply:

I still much wish,

Vlysses answere to Eumaeus.

that heauens chiefe Deity

Lou'd thee, as I do; that hast easde my minde

Of woes and wandrings, neuer yet confin'de.

Nought is more wretched in a [...],

Then Countries want, and shift from place to place.

But for the banefull belly, men take care

Beyond good counsaile: whosoeuer are

In compasse of the wants it vndergoes,

[Page] By wandrings losses, or dependant woes.

Excuse me therefore, if I err'd at home:

VVhich since thou wilt make heere (as ouercome

VVith thy command for stay) Ile take on me

Cares appertaining to this place, like thee.

Does then Vlysses Sire, and Mother breath?

Both whom he left, in th'age next doore to death?

Or are they breathlesse, and descended where

The darke house is, that neuer day doth cleere?

Laertes liues (saide he) but euery howre

Beseecheth Ioue to take from him the powre

That ioynes his life and limbes:

Eumaeus answer to Vlysses.

for with a mone

That breeds a meruaile, he laments his sonne

Depriu'd by death. And addes to that, another

Of no lesse depth; for that dead sonnes dead Mother:

VVhom he a Virgin wedded: which the more

Makes him lament her losse; and doth deplore

Yet more her misse, because her wombe the truer

Was to his braue sonne; and his slaughter slue her.

VVhich last loue to her, doth his li [...]e engage,

And makes him liue an vndigested age.

O! such a death she died, as neuer may

Seize any one, that heere beholds the day;

That either is to any man, a friend,

Or can a woman kill in such a kind.

As long as she had Being, I would be

A still Inquirer (since t'was deere to me,

Though death to her, to heare his name) when she

Heard of Vlysses: for I might be bold;

She brought me vp, and in her loue did hold

My life, compar'd with long-vail'd [...],

Her yongest yssue (in some small degree

Her daughter yet prefer'd) a braue yong Dame.

But when of youth the dearely loued

[...], Peroptabilem pubem.

Flame

VVas lighted in vs; marriage did prefer

The maide to Samos; whence was sent for her

Infinite riches: when, the Queene bestow'd

A faire new suite, new shooes, and all; and vow'd

Me to the field. But passing loth to part,

As louing me, more then she lou'd her hart.

And these I want now; but their businesse growes

Vpon me daily. Which the Gods impose,

To whom I hold all; giue account to them,

For I see none, left to the Diadem,

That may dispose all better. So, I drinke

And eate of what is heere; and whom I think

VVorthy or reuerend, I haue giuen to still

These kinds of Guest-ri [...]es: for the houshold ill

[Page] (VVhich where the Queene is, ryots) takes her stil

From thought of these things. Nor is it delight

To heare from her plight; of or worke, or word;

The woo [...]rs spoyle all. But yet my men, will bord

Her sorrowes often, with discourse of all:

Eating and drinking of the Festiuall

That there is kept; and after bring to field

Such things as seruants make their pleasures yield.

O me (Eumaeus) saide Laertes sonne,

Hast thou then err'd so, of a little one?

Vlysses answere to Eumaeus.

(Like me?) From friends, and country? pray thee say,

(And say a Truth) doth vast Destruction lay

Her hand vpon the wide-way'd

Supposing him to dwel in a Citie.

Seat of men?

VVhere dwelt thy Sire, and reuerend Mother then?

That thou art spar'd there? Or else, set alone

In guard of Beeues, or Sheepe: Set th'enemy on;

Surprisde, and Shipt? transfer'd, and sold thee heere?

He that bought thee, paid well; yet bought not deere.

Since thou enquir'st of that,

Eumaeus relates his birth, &c.

my guest (said he)

Heare and be silent: and meane space, sit free

In vse of these cups, to thy most delights;

[...].

Vnspeakable, in length now, are the Nights.

Those that affect sleepe yet; to sleepe haue leaue;

Those that affect to heare, their hearers giue.

But sleep not ere your houre; Much sleep d [...]th grieue.

VVho euer lists to sleepe; Away to bed:

Together with the morning raise his head:

Together with his fellowes, breake his fast;

And then, his Lords Herd, driue to their repast.

VVe two, still in our Tabernacle heere,

Drinking & eating; will our bosomes cheere

VVith memories, and tales of our annoyes.

Betwixt his sorrowes, euery Humane ioyes.

He most, who most hath felt; and furthest err'd:

And now thy wil; to act, shall be preferr'd.

There is an Isle aboue Ortygi [...]

(If thou hast heard)

Eumaeu [...] telles Vlysses how hee was bought and sold.

they call it Syria;

VVhere, once a day, the Sun moues backwards still.

Tis not so great as good; for it doth fill

The fields with Oxen; fils them still with Sheepe;

Fils roofes with wine, & makes al Come there cheap:

No Dearth comes euer there; nor no Disease,

That doth, with hate, vs wretched mortals sease.

But when mens varied Nations, dwelling there

In any City, enter th'aged yeare:

The Siluer-bow-bearer (the Sun) and she,

That beares as much renowne for Archery;

Stoop with their painles shafts, & strike them dead,

[Page] As one would sleepe, and neuer keepe the bed.

In this Isle stand two Cities: betwixt whome

All things, that of the soiles fertility come,

In two parts are diuided. And both these,

My Father ruld; (Ctesius Ormenides)

A man, like the immortals. With these States,

The crosse-biting Phaenissians, traffick't rates

Of infinit Merchandize, in ships brought there;

In which, they then, were held exempt from pere.

There dwelt within my Fathers house, a Dame

Borne a Phaenissian; skilfull in the frame

Of Noble Huswiferies; right tall, and faire.

Her,

[...]. 1. admodū vafer. Der. ex [...]. 1. pertraho in retia & [...]. 1. puella.

the Phaenissian great-wen [...]h-net-lai're,

With sweet words circumuented, as she was

VVashing her Linnen. To his amorous passe

He brought her first, shor'd from his Sh [...]p to her;

To whom he did his whole life's loue prefer;

Which, of these brest-exposing Dames, the harts

Deceiues; though fashion'd of right honest parts.

He askt her after, VVhat she was? and whence?

She passing presently, the excellence

Told of her Fathers Turrets; and that she

Might boast her selfe, sprung from the Progeny

Of the rich Sydons: and the daughter was

Of the much-yeare-reuennew'd Arybas.

But, that the Taphian Pirats, made her prize,

As she return'd from her field-huswiferies:

Transfer'd her hither; and at that mans house

VVhere now she liu'd; for value precious

Sold her to th'Owner. He that stole her loue,

Bad her againe, to her births seate remoue,

To see the faire roofes of her friends againe;

Who still held state▪ and did the port maintaine,

Her selfe reported. She said, Be it so;

So you, and al that in your ship shall roe,

Sweare to returne me, in all safety hence.

All swore; th'Oath past, with euery consequence:

She bad, Be silent now; and not a word

Do you, or any of your friends afford,

Meeting me afterward in any way;

Or at the washing Fount; lest some display

Be made, and told the old man: and he then

Keepe me streight bound: To you, and to your men

The vtter ruine, plotting of your liues.

Keepe in firme thought then, euery word that striues

For dangerous vtterance: Haste your ships ful freight

Of what you Trafficke for; and let me streight

Know by some sent friend:

Intending the Ship.

She hath all in hold,

[Page] And (with my selfe) Ile bring thence all the gold

I can by all meanes finger: and beside,

Ile do my best, to see your freight supplide

VVith some wel-weighing burthen of mine owne.

For I bring vp, in house, a great mans sonne,

As crafty as my selfe; who will with me

Run euery way along; and I will be

His Leader, till your Ship hath made him sure.

He will an infinite great price procure

Transfer him to what languag'd men ye may.

This said; She gat her home, and there made stay

A whole yeare with vs; Goods of great auaile

Their Ship enriching. VVhich now, fit for saile:

They sent a Messenger t'informe the Dame.

And, to my fathers house a fellow came,

Full of Phaenissian craft: that, to be sold

A Tablet bought; the body all of Gold,

The Verge, all Amber. This had ocular view,

Both by my honor'd Mother, and the crew

Of her house-handmaids, handl'd; and [...]he price

Beat; askt, and promist. And while this deuice

Lay thus vpon the Forge: this Ieweller

Made priuy signes (by winkes and wiles) to her

That was his obiect; which she tooke, and he

(His signe seeing noted) [...]ied to Ship. VVhen she

(My hand still taking, as she vsde to do

To walke abroad with her) conuai'd me so

Abroad with her; and in the Portic [...]

Found cups, with tasted Viands; which the guests

That vsde to flocke about my Fathers feasts

Had left. They gone (some to the Counsaile Court;

Some to heare newes amongst the talking sort)

Her Theft, three bowles into her lap conuaid;

And forth she went. Nor was my wit so staid

To stay her, or my selfe. The Sun went downe,

And shadowes round about the world were flowne,

VVhen we came to the hauen; in which did ride

The swift Phaenissian Ship; whose faire broad side

They boorded straight: Tooke vs vp; And all went

Along the moyst waues. VVinde, Saturnius sent.

Six dayes, we day and night sayl [...]d: But vvhen Ioue

Put vp the seuenth day; She, that shafts

Diana▪

doth loue,

Shot dead the woman; who into the pumpe

Like to a Dop-chicke, diu'd; and gaue a thumpe

In her sad setling. Forth they cast her then

To serue the Fish, and Sea-calues: no more Men.

But I was left there, with a heauy hart.

When, winde and water draue them quite apart

[Page] Their owne course, and on Ithaca they fell;

And there, poore me, did to Laertes sell:

And thus these eyes, the sight of this Isle prou'd.

Eumaeus (he replyed) Thou much hast mou'd

The minde in me, with all things thou hast said,

And all the sufferance on thy bosome laid:

Bur (truly) to thy ill, hath Ioue ioyn'd good,

That one whose veines are seru'd with humane blood

Hath bought thy seruice; that giues competence

Of food, wine; cloth to thee. And sure th'expence

Of thy lifes date heere, is of good desart.

VVhose labours, not to thee alone, impart

Sufficient food and housing; but to me.

VVhere I, through many a heap't humanity

Haue hither err'd; where, though (like thee) not sold,

Not staid, like thee yet; nor nought needfull hold.

This mutuall speech they vsd; nor had they slept

Much time before; the much-nere-morning lept

To her faire throne. And now strooke saile, the men

That seru'd Telemachus; arriu'd iust then

Nere his lou'd shore: wher now they stoopt the Mast,

Made to the Port with Oares, and Anchor cast;

Made fast the Ship, and then ashore they went:

Drest supper, fil'd wine; when (their appetites spent)

Telemachus commanded, they should yield

The Ship to th' owner; while himselfe, at field

VVould see his shepherds: when light drew to end

He would his gifts see, and to Towne descend.

And in the morning, at a Feast bestow

Rewards for all their paines. And whither, now

(Said Theoclymenus) my loued Son

Shall I addresse my selfe? who [...]e mansion,

Of all men, in this rough-hewne Isle, shall I

Direct my way to? Or go readily

To thy house, and thy Mother? He replied;

Another time, Ile see you satisfied

VVith my house entertainment: but as now,

You should encounter none that could bestow

Your fit entreaty; and (which lesse grace were)

You could not see my Mother, I not there.

For shee's no frequent obiect; but apart

Keepes from her wooers; woo'd with her desart,

Vp, in her chamber, at her Huswifery.

But Ile name one, to whom you shall apply

Direct repaire; and thats Eurymachus,

Renown'd descent, to wise Polybius:

A man whom th'Ithacensians looke on now,

As on a God: since he, of all that wow

[Page] Is farre superior man; and likest far

To wed my mother: and as circular

Be in that honor, as Vlysses was.

But heauen-housd Ioue knowes, the yet hidden passe

Of her disposure; and on them he may

A blacker sight bring, then her Nuptiall day.

As this he vtter'd; on his right hand flew

A Saker; sacred to the God of view:

That, in his Tallons trust, and plum'd a Doue;

The Feathers round about the Ship did roue,

And on Telemachus fell; whom th'Augure then

Tooke fast by'th hand; withdrew him from his men,

And said;

Th [...]oclymenus to Telemachus.

Telemachus; This Hawke is sent

From God; I knew it for a sure Ostent

VVhen first I saw it. Be you well assur'd,

There will no wooer be by heauen indur'd

To rule in Ithaca, aboue your Race:

But your pow'rs euer fill the Regall place.

I wish to heauen (said he) thy word might stand;

Telemachus to Theo [...]ymenus.

Thou then shouldst soon acknowledge from my hand

Such gifts & friendship, as would make thee (Guest)

M [...]t, and saluted, as no lesse then ble [...]t.

This said;

Tele. to Pyraeus

he call'd Pyraeus (Clytus sonne)

His true associate; saying, Thou hast done

(Of all my Followers, to the Pylian shore)

My will, in chiefe, in other things; Once more,

Be chiefly good to me: take to thy house

This loued stranger; & be studious

T'embrace and greete him, with thy greatest fare,

Till I my selfe come, and take off thy care.

The famous for his Lance saide;

Pyraeus reply.

if your stay,

Take time for life heere; this mans care, Ile lay

On my performance; nor what fits a Guest,

Shall any penury with-hold his Feast.

Thus tooke he ship; bad them boord, and away.

They boorded; sate: but did their labour stay

Till he had deckt his feete, and reacht his Lance.

They to the City: he did straight aduance

Vp to his Sties; where Swine lay for him, store;

By whose sides did his honest Swine-herd snore:

Till his short [...]ares, his longest Nights had ended:

And nothing worse, to both his Lords intended.

The End of the Fifteenth Booke of Homers Odysses.

THE SIXTEENTH BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES.
Another.

[Page]

THE ARGVMENT.

THe Princ [...] at F [...]ld; [...]e sends to Towne

Eumaeus, to make truly knowne

His safe returne. By Pallas will,

Telemachus is giuen the skill

To know his Father. Those that lay

In Ambush, to preuent the way

Of yong Vlyssides, for home;

Retire, with anger ouercome.

[...]

To his most deere,

Vlysses [...]owes;

The wise Son heere

his Father knowes.

VLysses, and diuine Eumaeus rose

Soone as the morning could her eyes vnclose:

Made fire; brake fast; And to their Pasture send

The gather'd Herds: on whom, their Swaines attend.

The selfe-tyre barking Dogs, all fawn'd vpon;

Nor bark't, at first sight of Vlysses son.

The whinings of their fawnings yet did greet

Vlysses eares; and sounds of certaine feet;

Who thus bespake Eumaeus: Sure some friend,

Or one well knowne comes, that the Mastiues spend

Their mouths no lowder. Onely some one neare

They whine, and leape about; whose feete I heare.

Each word of this speech was not spent,

Eumaeus amaze and kinde welcome of Telemachus.

before

His Son stood in the entry of the dore.

Out-rusht amaz'd Eumaeus: and let go

The cup to earth, that he had labor'd so,

Cleans'd for the neate wine: Did the Prince surprise,

Kist his faire forehead: Both his louely eyes,

Both his white hands; And tender teares distil'd.

There breath'd no kind-soul'd Father, that was fild

Lesse with his sonnes embraces, that had liu'd

Ten yeares in farre-off earth; now new retriu'd,

His onely childe too, gotten in his age:

And for whose absence he had felt the rage

[Page] Of griefes vpon him; then for this diuin'd

So much for forme, was this diuine for mind:

VVho kist him through: who grew about him kissing,

As fresh from death scapt. Whō (so long time missing)

He wept for ioy, and said; Thou yet art come,

(Sweet light, sweet Sun-rise) to thy cloudy home.

O (neuer I look't) when once shipt away

For Pylos shores, to see thy turning day.

Come; enter lou'd Son; Let me feast my hart

VVith thy sweete sight; new come, so farre apart.

Nor when you liu'd at home, would you walk downe

Often enough heere, but staide still at Towne:

It pleas'd you then, to cast such forehand view

About your house, on that most

[...], of [...], Orcus, & signi [...]ies pr [...]perly, tenebricosus, or infernalis▪ so that, perni [...]iosus (wh [...]ch is the Latine translation) is not so [...]itte as d [...]m [...]d for that crew of dissolute Wooers. The phrase being now vsde to all so licentious.

damned crew.

It shall be so then, Friend (saide he) but now

I come to glad mine eyes with thee, and know

If still my Mother, in her house remaine:

Or if some wooer hath aspir'd to gaine

Of her in Nuptials: for Vlysses bed,

By this, lies all with Spiders cobwebs spred,

In penury of him that should supply it.

She still (said he) holds her most constant quiet,

Aloft thine owne house, for the beds respect:

But for her Lords sad losse; sad nights and daies

Obscure her beauties, and corrupt their raies.

This said; Eumaeus, tooke his brazen Speare;

And in he went: when, being enter'd neare

VVithin the stony threshold; From his seat,

His Father rose to him: who would not let

Th'old man remoue; but drew him backe and pre [...]t

VVith earnest termes his sitting; Saying, Guest;

Take heere your seate againe; we soone shall get

Within our owne house heere, some othe [...] [...]ea [...]:

Heere's one will fetch it. This said; downe againe

His Father sate: and to his sonne, his Swaine

Strew'd faire greene Osiers; and impos'd thereon

A good soft Sheepeskin, which made him a Throne.

Then he appos'd to them, his last-left Roste;

And in a wicker basket, bread engro [...]te:

Fil'd luscious wine; and then tooke opposite seate

To the diuine Vlysses. VVhen the meate

Set there before them; all fell to, and [...].

VVhen they had fed; the Prince said, pray thee say,

Whence coms this guest? what seaman gaue him way

To this our Isle? I hope these feete of his

Could walke no water; who boasts he, he is?

Ile tell all truly Son: From ample Crete

He bosts himselfe; and sayes, his erring feete

[Page] Haue many Cities trod: And God was he

VVhose finger wrought in his infirmity.

But, to my Cottage, the last scape of his,

VVas from a Thespro [...]s Ship. VVhat ere he is,

Ile giue him you: do what you please; His vant

Is, that he is (at most) a suppliant.

Eumaeus, (said the Prince) To tell me this,

You haue afflicted my weake Faculties:

For how shall I receiue him to my house

VVith any safety; that suspitious

Of my yong forces (should I be assaide

With any sodaine violence) may want aide

To shield my selfe? Besides, if I go home,

My mother is with [...]wo doubts ouercome:

If she shall stay with me, and take fit care

For all such guests, as there seeke guestiue fare;

Her husbands bed respecting, and her same

Amongst the people: Or her blood may frame

A liking to some wooer, such as best

May bed her in his house; not giuing lest.

And thus am I vnsure, of all meanes free

To vse a Guest there, fit for his degree.

But, being thy Guest; Ile be his supply,

For all weeds, such as mere necessity

Shall more then furnish: Fit him with a sword,

And set him where his heart would haue bene shor'd.

Or (if so pleasd) receiue him in thy Shed:

Ile send thee clothes, I vow; and all the bread

His wish would eate: that to thy men and thee

He be no burthen. But that I should be

His meane to my house; where a company

Of wrong-professing wooers, wildly liue;

I will in no sort author; lest they giue

Foule vse to him; and me, as grauely grieue.

For what great act can any one atchieue

Against a multitude? Although his minde

Retaine a courage of the greatest kinde?

For all minds haue not force in one degree.

Vlysses answer'd; O Friend, since 'tis free

For any man,

Vlysses to Tel [...].

to change fit words with thee;

Ile freely speake. Me thinkes, a woluish powre

My heart puts on, to teare and to deuoure;

To heare your affirmation; that (in spite

Of what may fall on you, made opposite;

Being one of your proportion, birth, and age,

These wooers should in such iniustice rage.

VVhat should the cause be? Do you wilfully

Indure their spoile? Or hath your Empery

[Page] Bene such amongst your people; that, all gather

In troope, and one voice; (wc euen God doth father)

And vow your hate so, that they suffer them?

Or blame your Kinsfolks faiths, before th'extream

Of your first stroke hath tried them? Whom a man

When strifes, to blowes rise, trusts: though battel ran

In huge and high waues? would to heauen my spirit

Such youth breath'd, as the man that must inherit,

Yet neuer toucht Vlysses: or that he

(But wandring this way) would but come, and see

What my age could atchieue (and there is Fate

For Hope yet left; that he may recreate

His eyes with such an obiect.) This my head

Should any stranger strike off, if starke dead

I strooke not all: the house in open force

Entring with challenge. If their great concourse

Did ouer-lay me, being a man alone;

(VVhich you vrge for your selfe) be you that one.

I rather in mine owne house wish to dye

One death for all; then so indecently

See euermore, deeds worse than death applied;

Guests, wrōg'd with vile words, & blow-giuing pride:

The women-seruants dragg'd in filthy kind

About the faire house; and in corners blind

Made serue the rapes of Ruffins: Food d [...]uour'd

Idely and rudely; wine exhaust, and pour'd

Through throats prophane; and all about a deed,

That's euer wooing, and will neuer speed.

Ile tell you (Guest) most truly, saide his Son;

I do not thinke,

Telemachus [...].

that all my people ron

One hatefull course against me; Nor accuse

Kinsfolkes that I, in strifes of weight, might vse▪

But Ioue will haue it so: our Race alone,

(As if made singular) to one, and one

His hand confining. Onely to the King

(Ioue-bred Arcesius) did La [...]rtes spring;

Onely to old La [...]rtes did descend

Vlysses; onely to Vlysses end

Am I the Adiunct; whom he left so yong,

That from me, to him, neuer comfort sprong.

And to all these now (for their [...]) arise

Vp in their house, a brood of enemies.

As many as in these Isles bow mens k [...]s;

Samos, Dulychius, and the rich in Tr [...]s

Zacynthus: Or in this rough Isles command,

So many suiters for the Nuptials stand,

That aske my Mother; and meane space, prefer

Their lusts to all spoile, that dishonor her.

[Page] Nor doth she (though she loaths) deny their suites;

Nor they denials take, though taste their fruites.

But all this time, the sta [...]e of all things there

Their throats deuoure; and I must shortly beare

A part in all; and yet the periods

Of these designes, lye in the knees of Gods.

Of all Loues then, Eumaeus; make quicke way

To wise Penelope; and to her, say

My safe returne from Pylos; and alone

Returne thou hither, hauing made it knowne.

Nor let (besides my Mother) any eare

Partake thy Message; since a number beare

My safe returne displeasure. He replied;

I know, and comprehend you; you diuide,

Your minde with one that vnderstands you well.

E [...]m. to Telem.

But, all in one yet; may I not reueale

To th'old hard-fated

Laertes.

Arcesiades

Your safe returne? who through his whole distres

Felt for Vlysses, did not yet so grieue,

But with his houshold, he had will to liue;

And seru'd his appetite, with wine, and food;

Surueigh'd his husbandry, and did his blood

Some comforts fitting life: But since you tooke

Your ship for Pylos, he would neuer brooke,

Or wine, or food, they say; nor cast an eye

On any labour: but sits weeping by;

And sighing out his sorrowes, ceasselesse mones

Wasting his body, turn'd all skin and bones.

More sad newes still (said he) yet; mourne he still:

For if the rule of all mens workes be will,

Telem. to Eum.

And his will, his way goes: mine stands inclin'd

T'attend the home-turne of my

Intending his Father: whose ret [...]ne, though hee were far fr [...] knowing, or fully expecting: yet he desir'd to order all thing [...] as he were present.

neerer kind.

Do then, what I inioyne, which giuen effect;

Erre not to field to him, but turne direct.

Entreating first my Mother, with most speed;

And all the secrecy that now serues Neede,

To send this way their store-house Guardian,

And she shall tell all to the aged

Intending to La [...]rtes, all that Eumaeus would haue [...]old.

Man.

He tooke his shooes vp; put them on, and went.

Nor was his absence, hid from Ioues descent,

Diuine Minerua: who tooke straight, to view,

A goodly womans shape, that all workes knew:

And, standing in the entry, did prefer

Her sight t'Vlysses. But (though meeting her)

His sonne Telemachus, nor saw, nor knew:

The Gods cleere presences, are knowne to few.

Yet (with Vlysses) euen the Dogs did see,

And would not barke; but, whining louingly,

[Page] Fled to the Stals farre side.

P [...]llas appeares to Vlysses.

VVhere She, her eine

Moou'd to Vlysses. He knew her designe,

And left the house, past the great Sheep-cotes wall,

And stood before her. She bad, Vtter all

Now to his sonne; nor keepe the least vnlosde:

That all the wooers deaths being now disposde,

They might approach the Towne; Affirming, she

Not long would faile, t'assist to victory.

This said;

Pallas restores Vlysses youth for [...]he [...]ime.

She laide her golden Rod on him;

And with his late-worne weeds grac't euery lim.

His body straitn'd, and his youth instill'd;

His fresh blood call'd vp: euery wrinkle fill'd

About his broken eyes; and on his chin

The browne haire spred. When his whole trim wrought in;

She yssu'd; and he enter'd to his sonne:

VVho stood amaz'd; & thought some God had done

His house that honor: turn'd away his eyes,

And sayd;

Tel [...]mac [...]us to his Fathe [...].

Now Guest, you grace another guise

Then suites your late shew; Other weeds you weare,

And other person. Of the starry spheare

You certainly present some deathlesse God.

Be pleasd, that to your here vouchsaf't abod

VVe may giue sacred rites, and offer Gold

To do vs fauour.

Vlysses to Telē.

He replied: I hold

No deified state. VVhy put you thus on me

A Gods resemblance? I am onely he

That beares thy Fathers name: for whose lou'd sake,

Thy youth so grieues: whose absence makes thee take,

Such wrong [...] of men. Thus kist he him; nor could

Forbeare those teares, that in such mighty hold

He held before: still held, still yssuing euer.

And now (the shores once broke) the springtide neuer

Forbore earth from the cheekes he kist. His sonne,

(By all these violent arguments; not wonne

To credit him his Father) did deny

His kinde assumpt: and said, Some Deity

Fain'd that ioyes cause,

Tel. to Vlysses.

to make him grieue the more:

Affirming, that no man, whoeuer wore

The garment of mortality, could take

(By any vtmost power, his soule could make

Such change into it: since at so much will,

Not Ioue himselfe, could both remoue, and fill

Old age, with youth; and youth, with age so spoile

In such an instant. You wore all the soile

Of age but now, and were old: And but now

You beare that yong grace that the Gods indow

Their heauen-borne formes withall. His father saide:

Vlys. [...] his sonne

Telemachus? Admire, nor stand dismaide:

[Page] But know thy solid Father; since within,

He answeres all parts, that adorne his skin.

There shall no more Vlyss [...]sses come heere.

I am the man, that now this twentith yeare

(Stil vnder sufferance of a world of ill)

My count [...]ey earth, recouer: 'Tis the will

The Prey-professor Pallas puts in act;

VVho put me thus together; thus distract,

In aged pieces, as euen now you saw,

This youth now rendring. 'Tis within the law

Of her free pow'r. Sometimes to shew me pore;

Sometimes againe, thus amply to restore

My youth, and Ornaments; She still would please.

The God [...] can raise, and throw men downe, with ease.

This said; he sat: when his Telemachus pour'd

Himselfe about him: Teares on teares, he shour'd:

And to desire of mone, increast the cloud:

Both wept & howl'd, & laide out shrieks more loud;

Then or the Bird-bone-breaking Eagle reres;

Or Brood-kind Vulture with the crooked Seres,

VVhen rusticke hands, their tender Aries draw,

Before they giue their wings their full-plum'd Law.

But miserably pour'd they from beneath

Their lids, their teares: while both their breasts did breath

As frequent cries: & to their feruent mone,

The light had left the skies; if first the sonne

Their dumbe mones had not vented, with demand

VVhat Ship it was, that gaue the naturall land

To his blest feet? He then, did likewise lay

Hand on his passion; and gaue these words way.

Ile tell thee truth, my sonne; The men that beare

Much fame for shipping,

Vlysses tels his sonne what ship [...]e arri [...]'d in.

my Reducers were

To long-wisht Ithaca; who each men els,

That greets their shore, giue passe to where he dwels.

The Phaeacensian Peeres, in one nights date,

(VVhile I fast slept) fetcht th'Ithacensian state:

Grac't me with wealthy gifts: Brasse, store of Gold,

And Robes faire wrought: All which haue secret hold

In Caues, that by the Gods aduice, I chusde.

And now, Minerua's admonitions vsde

For this retreat; that we might heere dispose

In close Discourse, the slaughters of our foes.

Recount the number of the wooers then;

And let me know what name they hold with men:

That my minde, may cast ouer their estates

A curious measure; & conferre the rates

Of our two pow'rs, and theirs: to try, if we

Alone, may propagate to victory

[Page] Our bold encounters of them all, or proue

The kind assistance of some others loue.

O Father (he replied) I

Telem. to Vlys.

oft haue heard

Your counsailes, and your force of hand prefer'd

To mighty glory: But your speeches now,

Your ventrous minde, exceeding mighty show.

Euen to amaze they moue me: for in right

Of no fitte counsaile, should be brought to fight,

Two men, 'gainst th'able faction of a throng.

No one two, o one ten; No twice ten strong

These wooers are: but more by much. For know,

That from Dulychius there are fifty two;

All choise yong men: and euery one of these

Six men attend. From Samos crost the Seas

Twice twelue young Gallants. From Zacynthus came

Twice ten. Of Ithaca, the best of name

Twice six. Of all which, all the State they take,

A sacred Poet, and a Herald make.

Their delicacies, two (of speciall sort

In skill of banquets) serue. And all this port

If we shall dare t'encounter; all thrust vp

In one strong roose: haue great care lest the cup

Your great mind thirsts, exceeding bitter taste;

And your retreat, commend not to your haste

Your great attempt; but make you say, you buy

Their prides reuenges, at a price too hy.

And therefore (if you could) t'were well you thought

Of some assistent. Be your spirit wrought

In such a mans election, as may lend

His succours freely, and expresse a Friend

His Father answer'd: Let me aske of thee;

Vlys. to Telem.

Heare me, consider; and then answer me.

Think'st thou if Pallas, and the King of skies

We had to Friend; would their sufficiencies

Make strong our part? Or that some other yet

My thoughts must worke for? These (saide he) are set

Aloft the clouds;

Telema [...]hu.

and are sound aydes indeed:

As pow'rs not onely, that these men exceed;

But beare of all men else the high command;

And hold, of Gods, an ouer-ruling hand.

VVell then (said he) not these shall seuer long

Their force and ours,

Vlysses.

in fights assur'd, and strong.

And then, twixt vs, and them, shall Mars prefer

His strength; to stand our great distinguisher;

When, in mine owne Roofes, I am forc't to blowes.

But when the day, shall first her fires disclose;

Go thou for home, and troope vp with the woo'rs;

Thy wil with theirs ioind; pow'r with their rude powrs

[Page] And after, shall the Herdsman guide to Towne

My steps; my person wholly ouer-growne

With all apparance of a poore old Swaine,

Heauy, and wretched. If their high disdaine

Of my vile presence; make them, my desert

Affect with contumelies; let thy loued heart

Beate in fixt confines of thy bosome still,

And see me suffer, patient of their ill.

I, though they drag me by the heeles, about

Mine owne free earth, and after hurle me out;

Do thou still suffer. Nay, though with their Darts

They beate, and bruise me; beare. But these foul parts

Perswade them to forbeare; and by their names

Cal all with kinde words: bidding, for their shames

Their pleasures cease. If yet they yeeld not way;

There breakes the first light of their fatall day.

In meane space, marke this: VVhen the chiefly wise

Minerua prompts me; Ile informe thine eies

VVith some giuen signe; & then, all th'armes that are

Aloft thy Roofe, in some neere roome prepare

For speediest vse. If those braue men enquire

Thy end in all; still rake vp all thy fire

In faire coole words: and say; I bring them downe

To scoure the smoke off; being so ouer-growne

That one would thinke, all fumes that euer were.

Breath'd since Vlysses losse, reflected here.

These are not like the armes, he left behinde

In way for Troy. Besides, Ioue prompts my minde

In their remoue apart thus, with this thought:

That, if in heighth of wine, there should bee wrought

Some harsh contention twixt you; this apt meane

To mutual bloodshed, may be taken cleane

From out your reach; and all the spoile preuented

Of present Feast: perhaps, euen then presented

My Mothers Nuptials, to your long kinde vowes.

Steele it selfe, ready; drawes a man to blowes.

Thus make their thoughts secure; to vs alone

Two Swords, two Darts; two shields left; wc see done

VVithin our readiest reach; that at our will

VVe may resume, and charge; And all their skil,

Pallas and Ioue, that all iust counsailes breath;

May darken, with securenesse, to their death.

And let me charge thee now, as thou art mine;

And as thy veines mine owne true blood combine:

Let (after this) none know Vlysses nere.

Not any one of all the houshold there;

Not here, the Herdsman: Not Laertes be

Made priuy: nor her selfe, Penelope.

[Page] But onely let thy selfe, and me worke out

The womens thoughts, of all things borne about

The wooers hearts: and then thy men approue,

To know who honors, who with reuerence loue

Our well-weigh'd Memories; and who is won

To faile thy fit right, though my onely Son.

You teach (saide he) so punctually now,

Tel [...]machus to his Father.

As I knew nothing; nor were sprung from you.

I hope, heereafter, you shall better know

VVhat soule I beare; and that it doth not let

The least loose motion, passe his naturall seat.

But this course you propose, will proue, I feare,

Small profit to vs; and could wish your care

VVould weigh it better, as too farre about.

For Time will aske much, to the sifting out

Of each mans disposition, by his deeds.

And, in the meane time, euery wooer feeds

Beyond saciety; nor knowes how to spare.

The women yet, since they more easie are

For our enquiry; I would wish you try

VVho right your state, who do it iniury.

The men I would omit: and these things make

Your labour, after. But to vndertake

The wooers warre; I wish your vtmost speede,

Especially, if you could cheere the deed,

VVith some Oftent from Ioue. Thus (as the Sire

Consented to the Son) did heere expire

Their mutuall speech. And now the Ship was come

That brought the yong Prince, & his soldiers home.

The deepe Hauen (reacht) they drew the Ship ashore;

Tooke all their Armes out, and the rich Gifts bore

To Clitius house. But to Vlysses Court

They sent a Herald first, to make report

To wise Penelope, that safe at field

Her Son was left: yet since the Ship would yield

Most hast to her; he sent that first; and them

To comfort with his vtmost, the extream

He knew she suffer'd. At the Court, now met

The Herald, and the Herdsman; to repeat

One message to the Queene. Both whom (arriu'd

VVithin the gates:) Both to be formost striu'd

In that good Newes. The Herald, he for hast

Amongst the Maids bestow'd it; thinking plac'st

The Queene amongst them. Now (said he) O Queen,

Your lou'd Son is arriu'd. And then was seene

The Queene her selfe: To whom the herdsman [...]ould

All that Telemachus inioyn'd he should.

All which discharg'd; his steps, he backe bestowes,

[Page] And left, both Court and City, for his Sowes.

The wooers then grew sad; soule-vext, and all

Made forth the Court. When, by the mighty wall,

They tooke their seuerall seate, before the gates;

To whom Eurymachus, initiates

Their vtter'd greeuance. O (sayd he) my Friends;

[...].

A worke right great begun, as proudly ends▪

VVe said, Telemachus should neuer make

His voyage good; nor this shore euer take

For his returnes receipt: and yet we faile,

And he performes it. Come, let's man a Saile

The best in our election; and bestow

Such souldiers in her, as can swiftest row:

To tell our friends, that way-lay his retreat

'Tis safe perform'd: and make them quickly get

Their ship for Ithaca. This was not said,

Before Amphinomus in Port displaid

The ship arriu'd: her sailes then vnder stroke,

And Oares resum'd. VVhen laughing, thus he spoke:

Moue for no messenger: these men are come;

[...]

Some God hath either told his turning home,

Or they themselues haue seene his ship gone by:

Had her in chase, and lost her. Instantly

They rose, and went to Port: found drawne to Land

The Ship; the souldiers taking Armes in hand.

The woo'rs themselues, to counsaile went, in throng:

And not a man besides, or old, or yong,

Let sit amongst them. Then Eupitheus Sonne

(Antinous) said: See what the Gods haue done:

They onely, haue deliuered from our ill

The men we way-laid;

[...]

euery windy hill

Hath bin their watch-tow'r; where by turns they stood

Continuall Sentinell. And we made good

Our worke as well: For (Sun, once set) we neuer

Slept winke ashore, all night; But made saile euer

This way, and that; euen till the morning kept

Her sacred Station; so to intercept

And take his life, for whom our ambush lay;

And yet hath God, to his returne giuen way.

But let vs prosecute with counsailes, here

His necessary death: nor any where

Let rest his safety; for if he suruiue,

Our sailes will neuer, in wisht Hauens arriue.

Since he is wise, hath soule, and counsaile to

To worke the people, who will neuer do

Our faction fauour. What we then intend

Against his person, giue we present end

Before he call a counsaile; which, beleeue

[Page] His spirit will hast, & point where it doth greeue▪

Stand vp amongst them all, and vrge his death

Decreed amongst vs. Which complaint, will breath

A fire about their spleenes; and blow no praise

On our ill labours. Lest they therefore raise

Pow'r to exile vs from our Natiue earth,

And force our liues societies to the birth

Of forreigne countries: let our speeds preuent

His comming home, to this austere complaint;

(At field and farre from Towne, or in some way

Of narrow passage:) with his latest day

Shewne to his forward youth: his goods and lands,

Left to the free diuision of our hands:

The Moouables made al, his Mothers dowre,

And his who-euer, Fate affoords the powre

To celebrate with her, sweet Hyme [...]s rites.

Or if this please not; but your appetites

Stand to his safety, and to giue him [...]eate

In his whole birth-right; let vs looke to eate

At his cost neuer more: but euery man

Haste to his home: and wed with whom he can

At home; and there, lay first about for dowre,

And then the woman giue his second powre

Of Nuptiall liking: And, for last, apply

His purpose, with most gifts, and destiny.

This, silence caus'd; whose breach, at last, begon

Amphinomus, the much renowned Son

Of Nisus, surnam'd Aretiades;

VVho from Dulychius (full of flowry Leas)

Led all the wooers; and in chiefe did please

The Queene with his discourse; because it grew

From rootes of those good mindes that did indue

His goodly person:

[...]. Bonis mentibus the plurall number vsed euer by Homer.

who (exceeding wi [...]e)

Vs'd this speech: Friends, I neuer will adui [...]e

The Princes death: for 'tis a damned thing

To put to death the yssue of a King.

First therefore, let's examine, what applause

The Gods will giue it. If the equall Lawes

Of Ioue approoue it, I my selfe will be

The man shall kill him; and this companie

Exhort to that minde: If the Gods remaine

Aduerse, and hate it; I aduise, refraine.

This said Amphinomus, and pleas'd them all:

VVhen all arose, and in Vlysses Hall

Tooke seate againe. Then, to the Queene was come

The wooers plot, to kill her sonne at home:

Since their abroad designe had mist successe.

The Herald Medon (who the whole addresse

[Page] Knew of their counsailes) making the report.

The Goddesse of her sex, with her faire sort

Of louely women; at the large Hals dore

(Her bright cheekes clouded, with a veile shee wore)

Stood, and directed to Antinous

Her sharpe reproofe; which she digested thus:

Antinous?

Penel: to Antin▪

composde of iniury,

Plotter of mischiefe? Though reports that flye

Amongst our Ithacensian people; say

That thou, of all that glory in their sway,

Art best in words and counsailes; Th'art not so.

Fond, busie fellow, why plott'st thou the wo

And slaughter of my Son? and dost not feare

The Presidents of suppliants? when the eare

Of Ioue stoopes to them? 'Tis vniust to do

Slaughter for slaughter; or pay woe, for wo:

Mischiefe for kindnesse; Death for life sought then,

Is an iniustice to be loath'd of men.

Serues not thy knowledge, to remember when

Thy Father fled to vs; who (mou'd to wrath

Against the Taphian theeues) pursu'd with scath

The guiltlesse Thesprots; in whose peoples feare,

Pursuing him for wreake, he landed here.

They after him, professing both their prize

Of all his chiefly valew'd Faculties,

And more priz [...]d life. Of all whose bloodiest ends

Vlysses curb'd them, though they were his frends.

Yet thou, like one that no Law will allow

The least true honor, eat'st his house vp now

That fed thy Father: woo'st for loue, his wife,

VVhom thus thou grieu'st; & seek'st her sole sons life.

Ceasse, I command thee; and command the rest,

To see all thought of these foule fashions eeast.

Eurymachus replyed; Be confident,

Eurym: to Pene [...]

Thou all of wit made; the most fam'd descent

Of King Icarius: Free thy spirits of feare:

There liues not any one; nor shall liue here

Now, nor hereafter; while my life giues heat

And light to me on earth▪ that dares entreat

VVith any ill touch, thy well-loued Sonne;

But heere I vow, and heere will see it done,

His life shall staine my Lance. If on his knees

The City-racer,

Vlysses.

Laert [...]ades,

Hath made me sit; put in my hand his foode,

And held his red wine to me: shall the bloode

Of his Telemachus, on my hand lay

The least pollution, that my life can stay?

No: I haue euer charg'd him not to feare

[Page] Deaths threat from any; And for that most deare

Loue of his Father, he shall euer be

Much the most lou [...]d, of all that liue to me.

Who kils a guiltlesse man, from Man may flye;

From God his searches, all escapes deny.

Thus cheer'd his words; but his affections still

Fear'd not to cherish foule intent to kill,

Euen him, whose life to all liues he prefer'd.

[...]he Queene went vp; and to her loue appear'd

Her Lord so freshly; that she wept, till sleepe

(By Pallas forc't on her) her eyes did steepe

In his sweet humor. When the Euen was come,

The God-like Herdsman reacht the whole way home.

Vlysses and his Son, for supper drest

A yeare-old Swine; and ere their Host and Guest

Had got their presence; Pallas had put by

With her faire rod, Vlysses royalty;

And render'd him, an aged man againe,

VVith all his vile Integuments; lest his Swaine

Should know him in his trim, & tell his Queene,

In these deepe secrets, being not deeply seene.

He seene;

Telem. to Eum.

to him, the Prince these words did vse:

VVelcome diuine Eumaeus; Now what newes

Imployes the City? Are the wooers come

Backe from their Scout dismaid? Or heere at home

VVill they againe attempt me?

[...]um to Telem.

He replied,

These touch not my care; I was satisfied

To do, with most speed, what I went to do;

My message done, returne. And yet, not so

Came my newes first; a Herald (met with there)

Fore-stal'd my Tale, and told how safe you were.

Besides which meerely necessary thing;

What in my way chanc't, I may ouer-bring,

Being what I know, and witnest with mine eyes.

Where the Hermaean Sepulcher doth rise

Aboue the City: I beheld take Port

A Ship; and in her, many a man of sort:

Her freight was shields and Lances; and, me thought

They were the wooers: but of knowledge, nought

Can therein tell you. The Prince smil'd, and knew

They were the [...]wooers; casting secret view

Vpon his Father. But what they intended

Fled far the Herdsman: whose Swaines labors ended,

They drest the Supper; which, past want, was eat.

VVhen all desire suffic'd, of wine, and meat;

Of other humane wants, they tooke supplies

At Sleepes soft hand; who sweetly clos'd their eies.

The End of the xvi. Booke.

THE SEVENTEENTH BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES.
Another.

[Page]

THE ARGVMENT.

TElemachus return'd to Towne,

Makes to his curious mother knowne

In part, his Trauailes. After whome

Vlysses to the Court doth come,

In good Eumaeus guide; and preast

To witnesse of the Wooers Feast▪

Whom (though twice ten yeares did bestow

In farre off parts) his Dog doth know.

[...]

Vlysses showes

through all disguise:

Whom his dog knowes;

who knowing dies.

BVt when aires rosie birth (the Morne) arose,

Telemachus did for the Towne dispose

His early steps; and tooke to his command

His faire long Lance, well sorting with his hand.

Thus, parting with Eumaeus: Now my friend,

Telem. to Eum.

I must to Towne; lest too farre I extend

My Mothers mone for me: who till her eyes

Mine owne eyes witnesse; varies teares and cries

Through all extreames. Do then this charge of mine,

And guide to Towne this haplesse guest of thine;

To beg else-where his further Festiuall:

Giue, they that please, I cannot giue to all:

Mine owne wants take vp for my selfe my paine.

If it incense him, he the worst shall gaine;

The louely truth I loue, and must be plaine.

Alas Friend (saide his Father) nor do I

Desire at all your further charity.

'Tis better beg in Cities,

Vlys▪ to his Son.

then in Fields,

And take the worst a beggers fortune yields.

Nor am I apt to stay in Swine-sties more

How euer: euer the great Chiefe before

The poore Rankes must, to euery step obay.

[Page] But goe; your man, in my command shall sway:

Anon yet to, by fauor; when your fires

Haue comforted the colde heat, age expires;

And when the Suns flame, hath besides corrected

The early aire abroad; not being protected

By these my bare weeds, from the mornings frost;

Which (since so much ground is to be engrost

By my poore feete as you report) may giue

Too violent charge, to th'heat by which I liue.

This saide; his Sonne went on, with spritely pace,

And to the wooers, studied little grace.

Arriu'd at home; he gaue his Iaueline stay

Against a lofty Pillar; and bold way

Made further in. When, hauing so farre gone

That he transcended, the fayre Porch of Stone;

The first by farre, that gaue his entry, eye

VVas Nurse Euryclea; who th'embrodery

Of Stooles there set; was giuing Cushions faire:

VVho ranne vpon him, and her rapt repaire

Shed teares for ioy. About him gather'd round

The other Maides; his head, and shoulders, croun'd

VVith kisses and embraces. From aboue

The Queene her selfe came, like the Queene of Loue;

Or bright Diana: Cast about her Sonne

Her kinde embraces: with effusion

Of louing teares; kist both his louely eyes,

His cheekes, and forehead; and gaue all supplies

With this entreaty: Welcome sweetest light;

I neuer had conceite,

Penel. to Telem.

to set quicke sight

On thee thus soone; when thy lou'd fathers fame

As farre as Pylos, did thy spirit enflame:

In that search ventur'd all vnknowne to me.

O say, By what power cam'st thou now to be

Mine eyes deare obiect? He return'd reply,

Moue me not now:

Telem to his Mother.

when you my scape descry

From iminent death; to thinke me fresh entrapt;

The fear'd wound rubbing, felt before I scap't.

Double not needlesse passion, on a heart

VVhose ioy so greene is, and so apt t'inuert:

But pure weeds putting on, ascend and take

Your women with you: that yee all may make

Vowes of full Hecatombs, in sacred fire

To all the God-heads; If their onely Sire

Vouchsafe reuenge of guest-rites wrong'd, which hee

Is to protect, as being their Deity.

My way shall be directed to the hall

Of common Concourse, that I thence may call

A stranger; who from off the Pylian shore

[Page] Came friendly with me; whom I sent before

VVith all my souldiers; but in chiefe did charge

Pyraeus with him, wishing him t'enlarge

His loue to him, at home, in best affaire,

And vtmost honors, till mine owne repaire.

Her Son, thus spoken; his words could not beare

The wings too eas [...]ly through her either eare:

But putting pure weeds on; made vowes entire

Of perfect Hecatombes, in sacred fire

To all the Deities; if their onely Sire

Vouchsaft reuenge of guest-rites, wrong'd; which he

VVas to protect, as being their Deity.

Her Son left house: In his faire hand, his Lance;

His dogs attending, and on euery glance

His lookes cast from them; Pallas put a grace

That made him seeme of the celestiall race.

Whom (come to concourse) euery man admir'd:

About him throng'd the wooers, and desir'd

All good to him in tongue [...]; but in their hearts

Most deepe ils threatn'd, to his most deserts.

Of whose huge rout, once free; he cast glad eie

On some, that long before his infancie,

VVere with his Father, great, and gracious:

Graue Halytherses, Mentor, Antiphus;

To whom he went: tooke seate by them. And they

Enquir'd of all things, since his parting day.

To them Pyraeus came, and brought his Guest

Along the City thither; whom not left

The Prince respected; nor was long before

He rose and met him: The first word yet;

Pyrae. to Tel [...]m.

bore

Pyraeus from them both: whose haste, besought

The Prince to send his women, to see brought

The Gifts from his house, that Atrides gaue,

VVhich, his own roofes, he thought, wold better saue.

The wise Prince answer'd, I can scarse conceiue

The way to these workes. If the wooers reaue

By priuy Stratagem, my life at home:

I rather wish, Pyraeus may become

The Maister of them, then the best of these.

But, if I sowe in their fields of excesse,

Slaughter, and ruine; then thy trust imploy,

And to me ioying, bring thou those with ioy.

This said; he brought home his grief-practisd Guest;

VVhere both put off, both oyl'd, and did inuest

Themselues in rich Robes; washt, and sate, and eate.

His Mother, in a faire chaire, taking seate

Directly opposite: her Loome applied;

VVho (when her Son and Guest, had satisfied

[Page] Their appetites with feast) said;

[...]

O my Sonne,

You know, that eue [...] since your Sire was wonne

To go in Agamemnons guide to Troy;

Attempting sleepe, I neuer did inioy

One nights good rest; but made my quiet bed

A Sea blowne vp with sighes; with teares still shed

Embrew'd and troubl'd: yet, though all your misse

In your late voyage, hath bene made for this,

That you might know th'abode your Father made.

You shun to tell me what successe you had.

Now then, before the insolent accesse

The wooers straight will force on vs; expresse

What you haue heard. I will (saide he) and true.

VVe came to Py [...]os,

[...].

where the studious due

That any Father could affoord his Son;

(But new arriu'd▪ from some course he had ron

To an extreame length, in some voyage vow'd)

Nestor, the Pastor of the people, show'd

To me arriu'd, in turrets thrust vp hye;

VVhere not his braue Sons, were more lou'd then I.

Yet of th'vnconquer'd euer-Sufferer

Vlysses; neuer he could set his eare

Aliue, or dead, from any earthy man.

But to the great Lacedemonian

(Atri [...]es, famous for his Lance) he sent

VVith horse and Chariots; Me, to learne th'euent

From his Relation; where I had the view

Of Argine Hel [...]en, whose strong beauties drew

(By wils of Gods) so many Grecia [...] States▪

And Troians, vnder such laborious fates.

Where Menelaus ask't me, what affai [...]e

To Lacedemon, render'd my repaire.

I told him all the truth:

[...]. to Telem.

who made reply▪

O deed of most abhor'd indecency!

A sort of Impotents attempt his bed,

VVhose strength of minde, hath Cities leuelled?

As to a Lyons den, when any Hinde

Hath brought her yong Calues, to their rest inclinde;

When he is ranging hils, and hearby dal [...]s,

To make, of Feeders there, his Festiuals:

But turning to his luster; Calues, and Dam,

He shewes abhorr'd death, in his angers flame:

So (should Vlysses finde this rabble, housd

In his free Turrets, courting his espousd)

F [...]ule death would fall them. O, I would to Ioue,

Phoebus, and Pallas, that (when he shall proue

The broad report of his exhausted store,

True with his eyes) his Nerues and Sinewes wore

[Page] That vigor then, that in the Lesbian Tow'rs

(Prouok't to wrastle with the iron powrs

Philomelides vanted) he approu'd;

VVhen, downe he hurl'd his Challenger, and mou'd

Huge shouts from all the Achiues then in view.

If, once come home, he all those forces drew

About him there to worke: they all were dead,

And should finde bitter his attempted bed.

But, what you aske and sue for, I (as far,

As I haue heard, the true-spoke Marinar)

VVill tell directly; nor delude your eare.

He told me, that an Island did enspheare

(In much discomfort) great Laertes sonne;

And that the Nymph Calypso (ouer-ronne

VVith his affection) kept him in her Caues,

Where men, nor Ship, of pow'r to brook the waues,

VVere neere his conuoy to his countries Shore▪

And where her selfe, importun'd euermore

His quiet stay; which not obtain'd, by force,

She kept his person from all else recourse.

This told Atrides; which was all he knew;

Nor staid I more: but from the Gods there blew

A prosperous winde, that set me quickly heere.

This put his Mother, quite from all her cheere:

Theoclymenus to Penelope.

VVhen Theoclymenus the Augu [...]e, said:

O woman, honour'd with Vlysses bed:

Your Son, no doubt, knowes cleerely nothing more▪

Heare me yet speake, that can the truth vncore;

Nor will be curious. Ioue then, witnesse beare,

And this thy Hospitable Table [...],

VVith this whole houshold of [...]

That, at this houre, his royall [...]

On his lou'd countrey earth; [...]

Comming, or creeping, [...]

These wooers make; and in his [...]

Seeds, that shall thriue to [...]

This, set a ship-boord, [...]

And cried it out, to your [...]

Penelope replied; VVould [...]

You well should witnesse a most [...]

And gifts such of me, as [...]

Should greete you with, a blessed [...]

This mutuall speech, past: all the [...]

Hurling the stone, and [...]

Before the Pallace, in the [...]

VVhere other-whil [...], their [...]

Sate plotting iniuries. But when [...]

Of Supper enter'd; and the [...]

[Page] Brought sheepe from field, that fil'd vp euery way

VVith those that vsde to furnish that puruay;

Medon,

[...]

the Herald (who of all the rest

Pleasd most the wooers and at euery Feast

VVas euer neere) said; You whose kind consort

Make the faire branches of the Tree, our Court;

Grace it within now, and your Suppers take.

You that for health, and faire contentions sake

Wil please your minds; know, bodies must haue meat;

Play's worse then idlenesse, in times to eate.

This said; all left; came in; cast by, on Thrones

And Chaires, their garments. Their prouisions

VVere Sheepe, Swine, Goats; the chiefly great & fat.

Besides an Oxe, that from the Herd they gat.

And now, the King and Herdsman, from the field,

In good way were to Towne: Twixt whom was held

Some walking conference; which thus begun

The good Eumaeus:

Eumae to Vlyss.

Guest, your will was wun,

(Because the Prince commanded) to make way

Vp to the City; though I wisht your stay,

And to haue made you Gaurdian of my stall:

But I, in care and feare, of what might fall,

In after anger of the Prince; forbore.

The checkes [...] Princes, touch their subiects sore.

But make we hast, the day is neerely ended;

And cold ayres still, are in the Euen extended.

I know't (said he) consider all;

Vlyss. to Eum [...].

your charge

Is giuen to one that vnderstands at large.

Haste then: heereafter, you shall leade the way;

Affoord your Staffe to, if it fit your stay,

That I may vse it; since you say, our passe

Is lesse friend to a weake foot, then it was.

Thus cast he on his ne [...]e, his nasty [...],

All patcht and torne: A cord that would not slip

For knots, and bracks, about the mouth of it,

Made serue the turne: and then his Swaine did [...]

His forc't state with a staffe. Then [...] they hard

Their way to towne: Their Cottage [...]

To Swaines and Dogs. And now, [...]

The King along: his garments to a thred

All bare, and burn'd; and he [...]

Vpon his staffe▪ at all parts [...]

And sad old begger. But when now they got

The rough high-way; their voyage [...]

Much,

[...]

of the City: where a Fount they reacht,

From whence the Towne their choisest water fetcht,

That euer ouer-flow'd; and curious Art

VVas shewne about it: In which, [...] part;

[Page] VVhose names, Neritus and Polyctor were,

And famous Ithacus. It had a Sphere

Of poplar, that ranne round about the wall;

And into it, a lofty Rocke let fall,

Continuall supply of coole cleare streame:

On whose top, to the Nymphs that were supreme

In those parts loues; a stately Altar rose;

VVhere euery Trauailer, did still impose

Deuoted sacrifice. At this fount, found

These silly Trauailers, a man renown'd

For guard of Goats, which now he had in guide;

VVhose huge [...] stor'd Herd, two herdsment kept beside:

For all Herds it exceld; and bred a feed

For wooers onely. He was Dolius seede,

And call'd Melanthius. VVho casting eye

One these two there, he chid them terribly:

And so past meane, that euen the wrethed fate,

Now on Vlysses, he did irritate.

His fume

Melan [...]ius to Eumaeu [...] and Vlysses.

to this effect, he did pursue:

VVhy so; tis now at all parts passing true,

That ill leades ill: good euermore doth traine

VVith like, his like: VVhy thou vnenuied Swaine,

VVhither dost thou leade this same victles Leager?

This bane of banquets; this most nasty begger?

VVhose sight doth make one sad, it so abhorres;

VVho with his standing in so many doores,

Hath broke his backe; and all his beggery tends

To beg base crusts, but to no manly ends;

As asking swords, or with actiuity

To get a Caldron VVouldst thou giue him me,

To farme my Stable, or to sweepe my yarde,

And bring brouse to my kids; and that prefer'd,

He should be at my keeping for his paines,

To drinke as much [...]hey, as his thirsty veynes

VVould still be swilling (whey made all his fees)

His monstrous belly, would oppresse his knees.

But he hath learn'd to leade ba [...]e life about;

And will not worke, but crouch among the rout;

For broken meate, to cram his bursten gut.

Yet this Ile say; and he will finde it put

In sure effect; that if he enters where

Vlysses roofes cast shade; the stooles will there

About his eares flye; all the house wil throw;

And rub his ragged sides, with cuffes enow.

Past these reuiles; his manlesse rudenesse spurn'd

Diuine Vlysses; who, at no part turn'd

His face from him, but had his spirit fed

VVith these two thoghts; If he should strike him dead

[Page] VVith his bestowed staffe: or at his feete

Make his direct head, and the pauement meete.

But he bore all, and entertain'd a brest,

That in the strife of all extremes did rest.

Eumaeus,

Eumoeuscu [...]seth Melm. for his rude vsage of Vlysses.

frowning on him; chid him yet▪

And lifting vp his hands to heauen, he set

This bitter curse at him: O you that beare

Faire name to be the race of Iupiter,

Nymphes of these Fountaines! If Vlysses euer

Burn'd thighes to you; that hid in fat, did neuer

Faile your acceptance, of or Lambe, or Kid;

Grant this grace to me; let the man thus hid

Shine through his dark fate: make som God his guide;

That, to thee (Goat-herd) this same Pallats

Intending his [...] Herd, k [...]pt o [...]ely for the wooers dain [...]ie Pa [...]la [...]s.

pride,

Thou driu'st afore thee; he may come and make

The scatterings of the earth; and ouer-take

Thy wrongs, with forcing thee to euer erre

About the City, hunted by his feare.

And in the meane space, may some slothfull Swaines,

Let lowsie sicknesse gnaw thy Cattels Vaines.

O Gods!

Mel [...]m: answer to Eumaeus.

(replyed Melanthius) what a curse

Hath this dog barkt out; and can yet, do wurse?

This man, shall I haue giuen into my hands,

VVhen, in a well-built Ship, to farre-off Lands

I shall transport him: That (should I want [...])

My sale of him, may finde me victels there.

And (for Vlysses) would to heauen, his ioy

The Siluer-bearing [...] bow-God, would destroy,

This day, within his house; as sure as he

The day of his returne shall neuer see.

This said, he left them, going silent on;

But he out-went them, and tooke straight vpon

The Pallace royall, which he enter'd straight;

Sat with tho wooers, and his Trenchers fraight

The Keruers gaue him, of the flesh there v [...]nted:

But bread, the reuerend Buttleresse presented.

He tooke, against Eurymachus, his place;

VVho most of all the wooers, gaue him grace.

And now, Vlysses and his Swaine got nere:

VVhen, round about them, visited their eare

The hollow Harpes delicious-stricken string;

To which, did Phaemius (neere the wooers) sing.

Then, by the hand, Vlysses tooke his Swaine,

And saide, Eumaeus? One may heere see plaine

(In many a grace) that

[...].

Laertiades

Built heere these Turrets; and (mongst others these)

His whole Court arm'd, with such a goodly wall:

The Cornish, and the Cope, Maiesticall:

[Page] His double gates, and Turrets, built too strong

For force, or vertue, euer to expugne.

I know, the Feasters in it, now abound,

Their Cates cast such a sauour; and the sound

The Harpe giues, argues, an accomplisht Feast;

The Gods made Musicke, Banquets deerest Guest.

These things (said he) your skill may tell with ease,

Since you are grac't with greater knowledges.

But now, consult we, how these workes shall sort,

If you will first approch this praised Court,

And see these wooers (I remaining here)

Or I shall enter, and your selfe forbeare.

But be not you, too tedious in your stay

Lest thrust ye be, and buffeted away.

Braine hath no fence for blowes; looke too't I pray.

You speake to one that comprehends (said he)

Go you before; and heere, aduenture me.

I haue of old, bene vsde to cuffes and blowes;

My minde is hardn'd; hauing borne the throwes

Of many a soure euent, in waues, and wars;

Where knockes and buffets are no Forreinats.

And this same harmefull belly, by no meane,

The greatest Abstinent, can euer weane.

Men suffer much Bane, by the Bellies rage;

For whose sake, Ships in all their equipage

Are arm'd, and set out to th'vntamed Seas;

Their bulkes full fraught with ils to enemies.

Such speech they chang'd: when in the yeard there lay

A dogge, call'd Argus; which, before his way

Assum'd for Ilion;

Vlysses dog, [...]led Argus.

Vlysses bred;

Yet stood his pleasure then, in little sted;

(As being too yong) but growing to his grace,

Yong men made choise of him for euery Chace;

Or of their wilde Goats, of their Hares, or Harts.

But, his King gone; and he, now past his parts;

Lay all abiectly on the Stables store,

Before the Oxe-stall, and Mules stable dore,

To keepe the clothes, cast from the Pessants hands,

While they laide compasse on Vlysses Lands:

The Dog, with Tickes (vnlook't to) ouer-growne.

But, by this Dog▪ no sooner seene, but knowne

VVas wise Vlysses, who (new enter'd there)

Vp went his Dogs laide eares; and (comming nere)

Vp, he himselfe rose,

The Dog dye [...] as soone as hee had se [...]n Vlysses

fawn'd, and wag'd his Sterne;

Coucht close his eares, and lay so: Nor descerne

Could euermore his deere-lou'd Lord againe.

Vlysses saw it; nor had powre t'abstaine

From shedding tears: which (far-off seeing his Swain)

[Page] He dried from his sight cleane; to whom, he thus

His griefe dissembled: 'Tis miraculous,

That such a Dog as this, should haue his laire

On such a dunghill; for his forme is faire.

And yet, I know not, if there were in him

Good pace, or parts, for all his goodly lim.

Or he liu'd empty of those inward things,

As are those trencher-Beagles, tending Kings;

VVhom for their pleasures, or their glories [...]ake,

Or fashion; they into their fauours take.

This Dog (said he)

Euma [...]us Des [...]riptions of Vlysses Dogge.

was seruant to one dead

A huge time since. But if he bore his head

(For forme and quality) of such a hight,

As when Vlysses (bound for th'Ilion fight,

Or quickly after) left him: your rapt eyes

VVould then admire, to see him vse his Thyes,

In strength, and swiftnes. He would nothing flye,

Nor any thing let scape. If once his eye

Seiz'd any wilde beast, he knew straight his scent:

Go where he would, away with him he went.

Nor was there euer any Sauage stood

Amongst the thickets of the deepest wood

Long time before him, but he pull'd him downe;

As well by that true hunting to be showne

In such vaste couerts; as for speed of pace

In any open Lawne; For in deepe chace,

He was a passing wise, and well-nos'd Hound.

And yet is all this good in him vncroun'd

With any grace heere now. Nor he more fed

Then any errant Curre. His King is dead,

Farre from his country; and his seruants are

So negligent, they lend his Hound, no care.

Where Maysters rule not, but let Men [...];

You neuer there, see honest seruice done.

That Man's halfe vertue, Ioue takes quite away,

That once is Sun-burn'd with the seruile day.

This said; he enter'd the well-builded Towers,

Vp bearing right vpon the glorious wooers;

And left poore Argus dead. His Lords first sight,

Since that time twenty yeares, bere [...]t his light.

Telemachus, did farre the first behould

Eumaeus enter; and made signes he should

Come vp to him. He (noting) came, and tooke

On earth, his seate. And then, the Maister Cooke

Seru'd in more banquet: Of which; part he set

Before the wooers; part the Prince did get:

VVho sate alone; his Table plac't aside;

To which, the Herald did the bread diuide.

[Page] After Eumaeus,

Vlysses ruthfull fashion of [...]

enter'd straight the King,

Like to a poore, and heauy aged thing:

Bore hard vpon his staffe; and was so clad,

As would haue made his meere beholder sad.

Vpon the Ashen floore, his limbes he spred;

And gainst a Cypresse threshold staid his head;

The tree wrought smooth, and in a line direct,

Tried by the Plumbe, and by the Architect.

The Prince then bad the Herdsman giue him bread,

The finest there: and see, that prostrated

At-all-parts-plight of his, giuen all the cheare

His hands, could turne to: Take (saide he) and beare

These cates to him; and bid him beg of all

These wooers heere; and to their feastiuall

Beare vp with all the impudence he can;

Bashfull behauiour, fits no needy Man.

He heard, and did his will: Hold Guest (saide he)

Telemachus commends these cates to thee:

Bids thee beare vp, and all these woo'rs implore;

Wit must make Impudent, whom Fate makes pore.

O Ioue (said he) do my poore pray'rs the grace,

To make him blessed'st of the mortall race:

And euery thought now, in his generous heart,

To deeds that further my desires conuert.

Thus tooke he in, with hoth his hands his store;

And in the vncouth Scrip that lay before

His ill-shod feete, repos'd it: whence he fed

All time the Musicke to the Feasters plaid.

Both ioyntly ending. Then began the woo'rs

To put in old act, their tumultuous pow'rs.

When Pallas standing close, did prompt her frend,

To proue how farre the bounties would extend

Of those proud wooers; so, to let him try,

Who most, who least, had learn'd humanity.

Howeuer, no thought toucht Mineruaes minde,

That any one should scape his wreake design'd.

He handsomly became all; crept about

To euery wooer; held a forc't hand out:

And all his worke, did in so like a way,

As he had practis'd begging many a day▪

And though they knew, all beggers could do this,

Yet they admir'd it, as no deede of his;

Though farre from thought of other: vs'd expence

And pitty to him: who he was, and whence,

Enquiring mutually. Melanthius then:

Heare me, ye wooers of the farre-fam'd Queen,

About this begger: I haue seene before

This face of his; and know for certaine more:

[Page] That this Swaine brought him hither. What he is,

Or whence he came, flies me. Reply to this

Antinous made; and mockt Eumaeus thus.

O thou renowned Herdsman, why to vs

Brought'st thou this begger? Serues it not Our hands,

That other Land-leapers, and Cormorands

(Prophane poore knaues) lye on vs, vnconducted,

But you must bring them? So amisse instructed

Art thou in course of thrift, as not to know

Thy Lords goods wrackt, in this their ouer-flow?

VVhich, thinkst thou nothing, that thou calst in these?

Eumaeus answer'd; Though you may be wise,

You speak not wisely: VVho cals in a Guest

That is a guest himselfe? None cal to Feast

Other then men that are of publique vse:

Prophets, or Poets, whom the Gods produce;

Physitians for mens ils; or Architects.

Such men, the boundlesse earth affoords respects

Bounded in honour; and may call them wel:

But poore men, who cals? Who doth so excell

In others good, to do himselfe an ill?

But all Vlysses seruants haue bene still

Eye-sores in your waie, more then all that woo;

And cheefly I. But what care I, for you?

As long as these roofes, hold as thrals to none,

The wi [...]e Penelope, and her God-like Sonne.

Forbeare (said he) and leaue this tongues bold ill;

Antinous vses to be crossing still,

And giue sharpe words: his blood that humor beares,

To set men stil together by the eares.

But (turning then t'Antinous) O (saide he)

You entertaine a Fathers care of me;

To turne these eating guests out: Tis aduise

Of needful vse for my poore faculties.

But God doth not allow this: There must be

Some care of poore men, in humanitie.

What you your selues take; giue; I not enuy,

But giue command that hospitality

Be giuen al strangers: Nor shal my pow'rs feare,

If this mood in me, reach my Mothers eare;

Much lesse the seruants, that are heere to see

Vlysses house kept, in his old degree.

But you beare no such mind; your wits more cast

To fill your selfe, then let another tast.

Antinous answer'd him; Braue spoken man!

VVhose minds free fire, see check't, no vertue can;

If all we wooers heere, would giue as much

As my minde serues; his

[...]

Larges should be such

[Page] As would for three months serue his farre off way

From troubling your house, with more cause of stay.

This said; he tooke a stoole vp, that did rest

Beneath the boord, his spangled feete at feast:

And offer'd at him: But the rest, gaue all,

And fil'd his fulsome Scrip with Festiuall.

And so Vlysses for the present, was,

And for the future furnisht; and his passe

Bent to the doore, to eate. Yet could not leaue

Antinous so:

Vlysses to A [...]tin.

but said; Do you to giue

(Lou'd Lord) your presence, makes a shew to me,

As you not worst were of the company,

But best? and so much, that you seeme the King:

And therefore, you should giue some better thing,

Then bread, like others. I will spred your praise

Through all the wide world; that haue in my daies

Kept house my selfe; and trod the wealthy waies

Of other men, euen to the Title, Blest;

And often haue I giuen an erring Guest

(How meane soeuer) to the vtmost gaine

Of what he wanted: kept whole troopes of men;

And had all other commings in; with which

Men liue so well, and gaine the fame of Rich.

Yet Ioue consum'd all: he would haue it so:

To which, his meane was this; he made me go

Farre off, for Egypt, in the rude consort

Of all-waies-wandring Pyrats; where, in Port

I bad my lou'd men, draw their Ships ashore,

And dwell amongst them▪ Sent out some t'explore

Vp to the Mountaines; who (intemperate,

And their inflam'd bloods, bent to satiate)

Forrag'd the rich fields; hal'd the women thence,

And vnwean'd children, with the foule expence

Both of their fames, and bloods. The cry then flew

Straight to the City; and the great fields grew

With horse, and foot; and flam'd with iron armes;

VVhen Ioue (that breaks the Thunder in Alarmes)

An ill flight cast amongst my men: Not one

Inspir'd with spirit, to stand, and turne vpon

The fierce pursuing foe: and therefore stood

Their ill fate thicke about them: some in blood,

And some in bondage: Toiles led by constraint

Fasting vpon them. Me, along they sent

To Cyprus, with a stranger Prince they met,

Dmetor Iasides; who th'Imperiall seat

Of that sweete Island, swaid in strong command;

And thus feele I heere, Needs contemned hand.

And what God sent (saide he) this suffering bane

[Page] To vex our banquet? Stand off; nor prophane

My boord so boldly, lest I shew thee here,

Cyprus and Egypt, made more soure then there.

You are a sawcy set fac't Vagabond.

About with all you go; and they, beyond

Discretion giue thee, since they finde not heere

The least proportion set downe to their cheere.

But euery Fountaine hath his vnder floods;

It is no Bounty, to giue others goods.

O Gods (replied Vlysses) I see now,

You beare no soule, in this your goodly show;

Beggers at your boord, I perceiue, should get

Scarse salt from your hands, if thē selues broght meat:

Since, sitting where anothers boord is spread,

That flowes with feast; not to the broken bread

VVill your allowance reach. Nay then (said he,

And look't austerely) I [...] so saucy be

Your suffer'd language, I suppose, that cleere

You shall not scape without some broken cheere.

Thus rapt he vp a stoole, with which he smit

The Kings right shoulder, 'twixt his necke, and it.

He stood him like a rocke: Antinous dart

Not stirr'd Vlysses: who, in his great hart

Deepe ils proiected; which, for time yet, close

He bound in silence; shooke his head, and went

Out to the Entry, where he then gaue vent

To his [...]ull scrip; sate on the earth, and eate,

And talk't still to the wooers: heare me yet

Ye wooers of the Queene. It neuer greeues

A man to take blowes, where for Sheepe, or Beeues,

Or other maine possessions, a man fights:

But for his harmefull belly, this man smites,

VVhose loue to many a man, breeds many a wo.

And if the poore haue Gods, and Furies to;

Before Antinous weare his Nuptiall wreath,

He shall be worne vpon the dart of death.

Harsh Guest (saide he) sit silent at your meate,

Or seeke your desperate plight some safer seate;

Lest by the hands, or heeles, youths drag your yeares,

And rend your rotten ragges about your eares.

This made the rest, as highly hate his folly,

As he had violated something holy.

VVhen one (euen of the proudest) thus began:

Thou dost not nobly, thus to play the man

On such an errant wretch: O ill dispos'd!

Perhaps some sacred God-head goes enclos'd

Euen in his abiect outside: For the Gods

Haue often visited these rich abods

[Page] Like such poore stranger Pilgrims; since their pow'rs

(Being alwayes shapefull) glide through Townes and Tow'rs;

Obseruing as they passe stil, who they be

That piety loue, and who impiety.

This, all men said; But he held sayings cheape:

And all this time Telemachus did heape

Sorrow on sorrow, on his beating hart

To see his Father stricken; yet let part

No teare to earth, but shooke his head, and thought

As deepe as those ils, that were after wrought.

The Queen now hearing of her poore guests stroke;

Said to her Maid, (as to her wooer she spoke)

I wish the famous for his Bow, the Sun

VVould strike thy heart so. Her wish (thus begun)

Her Lady, faire Eurynome pursude

Her execration; and did thus conclude:

So may our vowes call downe from heauen, his end;

And let no one life of the rest, extend

His life till morning. O Eurynome

(Replied the Queene) may all Gods speake in thee:

For all the wooers, we should rate as foes;

Since all their weales, they place in others woes.

But this Antinous, we past all, should hate,

As one resembling blacke and cruell Fate.

A poor strange wretch; beg'd here, compel'd by need:

Askt all, and euery one gaue in his deed;

Fill'd his sad Scrip, and eas'd his heauy wants:

Onely this man, bestow'd vnmanly tants;

And with a cruell blow (his force let flye)

'Twixt necke and shoulders, shew'd his charity.

These minds (aboue) she and her Maids did show;

VVhile, at his scrip, Vlysses sate below.

In which time, she Eumaeus call'd, and said:

Go, good Eumaeus, and see soone conuaid

The stranger to me: Bid him come and take

My salutations for his welcomes sake;

And my desire serue, if he hath not heard

Or seene distrest Vlysses? who hath err'd

Like such a man; and therefore chance may fall,

He hath, by him bene met, and spoke withall.

O Queene (saide he) I wish to heauen, your eare

Were quit of this vnreuerend noise you heare

From these rude wooers; when I bring the guest:

Such words, your eare, would let into your brest

As would delight it, to your very heart.

Three nights and dayes, I did my Roofe impart

To his fruition; (for he came to me

The first of all men, since he fled the Sea)

[Page] And yet he had not giuen a perfect end

To his relation, of what woes did spend

The spight of Fate on him:

Simil: In which Vlysses is compared with a Po [...]t, for the swee [...]nesse of his speech.

But as you see

A Singer, breathing out of Deity

Loue-kindling lines; when all men seated nere,

Are rapt with endlesse thirst, to euer heare:

So swee [...]n'd he, my bosome, at my meate;

Affirming that Vlysses was in Crete,

VVhere first the memories of Minos were,

A Guest to him, there dwelling, then as deare

As his true Father: and from thence, came he

Tir'd on with sorrowes; tost from sea to sea;

To cast himselfe in dust, and tumble heere

At wooers feete, for blowes, and broken cheere.

But, of Vlysses (where the Thesprots dwell,

A wealthy people) Fame, he sayes, did tell

The still suruiuall: who his Natiue light

VVas bound for now; with treasure infinite.

Call him (sayd she) that he himselfe may say

This, ouer to me. We shall soone haue way

Giuen by the wooers: They, as well at Gate,

As set within doores, vse to recreate

Their high-fed spirits. As their humors leade,

They follow; and may well; for still they treade

Vncharg'd waies here; their own welth lying vnwasted

In poore-kept houses: onely something tasted

Their bread and wine is, by their houshold Swaines:

But they themselues, let loose continuall Reines

To our expences; making slaughter still

Of Sheepe, Goats, Oxen; feeding past their fill;

And vainly lauishing our richest wine.

All these extending past the sacred line.

For here liues no man, like Vlysses now

To curbe these ruines: But should he once show

His country light, his presence; He and his

VVould soone reuenge these wooers iniuries.

This said; about the house, in ecchoes, round,

Her Sons strange Neesings made a horrid [...]ound;

Neezing a good Omen.

At which, the Queene yet laught, and said; Go [...] call

The stranger to me: Heardst thou not to all

My words last vtter'd, what a Neesing brake

From my Telemachus? From whence I make

This sure conclusion; That the death, and fate

Of euery wooer heere, is neere his date.

Call then the Guest; and if he tel as trew

VVhat I shal aske him; Cote, cloke, all things new

These hands shal yeeld him. This said; down he went

And told Vlysses, that the Queene had sent

[Page] To call him to her; that she might enquire

About her husband, what her sad desire

Vrg'd her to aske: and if she found him true,

Both cote, and cassocke (which he needed) new

Her hands would put on him; And that the Bread

VVhich now he begg'd amongst the commune tread;

Should freely feed his hunger now from her;

VVho, all he wisht, would to his wants prefer.

His answer was; I will with fit speed, tell

The whole truth to the Queene; For, passing well

I know her Lord; since he and I haue shar'd

In equall sorrowes. But I much am scar'd

With this rude multitude of wooers here;

The rage of whose pride, smites h [...]auens brazē sphere:

Of whose rout, when one strooke me for no fault;

Telemachus, nor none else, turn'd th'assault

From my poore shoulders. Therfore though she hast;

Bese [...]ch the Queene, her patience, will see past

The dayes broad light; and then, may she enquire.

'Tis but my closer preasing to the fire

In th [...]Euenings cold; because, my weeds, you know

Are passing thin: For I made bold to show

Their brackes to you, and pray'd your kinde supply.

He heard, and hasted; and met instantly

The Queene vpon the pauement in his way:

Who askt; what? bringst thou not [...]

Finde his austere supposes? Takes [...]

Of th'vniust wooers? Or thus hard [...]

On any other doubt the house obiect [...]?

He does me wrong; and giues [...]

To his fear'd safety. He does right (said [...])

And what he feares, should moue the policie

Of any wise one; taking care to shun

The violent wooers; He bids bide, til Sun

Hath hid his broad light: and, beleeue it, Queene,

T'will make your best course: since you two, vnseene

May passe th'encounter: you to speake more free;

And he, your eare gaine, lesse distractedly.

The Guest is wise (said she) and well doth giue

The right thought vse. Of all the men that liue,

Life serues none such, as these proud wooers are,

To giue a good man, cause to vse his care.

Thus (all agreed) amongst the wooers goes

Eumaeus to the Prince; and (whispering close)

Said; Now, my Loue, my charge shall take vp me,

(Your goods, and mine) VVhat here is, you must see

I [...] fit protection. But, in chiefe, regard

Yo [...]r owne deere safegard; whose state, study hard,

[Page] Lest sufferance seize you. Many a wicked thought

Conceale these wooers; whom iust Ioue see brought

To vtter ruine, ere it touch at vs.

So chance it, Friend (replyed Telemachus)

Your Beuer taken, go: in first of day

Come, and bring sacrifice, the best you may.

To me, and to th'immortals, be the care

Of whatsoeuer heere, the safeties are.

This said; he sate in his elaborate Throne.

Eumaeus (fed to satisfaction)

Went to his charge; left both the Court and wals,

Full of secure, and fatall Festiuals.

In which, the wooers pleasures still would sway:

And now begun, the Euens nere-endin [...] day.

The End of the Seauententh Booke of Homers Odysses.

THE EIGHTEENTH BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES.
Another.

[Page]

THE ARGVMENT.

VLysses, and Rogue Irus fight.

Penelope, vouchsafes her sight

To all her Wooers: who present

Gifts to her; rauisht with content.

A certaine Parle then we sing,

Betwixt a Wooer, and the King.

[...]

The Beggers gle [...],

the Kings high fame;

Gifts giuen to see

a vertuous Dame.

THere came a commune Begger to the Court;

Who, in the City, begg'd of all resort:

Excell'd in madnesse of the gut; drunke, eate

Past intermission: was most hugely great;

Yet had no fiuers in him, nor no force:

In sight, a Man; In mind, a liuing Corse.

His true name, was Arnaeus: for his mother

Impos'd it from his birth. And yet another

The City youth would giue him (from the course

He after tooke; deriu'd out of the force

That Need held on him: which was vp, and downe

To run on all mens errands through the Towne)

VVhich sounded, Irus. VVhen whose gut was come,

He needs would barre Vlysses his owne home,

And fell to chiding him: Old man (saide he)

Your way out of the Entry, quickly see

Be with faire Language taken; lest your stay

But little longer, see you dragg'd away.

See Sir: Obserue you not, how all these make

Direct signes at me? Charging me to take

Your heeles, and drag you out? But I take shame.

Rise yet, y'are best; lest we two play a game

At cuffes together. He bent browes, and saide:

VVretch! I do thee no ill; nor once vpbraide

[Page] Thy presence with a word; nor what mine eye

By all hands sees thee giuen, one thought enuy:

Nor shouldst thou enuy others. Thou mayst see

The place will hold vs both; and seem'st to me

A Begger like my sels: which who can mend?

The Gods giue most, to whom they least are Friend:

The cheefe goods Gods giue, is in good to end.

But to the hands strife, of which y'are so free,

Prouoke me not, for feare you anger me;

And lest the old man, on whose scorne you stood,

Your lips and bosome, make shake hands in blood.

I loue my quiet well, and more will loue

To morrow then to day. But if you moue

My peace beyond my right; the warre you make,

Will neuer after giue you will to take

Vlysses house into your begging walke.

O Gods (saide he) how volubly doth talke

This eating gulfe? And how his fume breakes out,

As from an old crackt Ouen? whom I will clout

So bitterly; and so with both hands mall

His chaps together; that his teeth shall fall,

As plaine seene on the earth, as any Sowes

That ruts the Corne-fields, or deuoures the Mowes.

Come; close we now, that all may see, what wrong

An old man tempts, that takes at cuffes, a yong.

Thus in the entry of those lofty Tow'rs,

These two, with al splene, spent their iarring pow'rs:

Antinous tooke it; laught, and saide; O Friends

We neuer had such sport: This Guest contends

VVith this vaste Begger, at the Buffets fight;

Come, ioyne we hands, and screw vp all their spight.

All rose in Laughters; and about them, bore

All the ragg'd rout of beggers at the dore.

Then mou'd Antinous the victors hire

To all the woo'rs thus: There are now at fire

Two brests of Goat: both which, let Law set downe

Before the man, that wins the dayes renowne,

With all their fat and greauie: And of both

The glorious Victor, shal preferre his tooth,

To which he makes his choise of, from vs all;

And euer after, banquet in our Hall,

VVith what our boords yeeld: Not a Begger more

Allow'd to share; but all keepe out at dore.

This he proposd; and this they all approu'd;

To which Vlysses answer'd: O most lou'd,

By no meanes should an old man; and one old

In chiefe with sorrowes, be so ouer-bold

To combat with his yonger: But alas,

[Page] Mans-owne-ill-working belly, needs will passe

This worke vpon me; and enforce me too

To beate this fellow. But then, you must doo

My age no wrong, to take my yongers part,

And play me foule play; making your strokes smart

Helpe his to conquer: for you easly may

With your strengths crush me. Do then right, & lay

Your Honors on it, in your oaths, to yield

His part no aide; but equall leaue the field.

All swore his will. But then Telemachus,

His Fathers scoffes, with comforts serious,

Could not but answer, and made this reply.

Guest! If thine owne powers cheere thy victory,

Feare no mans else, that will not passe it free:

He fights with many, that shall touch but thee.

Ile see thy guest [...] right paide: Thou heere art come

In my protection: and to this, the summe

Of all these wooers (which Antinous are

And King Eurymachus) conioyne their care.

Both vow'd it. VVhen Vlysses, laying by

His vpper weed, his inner beggery

Nere shew'd his shame: which he, with rags preuēted

Pluckt from about his Thighes; and so presented

Their goodly sight, which were so white, and great,

And his large shoulders, were to view, so set

By his bare rags; his armes, his breast and all,

So broad, and brawny (their grace naturall

Being helpt by Pallas, euer standing nere)

That all the wooers, his admirers were

Beyond all measure: mutuall whispers, driuen

Through all their cluster, saying; Sure as heauen,

Poore Irus pull'd vpon him, bitter blowes.

Through his thin Garment, what a Thigh he showes?

They said; But Irus felt. His Cow-herd minde

VVas mou'd at roote. But now, he needs must finde

Facts to his brags; and forth at all parts [...]it

The seruants brought him; all his artires smit

VVith feares, and tremblings. VVhich Antinous saw,

And saide; Nay, now too late comes feare; No Law,

Thou shouldst at first haue giuen thy braggart vaine,

Nor should it so haue swell'd, if terrors straine

Thy spirits to this passe; for a man so old,

And worne with penuries, that still lay hold

On his ragg'd person. Howsoeuer, take

This vow from me, for firme; That if he make

Thy forces stoope; and proue his owne supreame;

Ile put thee in a Ship, and downe the streame

Send thee ashore, where King Echetus raignes,

[Page] (The roughest tyrant, that the world containes)

And he will slit thy Nostrils, crop each eare;

Thy shame cut off, and giue it dogges to teare.

This shook his Nerues the more.

The buffet [...]ight betwixt Vlysses and Irus:

But both were now

Brought to the Lists; and vp did either throw

His heauy fists. Vlysses, in suspence

To strike so home, that he should fright from thence

His Cow-herd soule (his trunke laide prostrate there:)

Or let him take more leisure to his feare,

And stoope him by degrees. The last, shew'd best,

To strike him slightly; out of feare the rest

Would else discouer him. But (peace now broke)

On his right shoulder, Irus laide his stroke.

Vlysses strooke him, iust beneath the eare,

His iaw-bone broke, and made the blood appeare.

VVhen straight, he strew'd the dust, and made his crie

Stand for himselfe; with whom, his teeth did lie,

Spit with his blood out: and against the ground

His heeles lay sprawling. Vp the hands went round

Of all the wooers; all at point to dye

VVith violent laughters. Then the King did ply

The Beggers feete, and dragg'd him forth the Hall

Along the Entry, to the gates, and wall:

Where leauing him, he put into his hand

A Staffe, and bad him there vse his command

On Swine, and Dogs; and not presume to be

Lord of the guests, or of the Beggery:

Since he, of all men, was the scum and curse:

And so, bad please with that, or fare yet wurse.

Then cast he on his scrip, all patcht, and rent,

Hung by a rotten cord; and backe he went

To greete the Entries threshold with his seat.

The wooers throng'd to him, and did entreat

VVith gentle words his conquest; laughing still:

Pray'd Ioue, and all the Gods, to giue his will

VVhat most it wisht him; and would ioy him most,

Since he so happily had cleer'd their cost

Of that vnsauoury morsell; whom they vow'd

To see with all their vtmost haste bestow'd

Aboord a ship; and for Epirus sent

To King Echetus: on whose Throne was spent

The worst mans seat yt breath'd. And thus was grac't

Diuine Vlysses: who with ioy embrac't

Euen that poore conquest. Then was set to him

The goodly Goats breast promist (that did swim

In fat and greauy) by Antinous.

And from a Basket (by Amphinomus)

VVas two Breads giuen him; who (besides) renown'd

His banquet, with a golden Goblet cround,

[Page] And this high salutation: Frolicke, Guest;

And be those riches that you first possest

Restor'd againe, with full as many ioyes,

As in your poore state, I see now annoyes.

Amphinomus (saide he) you seeme to me

Exceeding wise, as being the progeny

Of such a Father, as autentique Fame

Hath told me was so: One of honour'd name,

And great reuennues in Dulychius;

His faire name, Nisus. He is blazon'd thus;

And you to be his Sonne; his wisedome [...]eyring,

As well as wealth: his state, in nought empairing.

To proue which, all waies; let me tell you this

(As warning you to shun the miseries

That follow full states, if they be not held

With wisedome still at full; and so compeld

To courses, that abode not in their browes,

By too much swindge, their sodaine ouerthrowes)

Of all things breathing, or that creepe on earth;

Nought is more wretched then a human [...] Birth.

Bless'd men, thinke neuer, they can cursed be,

While any power lasts, to moue a knee.

But when the blest Gods, make them feele that smart,

That fled their Faith so; as they had no [...]art,

They beare their sufferings; and, what wel they might

Haue cleerly shun'd, they then meet in despight.

The Minde of Man flyes stil out [...]f his way,

Vnlesse God guide, and prompt it, euery day.

I thought me once, a blessed man with men;

And fashion'd me, to all so counted then:

Did all iniustice like them; what for Lust,

Or any pleasure, neuer so vniust

I could by powre, or violence, obtaine;

And gaue them both in all their powres the raigne:

Bold of my Fathers, and my Brothers still;

VVhile which held good, my Arts seem'd neuer ill.

And thus is none, held simply, good or bad;

But as his will is either mist, or had.

Al goods, Gods gifts man cals, how ere he gets them:

And so takes all, what price so ere, God sets them.

Saies nought, how ill they come; nor will controule

That Rauine in him, though it cost his soule.

And these parts here, I see these wooers play,

Take all that fals; and all dishonors lay

On that mans Queen, that (tell your frends) doth bear

No long times absence, but is passing neare.

Let God then, guide thee home; lest he may mee [...]

In his returne, thy vndeparted feete.

[Page] For when he enters, and sees men so rude,

The quarrell cannot but in blood conclude.

This said; he sacrific'd; then drunke, & then

Referr'd the giuen Boule, to the guide of men;

VVho walk't away, afflicted at his heart;

Shook head, and fear'd, that these facts wold conuert

To ill in th'end. Yet had not grace to flie:

Minerua staid him, being ordain'd to die

Vpon the Lance of yong Vlyssi [...]es.

So, downe he sate; and then did Pallas please

T'incline the Queenes affections, to appeare

To all the wooers; to extend their cheare

To th'vtmost lightning, that still vshers death:

And made her put on all the painted sheath,

That might both set her wooers fancies hye;

And get her greater honor in the eye

Euen of her Son & Soueraigne, then before.

VVho laughing yet (to shew her humor bore

No serious appetite to that light show)

She told Eurynome, that not till now

She euer knew her entertaine desire

To please her wooers eyes; but oft on fire

She set their hate, in keeping from them still;

Yet now she pleas'd t'appeare: though from no will

To do them honor; vowing she would tell

Her son that of them, that should fit him well

To make vse of: which was, not to conuerse

Too freely with their pride; nor to disperse

His thoughts amongst them, since they vs'd to giue

Good words; but through them, ill intents did driue.

Eurynome replied: With good aduise

You vow his counsaile, & your open guise.

Go then, aduise your Son; nor keepe more close

Your cheekes, stil drown'd in your eyes ouerflowes.

But bathe your body, & with Balmes make cleere

Your thickn'd count'nance; Vncomposed cheare,

And euer mourning, will the Marrow weare.

Nor haue you cause to mourn; your Son hath now

Put on that vertue, which (in chiefe) your vow

VVisht (as your blessing) at his birth, might decke

His blood & person. But forbeare to speake

Of Baths, or Balmings, or of beauty, now

(The Queene replyed) lest (vrging comforts) you

Discomfort much: because the Gods haue wonne

The spoile of my lookes, since my Lord was gone.

But these must serue. Cal hither then, to me

Hippodamia, & Antono [...];

That those our traine additions may supply

Our owne deserts. And yet besides, Not I

[Page] (VVith all my age) haue learn'd the boldnesse yet

T'expose my selfe to men, vnlesse I get

Some other Gracers.

Eurynome.

This said; forth she went

To call the Ladies; and much spirit spent

To make their vtmost speed: for now, their Queene

VVould both her selfe shew, & make them be seene.

But now Minerua other proiects laid;

And through Icarius

Pen [...]l [...]p [...].

daughters Veines conuaid

Sweet sleepes desire. In whose soft fumes, inuolu'd

She was as soone as laid; and quite dissolu'd

Were all her Lineaments. The Goddesse then

Bestow'd immortall gifts on her, that men

Might wonder at her beauties; and the beames

That glister in the deified supreames,

She cleer'd her mourning count'nance vp withall.

Euen such a radiance, as doth round empall

Crown'd

Venus.

Cytherea, when her order'd places,

Conduct the Beuy of the dancing Graces,

She added to her owne: more plumpe, more hie,

And fairer than the polisht Iuory,

Rendring her parts, and presence. This grace done,

Away the Deity flew; and vp did ronne

Her louely-wristed Ladies, with a noise

That blew the soft chaines from her sleeping ioyes.

When she, her faire eyes wip't; and (gasping) saide:

O me vnblest! How deep a sweet sleepe spread

His shades about me? VVould Diana pleas'd

To shoot me with a death no more diseas'd,

As soone as might be: that no more my mone

Might waste my blood, in weepings neuer done;

For want of that accomplisht vertue spher'd

In my lou'd Lord, to all the Greekes prefer'd.

Then she descended with her Maids, and tooke

Place in the Portall; whence her beamy looke

Reacht eu'ry wooers heart. Yet cast she on

So thin a veyle, that through it quite there shone

A grace so stolne, it pleasd aboue the cleere,

And sunke the knees of euery wooer there.

Their minds so melted, in loues vehement fires,

That to her bed she heightn'd all desires.

The Prince then coming neere, she said; O Son,

Thy thoughts & iudgements haue not yet put on

That constancy, in what becomes their good

VVhich all expect in thee: thy yonger blood

Did sparkle choicer spirits. But, arriu'd

At this ful growth, wherein their Forme hath thriu'd

Beyond the bounds of child-hood, (and when now)

Beholders should affirme, This man doth grow

Like the rare son of his matchles Sire,

[Page] (His goodlinesse, his beauty, and his fire

Of soule aspir'd to) thou mak'st nothing good

Thy Fate, nor fortune; nor thy height of blood,

In manage of thy actions. What a deed

Of foule desert, hath thy grosse sufferance freed

Beneath thine owne Roofe? A poore stranger here

Vs'd most vnmanly! How will this appeare

To all the world; when Fame shall trumpet out,

That thus, and thus, are our guests beate about

Our Court vnrighted? Tis a blaze will show

Extreamly shamefull, to your name, and you.

I blame you not, O Mother (he replide)

That this cleere wrong sustain'd by me, you chide:

Yet know I, both the good and bad of all;

Being past the yeares, in which yong errors fall.

But (all this knowne) skill is not so exact

To giue (when once it knowes) things fit their fact.

I wel may doubt the prease of strangers here;

Who, bent to ill, and onely my Nerues nere,

May do it in despight. And yet the iarre

Betwixt our guest and Irus, was no warre

Wrought by the wooers; nor our guest sustain'd

VVrong in that action; but the conquest gain'd.

And would to Ioue, Minerua, and the Sun,

That all your woo'rs, might serue Contention

For such a purchase as the Begger made;

And wore such weak heads: Some should death inuade

Strew'd in the Entry; some imbrew the hall,

Till euery man had vengeance capitall;

Sattl'd like Irus at the Gates; his head

Euery way nodding; like one forfeited

To reeling Bacchus; Knees, nor feete, his owne,

To beare him where hee's better lou'd or knowne.

Their speeches giuen this end, Eurymachus

Began his Court-ship,

Eur [...]m. [...]our [...] ship of the su [...] posed Widdow Qu [...] ene.

and exprest it thus.

Most wise Icarius daughter; If all those

That did for Colchos ventrous saile dispose,

For that rich purchase; had before but seene

Earths richer prize, in th'Ithacensian Queene,

They had not made that voyage; but to you,

Would all their vertues, and their Beings vow.

Should all the world know what a worth you store,

To morrow then to day; and next light, more

Your Court should banquet; since to all Dames, you

Are far preferr'd; both for the grace of show,

In Stature, Beauty; Forme in euery kinde

Of all parts outward; and for faultlesse minde.

Alas (said she) my Vertue,

Penel answer.

Body, Forme,

[Page] The Gods haue blasted, with that onely storme

That rauisht Greece to I [...]ion; since my Lord

(For that warre ship't) bore all my goods abord:

If he (return'd) should come, and gouerne here

My lifes whole state; the grace of all things there

His guide would heighten, as the spirit it bore:

VVhich dead in me, liues; giuen him long before.

A sad course I liue now; heauens sterne decree

VVith many an ill, hath numb'd and deaded me.

He tooke life with him, when he tooke my hand,

In parting from me to the Troian strand:

These words my witnesse;

Vlysses words to his wife at parting.

VVoman! I conceiue

That not all th' Achiues bound for Troy, shall leaue

Their Natiue earth, their safe returned bones;

Fame saying, that Troy traines vp approued sonnes

In deeds of Armes: Braue putters off of shafts:

For winging Lances, Maisters of their crafts;

Vnmatched Riders; swift of foot; and streight

Can arbitrate a warre of deadliest weight:

Hope then, can scarse fill all with lifes supply;

And of all, any failing; why not I?

Nor do I know, if God hath marshall'd me

Amongst the safe-return'd: Or his decree

Hath left me to the thraldome, order'd there.

Howeuer, all cares be thy burthens here:

My Sire and Mother, tend as much as now,

I, further off; more neere in cares be you.

Your Son, to mans state grown, wed whom you will:

And (you gone) his care, let his houshold fill.

Thus made my Lord his will; wc heauen sees prou'd

Almost at all parts; for the Sun remou'd

Downe to his set; ere long, wil leade the night

Of those abhorred Nuptials, that should fright

Each worthy woman; which her second are

VVith any man that breaths; her first Lords care

Dead, because he to flesh and blood is dead;

VVhich, I feare, I shal yeeld to, and so wed

A second husband; and my reason is,

Since Ioue hath taken from me all his blisse.

Whom God giues ouer, they themselues forsake;

Their greefes, their ioyes; their God, their deuill make.

And 'tis a great griefe; nor was seene till now,

In any fashion of such men as woo

A good and wealthy woman; and contend

VVho shal obtaine her, that those men should spend

Her Beeues and best Sheepe, as their cheefest ends;

But rather, that herselfe, and all her friends

They should with Banquets, and rich gifts entreat;

[Page] Their life is death, that liue with others meat.

Diuine Vlysses, much reioyc't to heare

His Queene thus fish for gifts; and keepe in cheare

Their hearts with hope, that she would wed againe;

Her minde yet still, her first intent retaine.

Antinous saw, the wooers won to giue;

And said; wise Queene, by all your meanes receiue

What euer bounty, any woo'r shall vse;

Gifts freely giuen, 'tis folly to refuse.

For know, that we resolue not to be gone

To keepe our owne roofes; till of all, some One

VVhom best you like, your long-woo'd loue shal win

This pleasd the rest; and euery one sent in

His present by the Herald; First had place

Antinous gift:

The Wooers Gift [...].

a robe of speciall grace,

Exceeding ful and faire; and twenty hewes

Chang'd luster to it. To which, choise of shewes:

Twelue massy plated Buttons, all of Gold,

Enricht the substance, made to fairly hold

The Robe together; all lac'd downe before,

VVhere Keepes and Catches, both sides of it wore.

Eurymachus, a golden Tablet gaue;

In which did Art, her choisest workes engraue;

And round about, an Amber verge did run,

That cast a radiance from it, like the Sun.

Eurydamas, two seruants had, that bore

Two goodly Earings; whose rich hollowes wore

Three Pearles in either, like so many eyes,

Reflecting glances, radiant as the skies.

The King Pysander, great Polyctors heire,

A Casket gaue, exceeding rich and faire.

The other, other wealthy gifts commended

To her faire hand; which took, and straight ascended

This Goddesse of her sex, her vpper State.

Her Ladies, all her gifts elaborate,

Vp bearing after. All to dancing then

The wooers went, and songs delightfull straine;

In which they frolickt, till the Euening came:

And then rais'd sable Hesperus his flame.

VVhen, for their Lights within; they set vp there

3. Lampes, whose weekes were wood exceeding sere,

And passing porous; which they causd to burne,

Their matter euer minister'd by turne

Of seueral Hand-maids. VVhom Vlysses (seeing

Too conuersant with wooers; ill agreeing

VVith guise of maids) aduised in this faire sort:

Maids of your long-lackt King;

Vlysses [...]o his Wiu [...]s women.

keepe you the port

Your Queenes chast presence beares? Go, vp to her,

[Page] Imploy your Loomes, or Rockes, and keepe ye there:

Ile serue to feed these lamps; shold these Lords dances

Last til Aurora cheer'd vs with her glances.

They cannot weary me, for I am one

Borne to endure, when all men else haue done.

They wantonly brake out in Laughters all;

Look't on each other: and to termes did fall

Cheek-proud Melantho, who was Dolius seed,

Kept by the Queene, that gaue her dainty breed

Fit for her daughter: and yet won not so

Her heart to her, to share in any wo

She suffer'd for her Lord: But she was great

VVith great Eurymachus; and her loues heat

In his bed quenched. And this cholericke thing,

Bestow'd this railing Language on the King.

Base Stranger; you are taken in your braine,

You talke so wildely: Neuer you, againe

Can get where you were borne;

Me [...]antho to Vysses.

and seeke your bed

In some Smithes Houill, or the Market sted;

But heere you must take confidence to prate

Before all these; for feare can get no state

In your wine-hardy stomacke. Or, 'tis like

To proue your natiue ga [...]be: your tongue will strike

On this side of your mouth still, being at best.

Is the man idle-brain'd for want of rest?

Or proud, because he beate the roguish begger?

Take heed Sir, lest some better man beleager

Your eares with his fists; and set headlong hence

Your bold abode heere, with your bloods expence.

He looking sternly on her; answer'd her:

Dog! What broad Language giu'st thou? Ile prefer

Your vsage to the Prince; that he may fall

Foule on your faire limbes, til he tel them all.

This fray'd the wenches; and al straight got gone

In [...]eare, about their businesse: Euery one

Confessing he saide well. But he stood now

Close by the Cressets; and did lookes bestow

On all men there: his Braine employd about

Some sharper businesse, then to dance it out;

VVhich had not long to go. Nor therefore would

Minerua let the wooers spleenes grow cold,

VVith too good vsage of him; that his hart

Might fret enough, and make his choller smart.

Eurymachus, prouok't him first, and made

His fellow laugh, with a conceit he had

Fetch farre; from what was spoken long before;

That his poore forme, perhaps some Deity bore.

It well may chance (said he) some God doth beare

[Page] This mans resemblance: For, thus standing nere

The glistering Torches; his slick't head doth throw

Beames round about it, as those Cressets do.

For not a haire he hath to giue it shade.

Say, wil thy heart serue t'vndertake a Trade

For fitting wages? Should I take thee hence

To walke my grounds, and looke to euery Fence:

Or plant high trees: thy hire should raise thy forces;

Food store, & cloaths. But these same ydle courses

Thou a [...]t so prompt in, that thou wilt not worke,

But forrage vp and downe, and beg, and lurke

In euery house, whose Roofes hold any will

To feed such fellowes. That thy gut may fil,

Giues end to all thy Beeing. He replyed;

I wish, at any worke, we two were tryed;

In hight of Spring time, when heauens lights are long;

I, a good crook'd Sithe, that were sharpe, and strong:

You, such another, where the grasse grew deepe;

Vp by day breake, and both our labours keepe

Vp, til slow darknes eas'd the labouring light;

Fasting all day, and not a crum til night:

VVe then should proue our either workmanship.

Or if (againe) Beeues, that the goad, or whip

VVere apt t'obey, before a tearing Plow:

Big, lusty beasts: Alike in bulke and brow;

Alike in Labour, and alike in strength;

Our taske foure Acres, to be Till'd in length

Of one sole day: Againe then you should try

If the dul glebe, before the Plough should flye;

Or I, a long Stitch could beare cleane, and euen.

Or lastly; if the guide of earth & heauen

Should stir sterne war vp, either here or there;

And that, at this day, I had double Speare,

And Shield, and steele Caske, fitting for my browes;

At this work likewise, midst the foremost blowes

Your eyes should note me; and get little cause

To twit me with my bellies sole applause.

But you affect, t'affect with iniurie,

Your minde vngentle; seeme in valour hie,

Because 'gainst few; and those, not of the best

Your conuersation hath bene still profest.

But if Vlysses (landed on his earth,

And enter'd on the true right of his birth)

Should come & front ye; straight, his ample Gates

Your feete would hold, too narrow for your Fates.

He frown'd, rag'd, call'd him wretch; and vow'd

To be his death, since he durst proue so proud

Amongst so many: to tell him so home

[Page] VVhat he affected. Askt, if ouercome

With wine he were; or (as his Minion said)

Talk't stil so idlely; and were palsied

In his minds instruments: or was proud, because

He gat from Irus off, with such applause?

VVith all which, snatching vp a stoole, he threw:

VVhen old Vlysses, to the knees withdrew,

Of the Dulychian Lord Amphinomus,

As if he fear'd him. His dart missing thus

His aged obiect: and his Pages hand,

(A Boy, that waited on his cups command,

Now holding of an Ewre to him) he smit.

Downe fel the sounding Ewre; and after it,

The guiltlesse Page, lay sprawling in the dust,

And crying out. VVhen all the wooers thrust

A tumult vp amongst them; wishing all,

The rogue had perisht in some Hospitall,

Before his life there, stirr'd such vpro [...] [...] ▪

And with rude speeches, spice their pleasures cup.

And all this for a Begger, to fulfill

A filthy Prouerbe: Good still yeelds [...].

The Prince cried out on them, to let [...]he bad

Obscure the good so; Told them they were mad;

Abusd their banquet;

Telem mockes the wooers, yet wins their praise.

and affirm'd some God.

Tried maisteries with them: Bad them take their lo [...]d

Of food and wine: Sit vp, or fal to bed

At their free pleasures; and since he gaue head

To all their freedomes; why should they mistake

Their owne rich humors for a Beggers sake?

All bit their lips to be so taken downe;

And taught the course that shold haue bin their own;

Admir'd the Prince; and saide, he brauely spoke.

But Nisus Son then, strooke the equall stroke,

And saide, O Friends, let no man here disdaine

To put vp equall speeches; nor maintaine

VVith serious words, an humor; Nor with stroke,

A Stranger in anothers house prouoke,

Nor touch the meanest seruant; but confine

All these dissentions in a bolle of wine:

VVhich fill vs Cup-bearer; that hauing done

Our nightly sacrifice, we may attone

Our powres with sleepe; resigning first the guest

Vp to the Prince, that holds all interest

In his disposure here: the House being his

In iust descent, & all the faculties.

Th [...]s all approu'd; when Noble Mulius

[Page] (Herald in chiefe, to Lord [...]

The VVine distributed with reuerend grace

To eu'ry wooer: when the Gods giuen place

VVith seruice fit, they seru'd themselues, and tooke

Th [...]ir parting Cups: till (when they all had shooke

The angry humor off) they bent to rest;

And euery VVooer to seuerall Roofes addrest.

The End of the Eighteenth Booke of Homers Odysses.

THE NINETEENTH BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES.
Another.

[Page]

THE ARGVMENT.

VLysses and his Son, eschew

Offending of the Wooers view

With any Armour. His Birth's seate,

Vlysses tels his Queene, is Crete.

Euryclea the truth yet found,

Discouer'd by a scar-heal'd wound,

Which in Parnassus tops, a Bore

(Strooke by him in his Chace) did gore.

[...].

The King still hid

by what he said.

By what he did,

informes his maid.

YEt did Diuine Vlysses keepe his Roofe;

And with Minerua plotted still the proofe

Of al the wooers deaths. VVhen thus, his Son

He taught with these fore-counsailes: we must ron

A close course with these Armes, & lay them by.

And to the wooers make so faire a sky,

As it would neuer thunder. Let me then

(That you may wel retaine) repeate agen

VVhat in Eumaeus Cottage,

Vlysse [...] former counsaile to his Son, fo [...] disposing [...]he Armes repeated.

I aduis'd.

If when they see your leysure exercis'd

In fetching downe your Armes: & aske what vse

Your minde will giue them: Say, 'tis their abuse

VVith smoke & rust, that makes you take them down;

This not being like the Armory well knowne

To be the leauings of Laertes Son,

Consorting the designe for Ilion.

Your eyes may see how much they are infected,

As all fires vapors, euer since, reflected

On those sole Armes. Besides, a grauer thought,

Ioue graues within you, lest (their spirits wrought

Aboue their pitch with wine) they might contend

At some high banquet, & to wounds transcend;

[Page] Their Feast inuerting; which, perhaps may be

Their Nuptiall feast, with wise Penelope.

The ready weapon when the bloud is vp,

Doubles the vprore, height [...]ed by the Cup.

Wrath's meanes for Act; cur [...]e all the wayes ye can;

As Loadstones draw the steele, so steele draw's Man.

Retaine these words; nor what is good, think thus

Receiu'd at second hand, superfluous.

The Sonne obeying, did Euryclea call,

And bad her shut (in the vtter Porches) all

The other women; till himselfe brought downe

His Fathers Armes, which all were ouer-growne

By his neglect, with rust: his Father gone,

And he too childish, to spend thoughts vpon

Those manly Implements; but he would now

Reforme those yong neglects; and th'armes bestow

Past reach of smoke. The louing Nurse replide;

I wish (O Son) your powers would once prouide

For wisedomes habit; See your houshold were

In thrifty mannage, and tend all things there.

But if these armes must downe; and euery Maide

Be shut in vtter roomes; who else should aide

Your worke with light? He answer'd; This my guest:

There shal not one in my house, tast my Feast,

(Or ioyne in my

[...], They wil needs turne this; Quadram (for Modium) guste [...]. Though the words beare no such signification: But giue a Prouerb then in vse, Repetition: which was, Hee shall not ioyn or make a spoke in the Naue of my chariot, or Chariot wheele, [...] signifying Modiolus Rot [...], and [...] Necto.

Naue) that shall ydlely liue,

How euer farre hence, he his home deriue.

He said, and his words stood; The doores she shut

Of that so wel-f [...]ll'd house; and th'other put

Their thoghts in act; Best Shields, Helmes, sharpned Lances

Brought downe; and Pallas before both, aduances

A golden Cresset, that did cast a Light,

As if the Day sate, in the Throne of Night.

VVhen (halfe amaz'd) the Prince said, O my Father,

Mine eyes, my soules pow'rs all in wonder gather:

For though the wals, and goodly wind-beames here,

All all these Pillars, that their heads, so rere,

And all of Firre; they seeme yet, all of fire.

Some God is surely with vs. His wise Sire,

Bad peace, and keepe the counsailes of the Gods;

Nor aske a word: These Pow'rs that vse abods

Aboue the starres, haue power from thence to shine

Through night, and all shades, to earths in most Mine.

Go thou for sleepe; and leaue me here to wake

The women and the Queene; whose heart doth ake

To make enquiry for my selfe, of me.

He went to sleepe, where lights did endlesly

Burne in his Night-roomes: where he feasted Rest,

Til dayes faire weed, did all the world inuest.

[Page] Thus was diuine Vlysses left alone

VVith Pallas, plotting foule confusion

To all the wooers. Forth then came the Queene;

Phoebe, with golden Cytherea seene,

Her Port presented. Whom they set a Chaire

Aside the fire: The fashion circulare;

The substance Siluer, and rich Elephant;

VVhose Fabricke, did the cunning finger vant

Of great Icmalius: who besides, had done

A footstoole for her, that did sute her Throne:

On which, they cast an ample skin, to be

The Cushion, for her other Royalty.

And there she sate; about whom, came her Maids,

VVho brought vpon a Table store of Breads,

And Bolles, that with the wooers wine were cround.

The Embers then they cast vpon the ground

From out the Lampes, and other Fuell added;

That still, with cheereful flame, the sad house gladded.

Melantho, seeing still Vlysses there;

Thus she held out her spleene: Still stranger, here?

Thus late in night? To see what Ladies do?

Auant you wretch: hence; Go, without doores, go:

And quickly too, lest ye be sindg'd away

VVith burning fire-brands. He (thus seeing their fray

Continu'd by her with such spleene) replide;

Minion! What makes your angry blood thus chide

My presence still? Is it, because you see

I shine not in your wanton brauery?

But weare these rags? It fits the needy Fate

That makes me beg thus, of the commune state.

Such poore soules, and such beggers, yet are men;

And euen my meane meanes, means had to maintain

A wealthy house; and kept a manly prease;

VVas counted blessed; and the poore accesse

O [...] any Begger, did not scorne, but feede

VVith often hand: and any man of neede

Releeu'd as fitted: kept my seruants to,

Not few; but did with those additions go,

That call choise men, The Honest; who are stild

The rich, the great. But what such great ones build

Ioue oft puls downe, as thus he ruin'd me;

His will was such, which is his equity.

And therefore (woman) beare you fitting hand

On your behauiour, lest your spirit thus mann'd,

And cherisht with your beauties (when they wane)

Comes down: Your pride now, being then your bane.

And in the meane space, shun the present danger;

Lest your bold fashion, breed your Soueraigns anger.

[Page] Or lest Vlysses come: of whom, euen yet

Hope finds some life in fate. Or, be his seat

Amongst the meerly ruin'd; yet his Sonne

(Whose lifes heate, Phoebus saues) is such a one,

As can discouer, who doth well deserue

Of any woman heere; His yeares, now serue.

The Queen gaue eare, & thus supprest the flame:

Thou quite without a brow; past female shame;

I heare thy monstrous boldnesse, which thy head

Shall pay me paines for. Thou hast heard it said,

And from my selfe too; and at euery part

Thy knowledge serues thee; that (to ease my hart

So punisht in thy witnesse) my desire

Dwelt on this Stranger; that I might enquire

My lost friends Beeing. But 'tis euer tride,

Both Man and God, are still forgot with Pride.

Eurynome! Bring heere this Guest a seat,

And Cushion on it; that we two, may treat

Of the affaire in question. Set it neare,

That I may softly speake, yet he well heare.

She did this little freely; and he sat

Close by the Queen; who askt him, Whence, & what

He was himselfe? And what th'inhabited place?

VVhere liu'd his parents? whence he fetcht his race?

O woman (he replyed) with whom,

Vlysses to his Queene.

no man

That moues in earths vnbounded circle, can

Maintaine contention, for true honor geuen;

Whose fame, hath reacht the

[...]

fairely flowing heauen.

VVho, like a neuer-ill-deseruing King,

That is well spoke of; First, for worshipping,

And striuing to resemble God, in Empire;

VVhose equall hand, impartially doth temper,

Greatnesse, and Goodnesse: To whom therefore, beares

The blacke earth, store of all graine; Trees conferres,

Cracking with burthen, Long-liu'd Herds creates;

All which, the Sea, with her sorts, emulates;

And all this feeds, beneath his powrefull hand,

Men, valiant, many, making strong his Land

With happy liues led; Nothing else, the cause

Of all these blessings, but well order'd Lawes;

Like such a King, are you; in Loue, in Fame,

And all the blisse that deifies a Dame.

And therefore, do not mixe this with a mone

So wretched, as is now in question.

Aske not my Race, nor Countrey; lest you fill

My heart yet fuller, with repeated ill:

For I must follow it, with many teares;

Though 'tis not seemly, to sit wounding eares

[Page] In publique Roofes, with our particular life;

Times worst expence, is still-repeated Griefe.

I should be irkesome to your Ladies here:

And you your selfe would say, you vrg'd your eare

To what offends it: My still-broken eine,

Supposing wounded with your too much wine.

Stranger (said she) you feare your owne excesse,

With giuing me too great a noblenesse.

The Gods, my person, Beauty, Vertue to,

Long since subuerted; when the Ilion wo

The Greeke designe attempted. In which, went

My praise, and honor. In his gouernment

Had I deseru'd your vtmost grace; But now

Sinister Deity, makes dishonor woo

(In shew of grace) my ruine. All the Peres,

Syluane Zacynthus, and Dulychius Spheres,

Samos and Ithaca, strange strifes haue showne,

To win me; spending on me▪ all mine owne.

Will wed me, in my spite: And these are those,

That take from me, all vertue to dispose

Or Guest, or Suppliant: or take any course

Amongst my Heralds (that should all disburse)

To order any thing: Though I neede none

To giue me greefe at home; Abroad erres one

That my veins shrink for; whō, these (holding gone)

Their Nuptials hasten, and find me as slow.

Good spirits prompted me, to make a show

Of vndertaking a most curious taske,

That an vnmeasur'd space of time would aske;

VVhich, they enduring long, would often say,

VVhen ends thy worke? I soone had my delay;

And prai'd their stay: For though my Lord wer dead,

His Fathers life yet, matter ministred

That must imploy me: which, (to tell them true)

Was that great worke I nam'd. For now, nere drew

Laertes death; and on my hand did lye

His funerall Robe: whose end (being now so nye)

I must not leaue, and lose so much begun:

The rather, lest the Greeke Dames might be wun

To taxe mine honor; if a man so great

Should greet his graue, without his winding sheet.

Pride made them credulous; and I went on:

VVhen, whatsoeuer all the day had done,

I made the night helpe, to vndo againe;

Though oyle, and watch it cost, and equall paine.

Three yeares my wit secur'd me vndiscern'd:

Yet, when the fourth came, by my Maids discern'd

(False carelesse wenches) now they were deluded:

[Page] When (by my light descern'd) they all intruded;

V [...]'d threatning words, and made me giue it end.

And then could I, to no more length extend

My linger'd Nuptials: Not a counsaile more

VVas to be stood vpon; my Parents bore

Continuall hand on me, to make me wed:

My Sonne grew angry, that so ruined

His goods were by them. He is now a man▪

VVise in a great degree; and one that can

Himselfe, giue order to his houshold fare:

And Ioue, giue equal glory, to his care.

But thus you must not passe me: I must know,

(It may be, for more end) from whence doth grow

Your race, and you; For I suppose you, none

Sprung of old Oake, or iustl'd out of stone.

He answer'd; O Vlysses reuerend wife!

Yet hold you purpose to enquire my life?

Ile tell you, though it much afflict me more

Then all the sorrowes I haue felt before.

As worthily it may: since so long time,

As I haue wandred from my Natiue Clime,

Through humane Cities: and in sufferance stil:

To rip all wounds vp (though, of all their ill

I touch but part) must actuate all their paine.

But, aske you still; Ile tell, though stil sustaine.

In middle of the sable Sea,

Vlys: sain'd relation of himself to his wife.

there lies

An Isle, cal'd Crete; a rauisher of eyes:

Fruitfull, and mann'd with many an infinite store:

Where ninety Cities crowne the famous shore;

Mixt with all Languag'd men: There Greekes suruiue;

There the great-minded Eteocretans liue:

There the Dorensians, neuer out of war:

The Cydons there; and there the singular

Pelasgian people: There doth G [...]ossus stand,

That mighty City; where had most command

Great Ioues Disciple (Minos) who nine yeares

Conferr'd with Ioue: Both great familiares

In mutual counsailes. And this Mi [...]os Son,

(The mighty-minded King Deucali [...])

VVas Sire to me, & royall Idomen,

VVho with Atrides, went to Ilion then,

My elder Brother, and the better man;

My name Aethon. At that time began

My knowledge of Vlysses; whom my home

Receiu'd with guest-rites. He was thither come

By force of weather, from the Malean coast

But new got off; where he the Nauy lost,

Then vnder saile for Troy; and wind-bound lay

[Page] Long in Amnisus; hardly got away

From horrid stormes, that made him anchor there,

In Hauens that sacred to Lucina were;

Dreadfull and dangerous. In whose bosome crept

Lucina's Cauerne. But in my roofe slept

Vlysses, shor'd in Crete: who first enquir'd

For royall Idomen; and much desir'd

To taste his guest-rites; since to him had bene

A welcome Guest my Brother Idomene.

The tenth, or, leuenth light, on Vlysses shin'de

In stay at Crete; attending then the winde

For threatn'd I [...]ion. All which time, my house

VVith loue and entertainments curious

Embrac't his person: though a number more

My hospitable roofes receiu'd before.

His men I likewise call'd; and from the store

Allow'd them meale, and heat exciting wine;

And Oxen for their slaughter; to confine

In my free hand the vtmost of their need.

Twelue daies the Greeks staid, ere they got them freed;

A gale so bitter blew out of the North,

That none could stand on earth, being tumbled forth

By some sterne God. But on the thirteenth day

The tempest ceast, & then went Greekes their way.

Thus, many tales Vlysses told his wife,

At most, but painting; yet most like the life:

Of which, her heart, such sense took through hir eares,

It made her weepe, as she would turne to teares.

And as from off the Mountaines melts the snow,

Which Zephyres breath conceald; but was made flow

By hollow Eurus, which so fast poures downe,

That with their Torrent, flouds haue ouer-flowne:

So downe her faire cheekes, her kinde tears did glide;

Her mist Lord mourning, set so neere her side.

Vlysses much was mou'd to see her mourne,

VVhose eies yet stood as dry, as Iron, or Horne,

In his vntroubl'd lids; which, in his craft

Of bridling passion, he from issue saf't.

VVhen she had giuen her moane so many teares,

That now 'twas satiate: her yet louing feares

Askt thus much further: You haue thus farre tried

My loues credulity: But if gratified

VVith so long stay he was with you, you can

Describe what weede he wore; what kinde of man

Both he himselfe was, and what Followers

Obseru'd him there. Alas (sayd he) the yeares

Haue growne so many since (this making now

Their twentith reuolution) that my show

[Page] Of these slight notes, will set my memory sore;

But (to my now remembrance) this he wore:

A double purple Robe,

Vlysses d [...]scription of his apparell going for Troy.

drawne close before

VVith golden Buttons; pleated thicke, and bore

A facing, where a hundred colours shinde:

About the skirts, a Hound; A freckl'd Hinde

In full course hunted. On the fore-skirts yet,

He pincht, and pull'd her downe: when with hir feet,

And all her force, she struggl'd hard for flight.

VVhich had such life in Gold, that to the sight

It seem'd the Hinde it selfe for euery hiew;

The Hound and al, so answering the view,

That all admir'd all. I obseru'd beside

His inner weed, so rarely beautifide,

That dumbe amaze it bred; and was as thin,

As any dry and tender Onion skin:

As soft 'twas too, and glister'd like the Sun.

The women were to louing wonder wun

By him and by his weeds. But (by the way)

You must excuse me, that I cannot say

He brought this suite from home; or had it there

Sent for some Present; or perhaps elsewhere

Receiu'd it for his guest-gift: For your Lord

Had Friends not few: The Fleete did not afford

Many, that had not fewer. I bestow'd

A well-edg'd sword on him; a Robe that flow'd

In foulds, and fulnesse, and did reach his feete,

Of richest purple: Brought him to his Fleete,

VVith all my honor: And besides (to add

To all this sifted circumstance) he had

A Herald there; in height, a little more

Put from the earth: that thicker shoulders wore;

A swarth complexion, and a curled head;

His name Eurybates; and much in stead,

He stood your King, imploy'd in most command,

Since most of all, his minde could vnderstand.

VVhen all these signes she knew, for chiefly trew;

Desire of moane vpon her beauties grew:

And yet (euen that desire suffic'd) she said.

Till this (my Guest) a wretched state arraid

Your ill-vsd person: but from this houre forth,

You shalbe honor'd, and finde all the worth

That fits a friend. Those weeds these hands bestow'd

From out my wardrobe: those gold buttons sow'd

Before for closure, and for Ornament.

But neuer more, must his returne present

The person that gaue those adornments State.

And therefore, vnder an abhorred Fate

[Page] VVas he induc't to feed the commune fame,

To visit vile Troy; I, too vile to name.

No more yet mourne (said he) nor thus see pinde

Your louely person: Weeping, wast's the Minde.

And yet I blame you not; for any Dame

That weds one yong, and brings to him, his name;

(VVhat euer man he is) will mourne his losse:

Much more respectfull then, must shew your woes,

That weepe thus for Vlysses; who (Fame saies)

Was equal with the Gods, in all his waies.

But where no cause is, there must be no mone:

And therefore heare me; my Relation

Shal lay the cleere truth naked to your view;

I heard amongst the Thesprots, for most trew,

That Lord Vlysses liu'd, and stood iust now

On his returne for home: That wealth did flow

In his possession; which, he made not knowne,

But begg'd amongst the people; since alone

He quite was left: for all his men were lost

In getting off, from the Trinacrian Coast;

Ioue and the Sun, was wroth with them, for rape

Made of his Oxen; and no man let scape

The rugged deepes of Neptune: Onely he

The Ships Keele onely keeping, was by Sea

Cast on the faire Phaeacian Continent;

VVhere men suruiue, that are the Gods descent;

And like a God receiu'd him; gaue him heapes

Of wealthy gifts, and would conduct his steps

Themselues safe home: which, he might long ago

His pleasure make: but profit would not so.

He gather'd going, and had mighty store

Of Gold in safegard: so beyond the Shore

That commune sailes kept, his high flood of wit

Bore glorious top; and all the world, for it

Hath farre exceeded. All this Phaedon told,

That doth the Scepter of Thesprotia hold:

VVho swore to me, in houshold sacrifice,

The Ship was lancht, and men to man the prise;

That soone should set him on his countrey earth:

Shew'd me the goods, enow to serue the birth,

That in the tenth age of his seed, shold spring;

Yet in his Court contain'd. But then the King

(Your husband) for Dodona was in way;

That from th'oraculous Oake, he might display

Ioues will; what course for home would best preuaile:

To come in pompe; or beare a secret saile.

But me, the King dispatcht in course before;

A Ship then bound for the Dulychian shore.

[Page] So thus you see his safety, whom you mourne,

VVho now is passing neere; and his returne

No more will punish with delayes, but see

His friends, and country: All which truth to thee

Ile seale with sacred Oath. Be witnesse Ioue,

Thou first, and best, of all the Thron'd aboue;

And thou house of the great Laertes heire,

To whose high roofes, I tender my repaire;

That what I tell the Queene, euent shall crowne:

This yeare, Vlysses shall possesse his owne:

Nay, ere the next month ends, shall heere arriue;

Nay ere it enters, heere abide aliue.

O may this proue (saide she;) gifts, friendship, then

Should make your name the most renown'd of men.

But 'tis of me receiu'd; and must so sort,

That nor my Lord shall euer see his Court,

Nor you gaine your deduction thence; for now

The alter'd house doth no such man allow

As was Vlysses (if he euer were)

To entertaine a reuerend Passenger,

And giue him faire dismission. But (Maids) see

Ye bathe his feete; and then with Tapistry,

Best sheets, and blanquets, make his bed, and lay

Soft wascotes by him; that (lodg'd warme) he may

Euen till the golden-seated mornings ray,

Enioy good [...]est; and then, with her first light,

Bathe, and giue almes; that cherisht appetite

He may apply within our Hall, and sit

Safe by Telemachus. Or if th'vnfit

And harmfull minde of any be so base

To greoue his age againe; let none giue grac [...]

Of doing any deed, he shall command

(How wroth so euer) to his barbarous hand.

For how shall you (guest) know me for a Dame

That passe so far, nay, turne and winde the Fame

Of other Dames for wisedome, and the frame

Of houshold vsage; if your poore thin weeds

I let draw on you, want, and worser deeds;

That may, perhaps, cause heere your latest day?

The life of Man is short, and flyes away.

And if the Rulers selfe of housholds, be

Vngentle, studying inhumanity,

The rest proue worse. But he beares all the blame:

All men will, liuing, vow against his name,

Mischiefes, and miseries; And (dead) supply

VVith bitter Epitaphes, his memory.

But if himselfe be noble, (noble things

Doing, and knowing) all his Vnderlings

[Page] VVill imitate his Noblesse; and all guests

Giue it, in many; many interests.

But (worthiest Queen, said he) where you command

Baths and rich beds for me, I scorne to stand

On such state now; nor euer thought it yet,

Since first I left the snowy hils of Crete.

VVhen once I fell a ship-boord, those thoughts fled;

I loue to take now (as long since) my bed:

Though I began the vse, with sleeplesse nights;

I, many a darknesse, with right homely rites

Haue spent ere this houre; & desir'd the Morne

Would come; and make sleepe to the world a scorne.

Nor run these dainty Bathes in my rude head;

Nor any handmaid (to your seruice bred)

Shal touch my ill-kept feete, vnlesse there liue

Some poore old drudge here, that hath learnd to giue

Old men good vsage; & no worke wil fly:

As hauing suffer'd ill, as much as I.

But if there liue, one such, in your command;

I wil not shame to giue my foot, her hand.

She gaue this answere: O my loued Guest,

There neuer enter'd these kinde Roofes, for rest,

Stranger or Friend, that so much wisedome laide

In gage for Guest-rites, as your lippes haue paide.

There liues and old maide in my charge, that knowes

The good you speake of, by her many woes;

That nourisht and brought vp, with curious care,

Th'vnhappy man, your old familiar:

Euen since his Mother let him view the light,

And oft hath felt in her weake armes, his weight.

And she (though now much weaker) shal apply

Her Maiden seruice, to your modesty.

Euryclea, rise; and wash the feete of one,

That is of one age with your Soueraigne gone.

Such hands, such feet hath, though of alter'd grace:

Much griefe in men, wil bring on change apace.

She (from her aged slumber wak't) did cleare

Her heauy eyes; and instantly (to heare

Her Soueraignes name) had worke enough to dry

Her cheekes from teares: and to his memory

These Mones did offer: O my Son (saide she)

I neuer can take greefe enough for thee;

VVhom Goodnes hurts; & whō, euen Ioues high spleen

(Since thou art Ioue-like) hates the most of men.

For none hath offer'd him so many Thyes;

Nor such whole Hecatombes of sacrifice,

Fat, and selected, as thy zeale hath done;

For all, but praying that thy noble Sonne,

[Page] Thy happy age, might see at state of man.

And yet hath Ioue with Mists Cimmerean

Put out the light of his returning day.

And as your selfe (O Father) in your way

Tooke these faire roofes for hospitable rights,

Yet finde (for them) our dogged womens spights:

So he (in like course) being driuen to proofe

(Long time ere this) what such a royall Roofe

Would yeeld his miseries; sound such vsage there.

And you (now flying the foule Language here,

And many a filthy fact of our faire Dames)

[...]ly me, like them; and put on causlesse shames

To let me clense your feet. For not the cause

The Queenes command yeelds, is the pow'r yt drawes

My will to wash your feete. But what I do,

Proceeds from her charge, and your reuerence to.

Since I, in soule, am stricken with a ruth

Of your distresses, and past

Intending with [...] it self [...]: n [...]t his shew onely.

show of truth.

Your strangenesse claiming little interest

In my affections: and yet many a Guest

Of poore condition, hath bene harbour'd here:

But neuer any, did so right appeare

Like King Vlysses, as your selfe; For state,

Both of your stature, voice, and very gate.

So all haue said (said he) that euer yet

Had the proportions of our figures met,

In their obseruances; so right, your eye,

Proues in your soule, your iudging faculty.

Thus tooke she vp a Caldron, brightly scour'd,

To clense his feete in: and into it, pour'd

Store of cold waue▪ which on the fire she set;

And therein bath'd (being temperatly heat)

Her Soueraigns feet. Who turnd him from the light;

Since sodainly, he doubted her conceit

(So rightly touching at his state before)

A scar now seeing on his foot, that bore

An old note to discerne him; might descry

The absolute truth; which (witnest by her eye)

VVas straite approu'd. He first receiu'd this sore,

As in Parnassus tops, a white tooth'd Bore

He stood in chace withall; who strooke him there,

At such time, as he liu'd a soiourner

VVith his grand Sire, Autolyc [...]: who, th'Art

Of Theft and swearing (not out of the hart,

But by equiuocation) first adorn'd

Your witty man withall; and was suborn'd

By Ioues descent (ingenious Mer [...]urie)

VVho did bestow it; since so many a Thie

[Page] Of Lambes, and Kids, he had on him bestow'd

In sacred flames; who therefore, when he vow'd

VVas euer with him. And this man impos'd

Vlysses name; the light being first disclos'd

To his first sight then; when his grand Sire came

To see the then preferrer of his fame,

His loued daughter. The first supper done,

Euryclea, put in his lap, her Sonne,

And pray'd him to bethinke, and giue his name;

Since that desire, did all desires inflame.

Autolycus giues his Grand child Vlysses his name: from whence the Odysses is deriud [...], deriu'd of [...], ex [...] factum: (signifying dolorem proprie corporis) nam ira ex dolore oritur.

Daughter, and Son-in-Law (sayd he) let then

The name that I shall giue him, stand with men;

Since I arriu'd here, at the houre of paine,

In which, mine owne kinde entrailes did sustaine

Moane for my daughters, yet vnended throes:

And when so many mens and womens woes,

In ioynt compassion met, of humane birth,

Brought forth t'attend the many feeding earth;

Let Odysseus be his name, as one

Exposd to iust constraint of all mens mone.

VVhen heere at home, he is arriu'd at state▪

Of mans first youth; he shall initiate

His practisd feete, in trauaile made abrode;

And to Pernassus, where mine owne abode

And chiefe meanes lye; addresse his way, where I

VVill giue him from my opened treasury,

VVhat shall returne him well; and fit the Fame

Of one that had the honor of his name.

For these faire gifts he went, and found all grace

Of hands, and words, in him and all his race.

Amphithea (his Mothers mother) to

Applied her to his loue; withall, to do

In Grandames welcomes: both his faire eyes kist,

And browes; and then, commanded to assist

VVere all her sonnes, by their respected Sire,

In furnishing a Feast; whose eares did fire

Their minds with his command: who home straite led

A fiue-yeares-old-male Oxe; feld, slew, and flead:

Gather'd about him; cut him vp with Art;

Spitted, and roasted; and his euery part

Diuided orderly. So all the day

They spent in feast: No one man went his way

VVithout his fit fill. VVhen the Sun was set,

And darknesse rose, they slept; till dayes fire het

Th'enlightned earth: and then, on hunting went

Both Hounds, and all Autolycus descent.

In whose guide, did diuine Vlysses go;

Climb'd steepe Parnassus, on whose forehead grow

[Page] All syluan off-springs round. And soone they rech't

The Concaues, whence ayrs sounding vapors fetcht

Their loud descent. As soone as any Sun

Had from the Ocean (where his waters run

In silent deepnesse) rais'd his golden head:

The early Huntsmen, all the hill had spread;

Their Hounds before them, on the searching Traile:

They neere, and euer eager to assaile.

Vlysses, brandishing a lengthfull Lance,

Of whose first flight, he long'd to proue the chance.

Then found they lodg'd a Bore, of bulke extreame,

In such a Queach, as neuer any beame

The Sun shot, pierc'st: Nor any passe, let finde

The moist impressions of the fiercest winde:

Nor any storme the sternest winter driues;

Such proofe it was: yet all within, lay leaues

In mighty thicknesse; and through all this, flew

The hounds loud mouthes. The sounds, the tumult threw;

And all together rouz'd the Bore, that rusht

Amongst their thickest: All his brissels, pusht

From forth his rough necke; and with flaming eyes

Stood close, and dar'd all. On which horrid prise

Vlysses first charg'd; whom, aboue the knee

The sauage strooke, and rac't it crookedly

Along the skin, yet neuer reacht the bone.

Vlysses Lance yet, through him, quite was throwne;

At his right shoulder entring: at his left,

The bright head passage to his keennesse cleft,

And shew'd his point gilt, with the gushing gore.

Downe in the dust fell the extended Bore,

And forth his life flew. To Vlysses, round

His Vnckle drew; who (wofull for his wound)

With all Art bound it vp; and with a charme

Staid straight the blood: went home, & when the harm

Receiu'd full cure; with gifts, and all euent

Of ioy, and loue; to his lou'd home, they sent

Their honor'd Nephew: whose returne, his Sire,

And reuerend Mother, tooke with ioyes entire:

Enquir'd all passages; all which, he gaue

In good relation: Nor of all, would saue

His wound from vtterance: By whose scar he came

To be discouered by this aged Dame.

VVhich, when she clensing felt, and noted well:

Downe from her Lap, into the Caldron, fell

His weighty foot, that made the Brasse resound:

Turn'd all aside, and on th'embrewed ground

Spilt all the water. Ioy and griefe together

Her brest inuaded: and of weeping weather

[Page] Her eyes stood full: Her small voice, stucke within

Her part expressiue; till at length, his chin

She tooke, and spake to him: O Sonne (saide she)

Thou art Vlysses; nor canst other be:

Nor could I know thee yet, till all my King

I had gone ouer, with the warmed Spring.

Then look't she for the Queene, to tell her all;

And yet, knew nothing sure: thogh nought could fall

In compasse of all thoughts, to make her doubt.

Minerua, that distraction strooke throughout

Her minds rapt sorces; that she might not tell.

Vlysses, noting yet her aptnesse well;

With one hand tooke her chin; and made all shew

Of fauour to her: with the other, drew

Her offer'd parting closer: Askt her why,

She, whose kinde breast had nurst so tenderly

His infant life; would now, his age destroy?

Though twenty yeares had held him from the ioy

Of his lou'd country. But, since onely she,

(God putting her in minde) now knew, 'twas he,

He charg'd her silence; and to let no eare

In all the Court more, know his being there:

Lest, if God gaue into his wreakfull hand

Th'insulting wooers liues: he did not stand

On any partiall respect with her,

Because his Nurse; and to the rest prefer

Her safety therefore; But when they should feele

His punishing finger, giue her equall steele.

What words (said she) flye your retentiue pow'rs?

You know, you locke your counsailes in your Tow'rs

In my firme bosome: and, that I am farre

From those loose frailties. Like an Iron barre

Or bolt of solidst stone, I will containe:

And tell you this besides; That if you gaine

By Gods good aide, the wooers liues in yours;

VVhat Dames are heere their shamelesse Paramours,

And haue done most dishonor to your worth,

My information, well shall paint you forth.

It shal not neede (saide he) my selfe will soone

(VVhile thus I maske heere) set on euery one

My sure obseruance of the worst, and best:

Be thou then silent, and leaue God the rest.

This said, the old Dame, for more water went;

The rest was all vpon the Pauement spent,

By knowne Vlysses foot. More brought (and he

Supplied besides with sweetest Oyntments) she

His seate drew neere the fire, to keepe him warme:

And, with his peec't rags, hiding close his harme:

[Page] The Queene came neere, and said: Yet (guest) afford

Your further patience; till, but in a word

Ile tell my woes to you: For well I know,

That Rests sweet Houre, her soft foote orders now:

When all poore men, how much soeuer grieu'd,

VVould gladly get their wo-watcht pow'rs relieu'd.

But God hath giuen my griefe a heart so great,

It will not downe with rest. And so I set

My iudgement vp, to make it my delight.

All day I mourne; yet nothing let the right

I owe my charge, both in my worke and Maids;

And when the night brings rest to others aides,

I tosse my bed; Distresse with twenty points,

Slaught'ring the pow'rs that to my turning ioynts

Conuey the vitall heate. And as all night,

Pandareus daughter (poore Edone) sings,

Clad in the verdure of the yearly Springs;

VVhen she for Itylus, her loued Sonne

(By Zetus issue; in his madnesse, done

To cruell death) poures out her hourely mone,

And drawes the eares to her of euery one;

So flowes my mone, that cuts in two my minde,

And here and there, giues my discourse the winde;

Vncertain whether I shal with my Son▪

Abide still heere, the safe possession

And guard of all goods: Reuerence to the bed

Of my lou'd Lord; and to my far-off spred

Fame with the people; putting still in vse;

Or follow any best Greeke I can chuse

To his fit house, with treasure infinite

VVon to his Nuptials. VVhile the infant plight

And want of iudgement kept my Son in guide;

He was not willing with my being a Bride,

Nor with my parting from his Court: But now

(Arriu'd at mans state) he would haue me vow

My loue to some one of my wooers heere,

And leaue his Court; offended that their cheere

Should so consume his free possessions.

To settle then a choice in these my mones,

Heare and expound a dreame, that did engraue

My sleeping fancy. Twenty Geese, I haue;

All which, me thought, mine eye saw tasting wheate

In water steep't, and ioy'd to see them eate.

VVhen straight, a crooke-beak't Eagle, from a hill,

Stoop't, and trust all their neckes, and all did kill;

VVhen (all left scatter'd on the Pauement there)

She tooke her wing vp, to the Gods faire sphere:

I, euen amid my Dreame, did weepe and mourne,

[Page] To see the Eagle, with so shrew'd a turne,

Stoope my sad turrets; when, me thought there came

About my mournings, many a Grecian Dame

To cheere my sorrowes; in whose most extreame

The Hawke came back, and on the prominent beame

That crost my Chamber, fell; and vs'd to me

A humane voice, that sounded horribly;

And saide; Be confident, Icarius seed;

This is no dreame, but what shall chance indeed.

The Geese, the wooers are: the Eagle, I,

VVas heeretofore a Fowle: but now imply

Thy husbands Beeing; and am come to giue

The wooers death, that on my Treasure, liue.

With this, Sleepe left me; and my waking way

I tooke to try, if any violent prey

Were made of those my Fowles; which, well eno [...]

I (as before) found feeding at their Trough,

Their yoted wheate. O woman (he replide)

Thy dreame can no interpretation bide,

But what the Eagle made, who was your Lord;

And saide, himselfe would sure effect afford

To what he told you; that confusion

To all the wooers should appeare; and none

Escape the Fate, and death, he had decreed.

She answer'd him: O Guest, these dreames exceede

The Art of man t'interpret;

The two parts of Dreames.

and appere

Without all choise, or forme; nor euer were

Perform'd to all at all parts. But there are

To these light Dreames, that like thin vapors fare,

Two two-leau'd gates; the one of Iuory;

The other, Horne. Those dreames that Fantasie

Takes from the polisht Iuory Port, delude

The Dreamer euer, and no truth include:

Those that the glittering Horn-gate, lets abrode,

Do euermore, some certaine truth abode.

But this my dreame, I hold of no such sort

To flye from thence; yet, which soeuer Port

It had accesse from, it did highly please

My Son, and me. And this, my thoughts professe;

That Day that lights me from Vlysses Court,

Shall both my infamy, and curse consort.

I therefore purpose to propose them now

In strong Contention, Vlysses Bow;

Which he that easly drawes; and from his draft,

Shoots through twelue Axes (as he did his shaft,

The pro [...]osition of Vlysses Bow to the Wooers, determined by Penelope.

All set vp in a rowe; And from them all,

His stand-farre-off kept firme) my fortunes shall

Dispose; and take me to his house from hence,

[Page] VVhere I was wed, a Maide; in confluence

Of feast and riches: such a Court he [...]re then,

As I shall euer in my dreames reteine.

Do not (said he) deferre the gamefull prise,

But set to taske their importunities

With something else, then Nuptials: For your Lord

VVill to his Court and Kingdome be restor'd,

Before they thred those steeles, or draw his Bow.

O Guest (repli'de Penelope) would you

Thus sit, and please me with your speech; mine eares

VVould neuer let mine eye-lids close their Spheares;

But none can liue without the death of sleepe;

Th'Immortals, in our mortall memories keepe

Our ends, and deaths by sleepe; diuiding so,

(As by the Fate and portion of our wo)

Our times spent heere; to let vs nightly try,

That while we liue; as much as liue, we dye.

In which vse, I will to my bed ascend,

VVhich I bedeaw with teares, and sigh past end,

Through all my houres spent; since I lost my ioy,

For vile, lew'd, neuer-to-be-named Troy.

Yet there, Ile proue for sleepe, which take you here;

Or on the earth, if that your custome were;

Or haue a bed, dispos'd for warmer rest.

Thus left she with her Ladies, her old Guest:

Ascended her faire chamber, and her bed:

VVhose sight did euer duly make her shed

Teares for her Lord; which still her eyes did steepe,

Till Pallas shut them with delightsome sleepe.

The End of the Nineteenth Booke of Homers Odysses.

THE TWENTITH BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES.
Another.

[Page]

THE ARGVMENT.

VLysses▪ in the Wooers Beds,

Resoluing first to kill the Maids;

That sentence giuing off; His care

For other Obiects dot [...] prepare.

[...].

Ioues thunder chides; but cheers the king;

The Wooers prides discōmfiting.

VLysses in the Entry, la [...]de his head,

And v [...]der him, an Oxe-hide newly flead;

Aboue him Sheep fels stor [...]; & o [...]r those

Eurynome cast Mantles. His repose

VVould bring [...]o sleepe yet; studying the ill

He wisht the wooers; who came by him still

VVith all their wenc [...]es; laughing, wantoning

In mutuall lightnesse, which his heart did sting;

Contending two wayes; if (all patience fled)

He should rush vp, and strike those Strumpets dead;

Or let that night be last, and take th'extreme

Of those proud wooers, [...]hat were so supreme

In pleasure of their high fed fantasies.

His heart did barke within him, to surprize

Their spo [...]ts with spoiles: No fell shee Mastiue can

Amongst her whelpes, flye eagrer on a man

She doth not know; yet sents him something neare,

And faine would come to please her tooth and teare;

Then his disdaine, to see his Roofe so fil'de

VVith those fowle fashions: Grew within him wilde

To be in blood of them. But finding best

In his free iudgement, to let passion rest;

He chid his angry spirit, and beate his brest:

And said; Forbeare (my minde) and thinke on this:

[Page] There hath bene time, when bitter agonies

Haue tried thy patience: Call to minde the day,

In which the Cyclop, which past manly sway

Of violent strength, deuour'd thy friends; thou then

Stoodst firmely bold, till from that hellish den

Thy wisedom broght thee off; whē nought but death

Thy thoughts resolu'd on. This discourse did breath

The fiery boundings of his heart, that still

Lay in that aesture; without end, his ill

Yet manly suffering. But from side to side

It made him tosse apace: you haue not tride

A fellow roasting of a Pig before

A hasty fire, (his belly yeelding store

Of fat, and blood) turne faster: labour more

To haue it roast, and would not haue it burne;

Then this, and that way, his vnrest made turne

His thoughts, and body; would not quench the fire,

And yet, not haue it heighten his desire

Past his discretion; and the fit enough

Of hast, and speed; that went to all the proofe

His well-laid plots, and his exploits requir'd;

Since he, but one, to all their deaths aspir'd.

In this contention, Pallas

Pallas appeares to Vlysses.

stoop't from heauen;

Stood ouer him, and had her presence giuen

A womans forme; who sternly thus began:

Why thou most sowre, and wretched-fated man

Of all that breath! yet liest thou thus awake?

The house, in which thy cares so tosse and take

Thy quiet vp, is thine: thy wife is there;

And such a Son, as if thy wishes were

To be suffic'd with one; they could not mend.

Goddesse (said he) tis true; But I contend

To right their wrongs: and (though I bee but one)

To lay vnhelpt, and wreakfull hand vpon

This whole resort of impudents, that here

Their rude assemblies neuer will forbeare.

And yet a greater doubt imployes my care;

That if their slaughters, in my reaches are,

And I performe them; (Ioue and you not pleas'd)

How shall I flye their friends? & would stand seas'd

Of counsaile, to resolue this care in me.

Wretch (she replied) a friend of worse degree,

Might win thy credence: that a mortall were,

And vs'd to second thee; though nothing nere

So powerfull in performance, nor in care:

Yet I, a Goddesse, that haue still had share

In thy atchieuements, and thy persons guard,

Must still be doubted by thy Braine, so hard

[Page] To credit any thing aboue thy powre,

And that must come from heauen; if euery houre

There be not personall apparance made,

And aide direct giuen, that may sense inuade.

Ile tell thee therefore cleerely: If there were

Of diuers languag'd men, an Army here

Of fifty Companies; all driuing hence

Thy Sheepe and Oxen, and with violence

Offer'd to charge vs, and besiedge vs round;

Thou shouldst their prey reprize, & them confound.

Let sleepe then seize thee: To keepe watch all Night,

Consumes the spirits, and makes dull the sight.

Thus pour'd the Goddesse sleepe into his eyes,

And re-ascended the Olympian skies.

VVhen care-and-lineament-resoluing sleepe,

Had laide his temples in his golden steepe;

His, wise-in-chast-wit-worthy-wife, did rise:

(First sitting vp in her soft bed) her eyes

Opened with teares, in care of her estate,

VVhich now, her friends resolu'd to terminate

To more delaies; and make her marry one.

Her silent teares (then ceast) her Orizon

This Queene of women to Diana made.

Reuerend Diana; let thy Darts inuade

My wofull bosome, and my life depriue,

Now at this instant; or soone after driue

My soule with Tempests forth, and giue it way

To those farre-off darke Vaults, where neuer day

Hath powre to shine; and let them cast it downe

Where refluent Oceanus doth crowne

His curled head; where Pluto's Orchard is,

And entrance to our after miseries.

As such sterne whirlewinds, rauisht to that streame,

Pandareus daughters, when the Gods to them

Had reft their parents; and them left alone

(Poore orphan children) in their Mansion.

VVhose desolate life, did loues sweet Queene incline

To nurse with pressed Milke, and sweetest wine;

VVhom Iuno deckt, beyond all other Dames

VVith wisedomes light, and beauties mouing flames:

VVhom Phoebe, goodlinesse of stature render'd,

And to whose faire hands, wise Minerua tender'd,

The Loome and Needle, in their vtmost skill.

And while Loues Empresse skal'd th' Olympian hill,

To beg of Lightning-louing Ioue (since hee

The meanes to all things knowes; and doth decree

Fortunes, infortunes, to the mortall Race)

For those poore virgins, the accomplisht grace

[Page] Of sweetest Nuptials: The fierce Harpyes prey'd

On euery good, & miserable Maid;

And to the hatefull Furies, gaue them all

In horrid seruice. Yet, may such Fate fall

From steepe Olympus, on my loathed head;

Or faire [...]hair'd [...]hoebe, strike me instant dead:

That I may vndergo the gloomy Shore,

To visit great Vlysses soule; before

I sooth my idle blood, and wed a wurse.

And yet, beneath how desperate a curse

Do I li [...]e now? It is an ill, that may

Be well indur'd, to mourne the whole long day;

So nights sweete sleepes (that make a man forget

Both bad, and good) in some degree would let

My thoughts leaue greeuing. But, both day and night,

Some cruell God, giues my sad memory sight.

This night (me thought) Vlysses grac't my bed

In all the goodly state, with which he led

The Grecian Army: which gaue ioyes extreame

To my distresse, esteeming it no dreame,

But true indeed: and that conceite I had,

That when I saw it false, I might be mad.

Such cruell Fates, command in my lifes guide.

By this, the mornings Orient, dewes had di'de

The earth in all her colours; when the King

In his sweet sleepe, suppos'd the sorrowing

That she vi'd waking in her plaintiffe bed

To be her mourning, standing by his head,

As hauing knowne him there. VVho straight arose,

And did againe within the Hall dispose

The Carpets and the Cushions, where before

They seru'd the seats. The Hide, without the dore

He carried backe; & then, with held vp hands,

He pray'd to him, that heauen & earth commands;

O Father Ioue; If through the moyst and dry

You (willing) brought me home; when misery

Had punisht me enough, by your free doomes;

Let some of these within those inner roomes,

(Startl'd with horror of some strange Ostent)

Come heere, & tell me, that great Ioue hath bent

Threatnings without, at some lewd men within.

To this his pray'r, Ioue shooke his sable chin,

And thunder'd from those pure clouds that (aboue

The breathing aire) in bright Olympus moue.

Diuine Vlysses ioy'd, to heare it rore.

Report of which, a woman Miller bore

Straight to his eares; For neere to him, there ground

Milles for his Corne, that twice six women found

[Page] Continuall motion, grinding Barley meale,

And wheat (mans Marrow.) Sleepe the eies did seale

Of all the other women: hauing done

Their vsuall taske; which yet, this Dame alone

Had scarse giuen end to; being of al the rest,

Least fit for labour. But when these sounds, prest

Her eares, aboue the rumbling of her Mill:

She let that stand, look't out; and heauens steepe hill

Saw cleere, and temperate; which made her (vnware

Of giuing any comfort to his care,

In that strange signe he pray'd for) thus inuoke.

O King of men, and Gods; a mighty stroke

The Mill [...]r-woman [...] prayer to Ioue, in satisfaction of Vlysses prayer.

Thy thundring hand laide, on the cope of starres;

No cloud in all the aire; and therefore warres

Thou bidst to some men, in thy sure Ostent:

Performe to me (poore wretch) the maine euent,

And make this day, the last, and most extream,

In which the wooers pride shall solace them

With whoorish Banquets in Vlysses Roofe:

That, with sad toyle, to grinde them meale enough,

Haue quite dissolu'd my knees: vouchsafe then, now

Thy thunders may their latest Feast foreshow.

This was the *

[...]

Boone, Vlysses begg'd of Ioue;

VVhich (with his Thunder) through his bosom droue

A ioy, that this vant breath'd: Why now these men

(Despite their pride) will Ioue make, pay me paine.

By this, had other Maids then those that lay,

Mixt with the wooers; made a fire like day,

Amidst the harth of the illustrious Hall:

And then the Prince, like a Celestiall

Rose from his bed; to his embalm'd feete, tied

Faire shooes: his sword about his bre [...]st applied;

Tooke to his hand his sharp-pil'd Lance, and met

Amidst the Entry, his old Nurse, that set

His hast, at sodaine stand; To whom he said:

O (my lou'd Nurse) with what grace haue you laid

And fed my guest heere? Could you so neglect

His age, to lodge him thus? Though all respect

I giue my Mothers wisedome, I must yet

Affirme, it fail'd in this: For she hath set

At much more price, a man of much lesse worth,

Without his persons note; and yet casts forth

With ignominious hands (for his Forme sake)

A man much better. Do not faulty make

(Good Son) the faultlesse. He was giuen his seat

Close to her side; and food, till he would eat.

VVine til his wish was seru'd: For she requir'd

His wants, and will'd him all things he desir'd.

[Page] Commanded her chiefe Maides to make his bed;

But he (as one whom sorrow onely fed

And all infortune) would not take his rest

In bed, and couerings, fit for any Guest;

But in the Entry, on an Oxes hide,

Neuer at Tanners; his old Limbes implide

In warme Sheep-fels; yet ouer all, we cast

A mantle, fitting, for a man more grac'st.

He tooke her answere: Left the house, and went

(Attended with his dogges) to sift th'euent

Of priuate Plots, betwixt him and his Sire

In commune counsaile. Then the crue entire

Of al the houshold Maids, (Eury [...]lea) bad

Bestir them through the house; and see it clad

In all best Forme: gaue all their parts; and one

She set to furnish euery seate and Throne

VVith Needle-workes, and purple clothes of State;

Another set to scoure and cleanse the Plate:

Another, all the Tables to make proud

VVith porous Sponges: Others, she bestow'd

In all speed to the Spring, to fetch from thence

Fit store of water; all, at all expence

Of paines, she will'd to be: For this, to all

Should be a day of commune Festiuall;

And not a wooer now should seeke his home,

Else where then there; But all were bid to come

Exceeding early; and be rais'd to heauen,

With all the entertainment could be geuen.

They heard with greedy eares; and euery thing

Put straight in practise: Twenty to the Spring

Made speed for water; Many in the house

Tooke paines; and all, were both laborious

And skill'd in labour. Many fell to Fell

And cleaue their wood: & all did more then well.

Then troop't the lusty wooers in; and then

Came all from Spring. At their heeles; loaded men

VVith slaughter'd Brawnes: of all the Herd, the prize,

That had bene long fed vp in seuerall Sties.

Eumaeus, and his men, conuei'd them there.

He (seeing now the King) began to chere,

And thus saluted him: How now, my Guest?

Haue yet your vertues found more interest

In these great wooers good respects? Or still

Pursue they you, with all their wonted ill?

I would to heauen, Eumaeus (he replide)

The Deities once would take in hand their pride;

That such vnseemly fashions put in frame

In others Roofes, as shew no sparke of shame,

[Page] Thus these; and to these came Melanthius,

Great guardian of the most egregious

Rich wooers Herds, consisting all of Goats:

VVhich he, with two more draue, & made their coats

The sounding Forticos of that faire Court.

Melanthius (seeing the King) this former sort

Of vpland Language gaue: VVhat? still stay heere?

And dull these wooers with thy wretched cheere?

Not gone for euer, yet? why now I see

This strife of cuffes betwixt the beggery,

(That yesterday assaid, to get thee gone)

And thy more roguery, needs wil fall vpon

My hands to arbitrate. Thou wilt not hence

Till I set on thee: thy ragg'd impudence

Is so fast footed. Are there not beside

Other great Banquetants, but you must ride

At anchor stil with vs? He nothing said,

But thought of ill enough, and shooke his head.

Then came Philaetius (a chiefe of men)

That to the wooers all-deuouring den

A barren Stere draue, and fat Goats; for they

In custome were, with Traffiquers by sea,

That who they would sent; and had vtterance there.

And for these likewise, the faire Porches were

Hurdles, and Sheep-pens, as in any Faire.

Philaetius tooke note in his repaire,

Of seene Vlysses; being a man as well

Giuen to his minds vse as to buy & sell;

Or do the drudgery that the blood desir'd;

And (standing neere Eumaeus) this enquir'd.

VVhat Guest is this, that makes our house of late

His entertainer? whence claimes he the state

His birth in this life holds? what Nation?

VVhat race? what country stands his speech vpon?

Ore hardly portion'd, by the terrible Fates.

The structure of his Lineaments relates

A Kings resemblance in his pompe of reigne

Euen thus, in these rags. But poore erring men

That haue no firme homes, but range here and there

As Need compels, God keepes in this earths sphere,

As vnder water: and this tune he sings,

VVhen he is spinning euen the cares of Kings.

Thus comming to him; with a kinde of feare

He tooke his hand; and (touch't exceeding neare

VVith meere imagination of his worth)

This salutation he sent lowdly forth.

Health! Father stranger; in another world

Be rich and happy: though thou here art hurld

[Page] At feete of neuer such insulting Neede.

O Ioue, there liues no one God of thy seede

More ill to man, then thou. Thou tak'st no ruth

(VVhen thou thy selfe hast got him, in most truth:)

To wrap him in the straites of most distresse,

And in the curse of others wickednesse.

My browes haue swet to see it; and mine eyes

Broke all in teares; when this being still the guise

Of worthiest men, I haue but onely thought,

That downe to these ils, was Vlysses wrought;

And that (thus clad) euen he is error driuen,

If yet he liues, and sees the light of heauen.

But, if now dead, and in the house of hell,

O me! O good Vlysses! That my weale

Did euer wish: and when, but halfe a man

Amongst the people Cephalenian;

His bounty, to his Oxens charge preferr'd

One in that youth: which now, is growne a Herd

Vnspeakeable for number; and feede there

With their broad heads, as thicke, as of his eare

A Field of Corne is to a man: yet these,

Some men aduise me, that this noted prease

Of wooers may deuoure; and wish me driue

Vp to their Feasts with them; that neither giue

His Son respect, though in his owne free roofe;

Nor haue the wit to feare th'infallible proofe

Of heauenly vengeance: but make offer now

The long-lack't Kings possessions to bestow

In their selfe shares. Me thinkes, the minde in me

Doth turne as fast; as (in a flood, or Sea)

A raging whirlepit doth; to gather in

To fishy death, those swimmers in their sin.

Or feeds a motion as circulare

To driue my Herds away. But while the Son

Beares vp with life, t'were hainous wrong to ron

To other people with them; and to trust

Men of another earth: and yet more iust

It were to venture their Lawes; an maine right

Made stil their Maisters; then at home lose quite

Their right, and them; and sit and greeue to see

The wrong authoriz'd by their gluttonie.

And I had long since fled, and tried th'euent

VVith other proud Kings (since, more insolent

These are, then can be borne,) But that, euen stil

I had a hope, that this (though borne to ill)

VVould one day come from some coast, & their last

In his roofes strew, with ruines red, and vast.

Herdsman (said he) because thou art in show,

[Page] Nor lewd, nor indiscreete; and that I know

There rules in thee an vnderstanding soule,

Il'e take an oath, that in thee shall controule

All doubt of what I sweare: be witnesse, Ioue,

That swai'st the first Seate, of the thron'd aboue;

This hospitable Table; and this house;

That still holds title for the strenuous

Sonne of Laertes; that (if so you please)

Your eyes shall witnesse, Laertiades

Arriu'd at home; and all these men that raigne

In such excesses heere; shall heere lye slaine.

He answer'd: Stranger! would inst Ioue wold signe

What you haue sworne: in your eyes beams should shine

What powers I mannage; and how these my hands,

VVould rise and follow, where he first commands.

So said Eumaeus: praying all the Sky

That wise Vlysses might arriue and trie.

Thus while they vow'd: the wooers sat as hard

On his Sons death: but had their co [...]nsels skar'd;

For on their left hand, did an Eagle [...]ore;

And in her seres, a fearefull Pigeon bore;

VVhich seene; Amphinomus presa'gd: O friends,

Our Counsailes neuer will receiue their ends

In this mans slaughter: let vs therefore plie,

Our bloody feast, and make his Oxen die.

Thus came they in; cast off on seates, their cloakes;

And fell to giuing sacrificing strokes

Of Sheepe and Goates; the cheefely fat, and great;

Slew fed vp Swine, and from the Heard, a Neate.

The inwards (roasted,) they disposd'e betwixt

Their then obseruers; wine in Flaggons mixt.

The bolles Eumaeus brought; P [...]ilaetius, bread;

Melanthus fill'd the wine. Thus dranke and fed

The feastfull wooers. Then the Prince (in grace

Of his close proiect) did his Father place

Amids the paued Entrie; in a Seate

Seemelesse, and abiect: a small boord and meate

Of th'onely inwards. In a cup of gold

Yet sent him wine; and bad him now drinke bolde;

All his approches, he himselfe would free

Gainst all the wooers: since he would not see

His Court made populare: but that his Sire

Built it to his vse. Therefore all the fire

Blowne in the wooers spleenes, he bad suppresse;

And that in hands, nor words they [...]hould digresse

From that set peace, his speech did then proclaime.

They bit their lips, and wondred at his aime

I [...] that braue Language: when Antinons saide;

[Page] Though this speech (Grecians) be a meere vpbraide;

Yet this time giue it passe: The will of Io [...]e

Forbids the violence of our hands, to moue;

But of our tongues, we keepe the motion free:

And therefore, if his further iollity

Tempt our encounter with his Braues, let's checke

His growing insolence: though pride to speake,

Fly passing high with him. The wise Prince made

No more spring of his speech,

The Feast that Eur [...] eas [...]oke o [...] before, ret [...]rn [...]d vnto

but let it fade.

And now the Heralds bore about the Towne

The sacred Hecatombe: to whose renowne

The faire-haird Greekes assembl'd; and beneath

Apollo's shady wood; the holy death

They put to fire; which (made enough) they drew;

Diuided all, that did in th'end accrew

To glorious satisfaction. Those that were

Disposers of the Feast, did equall cheere

Bestow on wretched Laertiades,

With all the wooers soules: It so did please

Telemachus to charge them: And, for these

Minerua would not see the malices

The wooers bore; too much contain'd, that so

Vlysses mou'd heart, yet might higher flow

In wreakfull anguish. There was wooing there

(Amongst the rest) a Gallant, that did [...]eare

The name of one well learn'd, in iests prophane;

His name Ctesippus, borne a Samiane:

Who proud, because his Father was so rich,

Had so much confidence, as did bewitch

His heart with hope, to wed Vlysses wife:

And this man said▪ Heare me, my Lords, in strife

For this great widdow: This her guest did share

Euen feast with vs, with very comely care

Of him that order'd it: For 'tis not good

Nor equall, to depriue Guests of their food;

And specially, what euer guest makes way

To that house where Telemachus doth sway.

And therefore, I will adde to his receipt,

A gift of very hospitable weight,

VVhich he may giue againe, to any Maide

That bath's his graue feete; and her paines see paide;

Or any seruant else, that the diuine

Vlysses lofty Battlements confine.

Thus snatcht he with a valiant hand, from o [...]

The poore folkes commune basket, a Neat, foot,

And threw it at Vlysses: who, his head

Shrunke quietly aside; and let it shed

His malice on the wall. The suffering man

[Page] A laughter raising, most Sardinian

VVith scorne, and wrath mixt, at the Samian.

VVhom thus the Prince reprou'd; Your valour wan

Much grace Ctesippus; and hath eas'd your minde

VVith mighty profit: yet you see it finde

No marke it aim'd at; the poore strangers part

Himselfe made good enough, to scape your Dart.

But should I serue thee worthily, my Lance

Should strike thy heart through, & (in place t'aduance

Thy selfe in Nuptials with his wealth) thy Sire

Should make thy toomb heere; that the foolish fire

Of all such valors, may not dare to show

These foule indecencies to me. I now

Haue yeares to vnderstand my strength, and know

The good and bad of things; and am no more

At your large sufferance, to behold my store

Consum'd with patience: See my Cattell slaine,

My wine exhausted; and my Bread, in vaine

Spent on your license: For, to one then yong,

So many enemies were match too strong.

But let me neuer more, be witnesse to

Your hostile minds; Nor those base deeds ye do:

For, should ye kill me, in my offred wreake,

I wish it rather; and my death would speake

Much more good of me, then to liue and [...]ee,

Indignity, vpon indignity:

My Guests prouok't with bitter words and blowes;

My women seruants, dragg'd about my house

To lust, and rapture. This made silence seize

The house throughout: till Damastorides

At length the calme brake: and said; Friend, forbeare

To giue a iust speech a disdainfull eare:

The Guest no more touch, nor no seruant here.

My selfe, will to the Prince and Queene commend

A motion gratefull, if they please to lend

Gratefull receite: as long as any hope

Left wise Vlysses any passage ope

To his returne in our conceits; so long

The Queenes delayes to our demands stood strong

In cause, and reason; and our quarrels thus

With guests; the Queene, or her Telemachus,

Set neuer foote amongst our liberall Feast;

For should the King returne, though thought deceast,

It had bene gaine to vs, in finding him,

To lose his wife: But now, since nothing dim

The daies breakes out, that shewes he neuer more

Shal reach the deere touch of his countrey shore,

Sit by your Mother, in perswasion,

[Page] That now it stands her honor much vpon

To choose the best of vs; and who giues most,

To go with him home. For so, all things lost

In sticking on our haunt so; you shall cleere

Recouer, in our no more concourse here:

Possesse your birth-right wholly; eate and drinke;

And neuer more on our disgraces thinke.

By Ioue, no Agelaus: For I sweare

By all my Fathers sorrowes; who doth erre

Farre off from Ithaca; or rests in death:

I am so farre from spending but my breath,

To make my Mother any more defer

Her wished Nuptials; That Ile counsaile her

To make her fre [...] choise: And besides, will giue

Large gifts to moue her. But I feare to driue,

Or charge her hence: For God will not giue way

To any such course, if I should assay.

At this, Minerua made for foolish ioy

The wooers mad; and rouz'd their late annoy

To such a laughter, as would neuer downe.

They laught with others cheeks; eate meat oreflowne

With their owne bloods: their eies stood full of teares

For violent ioyes: Their soules yet thought of feares:

VVhich Theoclymenus exprest, and said:

O wretches! Why? Sustaine ye (well apaid)

Your imminent ill? A night, with which Death sees;

Your heads, and faces, hides beneath your knees.

Shriekes burn about you: your eies, thrust out teares:

These fixed wals, and that maine Beame that beares

The whole house vp, in bloody torrents fall:

The Entry full of ghosts stands: Full the Hall

Of passengers to hel: And, vnder all

The dismall shades; The Sun sinkes from the Poles;

And troubl'd aire, poures bane about your soules.

They sweetly laught at this: E [...]rymachus

To mocks dispos'd, and saide; This new come-t'vs

Is surely mad, conduct him forth to light

In th'open Market place: he thinkes 'tis night

Within the house. Eurymachus (said he)

I will not aske for any guide of thee:

I both my feete enioy; haue eares, and eies,

And no mad soule within me: and with these

Will I go forth the doores: because I know,

That imminent mischiefe must abide with you;

VVhich, not a man of all the wooers here

Shall flye, or scape. [...]e all too highly beare

Your vncurb'd heads: Impieties ye commit,

And euery man affect, with formes vnfit.

[Page] This said; he left the house, and tooke his way

Home to Pyraeus; who, as free as day,

Was of his welcome. When the wooers eyes

Chang'd lookes with one another, and (their guise

Of laughters, still held on) still eas'd their brests,

Of will to set the Prince against his guests:

Affirming, that of all the men aliue

He worst lucke had; and prou'd it worst to giue

Guests entertainment: Fo [...] he had one there

A wandring Hunter out of prouendere,

An errant Begger euery way; yet thought

(He was so hungry) that he needed nought

But wine and Victuals: nor knew how to do;

Nor had a spirit to put a knowledge to;

But liu'd an idle burthen to the earth.

Another then stept vp; and would lay forth

His lips in ph [...]ophesie, thus: But (would he heare

His friends perswasions) he should finde it were

More profit for him, to put both abord

For the Sici [...]ian people, that afford

These [...] feete of men, good price: and this would bring

Good meanes for better guests▪ These words made wing

To his eares idlely: who h [...]d still his eye

Vpon his Father, looking feruently

When he would lay his long-withholding hand

On those proud wooers. And, within command

Of all this speech that past, Icarius heire

(The wise Penelope) her royall chaire

Had plac't of purpose. Their high dinner then

With all pleas'd palates, these ridiculous men

Fell sweetly to: as ioying they had slaine

Such store of banquet. But there did not raigne

A bitterer banquet Planet in all heauen,

Then that which Pallas, had to that day driuen;

And, with her able friend now, meant t'appose;

Since they, till then, were in deserts so grose.

The End of the Twentith Booke of Homers Odysses.

THE XXI. BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES.
Another.

[Page]

THE ARGVMENT.

PEnelope proposeth now,

To him that drawes Vlysses Bow

Her instant Nuptials. Ithacus,

Eumaeus, and Philaetius,

Giues charge for guarding of the Gates;

And he, his s [...]aft shoots through the plates.

[...].

The Nuptiall vow,

and Game reherst:

Drawne is the Bow,

the steeles are pierst.

PAllas (the Goddesse with the sparkling eyes)

Excites Penelope, t'obiect the prise

(The Bow & bright steeles) to the wooers strength

And here began the strife and blood at length.

She first aseended by a lofty staire,

Her vtmost chamber; of whose doore, her faire

And halfe transparant hand receiu'd the Key;

Bright, brazen; bitted passing curiously,

And as it hung a knob of Iuory.

And this did leade her, where was strongly kept

The treasure Royall; in whose store lay heap't,

Gold, Brasse, and Steele, engrauen with infinite Art;

The crooked Bowe, and Arrowy quiuer, part

Of that rich Magazin. In the Quiuer, were

Arrowes a number; sharpe, and sighing gere.

The Bow was giuen by kinde Eurythides

( [...]phitus, fashion'd like the Deities)

To yong Vlysses; when within the Roofe

Of wise Ort [...]locus, their passe had proofe

Of mutuall meeting in M [...]ssena; where

Vlysses claim'd a debt: To whose pay, were

The whole Messen [...]an people bound; since they

From Ithaca, had forc't a wealthy prey

Of Sheepe, and She [...]pherds. In their ships they thrust

[...]hree hundred Sheepe together: for whose iust

[Page] And instat rendry▪ old L [...]ertes sent

Vlysses his Ambassador, that went

A long way in the Ambassy; yet then

Bore but the formost prime of yongest men.

His Father, sending first to that affaire

His gra [...]est Councellors, and then his heire.

Iphitus made his way there hauing lost

Twelue female horse; and Mules commended most

For vse of burthen; which were after cause

Of death and fate to him. For (past all Lawes

Of hospitality) Ioues mighty son

(Skill'd in great acts) was his confusion

Close by his house, though at that time his guest:

Respecting neither the apposed Feast

And hospitable Table, in that loue

He set before him; nor the voice of Ioue:

But▪ seizing first his Mares, he after slew

His host himselfe. From those Mares search now grew

Vlysses knowne t'Iphitus; who that Bow

At their encounter, did in loue bestow,

Which great Eurytus hand had bo [...]ne before

(Iphitus Father) who (at deaths sad dore)

In his steepe Turret [...], left it to his Son.

Vlysses gaue him a keene Faulchion

And mighty Lance; and thus began they there

Their fatall Loues; for after, neuer were

Their mut [...]all Tables to each other knowne;

Because Iou [...]s son th'vnworthy part had shown [...]

O [...] slaughtering this God-like louing man,

Eurytus son; who with that Bow began

And ended loue t'Vlysses: who so deare

A gift esteem'd it, that he would not beare

In his blacke fleete that guest-rite to the war;

But, in fit memorie of one so far

In his aff [...]ction, brought it home, and kept

His treasure with it, where till now it slept.

And now the Queene of women had intent

To giue it vse; and therefore made ascent

Vp all the staires height to the chamber dore:

Whose shining leaues two bright Pilasters bore

To such a close, when both together went;

It would resist the aire in their consent.

The Ring she tooke then, and did draw aside

A barre that ran within, and then implide

The Key into the Locke; which gaue a sound

(The Bolt then shooting) as [...] pasture ground

A Bull doth Low, and make the valleyes ring:

So loud the Locke humm'd, when it loosd his spring,

[Page] And ope the doores flew. In she went along

The lofty chamber, that was boorded strong

With heart of Oake; which many yeares ago

The Architect did smooth and polish so,

That now as then, he made it freshly shine;

And tried the euennesse of it with a Line.

There stood in this roome, Presses that enclos'd

Robes odorferous; by which repos'd

The Bow was vpon pins: Nor from it farre

Hung the round Quiuer, glittering like a Starre;

Both which, her white extended hand tooke downe:

Then sate she low, and made her lap a Crowne

Of both those Reliques; which she wept to see,

And cried quite out with louing memory

Of her deare Lord: To whose worth, paying then

Kinde debts enow: She left; and to the men

Vow'd to her wooing, brought the crooked Bow,

And shaft-receiuing Quiuer, that did flow

With arrowes, beating sighes vp where they fell.

Then, with another Chist, repleate as well

VVith Games won by the King, of Steele and Brasse,

Her Maids attended. Past whom, making passe

To where her wooers were; She made her stay

Amids the faire Hall doore, and kept the ray

Of her bright count'nance hid with veyles so thin,

That though they seem'd t'expose, they let loue in;

Her Maids on both sides stood; and thus she spake.

Heare me, ye wooers, that a pleasure take

To do me sorrow, and my house inuade

To eate and drinke; as if 'twere onely made

To serue your Rapines: My Lord long away;

And you allow'd no colour for your stay

But his still absence; striuing who shall frame

Me for his wife; and (since 'tis made a game)

I heere propose diuine Vlysses Bow

For that great Maister-peece, to which ye vow.

He that can draw it, with least show to striue,

And through these twelue Ax-heads, an arrow driue;

Him will I follow, and this house forgo,

That nourisht me a Maid: now furnisht so

With all things fit; and which I so esteeme

That I shall still liue in it in my dream.

This said, she made Eumaeus giue it them.

He tooke, and laide it by; and wept for wo,

And like him, wept Philaetius; when the Bow

Of which his King was bearer, he beheld.

Their teares, Antinous manhood much refeld;

And said, Ye rustick fooles! that still each day

[Page] Your minds giue ouer to this vaine dismay,

VVhy weepe ye (wretches?) and the widdowes eyes

Tempt with renew'd thought; that would otherwise

Depose her sorrowes, since her Lord is dead,

And teares are idle? Sit, and eate your bread,

Nor whisper more a word; or get ye gone,

And weepe without doores: Let this Bow alone

To our ou-matcht contention: For I feare,

The Bow will scarse yeeld draught to any heere.

Heere no such man liues, as Laertes Son

Amongst vs all: I knew him; Thought puts on

His lookes sight now, me thinkes, thogh then a child.

Thus shew'd his words doubt, yet his hopes enstild

His strength, the stretcher of Vlysses string.

And his steeles piercer: But his shaft must sing

Through his piercst Pallat first; whom so he wrong' [...]

In his free roofe; and made the rest ill tongu'd

Against his vertues. Then the sacred heat

That spirited his Son, did further set

Their confidence on fire; and said: O Frends,

Ioue hath bereft my wits: The Queene intends

(Though I must grant her wise) ere long to leaue

Vlysses Court; and to her bed receaue

Some other Lord: yet notwithstanding, I

Am forc't to laugh, and set my pleasures hye

Like one mad sicke. But wooers, since ye haue

An obiect for your trials now so braue,

As all the broad Achaian earth exceeds:

As sacred Pylos; as the Argiue breeds;

As blacke Epyrus, as Mycena's birth;

And as the more-fam'd Ithacensian earth;

All which, your selues well know, and o [...]t haue saide;

(For what neede hath my Mother of my aide

In her aduancement?) Tender no excuse,

For least delay; nor too much time profuse

In stay to draw this Bow; but draw it straight;

Shoot, and the steeles pierce: make all see how sleight

You make these poore barres, to so rich a prise.

No eagrer yet? Come on: My faculties

Shall try the Bowes strength, and the pierced steele:

I will not for my reuerend Mother feele

The sorrowes that I know will seize my heart,

To see her follow any, and depart

From her so long-held home: But first extend

The Bow and Arrow to their tender'd end.

For I am onely to succeede my Sire

In guard of his games; and let none aspire

To their besides possession. This said;

[Page] His purple Robe he cast off. By he laide

His well-edg'd sword; and first, a seuerall pit

He digg'd for euery Axe, and strengthen'd it

VVith earth, close ramm'd about it: On a rew

Set them of one height, by a Line he drew

Along the whole twelue; and so orderly

Did euery deed belonging (yet his eye

Neuer before beholding how 'twas done)

That in amaze rose all his lookers on.

Then stood he neere the doore, & prou'd to draw

The stubborne Bow: Thrice tried, & thrice gaue Law

To his vncrown'd attempts: the fourth assay

VVith all force offering, which a signe gaue stay

Giuen by his Father; though hee shew'd a minde

As if he stood right heartily inclinde

To perfect the exploite: when, all was done

In onely drift to set the wooers on.

His weaknesse yet confest; he said, O shame

I either shall be euer of no name,

But proue a wretch: Or else I am too yong,

And must not now prefume on pow'rs so strong

As sinewes yet more growing, may ingraft,

To turne a man quite ouer with a shaft.

Besides, to men whose Nerues are best prepar'd;

All great Aduentures, at first proofe, are hard.

But come, you stronger men, attempt this Bow,

And let vs end our labour. Thus, below

A well-ioyn'd boord he laide it; and close by,

The brightly-headed shaft: then thron'd his Thie

Amidst his late-left seate. Antinous then

Bad all arise: but first, who did sustaine

The cups state euer; and did sacrifice

Before they eate still: and that man, bad rise,

Since on the others right hand he was plac't;

Because he held the right hands rising, grac't

VVith best successe still. This direction wun

Supreame applause; and first, rose Oe [...]ops Son

Liodes, that was Priest to all the rest,

Sate lowest with the Cup still, and their iest

Could neuer like; but euer was the man

That checkt their follies: and he now began

To taste the Bow: the sharpe shaft tooke, tug'd hard,

And held aloft: and till he quite had marr'd

His delicate tender fingers, could not stir

The churlish string▪ who therefore did refer

The game to others; saying, that same Bow

(In his presage) would proue the ouerthrow

Of many a chiefe man there: nor thought the Fate

[Page] VVas any whit austere; since Death [...] short da [...]e

Were much the better taken; then long life

Without the ohiect of their amorous strife;

For whom they had burn'd out so many dayes

To finde still other, nothing but delayes

Obtaining in them: and affirm'd that now

Some hop't to haue her: but when that tough Bow

They all had tried, and seene the vtmost done,

They must rest pleasd to cease; and now some one

Of all their other faire veyl'd Grecian Dames

VVith gifts, and dow'r, and Hymeneal Flames;

Let her loue light to him, that most will giue,

And whom the Nuptiall destiny did driue.

Thus laid he on the well-ioyn'd pol [...]sht Bord

The Bow, and bright-pil't shaft; and then restor'd

His seate his right. To him, Antinous

Gaue bitter language, and reprou'd him thus.

VVhat words (Liodes) passe thy speeches guard?

That 'tis a worke to beare? And set so hard,

They set vp my disdaine: This Bow must end

The best of vs? since thy armes cannot lend

The string least motion? Thy Mothers throwes

Brought neuer forth thy armes, to draught of Bowes,

Or knitting shafts off. Though thou canst not draw

The sturdy Plant, thou art to vs no law.

Melanthius? Light a fire, and set thereat

A chaire and cushions; & that masse of fat

That lyes within, bring out; that we may set

Our Pages to this Bow, to see it heat

And suppl'd with the sue [...]; and then wee

May giue it draught, and pay this great decree

Vtmost performance. He a mighty fire

Gaue instant flame, put into act th'entire

Command layd on him: Chaire and cushions set;

Laid on the Bow, which straight the Pages het,

Chaft, suppl'd with the Suet to their most;

And sti [...]l was all their Vnctuous labour lost:

All wooers strengths, too indigent and pore

To draw that Bow: Antinous armes, it tore;

An [...] great Eurymachus (the both cleere best)

Yet both it tir'd, and made them glad to rest.

Forth then went both the Swaines; and after them

Diuine Vlysses, when being past th'extreme

Of all the Gates; with winning words he tride

Their loues, and this askt: Shall my counsailes hide

Their depths from you? My mind would gladly know

If sodainly Vlysses had his Vow

Made good for home; and had some God to guide

[Page] His steps and strokes to, to wreak these wooers pride;

Would your aids ioyne on his part, or with theirs?

How stand your hearts affected? They made prayr's,

That some God would please, to returne their Lord;

He then should see, how farre they would affoord

Their liues for his. (He seeing th [...]ir [...]) replied;

I am your Lord; through [...] any a sufferance [...]ied,

Arriu'd now heere; whom twenty yeares haue held

From foorth my Country; yet are not conceal'd

From my sure knowledge; your desires to see

My safe returne. Of all the company

Now seruing heere besides; not one but you

Mine eare hath witnest willing to bestow

Their wishes of my life, so long held dead.

I therefore vow, (which shall be perfected)

That if God please, beneath my hand to leaue

These wooers liuelesse; ye shall both receiue

Wiues from that hand, and meanes; and neere to me

Haue houses built to you: and both shall be

As friends, and brothers to my onely Sonne.

And that ye well may know me; and [...]e [...]onne

To that assurance: the infallible Signe

The white-tooth'd Bore g [...]e, this markt knee of mine

When in Parnassus, he was held in chase

By me, and by my famous Grand [...]ires race;

Il'e let you see. Thus seuer'd he his weede

From that his wound; and euery word had deed

In their sure knowledges; VVhich made them cast

Their armes about him; his broade brest imbrac't,

His necke and shoulders kist. And him, as well

Did those true powers of humane loue compell

To kisse their heads and hands; and to their mone

Had sent the free light of the cheerefull Sunne,

Had not Vlysses broke the [...]uth, and saide;

Cease teares, and sorrowes, le [...]t wee proue displaide,

By some that issue from the house; and they

Relate to those within. Take each his way,

Not altogether in; but one by one:

First I, then you; and then see this be done:

The enuious wooers will by no meanes giue

The offer of the Bow, and Arrow leaue

To come at me; spight then their pride, do thou

(My good Eumaeus) bring both shaft and Bow,

To my hands proofe; and charge the maides before;

That instantly, they shut in euery doore;

That they themselues, (if any tumult rise

Beneath my Roofes; by any that enuies,

My will to vndertake the Game) may gaine

[Page] No passage forth, but close at worke containe

With all free quiet; or at least, constrain'd.

And therefore (my Philaetius) see maintain'd

(VVhen close the gates are shut) their closure fa [...]t;

To which end, be it thy sole worke to cast

Their chaines before them. This said, in he led;

Tooke first his feate, and then they seconded

His entry with their owne. Then tooke in hand

Eurymachus the Bow, made close his stand

Aside the fire; at whose heate, here and there

He warm'd and suppl'd it, yet could not stere

To any draught, the string, with all his Art;

And therefore, sweld in him his glorious heart;

Affirming; that himselfe, and all his friends

Had cause to greeue: Not onely that their ends

They mist in marriage (since enow besides

Kinde Grecian Dames, there liu'd to be their Brides

In Ithaca, and other bordering Townes)

But that to all times future, their renownes

VVould stand disparag'd, if Vlysses Bow

They could not drawe, and yet his wife would woo.

Antinous answer'd; That there could ensue

No shame at all to them: For well he knew,

That this day was kept holy to the S [...]nne

By all the City: and there should be done

No such prophane act; therefore bad, lay by

The Bow for that day: but the maistery

[...]f Axes that were set vp, still might stand;

Since that no labour was, nor any hand

VVould offer to inuade Vlysses house,

To take, or touch with surreptitious

Or violent hand, what there was left for vse.

He therefore bad the Cup- [...] infuse

VVine to the Bolles; that so, with [...]acrifice

They might let rest the shooting exercise;

And in the morning make [...] bring

The cheefe Goats of his Herd, that to the King

Of Bowes and Archers, they might burne the Thyes

For good successe; and then, attempt the prize.

The rest sate pleasd with this: the Heralds straite

Pour'd water on their hands: each Page did waite

VVith his crown'd cup of wine: seru [...]d [...] man

Till all were satisfied: and then began

Vlyss [...]s plot of his close purpose▪ [...]:

Heare me, ye much renown'd Eurymachus,

And King Antinous, in cheefe; who well,

And with decorum sacred, doth compell

This dayes obseruance; and to let lay downe

[Page] The Bow, all this light; giuing Gods their owne.

The mornings labour, God the more wil blesse,

And strength bestow, where he himselfe shall please.

Against which time, let me presume to pray

Your fauours, with the rest; that this assay,

May my olde armes prooue; trying if there lye

In my poore powers the same actiuity

That long since crown'd them: Or if needy fare

And desolate wandring, haue the web worne bar [...]

Of my lifes thred at all parts; that no more

Can furnish these affaires as heeretofore.

This heat their spleens past measure; blown with fear,

Lest his loth'd temples, would the garland weare

Of that Bowes draught: Antinous vsing speech

To this sowre purpose: Thou most arrant wretch

Of all guests breathing; in no least degree

Grac't with a humane soule: It serues not thee

To feast in peace with vs; take equall share

Of what we reach to; sit, and all things heare

That we speake freely (which no begging guest

Did euer yet) but thou must make request

To mixe with vs in merit of the Queene.

But wine enflames thee; that hath euer beene

The bane of men: whoeuer yet would take

Th'excesse it offers; and the meane forsake.

Wine spoilde the Centaure great E [...]ryti [...],

In guest-rites, with the mighty-minded Son

Of bolde Ixion; in his way to warre,

Against the Lapithes; who driuen as farre

As madnesse, with the bold effects of wine;

Did outrage to his kinde hoast; and decline

Other Heroes from him, feasted there;

With so much anger, that they left their cheere,

And dragg'd him forth the fore-court; slit his nose,

Cropt both his eares; and in the ill dispose

His minde then sufferd; drew the fatall day

On his head, with his hoast. For thence the fray

Betwixt the Centaures, and the [...]

Had mortall act: but he for his [...]

In spoile of wine, far'd worth himselfe; As thou

For thy large cups, if thy armes draw the Bow,

My minde foretels shalt feare: for not a man

Of all our Consort, that in wisedome can

Boast any fit share, will take prayers then;

But to Echetus, the most sterne of men

A blacke Saile freight with thee; whose worst of ill,

Be sure is past all ransome. Sit then still;

Drinke temperately; and neuer more contend

With men your yongers. This, the Queene did end

[Page] With her defence of him; and told his Foe

It was not faire, nor equall t'ouercrow

The poorest Guest her sonne pleas'd t'entertaine

In his free Turrets; with so proud a straine

Of threats, and brauings; asking if he thought

That if the stranger to his armes had brought

The stubborne Bow downe; he should marry her

And beare her home? And said, himselfe should erre

In no such hope; nor of them all the best

That greeu'd at any good, she did her guest,

Should banquet there; since it in no sort show'd

Noblesse in them, nor paid her, what she ow'd

Her owne free rule there. This Eurymachus

Confirm'd and saide; nor feeds it hope in vs

(Icarius daughter) to solemnize Rites

Of Nuptials with thee; Nor in noblest sights

It can shew comely; but to our respects

The rumor, both of sexes, and of Sects

Amongst the people, would breede shame, and feare,

Lest any worst Greeke said; See, m [...]n that were

Of meane deseruings, will presume t'aspire

To his wiues bed, whom all men did admire

For fame and merit; could not draw his Bow,

And yet his wife, had foolish pride to woo:

When straight an errant Begger comes and drawes

The Bow with ease, performing all the Lawes

The game beside contain'd; and this would thus,

Proue both indignity and shame to vs.

The Queene replied; The fame of men I see

Beares much price, in your great suppos'd degree;

Yet who can proue (amongst the people great)

That of one so esteem'd of them, the seat

Doth so defame and ruine? And beside,

With what right is this guest thus vilefied

In your high censures? when the man, in blood

Is well

[...], Bene compactus & coag [...]entatis.

composd, and great; his parents good.

And therefore giue the Bow to him, to try

His Birth and breeding by his Cheualry.

If his armes draw it; and that Phoebus stands

So great a glory to his strength, my hands

Shall adde this guerdon: Euery sort of weed,

A two-edg'd Sword and Lance, to keepe him freed

From Dogs and Men hereafter; and dismis

His worth to what place tends that heart of his.

Her sonne gaue answere; That it was a wrong

To his free sway, in all things that belong

To guard of that house, to demand the Bow

Of any wooer, and the vse bestow

[Page] Vpon the stranger: For the Bow was his,

To giue or to with-hold: No maisteries

Of her proposing, giuing any power

T'empaire his right in things, for any wower;

Or any that rough Ithaca affords;

Any that Elis; of which, no mans words

Nor pow'rs should curbe him (stood he so enclin'd)

To see the Bow in absolute gift resign'd

To that his guest, to beare and vse at will:

And therefore bad his Mother keepe [...]er still

Amongst her women, at her Rocke and Loome;

Bowes were for men: and this Bow did become

Past al mens, his disposure; since his Sire

Left it to him, and all the house e [...]tire.

She stood dismaid at this; and in her minde

His wise words laide vp; standing so inclinde

As he had will'd; with all her women, going

Vp to her chamber: there, her teares bestowing

(As euery night she did) on her lou'd Lord,

Til sleepe and Pallas, her fit rest restor'd.

The Bow, Eumaeus tooke, and bore away;

Which vp in tumult, and almost in fray

Put all the wooers: One enquiring thus.

Whether? Rogue? abiect? wilt thou beare from vs

That Bow proposd? Lay downe, or I protest

Thy dogs shal eate thee, that thou nourishest

To guard thy Swine: amongst whom (left of all)

Thy life shal leaue thee; if the Festiuall

VVe now obserue to Phoebus; [...]ay our zeales

Grace with his aide, and all the Deities else.

This threat made good [...] yeelde the Bow

To his late place, not knowing what might grow

From such a multitude. And then fell on

Telemachus with threats; and saide, Set gon

That Bow yet further: tis no seruants part

To serue too many Maisters: raise your hart

And beare it off, lest (though your yonger) yet

VVith stones I pelt you to the field with it.

If you and I close, I shal prooue to [...] [...]rong:

I wish, as much too hard for all this [...]

The Gods would make me; I should quickly send

Some after, with iust sorrow to their end:

They waste my victles so, and ply my cup,

And do me such shrewd turnes still. This put vp

The wooers all in Laugh [...]rs; and put downe

Their angers to him; that so late were growne

So graue and bloody, which resolu'd that feare

Of good Eumaeus; who did take and beare

[Page] The King the Bow; call'd Nurse, and bad her make

The doores all sure; that if mens tumults take

The eares of some within; they may not fly,

But keepe at worke still, close and silently.

These words put wings to her; and close she put

The chamber doore: The Court gates then were shut

By kind Philaetius; who straight did go

From out the Hall; and in the Portico

Found laid, a Gable of a Ship, compos'd

Of spongy Bulrushes; with which hee clos'd

(In winding round about them) the Court gates:

Then tooke his place againe, to view the Fates

That quickly follow'd. When he came, he saw

Vlysses viewing, ere he tried to draw

The famous Bow; which euery way he mou'd;

Vp, and downe turning it: in which he prou'd

The plight it was in: fearing chiefly, lest

The hornes were eate with wormes, in so long rest.

But what his thoughts intended, turning so;

And keeping such a search about the Bow:

The wooers little knowing, fell to iest,

And said; Past doubt, he is a man profest

In Bowyers craft, and sees quite through the wood:

Or something (certaine) to be vnderstood

There is, in this his turning of it still:

A cunning Rogue he is, at any ill.

Then spake another proud one; Would to heauen

I might (at will) get Gold, till he hath geuen

That Bow his draught: with these sharp iests, did these

Delightsome woo [...]rs, their fatall humors please.

But when the wise Vlysses once had laide

His fingers on it; and to proofe suruaide

The stil sound plight it held: As one of skill

In song, and of the Harpe; doth at his will

In tuning of his Instrument; extend

A string out with his pin; touch all, and lend

To euery wel-wreath'd string, his perfect sound,

Strooke all togither: with such ease, drew round

The King, the Bow. Then twang'd he vp the string,

That, as a Swallow, in the aire doth sing

VVith no continu'd tune; but (pausing still)

Twinkes out her scatter'd voice in accents shrill;

So sharpe the string sung, when he gaue it touch,

Once hauing bent and drawne it. Which so much

Amaz'd the wooers, that their colours went

And came, most grieuously. And then, Ioue rent

The aire with thunder; which at heart did chere

The now-enough-sustaining Traueller.

[Page] Tha Ioue, againe, would his attempt enable.

Then tooke he into hand, from off the Table

The first drawne arrow; and a number more

Spent shortly on the wooers. But this One,

He measur'd by his arme (as if not knowne

The leng [...]h were to him) nockt it then; and drew:

And [...]hrough the Axes, at the first hole, flew

The steele-chardg'd arrow; which whē he had done,

He thus bespake the Prince: You haue not wonne

Disgrace yet by your Guest; for I haue strook

The marke I shot at; and no such toile tooke

In wearying the Bow, with fat and fire,

As did the wooers; yet reseru'd entire

(Thanke heauen) my strength is; & my selfe am tried,

No man to be so basely vilified

As these men pleas'd to think me. But, free way

Take that, and all their pleasures: and while Day

Holds her Torch to you; and the howre of feast

Hath now full date; giue banquet; and the rest

(Poeme and Harpe) that grace a wel-fill'd boorde.

This saide: he beckn'd to his Sonne; whose sword

He straight girt to him: tooke to hand his Lance,

And, compleate arm'd, did to his Sire aduance.

The End of the XXI. Booke of Homers Odysses.

THE XXII. BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES.
Another.

[Page]

THE ARGVMENT.

THe Wooers in Mineruaes sight

Slaine by Vlysses; All the light

And lustfull H [...]swiues, by his Sonne

And seruants, are to slaughter done.

[...].

The end of Pride,

& lawlesse Lust;

Is wretched tried,

with slaughters iust

THe vpper rags, that wise Vlysses wore,

Cast off; he [...]usheth to the great Hall dore

With Bow and Quiuer full of shafts; wc downe

He pour'd before his feet; & thus made known

His true state to the wooers: This strife, thus

Hath harmlesse bene decided: Now for vs

There rests another marke, more hard to hit,

And such as neuer man before hath smit;

VVhose full point likewise, my hands shall assay,

And try if Phoebus will giue me his day.

He said; and off his bitter Arrow thrust

Right, at Antinous; that strooke him iust

As he was lifting vp the Bolle; to show,

That 'twixt the cup, & lip, much ill may grow.

Death toucht not at his thoughts, at Feast: for who

VVould thinke, that he alone could perish [...]o

Amongst so many? And he, best of all?

The Arrow in his throate tooke full his fall;

And thrust his head farre through the other side:

Downe fell his cup; downe he; downe all his pride.

Straight from his Nostrils gusht the humane gore:

And as he fell, his feete farre ouerbore

The feastfull Table; all the Rost, and Bread

About the house strew'd. VVhen his high-born head

The rest beheld so low, vp rusht they all,

[Page] And ransack't euery Corner of the Hall

For Shields and Darts: but all fled farre their reach;

Then fell they foule on him with terrible speach,

And told him, it should proue the deerest shaft

That euer past him; and that now was saf't

No shift for him, but sure and sodaine death:

For he had slaine a man, whose like did breath

In no part of the Kingdome: and that now

He should no more for Game [...], striue with his Bow,

But Vultures eate him there. These threats they spent;

[...]et euery man beleeu'd, that sterne euent

Chanc't 'gainst the authors will: O Fooles, to thinke

That all their rest, had any cup to drinke,

But what their great Antinous began.

He (frowning) saide; Dogs, see in me the man

Ye all held dead at Troy: My house it is

That thus ye spoile; that thus your Luxuries

File with my womens rapes: in which, ye woo

The wife of one that liues; and no thought [...]ow

Of mans fit feare, or Gods: your present Fame,

Or any faire sence of your future name.

And therefore, present and eternal death

Shall end your base life. This made fresh feares breath

Their former boldnesse: euery man had eye

On all the meanes, and studied wayes to flye

So deepe deaths imminent. But, seeing none,

E [...]rymachus began with suppliant mone

To mooue his pitty, saying; If you be

This Iles Vlysses, we must all agree

In grant of your reproofes integrity.

The Greekes haue done you many a wrong at home;

At field as many: But of all, the summe

Lies heere contract in death: For onely he

Imposd the whole ill Offices that we

Are now made guilty of: and not so much

Sought his endeuours; or in thought did touch

At any Nuptials; but a greater thing

Employ'd his forces: For, to be our King

VVas his cheefe obiect: his sole plot it was

To kil your Son: which Ioues hand would not passe,

But set it to his owne most merited end.

In which, end your iust anger; nor extend

Your sterne wreake further: Spend your royal pow'rs

In milde ruth of your people; we are yours.

And whatsoeuer waste of wine; or food,

Our Liberties haue made; wee'le make all good

In restitutions: call a Court, and passe

A fine of twenty Oxen, Gold, and Brasse,

[Page] On euery Head; and raise your most rates still,

Till you are pleasd with your confessed fill:

VVhich if we faile to tender: all your wrath,

It shalbe iustice in our bloods to bathe.

Eurymachus (saide he) if you would giue

All that your Fathers hoord, to make ye liue;

And all that euer you your selues possesse,

Or shal by any industry increase:

I would not cease from slaughter, till your bloods

Had bought out your intemperance in my Goods.

It rests now for you, that you either fight

That will scape death, or make your way by flight:

In whose best choise, my thoughts conceiue, not one

Shall shun the death, your first hath vndergone.

This quite dissolu'd their knees: E [...]rymachus

Enforcing all their feares, yet counsail'd thus:

O Friends This man, now he hath got the Bow

And Quiuer by him, euer will bestow

His most inaccessible hands at vs

And neuer leaue, if we auoide him thus,

Til he hath strew'd the pauement with vs all:

And therefore, ioyne we swords, and on him fall

With Tables forc't vp; and borne in opposd

Against his sharpe shafts; when being round enclosd

By all our on-sets, we shall either take

His horrid person, or for safety make

His rage retire from out the Hall and Gates:

And then, if he escape, wee'l make our states

Knowne to the City, by our generall [...]ry:

And thus this man shal let his last shaft fly,

That euer his hand vanted. Thus he drew

His sharpe edg'd sword; and with a table, flew

In, on Vlysses with a terrible throte,

His fierce charge vrging. But Vlysses [...]mote

The boord, and cleft it through, from end to end

Borne at his breast, and made his shaft extend

His sharp head to his Liuer: his broad breast

Pierc't at his Nipple: when, his hand releast

Forthwith his sword, that fel and kist the ground:

VVith cups and victles, lying scattered round

About the pauement: amongst which, his brow

Knockt the embrued earth; while in paines did slow

His vitall spirits, til his heeles shooke out

His feastful life; and hurl'd a Throne about,

That way-laide deaths convulsions in his feete;

When from his tender eyes, the light did flee [...].

Then charg'd Amphi [...]omus with his drawne blade

The glorious King, in purpose to haue made

[Page] His feete forsake the house: But his assay

The Prince preuented; and his Lance gaue way

Quite through his shoulder, at his backe: his brest

The fierce pile letting forth. His ruine, prest

Grones from the pauement; which his forhead strook.

Telemachus his long Lance then forsooke

(Left in Amphinomus) and to his Sire

Made fiery passe; not staying to acquire

His Lance againe; in doubt that while he drew

The fixed pile, some other might renew

Fierce charge vpon him; and his vnarm'd head

Cleaue with his back-drawne sword: for which he fled

Close to his Father; bad him arme, and he

Would bring him Shield and Iauelins instantly;

His owne head arming; more armes laying by

To serue the Swine-herd, and the Oxen-herd.

Valour well arm'd, is euer most preferd.

Run then (saide he) and come, before the last

Of these auxilliary shafts are past:

For feare, lest (left alone) they force my stand

From forth the Ports. He flew, and brought to hand

Eight Darts, foure Shields, 4. Helmes. His owne parts then

First put in armes, he furnisht both his men,

That to their King stood close. But he, as long

As he had shafts to friend, enough was strong

For all the wooers: and some one man still

He made make euen with earth. Till all, a hill

Had raisd in th'euen floor'd Hall. His last shaft spent,

He set his Bow against a beame, and went

To arme at all parts, while the other three

Kept off the wooers: who, vnarm'd, could be

No great assailants. In the well-built wall

A window was thrust out, at end of all

The houses Entry: on whose vtter side

There lay a way to Towne; and in it, wide

And two leau'd folds were forg'd, that gaue fit meane

For flyers out; and therefore, at it then

Vlysses plac't Eumaeus in close guard:

One onely passe ope to it: which (prepar'd

In this sort by Vlysses, 'gainst all passe)

By Agelaus tardy memorie, was

In question call'd: who bad, some one ascend

At such a window; and bring straight to frend

The City with his clamor; that this man

Might quickly shoot his last. This, no one can

Make safe accesse to (saide Melanthi [...]s)

For 'tis too neere the Hals faire doores: whence thus

The man afflicts ye: For from thence, there lies

[Page] But one streight passage to it; that denies

Accesse to all; if any one man stand

(Being one of courage) and will countermand

O [...]r offer to it. But I know a way

To bring you armes, from where the King doth lay

His whole munition: and, beleeue there is

No other place, to all the Armories

Both of himselfe and Sonne. This saide: a paire

Of lofty Staires he climb'd; and to th'affaire,

Twelue Shields, twelue Lances broght; as many casks,

VVith horse-haire Plumes; and set to bitter tasks

Both Son and Sire. Then shrunke Vlysses knees,

And his lou'd heart; when thus in armes he sees

So many wooers; and their shaken darts:

For then the worke shew'd, as it askt more parts

To safe performance: and he tolde his Sonne,

That or Melanthius, or his maides had done

A deed, that foule warre, to their hands conferd.

O Father (he replyed) tis I haue err'd

In this caus'd labour: I, and none, but I;

That left the doore ope, of your Armory.

But some (it seemes) hath set a sharper eye

On that important place: Eumaeus! hast

And shut the doore; obseruing who hath pa [...]t

To this false action: any maide; or One

That I suspect more; which is Dolius Sonne.

VVhile these spake thus; Melanthius went againe

For more faire armes; whom the renowned Swaine

Eumaeus saw: and tolde Vlysses straight,

It was the hatefull man, that his conceite

Before suspected; who had done that ill:

And (being againe there) askt if he should kill

(If his power seru'd) or he should bring the Swaine

To him; t'inflict on him a seuerall paine

For euery forfeite, he had made his house.

He answer'd: I and my Telemachus

VVill heere containe these proud ones, in despite,

How much soeuer, these stolne armes excite

Their guilty courages; while you two take

Possession of the Chamber: the doores make

Sure at your backe: and then (surprising him)

His feete and hands binde; wrapping euery lim

In pliant chaines; and with a halter (cast

Aboue the winde-beame (at himselfe made fast)

Aloft the Column draw him: where aliue

He long may hang; and paines enow, depriue

His vexed life, before his death succeede.

[Page] This charge (soone heard) as soone they put to deed;

Stole on his stealth; and at the further end

Of all the chamber, saw him busily bend

His hands to more armes: when they (still at dore)

Watcht his returne. At last, he came, and bore

In one hand, a faire Helme: in th'other held

A broad, and ancient rusty-rested Shield,

That old Laertes in his youth had worne;

Of which, the cheeke-bands had with age bin torne.

They rusht vpon him, caught him by the haire,

And dragg'd him in againe: whom (crying out)

They cast vpon the pauement: wrapt about

With sure and pinching cords, both foote and hand;

And then (in full acte of their Kings command)

A pliant chaine bestow'd on him; and hal'd

His body vp the columne, till he scal'd

The highest wind-beame. Where, made firmly fast,

Eumaeus on his iust infliction, past

This pleasurable cauill: Now you may,

All night keepe watch heere, and the earliest day

Discerne (being hung so high) to rouse from rest

Your dainty Cattle, to the wooers Feast.

There (as befits a man of meanes so faire)

Soft may you sleepe, nought vnder you but aire;

And so, long hang you. Thus they left him there,

Made fast the doore; and with Vlysses, were

All arm'd in th'instant. Then they all stood close;

Their minds fire breath'd in flaures against their foes.

Foure in th 'Entry fighting all alone;

VVhen from the Hall charg'd many a mighty one:

But to them then, Ioues seede (Min [...]urua) came,

Resembling Mentor, both in voice and frame

Of manly person. Passing well apaide

Vlysses was; and saide, Now Ment [...]r, aid [...]

Gainst these odde mischiefes: call to memory now

My often good to thee; and that, we two

Of one yeares life are. Thus he said; but thought

It was Minerua, that had euer brought

To her side, safety. On the other part,

The wooers threatn'd: but the chiefe in heart

VVas Agelaus; who, to Mentor spake.

Mentor: Let no words of Vlysses make

Thy hand a fighter on his feeble side,

Gainst al vs wooers: for we firme abide

In this perswasion; That when Sire and Son

Our swords haue slaine, thy life is sure to ron

One fortune with them: what strange acts hast thou

Conceit to forme here▪ Thy head must below

[Page] The wreake of theirs, on vs: And when thy powrs

Are taken downe by these fierce steeles of ours;

All thy possessions, in doores, and without

Must raise on heape with his; and all thy rout

Of sons and daughters, in thy Turrets bleed

Wreake offerings to vs; and our Towne stand freed

Of all charge with thy wife. Mineruaes heart

Was fir'd with these Braues: the approu'd desert

Of her Vlysses, chiding: saying, No more

Thy force nor fortitude, as heretofore

Will gaine thee glory. VVhen nine yeares at Troy,

VVhite-wristed Hellens rescue, did imploy

Thy armes and wisedome; still, and euer vsde

The bloods of thousands, through the field diffusde

By thy vaste valor; Priams broad-waide Towne

By thy graue parts, was sackt, and ouerthrowne:

And now, amongst thy people, and thy goods,

Against the wooers base and petulant bloods,

Stint'st thou thy valour? Rather mourning here,

Then manly fighting? Come Friend, Stand we nere,

And note my labour, that thou maist discerne

Amongst thy foes, how Mentors Nerues will erne

All thy old Bounties. This she spake, but staide

Her hand from giuing each-way-often-swaide

Vncertaine conquest, to his certaine vse;

But still would try, what selfe-pow'rs would produce

Both in the Father▪ and the glorious Son.

Then, on the wind-beame, that along did ron

The smoaky roofe; transform'd Minerua sat

Like to a Swallow; sometimes cuffing at

The swords and Lances, rushing from her seate;

And vp and downe the troubl'd house, did beate

Her wing at euery motion. And as she

Had rouz'd Vlysses; so, the enemy

Damastors sonne excited; Polybus,

Amphinomus, and Demoptolemus,

Eurynomus, and Polyctorides;

For these were men, that of the wooing prea [...]e

VVere most egregious, and the clearly best

In strength of hand, of all the desperate rest

That yet suruiu'd, and now fought for their soules;

VVhich straight, swift arrowes sent among the Fouls.

But first, Damastors sonne had more spare breath

To spend on their excitements, ere his death;

And saide, That now Vlysses would forbeare

His dismall hand, since Mentors spirit was there,

And blew vaine vants about Vlysses eares;

In whose trust, he would cease his Massacres,

Rest him, and put his friends huge boasts in proofe:

[Page] And so was he beneath the Entries roofe

Left with Telemachus, and th'other two:

At whom (saide he) discharge no Darts: but thro

All at Vlysses, rousing his faint rest;

Whom if we slaughter, by our interest

In Ioues assistance, all the rest may yield

Our pow'rs no care, when he strowes once the field.

As he then will'd: they all at randon threw,

VVhere they supposd he rested; and then flew

Minerua after euery Dart, and made

Some strike the threshold; some the wals inuade:

Some beate the doores; and all acts rendred vaine

Their graue steele offer'd: which escap't, Againe

Came on Vlysses, saying; O that we,

The wooers troope, with our ioynt Archerie

Might so assaile; that where their spirits dream.

On our deaths first, we first may slaughter them.

Thus the much sufferer said; and all let fly,

VVhen euerie man strooke dead his enemy:

Vlysses slaughtred Demoptolemus:

Euryades by yong Telemachus

His death encounter'd. Good E [...]maus slew

Elatus; And Philaetius ouerthrew

Pysander: all which, tore the paued floore

Vp with their teeth: The rest retir'd before

Their second charge, to inner roomes; and then

Vlysses follow'd: from the slaughter'd men

Their darts first drawing. While wc worke was done,

The wooers threw, with huge contention

To kill them all; when with her Swallow wing,

Minerua cufft; and made their Iauelins ring

Against the doores, and thresholds, as before [...]:

Some yet did graze vpon their markes. One tore

The Princes wrist, which was Amphimed [...];

Th'extreame part of the skin, but toucht vpon.

Ctesippus, ouer good Eumaeus Shield

His shoulders top did taint; which yet did yield

The Lance free passe, and gaue his hurt the ground.

Againe then charg'd the wooers, and girt round

Vlysses with their Lances; who turn'd head,

And with his Iauelin strooke Euryda [...]s dead.

Telemachus, disliu'd Amphimed [...]n;

Eumaeus, Polybu [...]; Philaetius won

Ctesippus bosome with his dart, and said;

(In quittance of the Iesters part he plaid,

The Neats-foot hurling at Vlysses) Now

Great Sonne of Polytherses; you that vow

Your wit to bitter taunts; and loue to wound

[Page] The

[...] [...]

heart of any with a iest; so crown'd

Your wit be with a laughter; neuer yeilding

To fooles in folly; but your glory building

On putting downe in fooling, spitting forth

Puft words at all sorts: Cease to scoffe at worth,

And leaue reuenge of vile words to the Gods,

Since theit wits beare the sharper edge by ods:

And in the meane time, take the Dart I draue,

For that right hospitable foote you gaue

Diuine Vlysses, begging but his owne.

Thus spake the black-Ox-herdsman; & straight down

Vlysses strooke another with his Dart,

(Damastors son.) Telemachus did part

Iust in the midst, the belly of the faire

Euenors sonne; his fierce Pile taking aire

Out at his backe. Flat fell he on his face;

His whole browes knocking, and did marke the place.

And now, man-slaughtering Pallas tooke in hand

Her Snake-frindg'd shield, & on that beam took stand

In her true forme, where Swallow-like she sat.

And then, in this way of the house, and that:

The wooers (wounded at the heart with feare)

Fled the encounter: As in Pastures, where

Fat Herds of Oxen feede, about the field

(As if wilde madnesse their instincts impeld)

The high-fed Bullockes flye: whom in the Spring

(When dayes are long) Gadbees, or Breezes sting.

Vlysses and his sonne, the Flyers chac'st;

As when with crooked Beakes and Seres, a cast

Of hill-bred Eagles, cast off at some game,

That yet their strengths keepe; But (put vp) in flame

The Eagles stoopes; From which, along the field

The poore Foules make wing: this and that way yield

Their hard-flowne Pinions: [...]hen, the clouds assay

For scape or shelter; their forlorne dismay

All spirit exhaling, all wings strength to carry

Their bodies forth; and (trust vp) to the Quarry

Their Faulconers ride in, and reioyce to see

Their Hawkes performe a flight so feruently;

So (in their flight) Vlysses with his Heire,

Did stoope and cuffe the wooers, that the aire

Broke in vaste sighes: whose heads, they shot & cleft;

The Pauement boyling with the soules they reft:

Liodes (running to Vlysses) toke

His knees; and thus did on his name inuoke:

Vlysses: Let me pray thee, to my place

Affoord the reuerence; and to me the grace:

That neuer did, or saide, to any Dame

[Page] Thy Court contain'd, or deede, or word to blame.

But others so affected, I haue made

Lay downe their insolence; and if the trade

They kept with wickednesse, haue made them still

Despise my speech, and vse their wonted ill;

They haue their penance by the stroke of death;

Which their des [...]rt, diuinely warranteth:

But I am Priest amongst them; and shall I,

That nought haue done worth death, amongst thē dy?

From thee, this Prouerbe then will men deriue;

Good turnes do neuer their meere deeds suruiue.

He (bending his displeased forehead) saide;

If you be Priest amongst them, as you pleade,

Yet you would marry; and with my wife too;

And haue descent by her: For all that woo

Wish to obtaine, which they should neuer doo

Dames husbands liuing. You must therefore pray

Of force, and oft in Court heere; that the day

Of my returne for home might neuer shine;

The death to me wish't, therefore shall be thine.

This said; he tooke a sword vp that was cast

From Agelaus, hauing strooke his last;

And on the Priests mid necke, he laide a stroke

That strooke his head off; tumbling as he spoke.

Then did the Poet Phoemiu [...] (whose sur-name

VVas call'd Terpiades; who thither came

Forc't by the woo'rs) fly death; but being nere

The Courts great gate, he stood, and parted there

In two his counsailes; either to remoue

And take the Altar of Here [...]ian Ioue;

(Made sacred to him; with a world of Art

Engrauen about it; where were wont t'impart

Laertes, and Vlysses, many a Thye

Of broad-brow'd Oxen to the Deity)

Or venture to Vlysses: cla [...]pe his knee,

And pray his ruth. The last was the decree

His choise resolu'd on. Twixt the royall Throne,

And that faire Table that the Bolle stood on

VVith which they sacrific'd; his Harpe he laide

Along the earth; the Kings knees hugg'd, and saide:

Vlysses! Let my prayers obtaine of thee

My sacred skils respect, and ruth to mee.

It will heereafter grieue thee to haue slaine

A Poet, that doth sing to Gods and men.

I, of my selfe am taught: for God alone,

All sorts of song hath in my bosome sowne:

And I, as to a God, will sing to thee;

[Page] Then do not thou deale like the Priest, with me▪

Thine owne lou'd sonne Telemachus will say,

That not to beg heere; nor with willing way

Was my accesse to thy high Court addrest,

To giue the wooers my song after Feast;

But being many, and so much more strong;

They forc't me hither, and compell'd my Song.

This did the Princes sacred vertue heare;

And to the King his Father, said: Forbeare

To mixe the guiltlesse, with the guilties blood.

And with him likewise, let our mercies saue

Medon the Herald; that did still behaue

Himselfe with care of my good, from a childe;

If by Eumaeus yet he be not kild;

Or by Philaetius; nor your fury met,

While all this blood about the house it swet.

This Medon heard, as lying hid beneath

A Throne set neere; halfe dead with feare of death;

A new-flead Oxe-hide (as but there throwne by)

His serious shroud made, he lying there, to fly.

But hearing this, he quickly left the Throne;

His Oxe-hide cast as quickly, and as soone

The Princes knees seiz'd: saying, O my loue,

I am not slaine; but heere aliue, and moue.

Abstaine your selfe; and do not see your Sire

Quench with my cold blood, the vnmeasur'd fire

That flames in his strength, making spoile of me,

His wraths right, for the wooers iniury.

Vlysses smil'd, and said; Be confident

This man hath sau'd, and made thee different;

To let thee know, and say, and others see,

Good life, is much more safe then villany.

Go then, sit free without, from death within:

This much renowned Singer, from the sin

Of these men likewise quit. Both rest you there,

While I my house purge, as it fits me here.

This saide, they went and tooke their seat without

At Ioues high Altar, looking round about,

Expecting still their slaughter: VVhen the King

Searcht round the Hall, to try lifes hidden wing

Made from more death. But all, laid prostrate there

In blood and gore he saw: whole sholes they were;

And lay as thicke, as in a hollow creake

VVithou [...] the white Sea, when the Fishers breake

Their many-meshed Draught-net vp, there lye

Fish frisking on the Sands; and faine the dry

VVould for the wet change. But th'al-seeing beam

The Sun exhales, hath suckt their liues from them;

[Page] So, one by other, spraul'd the wooers there.

Vlysses, and his Son then, bid appeare

The Nurse Euryclea, to let her heare

His minde in something, fit for her affaire.

He op't the doore, and call'd; and said, Repaire

Graue Matron, long since borne; that art our Spy

To all this houses seruile huswifery:

My Father cals thee, to impart some thought

That askes thy action. His word, found in nought

Her slacke obseruance, who straight op't the dore

And enter'd to him; when himselfe before

Had left the Hall. But there, the King she view'd

Amongst the slaine, with blood and gore embrew'd:

And as a Lyon sculking all in Night,

Farre off in Pastures; and come home, all dight

In iawes and brest-lockes, with an Oxes blood,

New feasted on him, his lookes full of mood?

So look't Vlysses; all his hands and feete

Freckl'd with purple. When which sight did greete

The poore old woman (such workes being for eyes

Of no soft temper) out she brake in cries;

VVhose vent, though throughly opened; he yet closd,

Cal'd her more neere, and thus her plaints composd;

Forbeare; nor shrieke thus: But vent ioyes as loud?

It is no piety to bemone the proud:

Though ends befall them, mouing neere so much,

These are the portions of the Gods to such.

Mens owne impieties, in their instant act,

Sustaine their plagues; which are with stay but rackt.

But these men, Gods nor men had in esteeme:

Nor good, nor bad, had any sence in them.

Their liues directly ill, were therefore cause

That Death in these sterne formes, so deepely drawes.

Recount then to me, those licentious Dames,

That lost my honor, and their sexes shames.

Ile tell you truly (she replied,) There are

Twice fiue and twenty women here, that share

All worke amongst them; whom I taught to Spin,

And beare the iust bands that they suffer'd in:

Of all which, onely there were twelue, that gaue

Themselues to impudence, and light behaue;

Nor me respecting, nor herselfe (the Queene.)

And for your Son, he hath but lately bene

Of yeares to rule: Nor would his Mother beare

His Empire, where her womens labors were.

But let me go, and giue her notice now

Of your arriuall. Sure some God doth show

His hand vpon her, in this rest she takes,

[Page] That all these vpro [...]es beares, and neuer wakes.

Nor wake her yet (said he) but cause to come

Those twelue light women, to this vtter roome.

She made all vtmost haste, to come and go,

And bring the women he had summon'd so.

Then, both his Swaines and Son, he bad, go call

The women to their aide, and cleere the Hall

Of those dead bodies: Clense each boord, & Throne

VVith wetted Sponges: which, with fitnesse, done,

He bad take all the Strumpets, 'twixt the wall

Of his first Court; and that roome next the Hall;

In which, the vessell of the house were scour'd;

And in their bosomes sheath their euery sword,

Till all their soules were fled; and they had then,

Felt 'twas but paine to sport with lawlesse men.

This said; the women came, all drown'd in mone,

And weeping bitterly. But first, was done

The bearing thence the dead: all which, beneath

The Portico they stow'd, where death on death

They heap't together. Then tooke all, the paines

Vlysses will'd. His Sonne yet, and the Swaines

VVith paring-shouels wrought: The women bore

Their parings forth; and al the clotter'd gore.

The house then clensd, they brought the women out,

And put them in a roome, so wall'd about,

That no meanes seru'd their sad estates to flye.

Then saide Telemachus, These shall not dye

A death that lets out any wanton blood,

And vents the poison that gaue Lust her foode,

The body clensing; but a death that chokes

The breath, and all together, that prouokes

And seemes as Bellowes, to abhorred Lust;

That both on my head, pour'd depraues vniust,

And on my Mothers; scandaling the Court,

VVith men debaucht, in so abhorr'd a sort.

This said; a Halser of a ship they cast

About a crosse beame of the roofe; which fast

They made about their neckes, in twelue parts cut;

And hal'd them vp so high, they could not put

Their feete to any stay. As which was done,

Looke how a Mauis, or a Pygeon

In any Groue, caught with a Sprindge, or Net;

VVith strugling Pinions 'gainst the ground doth beat

Her tender body; and that then-streight bed

Is sowre to that swindge, in which she was bred;

So striu'd these taken Birds, till euery one

Her pliant halter, had enforc't vpon

Her stubborne necke; and then aloft was haul'd

[Page] To wretched death. A little space they sprauld

Their feet fast mouing; but were quickly still.

Then fetcht they downe Melanthius, to fulfill

The equall execution; which was done

In Portall of the Hall; and thus begun:

They first slit both his Nose thrils, cropt each eare;

His Members tugg'd off, which the dogges did teare,

And chop vp bleeding sweet; and while red hot

T [...]e vice-abhorring blood was; off they smote

His hands and feet, and there that worke had end:

Then washt they hands & feet, that blood had steind;

And tooke the house againe. And then the King

(Euryclea calling) bad her quickly bring

All ill-expelling Brimstone, and some fire,

That with perfumes cast, he might make entire

The houses first integrity in all.

And then his timely will was, she should call

Her Queene and Ladies; still yet charging her,

That all the Handmaids she should first confer.

She said, he spake as fitted; But before▪

She held it fit to change the weeds he wore,

And she would others bring him: that not so

His faire broad shoulders might rest clad; and show

His person to his seruants, was too blame.

First bring me Fire, said he. She went, and came

VVith fire, & sulphure straight; with which the hall,

And [...]f the huge house, all roomes capitall

He throughly sweetned. Then went Nurse to call

The Handmaid seruants downe; & vp she went

To tell the newes, and will'd them to present

Their seruice to their Soueraigne Downe they came,

Sustaining Torches all, and pour'd a flame

Of Loue, about their Lord: with welcomes home,

VVith huggings of his hands, with laborsome

Both heads and fore-heads, kisses, and embraces;

And plyed him so, with all their louing graces,

That teares and sighes, tooke vp his whole desire;

For now he knew their hearts to him entire.

The End of the XXII. Booke of Homers Odysses.

THE XXIII. BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES.
Another.

[Page]

THE ARGVMENT.

VLysses to his wife is knowne:

A briefe sum of his Trauailes shown [...].

Himselfe, his Son, and Seruants go

T'approue the Wooers ouer [...]hrow.

[...].

For all annoyes▪

sustain'd before;

The true wiu [...]s ioyes,

now made the more.

THe seruants thus inform'd; the Matron goes

Vp, where the Queene was cast in such repose;

Affected with a feruent ioy to tell

VVhat all this time she did with paine conceale.

Her knees reuokt their first strength; and her feete

Were borne aboue the ground, with wings, to greete

The long-greeu'd Queene, with newes her King was come;

And (neere her) said: Wake, Leaue this withdrawne roome;

That now your eyes may see, at length, though late,

The man return'd, which all the heauy date

Your woes haue rackt out, you haue long'd to see:

Vlysses is come home, and hath set free

His Court of all your wooers; slaughtering all,

For wasting so his goods with Fes [...]iuall:

His house so vexing; and for violence done,

So all waies varied to his onely sonne.

She answer'd her; The Gods haue made thee mad;

Of whose pow'r now, thy pow'rs such proof haue had.

The Gods can blinde with follies, wisest eies,

And make men foolish, so to make them wise.

For they haue hurt euen thy graue braine, that bore

An vnderstanding spirit heretofore,

VVhy hast thou wak't me to more teares, when Mon [...]

Hath turn'd my minde, with teares, into her owne?

Thy madnesse much more blamefull, that with lyes

Thy haste is loaden: and both robs mine eyes

[Page] Of most delightsome sleepe; and sleepe of them,

That now had bound me in his sweet extream,

T'embrace my lids, and close my vsuall Spheres.

I haue not slept so much this twenty yeares;

Since first my dearest sleeping-Mate was gone

For that too-ill-to-speake of, Ilion.

Hence, take your mad steps backe; if any Maid

Of all my traine besides, a part had plaid

So bold to wake, and tell mine eares such lies;

I had return'd her to her huswiferies

VVith good proofe of my wrath to such rude Dames;

But go, your yeares haue sau'd their yonger blames.

She answer'd her: I nothing wrong your eare,

But tell the truth: your long-mist Lord is heere;

And, with the wooers slaughter, his owne hand

(In chiefe exploit) hath to his owne command

Reduc't his house; and that poore Guest was he,

That all those wooers, wrought such iniurie.

Telemachus had knowledge long ago

That 'twas his Father; but his wisedome so

Obseru'd his counsailes; to giue surer end

To that great worke, to which they did contend.

This call'd her spirits to their conceiuing places;

She sprung for ioy, from blames into embraces

Of her graue Nurse: wip't euery teare away

From h [...]r faire cheekes; and then began to say

What Nurse said, oner thus; O Nurse, can this

Be true thou sayst▪ How could that hand of his

Alone, destroy so many? They would still

Troope all together. How could he then kill

Such numbers, so vnited? How? (said she)

I haue nor seene, nor heard; but certainly

The deed is done. VVe sate within, in feare;

The doores shut on vs: and from thence might heare

The sighes, and grones of euery man he slew;

But heard, nor saw more: till at length, there flew

Your sonnes voice to mine eare, that call'd to me,

And bad me then come foorth: and then I see

Vlysses standing in the midst of all

Your slaughtred wooers, heap't vp like a wall,

One on another, round about his side;

It would haue done you good to haue descride

Your conqu'ring lord; al smeard with blood & gore

So like a Lyon. Straight then, off they bore

The slaughtred carkasses; that now before

The fore-Court gates lye, one on other pilde.

And now your victor, all the Hall (defilde

VVith stinch of hot death) is perfuming round;

[Page] And with a mighty fire the harth hath crown'd.

Thus, all the death remou'd, and euery roome

Made sweet and sightly; that your selfe should come

His pleasure sent me. Come then, take you now

Your mutuall fils of comfort: Griefe, on you

Hath long, and many sufferings laid; which length,

VVhich many suffrings, nowe your vertuous strength

Of vncorrupted chastnesse, hath conferr'd

A happy end to. He that long hath err'd

Is safe arriu'd at home: his wife, his sonne

Found safe & good; all ill that hath bene done

On all the dooers heads (though long prolong'd)

His right hath wreak't, and in the place they wrong'd▪

She answer'd: Do not you now laugh, and bost

As you had done some great act; seeing most

Into his Being: For, you know, he won

(Euen through his poore, and vile condition)

A kind of prompted thought; that there was plac't

Some vertue in him, fit to be embrac't

By all the house; but, most of all, by me

And by my Son, that was the progeni [...]

Of both our loues. And yet it is not he,

For all the likely proofes ye plead to me:

Some God hath slaine the wooers, in disdaine

Of the abhorred pride, he saw so raigne

In those base workes they did: No man aliue,

Or good, or bad, whoeuer did arriue

At their abodes once, euer could obtaine

Regard of them: and therefore their so vaine

And vile deserts, haue found as vile an end.

But (for Vlysses) neuer will extend

His wisht returne to Greece: Nor he yet liues.

How strange a Queen are you? (said she) that giue [...]

No truth your credit? That your husband, set

Close in his house at fire, can purchase yet

No faith of you; But that he still is farre

From any home of his? your wit's at warre

With all credulity euer; and yet now

Ile name a signe, shall force beleefe from you:

I bath'd him lately; and beheld the scar

That still remaines a marke too ocular

To leaue your heart yet blinded; and I then

Had run and told you: but his hand was feine

To close my lips from th'acclamation

My heart was breathing: and his wisedome won

My still retention, till he gaue me leaue,

And charge to tell you this. Now then, receaue

My life for gage of his returne; which take

[Page] In any cruell fashion; if I make

All this not cleere to you. Lou'd Nurse (said she)

Though many things thou knowst, yet these things be

Veil'd in the counsailes th'vncreated Gods

Haue long time maskt in: whose darke periods

Tis hard for thee to see into; But come,

Lets see my son; the slaine; and he by whom

They had their slaughter. This said; down they went;

When on the Queens part, diuers thoghts wer spent;

If (all this giuen no faith) she still should stand

Aloofe, and question more: Or his hugg'd hand,

And loued head, she should at first assay

With free-giuen kisses. VVhen her doubtfull way

Had past the stony pauement, she tooke seate

Against her husband, in the opposite heate

The fire then cast vpon the other wall:

Himselfe, set by the Columne of the Hall;

His lookes cast downwards, and expected still,

VVhen her incredulous, and curious will

To shun ridiculous error, and the shame

To kisse a Husband, that was not the same,

VVould downe, and win enough faith from his sight.

She silent sate, and her perplexed plight

Amaze encounter'd: Sometimes, she stood cleare

He was her Husband: sometimes, the ill weare

His person had put on, transform'd him so,

That yet his sta [...]pe would hardly currant go.

Her son her strangenesse seeing▪ blam'd her thus:

Mother, vngentle Mother! tyrannous!

In this too curious modesty you show;

Why sit you from my Father? Nor bestow

A word on me, t'enquire and cleere such doubt

As may perplexe you? Found man euer out

One other such a wife? That could forbeare

Her lou'd Lords welcome home, when twenty yeare

In infinite sufferance, he had spent apart:

No Flint so hard is, as a womans hart.

Son (she replied) Amaze containes my minde,

Nor can I speake, and vse the commune kind

Of those enquiries; nor sustaine to see

VVith opposite lookes, his countena [...]ce. If this be

My true Vlysses now return'd; there are

Tokens betwixt vs of more fitnesse farre

To giue me argument, he is my Lord;

And my assurance of him, may afford

My proofes of ioy for him, from all these eies

VVith more decorum; then obiect their guise

To publique notice. The much-Sufferer brake

[Page] In laughter out; and to his Son said; Take

Your Mother from the prease; that she may make

Her owne proofes of me, which perhaps may giue

More cause to the acknowledgements, that driue

Their shew thus off. But now, because I goe

So poorely clad, she takes disdaine to know

So loath'd a creature, for her loued Lord.

Let vs consult then, how we may accord

The Towne to our late action. Some one, slaine,

Hath made the all-left slaughterer of him, faine

To fly his friends and country. But our swords

Haue slaine a Cities most supportfull Lords;

The chiefe Peeres of the kingdome: therefore see

You vse wise meanes t'vphold your victorie.

See you to that good Father (saide the Son)

Whose counsailes haue the soueraigne glory won

From all men liuing. None will striue with you;

But with vnquestion'd Girlands grace your brow:

To whom, our whol alacrities we vow

In free attendance. Nor shall our hands leaue

Your onsets needy of supplies, to giue

All the effects that in our pow'rs can fall.

Then this (said he) to me seemes capitall

Of all choise courses: Bathe we first, and then

Attire we freshly: all our Maides and men

Enioyning likewise, to their best attire.

The sacred Singer then, let touch his Lire;

And go before vs all in gracefull dance,

That all without, to whose eares shal aduance

Our cheerefull accents, (or of Trauailers by,

Or firme inhabitants) solemnity

Of frolicke Nuptials may imagine heere.

And this, performe we; lest the massakere

Of all our wooers be divulg'd about

The ample City, ere our selues get out,

And greet my Father, in his Groue of Trees;

Where, after, we will proue what policies

Olympius shall suggest, to ouercome

Our latest toiles, and crowne our welcome home.

This all obey'd: Bath'd, put on fresh attire,

Both men and women did; Then tooke his Lire

The holy singer, and set thirst on fire

VVith songs, and faultlesse dances: all the Court

Rung with the footings, that the numerous sport

From iocund men drew, and faire-girdl'd Dames;

VVhich, (heard abroad) thus flew the cōmune fames:

This s [...]re the day is, when the much-woo'd Queen

Is richly wed; O wretch! That hath not beene [Page] [...] [Page] [...]

[Page] So constant, as to keepe her ample house

Til th'vtmost houre, had brought her formost spouse.

Thus some conceiu'd, but little [...] the thing.

And now, Eurynome had bath'd the King;

Smooth'd him with Oyles; and he, himselfe attir'd

In vestures royall. Her part then inspir'd

The Goddesse Pallas; deck't his head and face

With infinite beauties: gaue a goodly grace

Of stature to him: a much plumper plight

Through all his body breath'd; Curles soft, & bright

Adorn'd his head withall, and made it show,

As if the flowry Hyacinth did grow

In all his pride there: In the generall trim

Of euery locke, and euery curious lim.

Looke how a skilfull Artizan, well [...]

In all Arts Metalline; as ha [...]ing beene

Taught by Minerua, and the God of fire,

Doth Gold, with Siluer mix so; that entire

They keepe their selfe distinction; and yet so,

That to the Siluer, from the Gold, doth flow

A much more artificiall luster then his [...]ne;

And thereby to the Gold it selfe, is growne

A greater glory, then if wrought alone;

Both being stuck off, by eithers [...] ▪

So did Minerua, hers and his combine,

He more in Her, She more in Him did shine.

Like an Immortall from the Bath, [...]:

And to his wife did all his grace dispose,

Encountring this her strangenesse: Cruell Dame

Of all that breathe; the Gods, [...] and flame

Haue made thee ruthlesse: Life retaines nor one

Of all Dames else, that beares so ouer-growne

A minde with abstinence; as twenty [...]

To misse her husband, drown'd in wo [...], and teares;

And at his comming, keepe aloofe; [...]

As of his so long absence, and his care,

No sense had seisd her. Go Nurse, make a bed,

That I alone may sleepe; her heart is dead

To all reflection. To him, thus replied

The wise Penelope: Man, halfe deified;

'Tis not my fashion to be taken streight

With brauest men: Nor poorest, vse to st [...]ight.

Your meane apparance made not me retire;

Nor this your rich shew, makes me now admire,

Nor moues at all: For what is all to me,

If not my husband? All his certainty

I knew at parting; but (so long apart)

The outward likenesse, holds no full desart

[Page] For me to trust to. Go Nurse, see addrest

A soft bed for him; and the single rest

Himselfe affects so. Let it be the bed,

That stands within our Bridal Chamber-sted,

VVhich he himself made: Bring it forth from thence,

And see it furnisht with magnificence.

This said she, to assay him; and did stir

Euen his establisht patience; and to hir.

Whom thus he answerd: Woman! your words proue

My patience strangely: VVho is it can moue

My Bed out of his place? It shall oppresse

Earths greatest vnder-stander; and vnlesse▪

Euen God himselfe come, that can easely grace

Men in their most skils, it shall hold his place.

For Man: he liues not, that (as not most skill'd,

So not most yong) shall easely make it yield.

If (building on the strength in which he flowes)

He addes both Leuers to, and Iron Crowes.

For, in the fixure of the Bed, is showne

A Maister-peece; a wonder: and 'twas done

By me, and none but me: and thus was wrought;

There was an Oliue tree, that had his grought

Amidst a hedge; and was of shadow, proud;

Fresh, and the prime age of his verdure show'd.

His leaues and armes so thicke, that to the eye

It shew'd a columne for solidity.

To this, had I a comprehension

To build my Bridall Bowre; which all of stone,

Thicke as the Tree of leaues, I raisde, and cast

A Roofe about it, nothing meanly grac'st;

Put glew'd doores to it, that op't Art enough.

Then, from the Oliue, euery broad-leau'd bough

I lopt away: then fell'd the Tree, and then

VVent ouer it, both with [...]y Axe, and Plaine:

Both gouern'd by my Line. And then, I hew'd

My curious Bed-sted out; in which, I shew'd

Worke of no commune hand. All this, begon,

I could not leaue, till to perfection

My paines had brought it. Tooke my Wimble; bor'd

The holes, as fitted: and did last, afford

The varied Ornament; which shew'd no want

Of Siluer, Gold, and polisht Elephant.

An Oxe-hide Dide in purple, then I threw

Aboue the cords. And thus, to curious view

I hope I haue obiected honest signe,

To proue, I author nought that is not mine:

But, if my bed stand vnreinou'd, or no,

O woman, passeth humane wit to know.

This sunk her knees & heart, to heare so true

[Page] The signes she vrg'd; and first, did teares ensue

Her rapt assurance: Then she ran, and spread

Her armes about his necke; kist oft his head;

And thus the curious stay she made, excusde:

Vlysses! Be not angry, that I vsde

Such strange delayes to this; since heretofore

Your suffering wisedome, hath the Gyrland wore

From all that breath: and 'tis the Gods that thus

With mutuall misse, so long afflicting vs,

Haue causd my coynesse: To our youths, enuied

That wisht society, that should haue tied

Our youths and yeares together: and since now

Iudgement and Duty, should our age allow

As full ioyes therein, as in youth and blood:

See all yong anger, and reproofe withstood,

For not at first sight giuing vp my armes:

My heart still trembling, lest the false alarmes

That words oft strike vp, should ridiculize me.

Had Argiue Hellen knowne credulity

VVould bring such plagues with it; and her, againe

(As aucthresse of them all) with that foule staine

To her, and to her countrey; she had staid

Her loue and mixture from a strangers bed.

But God impell'd her to a shamelesse deede,

Because she had not in her selfe decreed

Before th'attempt; That, such acts still were shent,

As simply in themselues, as in th'euent.

By which, not onely she her selfe sustaines,

But we, for her fault, haue paid mutuall paines.

Yet now; since these signes of our certaine bed

You haue discouer'd, and distinguished

From all earths others: No one man but you,

Yet euer getting of it th'onely show;

Nor one, of all Dames, but my selfe, and she

My Father gaue; old Actors progenie:

(Who euer guarded to our selues, the dore

Of that thick-shaded chamber) I, no more

Will crosse your cleere perswasion: though, till now,

I stood too doubtfull, and austere to you.

These words of hers, so iustifying her stay,

Did more desire of ioyfull mone conuay

To his glad minde; then if at instant sight,

She had allow'd him, all his wishes right.

He wept for ioy, t' enioy a wife so fit

For his graue minde, that knew his depth of wit;

And held chaste vertue at a price so high.

And as sad men at Sea, when shore is nigh,

VVhich long their hearts haue wisht (their ship quite lost

[Page] By Neptunes rigor; and they vext, and tost

Twixt winds & black waues, swimming for their liues;

A few escap't; and that few that suruiues

(All drencht in fome, and brine) craule vp to Land,

VVith ioy as much as they did worlds command;

So deare, to this wife, was her husbands sight;

Who still embrac't his necke; and had, (til light

Displaid her siluer Ensigne) if the Dame

That beares the blew sky, ente [...]mixt with flame

In her faire eyes, had not infixt her thought

On other ioyes, for loues so hardly brought

To long'd-for meeting: who th'extended night

VVith-held in long date; nor would let the light

Her wing-hoou'd horse ioyne; (Lampus, Phaeton)

Those euer Colts, that bring the morning on

To worldly men; But, in her golden chaire,

Downe to the Ocean, by her siluer haire

Bound her aspirings. Then Vlysses said;

O wife: Nor yet are my contentions staid;

A most vnmeasur'd labour, long and hard

Askes more performance; to it, being prepar'd

By graue Tiresias, when downe to hell

I made darke passage; that his skill might tell

My mens returne, and mine. But come, and now

Enioy the sweet rest that our Fates allow.

The place of rest is ready, (she replyed)

Your will at full serue, since the deified

Haue brought you, where your right is to command.

But since you know (God making vnderstand

Your searching mind) informe me, what must be

Your last set labour; Since 'twill fall to me

(I hope) to heare it after; tell me now:

The greatest p [...]easure is before to know.

Vnhappy? (said Vlysses) To what end

Importune you this labour? It will lend

Nor you, nor me, delight; but you shall know,

I was commanded, yet more to bestow

My yeares in trauaile; many Cities more

By Sea to visit: and when first, for shore

I left my shipping, I was will'd to take

A nauall Oare in hand; and with it make

My passage forth, till such strange men I met,

A [...] knew no Sea, nor euer salt did eat

VVith any victles: who the purple beakes

O [...] Ships did neuer see: nor that which breakes

The waues in curles, which is a Fan-like Oare,

And serues as wings, with which a ship doth soare.

To let me know then, when I was arriu'd

[Page] On that strange earth, where such a people liu'd.

He gaue me this for an vnfaili [...]g signe:

When any one, that tooke that Oare of mine

Borne on my shoulder, for a Corne-clense Fan,

I met ashore; and shew'd to be a man

Of that Lands labour: There had I command

To fixe mine Oare; and offer on that strand

T'imperiall Neptune (whom I must implore)

A Lambe, a Bull, and Sow-ascending Bore:

And then turne home; where all the other Gods

That in the broad heauen made secure abods,

I must solicite (all my curious heed

Giuen to the seuerall rites they haue decreed)

VVith holy Hecatombes: And then, at home

A gentle death should seize me, that would come

From out the Sea, and take me to his rest

In full ripe age; about me, liuing blest,

My louing people: To which (he presag'd)

The sequell of my fortunes were engag'd.

If then (saide she) the Gods will please t'impose

A happier Being to your fortunes close

Then went before; your hope giues comfort strength,

That life shall lend you better dayes at length.

VVhile this discourse spent mutual speech, the bed

Eurynome and Nurse had made; and spred

With richest Furn ture; while Torches spent

Their parcell gilt thereon. To bed then went

The aged Nurse; and where their Soueraignes were,

Eurynome (the Chamber-maid) did beare

A Torch, and went before them to their rest:

To which she left them; and for hers addrest.

The King and Queene then, now (as newly wed)

Resum'd the old Lawes of th'embracing bed.

Telemachus, and both his Herdsmen, then

Dissolu'd the dances, both to Maids and men;

VVho in their shady roofes tooke timely sleepe.

The Bride, and Bridegroome, hauing ceast to keepe

Obserued Loue-ioyes; from their fit delight,

They turn'd to talke. The Queene then did recite

VVhat she had suffer'd by the hatefull rout

Of harmfull wooers, who had eate her out

So many Oxen, and so many Sheepe;

How many [...]un of wine their drinking deepe

Had quite exhausted. Great V [...]ysses then,

VVhat euer slaughters he had made of men;

VVhat euer sorrowes he himselfe sustain'd,

Repeated amply; and her eares remain'd

VVith all delight, attentiue to their end.

[Page] Nor would one winke sleepe, till he told her all;

Beginning where he gaue the Cacons fall.

From thence, his passe to the Lotophagie;

The Cyclops acts; the putting out his eye,

And wreake of all the Souldiers he had eate,

No least ruth shewne, to all they could entreate.

His way to Aeolus; his prompt receit,

And kinde dismission: his inforc't retreate

By sodaine Tempest, to the fishy maine;

And quite distraction from his course againe.

His landing at the Laestrigonian Port,

VVhere ships and men, in miserable sort,

Met all their spoiles; his ship, and he, alone

Got off from the abhorr'd confusion.

His passe to Circe; her deceits, and Arts:

His thence descension to th'infernall parts:

His lifes course of the Thebane Prophet learn'd;

VVhere, all the slaughter'd Grecians he descern'd,

And loued Mother. His astonisht eare

VVith what the Syrens voices made him heare.

His scape from th'erring Rockes, which Scylla was,

And rough Charybdis; with the dangerous passe

Of all that toucht there: His S [...]cilian

Offence giuen to the Sun: His euery man

Destroy'd by thunder, vollied out of heauen,

That split his Ship; his owne endeuours driuen

To shift for succours on th'Ogygian shore,

VVhere Nimph Calypso, such affection bore

To him in his arriuall: Tha [...] with feast

She kept him in her Caues, and would haue blest

His welcome life, with an immortall state;

VVould he haue staid, and liu'd her Nuptiall mate:

All which, she neuer could perswade him to.

His passe to the Phaeacians, spent in wo:

Their hearty welcome of him, as he were,

A God descended from the starry Sphere:

Their kinde dismission of him home, with Gold,

Brasse, Garmen [...]s; all things his occasions would.

This last word vsde; sleepe seiz'd his weary eye,

That salues all care, to all mortality.

In meane space, Pallas, entertain'd intent,

That when Vlysses, thought enough time spent

In loue-ioyes with his wife; to raise the Day,

And make his graue occasions, call, away.

The Morning rose, and he; when thus he saide;

O Queene: Now satiate with afflictions, laide

On both our bosomes; (you oppressed heere

VVith cares for my returne; I, euery where

[Page] By Ioue, and all the other Deities, tost

Euen till all hope of my returne was lost)

And both arriu'd at this sweet Hauen, our Bed;

Be your care vsde, to see administ [...]ed

My house-possessions left. Those Sheepe that were

Consum'd in surfets by your wooers heere;

Ile forrage, to supply with some; and more,

The suffering Grecians shall be made restore,

Euen till our stalles receiue their wonted fill.

And now, to comfort my good Fathers ill

Long suffer'd for me: To the many-tree'd

And ample Vineyard grounds, it is decreed

In my next care, that I must haste, and see

His long'd-for presence. In the meane time, be

Your wisedome vsde; that since (the Sun ascended)

The fame will soone be through the Town extended,

Of those I heere haue slaine; your selfe (got close

Vp to your chamber) see you there tepose,

Cheer'd with your women; and, nor looke afford

Without your Court; nor anie man, a word.

This said, he arm'd: To arms, both Son and Swain

His powre commanding; who did entertaine

His charge with spirit: Op't the gates, and out;

He leading all. And now was hurl'd about

Auroraes ruddie fire: through all whose light

Minerua led them, through the Towne, from sight.

The End of the XXIII. Booke of Homers Odysses.

THE XXIIII. BOOKE OF HOMERS ODYSSES.
Another.

[Page]

THE ARGVMENT.

BY Mercury the Wo [...]ers soules

Are vsher'd to th'Infer [...]all Pooles.

Vlysses, with Laertes [...]et;

The people, are in vprore set

Against them, for the wooers ends:

Whom Pallas stayes, and renders Frends.

[...].

The vprores fire,

the Peoples fall:

The Grandfire, Sire,

and Son, to all.

CYllenian Hermes with his golden rod,

The wooers soules (that yet retain'd abod

Amids their bodies) call'd in dreadfull rout

Forth to th'Infernals; who came murmuring out.

And as amids the desolate retreate

Of some vaste Cauerne (made the sacred seate

Of austere spirits) Bats, with Brests, and wings

Claspe fast the wals; and each to other clings:

But, swept off from their couerts, vp they rise

And flye with murmures, in amazefull guise

About the cauerne: So these (grumbling) rose

And flockt together. Downe before them goes

None-hurting Mercury, to hels broad waies;

And straight to those streights, where the Ocean staies

His lofty current in calme deepes, they flew.

Then to the snowy rocke, they next withdrew;

And to the close of Phoebus orient gates:

The Nation then of Dreames; and then the states

Of those soules Idols, that the weary dead

Gaue vp in earth: which, in a flowry Mead

Had habitable situation.

And there they saw the soule of Thetis son;

Of good Patroclus; braue Antilochus,

And Aiax; the supremely strenuo [...]s

Of all the Greeke hoast, next Plebeian:

All which assembled about M [...]ias son.

[Page] And to them (after) came the mournfull Ghost

Of Agamemn [...]n; with all those, he lost

In false Aegysthus Court. A [...]hilles then

Beholding there, that mighty King of men:

Deplor'd his plight, [...]nd said: O Atreus Son!

Of all Heroes; all Opinion

Gaue thee, for Ioues most lou'd; since most command

Of all the Greekes, he gaue thy eminent hand

At siedge of Ilion, where we suffer'd so:

And is the issue this? That first in wo,

Sterne Fate did therefore set thy sequell downe?

None borne past others Fates, can passe his owne.

I wish to heauen, that in the heighth of all

Our pompe at Ilion, Fate had sign'd thy fall;

That all the Greekes might haue aduanc't to thee,

A famous Sepulcher; and Fame might see

Thy Son giuen honor, in thy honour'd end;

But now, a wretched death did Fate extend

To thy confusion, and thy Issues shame.

O Thetis Son (said he) the vitall flame

Extinct at Ilion, far from th'Argiue fields;

The stile of blessed, to thy vertue yields.

About thy fall, the best of Greece and Troy

VVere sacrific'd to slaughter: Thy iust ioy

Conceiu'd in battell, with some worth forgot,

In such a death, as great Apollo shot

At thy encounters: Thy braue person lay

Hid in a dusty whirlewinde, that made way

VVith humane breaths, spent in thy ruines state;

Thou great, wert greatly valew'd, in thy Fate.

All day we fought about thee; nor at all

Had ceast our conflict, had not Ioue let fall

A storme, that forc't off our vnwilling feete.

But, hauing brought thee from the fight, to fleete

Thy glorious person (bath'd and balm'd) we laide

Aloft a bed; and round about thee, paide

The Greekes warme teares, to thy deplor'd decease;

Quite danted, cutting all their curles increase.

Thy death dra [...]e a diuine voice through the Seas,

That started vp thy Mother from the waues;

And all the Marine Godheads, left their caues,

Consorting to our fleet, her rapt repaire:

The Greekes stood frighted, to see Sea, and Aire,

And Earth, combine so, in thy losses sence;

Had taken ship, and fled for euer thence,

If old-much-knowing-Nestor had not staide

Their rushing off: His counsailes hauing swaide

In all times former, with such cause, their courses;

[Page] Who bad containe themselues, and trust their forces;

For all they saw, was Thetis come from Sea,

VVith others of the watry progenie,

To see and mourne for her deceased Son.

VVhich staid the feares, that all to flight had won;

And round about thee stood th'old Sea-gods seedes,

VVretchedly mourning: their immortall weeds

Spreading vpon thee: all the sacred Nine

Of deathlesse Muses, paid [...]hee dues diuine;

By varied turnes their heauenly voyces venting;

All in deepe passion for thy death consenting.

And then, of all our Army, not an eye

You could haue seene, vndrown'd in misery;

The mouing Muse, so rul'd in every minde.

Full seuenteene dayes and nights, our teares confin'd

To celebration of thy mourned end;

Both men, and Gods, did in thy moane con [...]nd.

The eighteenth day, we spent about thy heape

Of dying fire: Blacke Oxen, fattest Sheepe

VVe slew, past number. Then the precious spoile

(Thy Corse) wee tooke vp, which with stoods of oile

And pleasant Hony we emblam'd; and then

VVrapt thee in those Robes, that the Gods did raine:

In which, we gaue thee to the hallowed flame;

To which, a number of heroicall name,

All arm'd, came rushing in, in desperate plight;

As prest to sacrifice their vitall right

To thy dead ruines, while so bright they burn'd:

Both foote & horse brake in; and fought, & mourn'd

In infinite tumult. But when all the night

The rich flame lasted; and that wasted quite

Thy body was with the enamor'd fire;

VVe came in early Morne, and an entire

Collection made, of euery Iuorie bone;

VVhich washt in wine, and [...],

A two-ear'd Bolle of Gold, [...] Mother ga [...]e,

By Bacchus giuen her; and did forme receaue

From Vulcans famous hand; which (O renown'd

Great Thetis Son) with thy faire bones, we crown'd;

Mixt with the Bones of

Patr [...]lus

[...],

And braue Antilochus; [...], in decease

Of thy Patroclus, was thy fauours Deere.

About thee then, a matchlesse Sepulch [...]re,

The sacred hoast of the Achai [...] [...]

Vpon the Hellespont; where most it seisd

(For height, and conspicuity) the eies

Of liuing men, and their posterities.

Thy Mother then obtain'd the Gods consent

[Page] To institute an honor'd game, that spent

The best approuement of our Grecian Fames;

In whose praise, I must say, that many games

About Heroes Sepulchers, mine eyes

Haue seene perform'd: But these, bore off the prize

VVith myracles to me, from all before.

In which, thy Siluer-footed Mother, bore

The Institutions name; but thy desarts

(Being great with heauen) caus'd al the eminent parts.

And thus, through all the worst effects of Fate,

Achilles Fame, euen Death shall propagate:

VVhile any one, shall lend the light an eye,

Diuine Ae [...]cides shal neuer dye.

But wherein can these comforts be conceiu'd

As rights to me? when hauing quite a [...]chieu'd

An end with safety, and with Conquest too

Of so vnmatcht a warre; what none could do

Of all our enemies there, at home, a Friend,

And VVife, haue giuen me inglorious end.

While these thus spake, the Argus-killing spy

Brought neere, Vlysses noble victory

To their renew [...] d discourse; in all the ends

The wooers suffer'd, and shew'd those his Frends.

VVhom now, amaze inuaded with the view,

And made giue backe: yet [...] knew

Melanthius heyre, much-fam'd Amphimed [...],

Who had in Ithaca, Guest-fauours shown

To great Atrides; who first spake, and saide:

Amphimedon: what sufferance hath bene laide

On your aliue parts, that hath made you ma [...]e

This land of darknesse, the retreat you take?

So all together? All being like in yeeres?

Nor would a man haue choosd, of all the Peeres

A City honors, men to make a part

More strong for any obiect? Hath your smart

Bene felt from Neptune, being at Sea? His wrath,

The winds, and waues, exciting to your scath?

Or haue offensiue men imposd this Fate?

Your Oxen driuing; or your flockes estate?

Or for your City fighting, and your wiues,

Haue deaths vntimely, seiz'd your best-tim'd liues?

Informe me truly: I was once your Guest;

VVhen I, and Menelaus had profest

First armes for Ilion; and were com [...] ashore

On Ithaca, with purpose to implore

Vlysses aide; that City-racing man,

In wreake of the adulterous Phrygian.

Retaine not you the time? A whole months date

[Page] We spent at Sea, in hope to instig [...]te

In our arriuall, old Laertes Son;

VVhom (hardly yet) to our designe we won.

The Soule made answer: Worthiest King of men,

I well remember euery passage then

You now reduce to thought; and will relate

The truth, in whole forme, of our timelesse Fate.

VVe woo'd the wife of that long absent King;

VVho (though her second marriage, were a thing

Of most hate to her) she would yet deny

At no part our affections; nor comply

With any in performance: but decreed

In her delayes, the cruell Fates, we feed.

Her craft was this: She vndertooke to weau [...]

A Funerall garment, destin'd to receaue

The corse of old Laertes; being a taske

Of infinite labour, and which Time would aske.

In midst of whose attempt, she causd our stay

VVith this attraction: Youths! that come in way

Of honor'd Nuptials to me: Though my Lord

Abide amongst the dead; yet cease to bord

My choise for present Nuptials; and sustaine

(Lest what is past me, of this web, be vaine)

Till all receiue perfection: 'Tis a weede

Dispos'd, to wrap in, at his Funerall neede

The old La [...]rtes: who (possessing much)

Would (in his want of rites as fitting) touch

My honor highly, with each vulgar Dame.

Thus spake she, and perswaded; and her Frame

All day she labour'd; her dayes worke not small;

But euery night time, she vnwrought it all.

Three yeares continuing this imperfect taske;

But when the fourth year came, her slights could mask

In no more couert; since her trusted Maid

Her whole deceite, to our true note betraid.

VVith which, surpriz'd, she could no more protract

Her workes perfection: but gaue end exact

To what remain'd: washt vp, and set thereon

A glosse so bright, that like the Sun and Moon

The whole worke shew'd together. And when now

Of meere necessity, her honour'd vow

She must make good to vs: ill fortune brought

Vlysses home; who yet, gaue none one thought

Of his arriuall; but far-off at field

Liu'd with his Herdsman: Nor his trust would yield

Note of his person; but liu'd there, as Guest;

Ragg'd as a begger, in that life profest.

At length, Telemachus left Pylos sank;

[Page] And with a Ship, fetcht soone his natiue Land.

When yet, not home he went: but laid his way

Vp to his Herdsman, where his Father lay;

And where, both laide our deaths. To town then bore

The Swine-herd, and his King; the Swaine before.

Telemachus, in other wayes, bestow'd

His course home first, t'associate vs that woo'd.

The Swaine, the King led after, who came on

Ragged and wretched, and still lean'd vpon

A borrow'd staffe. At length, he reacht his home;

VVhere (on the sodaine, and so wretched, come)

Nor we, nor much our elders, once did dreame

Of his returne there: but did wrongs extreame

Of words, and blowes to him: all which, he bore

VVith that old patience he had learn'd before.

But when the minde of Ioue had rais'd his owne;

His son and he, fetcht all their Armour downe;

Fast lockt the doores; and (to prepare their vse)

He will'd his wife (for first meane) to produce

His Bow to vs, to draw; of which, no one

Could stir the string: Himselfe yet, set vpon

The deadly strength it held; Drew all, with ea [...]e;

Shot through the steeles, and then began to sease

Our armelesse bosomes; striking first, the brest

Of King Antinous, and then the [...]est

In heapes turn'd ouer: hopefull of his end,

Because some God (he knew) stood firme his frend.

Nor prou'd it worse with him; but all in flood,

The Pauement straight, blusht with our vitall blood:

And thus our soules came heere; our bodies laid

Neglected in his roofes: no word conuaid

To any friend, to take vs home and giue

Our wounds fit balming▪ not let such as liue

Entombe our deaths: and for our fortunes, shed

Those teares and dead rites, that renowne the dead.

Atrides Ghost gaue answere; O blest Son

Of old Laertes, thou at length, hast won

With mighty vertue, thy vnmatched wife.

How good a knowledge▪ how vntoucht a life

Hath wise Penelope? How well she laide

Her husbands right vp! whom she lou'd a Maid?

For which, her vertues shall extend applause

Beyond the circles fraile mortality drawes;

The deathlesse in this vale of death, comprising,

Her praise, in numbers, into infinites rising.

The daughter, Tyndarus begat, begot

No such chaste thoughts; but cut the virgin knot

That knit her spouse & her, with murtherous swords.

[Page] For which, posterities shall put hatefull words

To notes of her: that all her Sex defam'd,

And for her ill, shall euen the good be blam'd.

To this effect, these, these digressions made

In hell; Earths darke, and euer-hiding shade.

Vlysses, and his Son (now past the Towne)

Soone reacht the field, elaborately growne

By old Laertes labour: when, with cares

For his lost Son, he left, all Court affaires;

And tooke to this r [...]de vpland▪ which, with toile

He made a sweet and habitable soile:

VVhere stood a house to him; about which, ran

In turnings thicke, and Labyrinthian,

Poore Houels, where his necessary men

That did those workes (of pleasure to him then)

Might sit, and eate, and sleepe. In his owne house

An old Sicilian Dame liu'd; st [...]dious

To serue his sowre age with her cheerefull paines.

Then saide Vlysses to his Son, and Swaines;

Go you to Towne, and for your dinner kill

The best Swine ye can choo [...]e; my selfe will still

Stay with my father, and assay his eye,

If my acknowledg'd truth, it can descry;

Or that my long times trauaile, doth so change

My sight to him, that I appeare as strange.

Thus gaue he armes to them, and home he hied:

Vlysses to the fruitfull field, applied

His present place: nor found he Dolius there,

His sonnes, or any seruant, any where

In all that spacious ground; all gone from thence,

Were dragging bushes, to repaire a Fence,

Old Dolius leading all. Vlysses found

His father farre aboue, in that faire ground,

Employd in proyning of a Plant: his weeds

All torne and tatter'd; fit for homely deeds,

But not for him. Vpon his legs he wore

Patcht boots, to guard him from the brambles gore:

His hands, had thorne-proofe hedging Mittens on;

His head a Goats-skin Caske: through all which shone

His heart giuen ouer, to abiectest mone.

Him, when Vlysses saw, consum'd with age,

And all the Ensignes on him, that the rage

Of griefe presented: he brake out in teares:

And (taking stand then, where a tree of Peares

Shot high his forehead ouer him) his minde

Had much contention. If to yeeld to kinde,

Make straight way to his father; kisse, embrace,

T [...]ll his returne, and put on all the face

[Page] And fashion of his, instant told returne,

Or stay th'impulsion; and the long day burne

Of his quite losse giuen, in his Fathers feare,

A little longer: trying first his cheare

With some free dalliance; th'earnest being so neare.

This course his choise preferr'd, and forth he went:

His Father then, his aged shoulders bent

Beneath what yeares had stoop't; about a Tree

Busily digging: O, old man (said he)

You want no skill, to dres [...]e and decke your ground,

For all your Plants doth order'd distance bound:

No Apple, Peare, or Oliue, Fig, or Vine;

Nor any plat, or quarter, you confine

To grasse, or flow'rs, stands empty of your care,

Which shewes exact in each peculiare:

And yet (which let not moue you) you bestow

No care vpon your selfe; though to this show

[...]f outward irksomnesse, to what you are,

You labour with an inward froward care,

Which is your age; that should weare all without

More neate, and cherishing. I make no doubt

That any sloth you vse, procures your Lord

To let an old man, go so much abhord

In all his weeds; nor shines there in your looke

A fashion, and a goodlinesse, so tooke

VVith abiect qualities, to merit this

Nasty entreaty: Your resemblance is

A very Kings, and shines through this retreate.

You looke like one, that hauing washt, and eate,

Should sleepe securely, lying sweet, and neate.

It is the ground of Age, when cares abuse it,

To know life's end; and as 'tis sweet, so vse it.

But vtter truth, and tell; what Lord is he,

That rates your labour, and your liberty?

VVhose Orchard is it, that you husband thus?

Or quit me this doubt; For if Ithacus

This kingdome claimes for his: the man I found

At first arriuall heere, is hardly sound

Of braine, or ciuill; not induring stay,

To tell, nor heare me, my enquiry out

Of that my friend; if stil he bore about

His life and Being; or were diu'd to Death,

And in the house of him that harboureth

The soules of men. For once he liu'd my guest;

My Land and house retaining interest

In his abode there; where there soiourn'd none,

As guest, from any forreigne Region

O [...] more price with me. He deriu'd his race

[Page] From Ithaca; and said, his Father was

Laertes, surnam'd Arcesiades.

I had him home; and all the offices

Perform'd to him, that fitted any friend;

Whose proo [...]e I did to wealthy gifts extend:

Seuen Talents, Gold; a Bolle all siluer, set

With pots of flowers: twelue robes, that had no pleat:

Twelue cloakes (or mantles) of delicious dye:

Twelue inner weeds: Twelue sutes of Tapistry

I gaue him likewise: women skill'd in vse

Of Loome, and Needle; freeing him to chuse

Foure the most faire. His Father (weeping) saide,

Stranger! The earth to which you are conuaide,

Is Ithaca; by such rude men poffest,

Vniust and insolent, as first addrest

To your encounter; but the gifts you gaue

VVere giuen (alas) to the vngratefull graue.

If with his people, where you now arriue,

Your Fate had bene to finde your friend aliue,

You shold haue found like Guest-rites from his hand;

Like gifts, and kinde passe to your wished land.

But how long since, receiu'd you as your guest

Your Friend, my Son? who was th'nhappiest

Of all men breathing, if he were at all?

O borne, when Fates, and ill Aspects let fall

A cruell influence for him; Farre away

From Friends and Countrey; dest [...]n'd to alay

The Sea-bred appetites; or (left ashore)

To be by Fowles and vpland Monsters tore.

His lifes kinde authors; nor his wealthy wi [...]e,

Bemoning (as behoou'd) his parted life:

Nor closing (as in honours course it lyes

To all men dead) in bed, his dying eyes.

But giue me knowledge of your name, and race:

What City bred you? VVhere the anchoring place

Your ship now rides at lies, that shor'd you here?

And where you men? Or if a passenger

In others Keeles you came; who (giuing Land

To your aduentures heere, some other Strand

To fetch in further course) haue left to vs

Your welcome presence? His reply was thus:

I am of Alybande, where I hold

My names chiefe house, to much renowne extold.

My Father Aphidantes; fam'd to spring

From Polypemon; the Molossian King:

My name, Eperitus. My taking land

On this faire Isle, was rul'd by the command

Of God, or Fortune: quite against consent

[Page] Of my free purpose; that, in course was bent

For th'Isle Sicania. My Ship is held

Farre from the City, neere an ample field.

And for (Vlysses) since his passe from me

'Tis now fiue yeares. Vnblest by Destiny,

That all this time, hath had the Fate to erre:

Though, at his parting, good Birds did augure

His putting off, and on his right hand flew;

VVhich, to his passage, my affection drew:

His spirit ioyfull, and my hope was now

To guest with him, and see his hand bestow

Rights of our friendship. This, a cloud of griefe

Cast ouer all the forces of his life.

VVith both his hands, the burning dust he swept

Vp from the earth, which on his head he heapt,

And fetcht a sigh, as in it, life were broke:

VVhich greeu'd his Son, and gaue so smart a stroke

Vpon his nosethrils, with the inward stripe,

That vp the Veine rose there; and weeping ripe

He was, to see his Sire feele such woe

For his dissembl'd ioy; which now (let goe)

He sprung from earth, embrac't and kist his Sire:

And said; O Father: he, of whom y'enquire

Am I my selfe, that (from you, twenty yeares)

Is now return'd. But do not breake in teares;

For now, we must not formes of kinde maintaine▪

But haste and guard the substance. I haue staine

All my wiues wooers; so, reuenging no [...]

Their wrong so long time suffer'd. Take not you

The comfort of my comming then, to heart

At this glad instant; but, in prou'd desert

Of your graue iudgement; giue mo [...]e, glad suspence,

And, on the sodaine, put this consequence

In act as absolute, as all time went

To ripening of your resolute assent.

All this haste made no [...] his staide faith, so free

To trust his words; who said, If you are he,

Approue it by some signe. This [...] then see

(Replied Vlysses) giuen me by the Bore

Slaine in Parnassus; I being sent before

By yours, and by my honour'd Mothers will,

To see your Sire A [...]tolycus fulfill

The gifts he vow'd, at gining of my Name.

Ile tel you too, the Trees (in goodly frame

Of this faire Orchard) that I askt of you

Being yet a childe; and follow'd, for your show

And name of euery Tree. You gaue me then

Of Figge-trees, forty; Apple bearers, ten;

Peare-trees, thirteene; and fifty rankes of Vine;

[Page] Each one of which, a season did confine

For his best eating. Not a Grape did grow;

That grew not there, and had his heauy brow

When Ioues faire daughters (the all-ripening how'rs)

Gaue timely date to it. This charg'd the pow is

Both of his knees and heart, with such impression

Of sodaine comfort, that it g [...]ue possession

Of all, to Trance: The signes were all so true,

And did the loue, that ga [...]e them; so renue.

His cast his armes about his sonne, and sunke;

The circle, slipping to his feete. So shrunke

VVere all his ages forces, with the fire

Of his yong loue rekindl'd. The old Sire,

The Son tooke vp, quite liuelesse: But his breath

Againe respiring; and his soule from death

His bodies pow'rs recouering: Out he cried,

And said; O Iupiter! I now haue tried,

That still there liue in heauen, remembring Gods,

Of men that serue them; though the periods

They set to their apparances, are long

In best mens sufferings; yet, as sure, as strong

They are in comforts: be their strange delayes

Extended neuer so, from dayes to dayes.

Yet see the short ioyes, or the soone-mixt feares

Of helpes with-held by them, so many yeares:

For, if the wooers now, haue paide the paine

Due to their impious pleasures; Now, againe

Extreame feare takes me, lest we straight shall see

Th'Ithacensians here, in mutinie;

Their Messengers dispatcht, to win to friend

The Cephalenian Cities. Do not spend

Your thoughts on these cares (saide his suffering son)

But be of comfort; and see that course ron

That best, may shun the worst: Our house is nere;

Telemachus, and both his Herdsmen, there

To dresse our supper with their vtmost hast;

And thither haste we. This saide; Forth they past;

Came home, and found Telemachus, at feast

With both his Swaines: while who had done, all drest

VVith Baths, and Balmes, and royally arraid

The old King was, by his Sicilian Maid.

By whose side, Pallas stood, his crookt-age streitning;

His flesh more plumping; and his looks enlightning:

VVho yssuing then to view, his son admir'd

The Gods Aspects▪ into his forme inspir'd:

And said; O Father: certainly some God

By your addression in this state, hath stood;

More great, more reuerend, rendring you by farre,

[Page] At all your parts, then of your selfe, you are.

I would to Ioue (said he) the Sun, and She

That beares Ioues shield, the state had stood with me,

That helpt me take in the wel-builded Tow'rs

Of strong Nericus (the Cephalian pow'rs

To that faire City, leading) two dayes past,

While with the wooers, thy conflict did last;

And I had then bene in the wooers wreake;

I should haue helpt thee so, to render weake

Their stubborne knees, that in thy ioyes desert,

Thy breast had bene too little for thy heart.

This said; and supper order'd by their men,

They sate to it; old Dolius entring then;

And with him (tyr'd with labour) his sonnes came,

Call'd by their Mother, the Sicilia [...] dame

That brought them vp, and drest their Fathers fare.

As whose age grew; with it, encreast her care

To see him seru'd as fitted. VVhen (thus set)

These men b [...]held Vlysses there, at meate;

They knew him; and astonisht in the place,

Stood at his presence: who, with words of grace

Call'd to olde Dolius, saying; Come, and eate,

And banish all astonishment: your meate

Hath long bene ready▪ and our selues made stay,

Expecting euer, when your wished way

VVould reach amongst vs. This brought fiercely on

Old Dolius from his stand; who ran vpon

(VVith both his armes abroad) the King, and kist

Of both his rapt vp hands, the either wrist;

Thus welcomming his presence: O my Loue,

Your presence heere (for which all wishes stroue)

No one expected. Euen the Gods haue gone

In guide before you, to your mansion:

Welcom, and all ioyes, to your heart, contend.

Knowes yet Penelope? Or shall we send.

Some one to tell her this? She knowes (said he)

VVhat need these troubles (Father) touch at thee?

Then came the Sonnes of D [...]lius; and againe

VVent ouer with their Fathers entertaine;

VVelcom'd, shooke hands; & then to feast sate down;

About which, while they sate; about the Towne

Fame flew, and shriek't about, the cruell death

And Fate, the wooers had sustain'd beneath

Vlysses roofes. All heard; together all,

From hence, and thence met, in Vlysses Hall,

Short-breath'd, and noisefull: Bore out all the dead

To instant buriall: while their deaths were spread

To other Neighbor-Cities, where they liu'd:

[Page] From whence, in swiftest Fisher-boats, arriu'd

Men to transfer them home. In meane space, here

The heauy Nobles, all in counsail [...] were;

Where (met in much heape) vp to all arose

Extremely-greeu'd Eupitheus; so to lose

His Son Antinous; who▪ first of all

By great Vlysses hand, had slaughtrous fall.

VVhose Father (weeping for him) saide; O Friends,

This man hath author'd workes of dismall ends;

Long since, conueying in his g [...]ide to Troy,

Good men, and many, that did ships employ:

All which are lost, and all their Souldiers dead;

And now, the best men Cephalenia b [...]ed

His hand hath slaughter'd. Go we then (before

His scape to Pylos, or the Elean Shore

VVhere rule the Epeans) 'gainst his horrid hand:

For we shall grieue, and infamy will brand

Our Fames for euer; if we see our Sons

And Brothers end in these confusions,

Reuenge left vninflicted. Nor will I

Enioy one dayes life more; But greeue, and die

VVith instant onset. Nor sho [...]ld you suruiue

To keepe a base, and beastly name aliue.

Haste then, let flight preuent vs. This with teares

His griefes aduisd, and made all sufferers

In his affliction. But by this, was come

Vp to the Counsaile, from Vlysses home

(VVhen sleep had left thē, which the slaughters there

And their selfe dangers, from their eyes, in feare

Had two nights intercepted) those two men,

That iust Vlysses sau'd out of the slaine;

VVhich Medon, and the sacred Singer were.

These stood amidst the Counsaile; and the feare

The slaughter had imprest, in eithers looke

Stucke stil so gastly; that amaze it strooke

Through euery there beholder: To whose eares

One thus enforc't, in his fright, cause of theirs:

Attend me Ithacensians; This sterne fact

Done by Vlysses, was not put in act

VVithout the Gods assistance; These selfe eies

Saw one of the immortall Deities

Close by Vlysses; Mentors forme put on

At euery part: and this sure Deity, shone

Now neere Vlysses, setting on his bold

And slaughterous spirit: Now, the points controll'd

Of all the wooers weapons; round about

The arm'd house whisking; in continu [...]ll rout

Their party putting, till in heapes they fell.

[Page] This newes, new fears did through their spirits impel:

When Halitherses (honor'd Mastors sonne,

VVho of them all, saw onely what was done

Present, and future) the much-knowing man

And aged Heroe, this plaine course ran

Amongst their counsailes: Giue me likewise eare;

And let me tell ye, Friends; that these ils beare

On your malignant spleenes, their sad effects;

VVho, not what I perswaded, gaue respects:

Nor what the peoples Pastor ( [...]) saide;

That you should see your issues follies staid

In those foule courses; by their petulant life

The goods deuouring, scandaling the wife

Of no meane person; who (they still would say)

Could neuer more see his returning day:

VVhich yet, appearing now: now giue it trust,

And yeeld to my free counsailes: Do not thrust

Your owne safe persons, on the acts, your Sons

So deerely bought, lest their confusions

On your lou'd heads, your like addictions draw.

This stood so farre, from force of any Law

To curbe their loose attempts, that much the more

They rusht to wreake, and made rude tumult rore.

The greater part of all the Court arose▪

Good counsaile could not ill designes dispose.

Eupitheus was perswader of the course;

VVhich (compleate arm'd) they put in present force:

The rest, sate still in counsaile. These men met

Before the broad Towne, in a place they set

All girt in armes; Eupitheus choosing Chiefe

To all their follies, who put griefe to griefe;

And in his slaughter'd sons reuenge did burne.

But Fate gaue neuer feete to his returne;

Ordaining there his death. Then Pall [...] spake

To Ioue, her Father, with intent to make

His will, high Arbiter, of th'act design'd;

And askt of him, what his vnsearched mind

Held vndiscour [...]d; If with Armes▪ and ill,

And graue encounter, he would first fulfill

His sacred purpose; or both parts combine

In peacefull friendship? He askt, why incline

These doubts, thy counsailes? Hast not thou decreed

That Ithacus should come, and giue his deed

The glory of reuenge, on these and theirs?

Performe thy will; the frame of these affaires

Haue this fit issue. When Vlysses hand

Hath reacht full wreake; his then r [...]wn'd command

Shall reigne for euer: Faithfull Truces strooke

[Page] 'Twixt him, and all; For euery man shall brooke

His Sons and Brothers slaughters; by our meane

To send Obliuion in; exp [...]gning cleane

The Character of enmity in all,

As in best Leagues before. Peace, Feastiuall,

‘And Riches in abundance, be the state,’

‘That crownes the close of Wise Vlysses Fate.’

This spurr'd the Free; who, from heauens Continent

To th'Ithacensian Isle, made straight descent.

Where (dinner past) Vlysses said; Some one

Looke out to see their neerenesse. Dolius sonne

Made present speed abroad, and saw them nie;

Ran backe, and told; Bad Arme; and instantlie

Were all in armes. Vlysses part, was foure;

And sixe more sons of Dolius: All his powre

Two onely more, which were his aged Sire,

And like-year'd Dolius, whose liues slaked fire;

All white had left their heads: yet, driuen by Neede,

Made Souldiers both, of necessary deede.

And now, all girt in armes; the Po [...]ts, set wide,

They sallied forth, Vl [...]sses being their guide.

And to them▪ in the instant, Pallas came,

In forme and voice, like Mentor; who, a flame

Inspir'd of comfort in Vlysses hart

VVith her seene presence. To his Son, apart

He thus then spake; Now Son, your eyes shall see

(Expos'd in slaughterous fight) the enemy;

Against whom, who shall best serue, will be seene:

Disgrace not then your race, that yet hath beene

For force, and fortitude, the formost tried,

Of all earths off-springs. His true Son replied;

Your selfe shall see (lou'd Father) if you please,

That my deseruings shall in nought digresse

From best fame of our Races formost merit.

The old King sprung for ioy, to heare his spirit:

And said; O lou'd Immortals, what a day

Do your cleere bounties to my life display?

I ioy, past measure, to behold my Son

And Nephew, close in such contention

Of vertues martiall. Pallas (standing nee [...]e)

Said, O my Friend! Of all, supreamly deere

Seed of Arcesius; Pray to Ioue, and her

That rules in Armes, (his daughter) and a da [...]

(Spritefully brandisht) hurle at th'aduerse part.

This said, He pray'd; and she, a mighty force

Inspir'd within him; who gaue instant course

To his braue-brandisht Lance, which strook the brasse

That cheek't Eupitheus Caske; and thrust his passe

[Page] Quite through his head; who fell, & sounded falling;

His Armes, the sound againe, from earth recalling.

Vlysses, and his Son, rusht on before;

And with their both-way-headed Darts, did gore

Their enemies breasts so thicke, that all had gone

The way of slaughter, had not Pallas throwne

Her voice betwixt them, charging all to stay

And spare expence of blood. Her voice did fray

The blood so from their faces, that it left

A greenish palenesse. All their hands it rest

Of all their weapons; falling thence, to earth:

And to the commune Mo [...]her of their Birth

(The City) all fled, in [...] to saue

The liues yet left them. Then Vlysses gaue

A horrid shout; and like Ioues Eagle flew.

In fiery pursuite, till Saturnius threw

His smoaking lightning twixt them; that had fall

Before Minerua: who th [...], out did call

Thus to Vlysses: Borne of Ioue! abstaine

From further bloodshed▪ [...] hand in the slain [...]

Hath equall'd in their paines, their prides to thee;

Abstaine then, lest you moue the Deity.

Againe then, twixt both parts, the seed of Ioue

(Athenian Pallas) of all future loue

A league compos'd; and for her fo [...]me, tooke choice

Of Mentors likenesse; both in Limb, and Voice.

The End of the XXIIII. and last Booke of Homers Odysses.

§

§

So wrought diuine Vlysses through his [...]:

So, croun'd the Light with him; His [...]hers Throes▪

As through his great Renowner, I have wrought

And my safe saile, to sacred Anchor br [...]ght.

Nor did the Argiue ship, more burthen feele,

That bore the Care of all men, in her Keel [...];

Then my aduenturous Barke: The Colchean Fleece,

Not halfe so precious, as this roule of Greece.

In whose songs I haue [...],

And Greeke it se [...]fe veile, to our English voyce.

Yet this inestimable Pearle, wit all

Our Dunghil Chantich [...]r [...]s, [...];

Each Moderne scraper, this [...] scratching by;

[Page] His Oate preferring far. Let such, let ly:

So scorne the stars the clouds; as true-soul'd men

Despise Deceiuers. For, as Clouds would faine

Obscure the Stars yet (Regions left below

With all their enuies) bar them but of show;

For they shine euer, and wil shine, when they

Dissolue in sinckes, make Mire, and temper Clay:

So puft Impostors (our Muse-vapours) striue,

With their selfe-blowne additions, to depriue

Men solid, of their full; though infinite short

They come in their compare; and false report

Of leuelling, or touching, at their light,

That still retaine their radiance, and cleere right;

And shal shine euer When, alas, one blast

Of least disgrace, teares downe th' Impostors Mast;

His Tops, and Tacklings; His whole Freight, and He

Confiscate to the Fishy Mona [...]chy;

His trash, by foolish Fame bought now, from hence,

Giuen to ser [...]e Mackarell forth, and Frankincence.

Such then, and any; too soft-ey'd to see

Through workes so solid, any worth, so free

Of all the learn'd professions, as is fit

To praise at such price; let him thinke his wit

Too weake to rate it; rather then oppose

With his poore pow'rs, Ages, and Hosts of Foes.

To the Ruines of Troy, and Greece.

TRoy rac't; Greece wrackt: who mou [...]nes? Ye both may bost;

Else th' Ilyads, and Odysses, had bene lost.

Ad Deum.

THe onely true God, (betwixt whom and Me,

I onely bound my comforts; and agree

With all my actions) onely truly knowes,

And can iudge truly me, with all that goes

To all my Faculties. In whose free grace

And inspiration, I onely place

All meanes to know (with my meanes; Study, praire,

In, & from his word taken) staire by staire,

In all continual contentation, rising

To knowledge of his Truth; and practising

[Page] His wil in it, with my sole Sauiours aide,

[...]uide, and enlightning: Nothing done, nor saide,

Nor thought that good is; but acknowledg'd by

His inclination, skill, and faculty.

By which, to finde the way out to his [...]

Past all the worlds; the sphere is, where doth mo [...]e

My studies, prai'rs, and pow'rs: No pleasure taken

But sign'd by his: for which, my blood forsaken,

My so [...]le I cleane to: and what (in his blood

That hath redeem'd, cleansd, taught her) fits her good.

Deo opt. Max. gloria.

FINIS.

[Page]

Information about this book

Title statement

Homer's Odysses. Translated according to ye Greeke by. Geo: ChapmanOdyssey. Book 1-24. English. Chapman

Homer.

Edition statement

1615

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

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Date

2005-03 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

ID [DLPS]

A03515

ID [STC]

STC 13637

ID [STC]

ESTC S118235

ID [EEBO-CITATION]

99853443

ID [PROQUEST]

99853443

ID [VID]

18826

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This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal. The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.

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Early English books online.

Notes

(EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A03515)

Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 18826)

Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1475-1640 ; 840:01)

Source

— Homer's Odysses. Translated according to ye Greeke by. Geo: Chapman, Odyssey. Book 1-24. English. Chapman, Homer., Chapman, George, 1559?-1634..

Extent

[10], 194, [2], 195-376, [2] p.

By Rich: Field [and W. Jaggard], for Nathaniell Butter,. Imprinted at London :: [1615?]. (Another issue, adding books 13-24, of the 1614 edition which includes only books 1-12.) (In verse.) (Printer's name supplied and publication date conjectured by STC.) (The title page is engraved.) (A cancel letterpress title page is occasionally found, but properly belongs with STC 13624.5.--STC.) (Imperfect; lacks leaf R8.) (Reproduction of the original in the Bodleian Library.)

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Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford.

Editorial practices

EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). The general aim of EEBO-TCP is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic English-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in EEBO.

EEBO-TCP aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the Text Encoding Initiative (http://www.tei-c.org).

The EEBO-TCP project was divided into two phases. The 25,363 texts created during Phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 January 2015. Anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source.

Users should be aware of the process of creating the TCP texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data.

Text selection was based on the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature (NCBEL). If an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in NCBEL, then their works are eligible for inclusion. Selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. In general, first editions of a works in English were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably Latin and Welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so.

Image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. Quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in Oxford and Michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet QA standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. After proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. Any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor.

The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines.

Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements).

Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site.