Classic Poem

" Arriv'd now at our ship, we lancht, and set
Our Mast up, put forth saile, and in did get
Our late-got Cattell. Up our sailes, we went,
My wayward fellowes mourning now th'event.
A good companion yet, a foreright wind,
Circe (the excellent utterer of her mind)
Supplied our murmuring consorts with, that was
Both speed and guide to our adventurous 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 never light,
Nor when he mounts the star-sustaining heaven,
Nor when he stoopes earth and sets up the Even;
But Night holds fixt wings, fetherd all with Banes,
Above those most unblest Cimmerianes.
Here drew we up our ship, our sheepe with-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 Perimedes bore.
When I my sword drew, and earth's wombe did gore
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 give 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 survive with Death,
My prayrs and vowes had done devotions fit,
I tooke the offrings, and upon the pit
Bereft their lives. 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 wives, 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 up and downe the ditch did stalke,
And threw unmeasur'd cries about their walke,
So horrid that a bloodlesse feare surprisde
My daunted spirits. Straight then I advisde
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 unsolide lip
Before Tiresias, that did all controule.
The first that preast in was Elpenor's soule,
His body in the broad-waid earth as yet
Unmournd, unburied by us, since we swet
With other urgent 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 Circe's house, the spite some Spirit did beare
And the unspeakable good licour there
Hath bene my bane. For being to descend
A ladder much in height, I did not tend
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
Gave food to thee, and by thy onely Sonne
At home behind thee left, Telemachus,
Do not depart by stealth and leave me thus,
Unmourn'd, unburied, lest neglected I
Bring on thy selfe th'incensed Deitie.
I know that, saild from hence, thy ship must touch
On th'Ile Æaea, 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 upon my Sepulcher the Ore
With which alive I shooke the aged seas,
And had of friends the deare societies. "
" I told the wretched Soule I would fulfill
And execute to th'utmost point his will;
And all the time we sadly talkt, I still
My sword above the blood held, when aside
The Idoll of my friend still amplified
His plaint, as up and downe the shades he err'd.
Then my deceased mother's Soule appeard,
Faire daughter of Autolycus the Great,
Grave Anticlea, whom, when forth I set
For sacred Ilion, I had left alive.
Her sight much mov'd me, and to teares did drive
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 understood
What Circe told me. At the length did land
Theban Tiresias' soule, and in his hand
Sustaind a golden Scepter, knew me well,
And said: " O man unhappy, why to hell
Admitst thou darke arrivall and the light
The Sunne gives leav'st, to have 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. "
" I sheath'd my sword, and left the pit, till he,
The blacke blood tasting, thus instructed me:
" Renoum'd Ulysses! all unaskt, I know
That all the cause of thy arrivall now
Is to enquire thy wisht retreate for home —
Which hardly God will let thee overcome,
Since Neptune still will his opposure trie,
With all his laid-up anger, for the eye
His lov'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, having 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 never dare one head of those to slay,
But hold unharmefull 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 justice ends
Short of thy selfe, it shall be long before,
And that length forc't out with infliction's store —
When, losing all thy fellowes, in a saile
Of forreigne built (when most thy Fates prevaile
In thy deliverance) thus th'event shall sort:
Thou shalt find shipwracke raging in thy Port,
Proud men thy goods consuming and, thy Wife
Urging with gifts, give charge upon thy life.
But all these wrongs Revenge 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
Salt's savorie vapor. Where thou first shalt land,
This cleare-given signe shall let thee understand
That there those men remaine: assume ashore
Up to thy roiall shoulder a ship oare,
With which, when thou shalt meete one on the way
That will in Countrey admiration say —
" What dost thou with that wanne upon 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, upon thy naturall shore
Give pious Hecatombs to all the Gods
(Degrees observ'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 Death's victory
Shall chance in onely-earnest-prayr-vow'd age,
Obtaind at home, quite emptied of his rage,
Thy subjects round about thee, rich and blest.
And here hath Truth summ'd up thy vitall rest. "
" I answerd him: " We will suppose all these
Decreed in Deity; let it likewise please
Tiresias to resolve me, why so neare
The blood and me my mother's Soule doth beare,
And yet nor word nor 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 whomsoever you shall do that good
He will the truth of all you wish unfold;
Who you envy it to will all withhold. "
" Thus said the kingly soule, and made retreate
Amidst the inner parts of Pluto's Seate,
When he had spoke thus by divine instinct.
Still I stood firme till to the blood's 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 alive
This deadly-darksome region underdive?
Twixt which and earth so many mighty seas
And horrid currents interpose their prease —
Oceanus in chief — which none (unlesse
More helpt than 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' Theban Soule
I might an Oracle involv'd unrowle —
For I came nothing neare Achaia yet,
Nor on our lov'd earth happy foote had set,
But (mishaps suffering) err'd from Coast to Coast
Ever since first the mighty Grecian hoast
Divine Atrides led to Ilion,
And I his follower, to set warre upon
The rapefull Troyans: and so praid she would
The Fate of that ungentle death unfould
That forc't her thither — if some long disease,
Or that the Splene of her that arrowes please
(Diana, envious of most eminent Dames)
Had made her th'object of her deadly aimes?
My Father's state and sonne's 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 love 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 kingdome's 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 subjects' good, administring lawes
With justice and the generall applause
A king should merit, and all calld him king.
My Father kept the upland, labouring,
And shun'd the Citie, usde no sumptuous beds,
Wonderd-at furnitures, nor wealthy weeds,
But in the Winter strew'd about the fire
Lay with his slaves in ashes, his attire
Like to a begger's — 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 leaves made upon the ground.
And here lay he, his Sorrowe's 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 darts lov'd and her archerie,
Nor by disease invaded, 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 prove
My armes the circle where her soule did move.
Thrice prov'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 Love to her embraces flie,
And not vouchsafe that even in hell we might
Pay pious Nature her unalterd right,
And give Vexation here her cruell fill?
" Should not the Queene here, to augment the ill
Of every sufferance (which her office is),
Enforce thy idoll to affoord me this? "
" " O Sonne, " she answerd, " of the race of men
The most unhappy, our most equall Queene
Will mocke no solide armes with empty shade,
Nor suffer empty shades againe t'invade
Flesh, bones, and nerves; nor will defraud the fire
Of his last dues, that, soone as spirits expire
And leave the white bone, are his native right,
When, like a dreame, the soule assumes her flight.
The light then of the living 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; when now repair'd to me
More female spirits, by Persephone
Driven on before her. All t'heroes' wives
And daughters, that led there their second lives,
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 have 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 severally
All told their stockes. The first that quencht her fire
Was Tyro, issu'd of a noble Sire.
She said she sprong from pure Salmoneus' bed,
And Cretheus, Sonne of Æolus, did wed,
Yet the divine flood Enipeus lov'd,
Who much the most faire streame of all floods mov'd.
Neare whose streames Tyro walking, Neptune came
Like Enipeus and enjoyd the Dame:
Like to a hill the blew and Snakie flood
Above th'immortall and the mortall stood,
And hid them both as both together lay
Just where his current falles into the Sea.
Her virgine wast dissolv'd, she slumberd then;
But when the God had done the worke of men,
Her faire hand gently wringing, thus he said:
" Woman! Rejoyce in our combined bed,
For when the yeare hath runne his circle round
(Because the Gods' loves must in fruite abound)
My love shall make (to cheere thy teeming mones)
Thy one deare burthen beare two famous Sonnes.
Love well and bring them up: go home, and see
That, though of more joy yet I shall be free,
Thou dost not tell to glorifie thy birth:
Thy Love 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 Jove's 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 —
Æson and Pheres, and Amythaon,
That for his fight on horsebacke stoopt to none.
" Next her I saw admir'd Antiope,
Asopus' daughter, who (as much as she
Boasted attraction of great Neptune's love)
Boasted to slumber in the armes of Jove,
And two Sonnes likewise at one burthen bore
To that her all-controlling Paramore —
Amphion and faire Zethus, that first laid
Great Thebes' foundations and strong wals convaid
About her turrets, that seven Ports enclosde.
For though the Thebans much in strength reposde,
Yet had not they the strength to hold their owne
Without the added aides of wood and stone.
" Alcmena next I saw, that famous wife
Was to Amphitryo, and honor'd life
Gave to the Lyon-hearted Hercules,
That was of Jove's embrace the great increase.
" I saw besides proud Creon's daughter there,
Bright Megara, that nuptiall yoke did weare
With Jove's great Sonne, who never field did try
But bore to him the flowre of victory.
" The mother then of oedipus I saw,
Faire Epicasta, 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 heaven exposde at length to view,
And he in all-lov'd Thebes the supreame state
With much mone manag'd, for the heavy Fate
The Gods laid on him. She made violent flight
To Pluto's 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.
Then saw I Chloris, that did so excell
In answering beauties that each part had all;
Great Neleus married her, when gifts not small
Had wonne her favour, term'd by name of dowre.
She was of all Amphion's seed the flowre
(Amphion, calld Iasides, that then
Ruld strongly Minyaean Orchomen),
And now his daughter rul'd the Pylian Throne
Because her beautie's Empire overshone.
She brought her wise-awd husband Neleus,
Nestor much honord, Periclymenus,
And Chromius, Sonnes with soveraigne vertues grac't;
But after brought a daughter that surpast,
Rare-beautied Pero, 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 than to the broad-browd herd
Of Oxen which the common fame so rer'd,
Own'd by Iphicles) not a man should be
His Pero's husband that from Phylace
Those never-yet-driven Oxen could not drive —
Yet these a strong hope held him to atchieve
Because a Prophet that had never 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 undertake it, and he must.
The king would needs a Prophet should be just;
But when some daies and moneths expired were
And all the Houres had brought about the yeare,
The Prophet did so satisfie the king
(Iphicles all his cunning questioning)
That he enfranchisde him, and (all worst done)
Jove's counsaile made th'all-safe conclusion.
" Then saw I Leda (linkt in nuptiall chaine
With Tyndarus) to whom she did sustaine
Sonnes much renowm'd for wisedome; Castor one,
That past for use of horse comparison,
And Pollux, that exceld in whirlbat fight,
Both these the fruitfull Earth bore while the light
Of life inspir'd them — after which they found
Such grace with Jove that both liv'd under ground
By change of daies: life still did one sustaine,
While th'other died; the dead then liv'd againe,
The living dying, both of one selfe date
Their lives and deaths made by the Gods and Fate.
" Iphimedia after Leda came,
That did derive 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, under heaven;
At nine yeares old nine cubits they were driven
Abroad in breadth, and sprung nine fathomes hie.
They threatn'd to give battell to the skie
And all th'Immortals. They were setting on
Ossa upon Olympus, and upon
Steepe Ossa leavie Pelion, that even
They might a high-way make with loftie heaven —
And had perhaps perform'd it had they liv'd
Till they were Striplings. But Jove's Sonne depriv'd
Their lims of life before th'age that begins
The flowre of youth and should adorne their chins.
" Phaedra and Procris, with wise Mino's flame,
(Bright Ariadne) to the offring came.
Whom whilom Theseus made his prise from Crete
That Athens' sacred soile might kisse her feete,
But never could obtaine her virgin Flowre
Till in the Sea-girt Dia Dian's powre
Detain'd his homeward haste, where (in her Phane,
By Bacchus witnest) was the fatall wane
Of her prime Glorie. Maera, Clymene,
I witnest there, and loth'd Eriphyle,
That honour'd gold more than she lov'd her Spouse.
" But all th'Heroesses in Pluto's 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 leave for fit grace to the Gods and you."
This said, the silence his discourse had made
With pleasure held still through the house's 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?
My guest he is, but all you stand combin'd
In the renowne he doth us. Do not then
With carelesse haste dismisse him, nor the maine
Of his dispatch to one so needie maime;
The Gods' free bountie gives us all just claime
To goods enow." This speech the oldest man
Of any other Phaeacensian,
The grave Heroe Echeneus, gave
All approbation, saying: " Friends! ye have
The motion of the wise Queene in such words
As have not mist the marke, 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 live I rule in the command
Of this well-skild-in-Navigation 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 glorified
With rule of all of all men, if you lay
Commandment on me of a whole yeare's stay,
So all the while your preparations rise,
As well in gifts as time, ye can devise
No better wish for me; for I shall come
Much fuller handed and more honourd home,
And dearer to my people, in whose loves,
The richer evermore the better proves."
He answerd: " There is argude in your sight
A worth that works not men for benefit,
Like Prollers or Impostors; of which crew
The gentle blacke Earth feeds not up a few,
Here and there wanderers, blanching tales and lies,
Of neither praise nor use. You move our eies
With forme, our minds with matter, and our eares
With elegant oration, such as beares
A musicke in the orderd historie
It layes before us. Not Demodocus
With sweeter straines hath usde to sing to us
All the Greeke sorrowes, wept out in your owne.
But say; of all your worthy friends were none
Objected to your eyes that Consorts were
To Ilion with you, and serv'd destinie there?
This Night is passing long, unmeasur'd; none
Of all my houshold would to bed yet. On,
Relate these wondrous things. Were I with you,
If you would tell me but your woes, as now,
Till the divine Aurora shewd her head,
I should in no night relish thought of bed."
" Most eminent 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 utter more, more miserable ill
Of Friends than yet that scap't the dismall warres
And perisht homewards and in houshold jarres
Wag'd by a wicked woman. The chaste Queene
No sooner made these Ladie-ghosts unseene
(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 Ægisthus' house endur'd their ends
With his sterne Fortune. Having drunke 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
Heaven and his hellish billowes making meete,
Rowsing the winds? Or have thy men by land
Done thee this ill for using thy command
Past their consents, in diminution
Of those full shares their worths by lot had wonne
Of sheepe or oxen? Or of any towne,
In covetous 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 Ægisthus 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 man's nuptials, shot, or feast,
About his kitchin white-tooth'd swine lie drest.
The slaughters of a world of men thine eies,
Both private and in prease of enemies,
Have personally witnest, but this one
Would all thy parts have broken into mone,
To see how strewd about our Cups and Cates,
As Tables set with Feast, so we with Fates,
All gasht and slaine lay, all the floore embrude
With blood and braine. But that which most I ru'd
Flew from the heavie voice that Priam's seed,
Cassandra, breath'd, whom she that wit doth feed
With banefull crafts, false Clytemnestra, slew,
Close sitting by me; up my hands I threw
From earth to heaven, and tumbling on my sword,
Gave wretched life up — when the most abhord
By all her sexe's shame forsooke the roome,
Nor daind (though then so neare this heavie 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 love in heart,
To children, maids, and slaves. But she (in th'Art
Of onely mischiefe heartie) not alone
Cast on her selfe this foule aspersion,
But loving Dames hereafter to their Lords
Will beare for good deeds her bad thoughts and words. "
" " Alas, " said I, " that Jove should hate the lives
Of Atreus' seed so highly for their wives.
For Menelaus' wife a number fell;
For dangerous absence thine sent thee to hell. "
" " For this, " he answerd, " be not thou more kind
Than wise to thy wife; never 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 wife's wiles shalt lose no blood;
Exceeding wise she is, and wise in good.
Icarius' daughter, chaste Penelope,
We left a young Bride when for battell we
Forsooke the Nuptiall peace, and at her brest
Her first child sucking — who, by this houre, blest,
Sits in the number of surviving men.
And his blisse she hath, that she can containe,
And her blisse 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 welcomes — when in my retire
My wife denies mine eyes my sonne's deare sight,
And, as from me, will take from him the light
Before she addes one just delight to life,
Or her false wit one truth that fits a wife.
For her sake, therefore, let my harmes advise,
That though thy wife be ne're so chaste and wise,
Yet come not home to her in open view
With any ship or any personall shew,
But take close shore disguisde, nor let her know —
For tis no world to trust a woman now.
But what sayes Fame? Doth my Sonne yet survive
In Orchomen or Pylos? Or doth live
In Sparta with his Unkle? Yet I see
Divine Orestes is not here with me. "
" I answerd, asking: " Why doth Atreus' sonne
Enquire of me, who yet arriv'd where none
Could give to these newes any certaine wings?
And tis absurd to tell uncertaine things. "
" Such sad speech past us; and as thus we stood,
With kind teares rendring unkind fortunes good,
Achilles' and Patroclus' Soule appear'd,
And his Soule, of whom never ill was heard,
The good Antilochus, and the Soule of him
That all the Greeks past both for force and lim,
Excepting the unmatcht Æacides,
Illustrous Ajax. But the first of these
That saw, acknowledg'd, and saluted me
Was Thetis' conquering Sonne, who (heavily
His state here taking) said: " Unworthy breath!
What act yet mightier imagineth
Thy ventrous spirit? How doest thou descend
These under regions, where the dead man's end
Is to be lookt on, and his foolish shade? "
" I answerd him: " I was induc'd t'invade
These under parts, most excellent of Greece,
To visite wise Tiresias, for advice
Of vertue to direct my voyage home
To rugged Ithaca; since I could come
To note in no place where Achaia stood,
And so liv'd ever tortur'd with the blood
In man's vaine veines. Thou therefore, Thetis' sonne,
Hast equald all that ever yet have wonne
The blisse the earth yeelds, or hereafter shall.
In life thy eminence was ador'd of all,
Even with the Gods. And now, even dead, I see
Thy vertues propagate thy Emperie
To a renewd life of command beneath.
So great Achilles triumphs over death. "
This comfort of him this encounter found:
" Urge not my death to me, nor rub that wound.
I rather wish to live in earth a Swaine
Or serve a Swaine for hire, that scarce can gaine
Bread to sustaine him, than (that life once gone)
Of all the dead sway the Imperiall throne.
But say, and of my Sonne, some comfort yeeld,
If he goes on in first fights of the field,
Or lurks for safetie in the obscure Rere?
Or of my Father if thy royall eare
Hath bene advertisde, 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? Under those bright rayes
In which heaven's fervour hurles about the dayes
Must I no more shine his revenger now,
Such as of old the Ilian overthrow
Witnest my anger, th'universall hoast
Sending before me to this shadie Coast
In fight for Grecia. Could I now resort
(But for some small time) to my Father's 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
Unseate 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 least report,
But of your sonne in all the utmost sort
I can informe your care with truth, and thus: —
" " From Scyros princely Neoptolemus
By Fleete I convaid to the Greeks, where he
Was Chiefe at both parts — when our gravitie
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 ever spake, nor past the lawes
Of any grave stay in his greatest hast.
None would contend with him, that counseld last,
Unlesse 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 never sease,
But farre before fight ever. No man there
For force he forced. He was slaughterer
Of many a brave man in most dreadfull fight.
But one and other whom he reft of light
(In Grecian succour) I can neither name,
Nor give in number. The particular fame
Of one man's slaughter yet I must not passe:
Eurypylus Telephides he was
That fell beneath him, and with him the falls
Of such huge men went that they shewd like whales,
Rampir'd about him. Neoptolemus
Set him so sharply, for the sumptuous
Favours 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, Tithon's Sun-like sonne.
Thus farre for fight in publicke may a tast
Give of his eminence. How farre surpast
His spirit in private, where he was not seene,
Nor glorie could be said to praise his spleene,
This close note I excerpted. When we sate
Hid in Epeus' horse, no Optimate
Of all the Greeks there had the charge to ope
And shut the Stratageme but I. My scope
To note then each man's spirit in a streight
Of so much danger much the better might
Be hit by me than others, as, provokt,
I shifted place still — when in some I smokt
Both privie 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 wipings, or the goodly guise
His person all waies put forth in least part
By any tremblings shewd his toucht-at heart.
But ever he was urging 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'event
(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 favours Warre doth oft affoord,
Which he (though sought) mist in warre's closest wage.
In close fights Mars doth never fight, but rage. "
" This made the soule of swift Achilles tred
A March of glorie through the herbie meade,
For joy 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 Telamonian
Kept farre off, angrie for the victorie
I wonne from him at Fleete, though Arbitrie
Of all a Court of warre pronounc't it mine,
And Pallas' selfe. Our prise were th'armes divine
Of great Æacides, proposde t'our fames
By his bright Mother at his funerall Games.
I wish to heaven I ought not to have wonne,
Since for those Armes so high a head so soone
The base earth coverd — Ajax, 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:
" Ajax! great sonne of Telamon, arraid
In all our glories! What? Not dead resigne
Thy wrath for those curst Armes? The Powres divine
In them forg'd all our banes, in thine owne One,
In thy grave fall our Towre was overthrowne.
We mourne (for ever maimd) for thee as much
As for Achilles; nor thy wrong doth touch
In sentence 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 give the words I give 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 River of the dead.
Though Anger mov'd him, yet he might have 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 Jove's 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 Pluto's wide-door'd house; when strait came on,
Mightie 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, whose vertues never wore.
" Tityus I saw, to whom the glorious Earth
Opened her wombe and gave unhappie birth;
Upwards and flat upon the Pavement 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 Liver with their crooked Beakes;
And each by turnes the concrete entraile breakes
(As Smiths their steele beate) set on either side.
Nor doth he ever labour to divide
His Liver and their Beakes, nor with his hand
Offer them off, but suffers by command
Of th'angrie Thunderer, offring to enforce
His love Latona in the close recourse
She usde to Pytho through the dancing land,
Smooth Panopeus. I saw likewise stand,
Up 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 up,
And all the blacke earth to his feete descried;
Divine powre (plaguing him) the lake still dried.
About his head, on high trees clustering, hung
Peares, Apples, Granets, Olives, ever yong,
Delicious Figs, and many fruite trees more
Of other burthen, whose alluring store
When th'old Soule striv'd to pluck, the winds from sight
In gloomie vapours made them vanish quite.
" There saw I Sisyphus in infinite mone,
With both hands heaving up a massie stone,
And on his tip-toes racking all his height
To wrest up to a mountaine top his freight;
When prest to rest it there (his nerves quite spent)
Downe rusht the deadly Quarrie, the event
Of all his torture new to raise againe;
To which strait set his never-rested paine.
The sweate came gushing out from every Pore,
And on his head a standing mist he wore,
Reeking from thence as if a cloud of dust
Were raisd about it. Downe with these was thrust
The Idoll of the force of Hercules —
But his firme selfe did no such Fate oppresse;
He feasting lives amongst th'immortall States,
White-ankled Hebe and himselfe made mates
In heavenly Nuptials — Hebe, Jove's deare race,
And Juno's, whom the golden Sandals grace.
About him flew the clamors of the dead
Like Fowles, and still stoopt cuffing at his head.
He with his Bow, like Night, stalkt up and downe,
His shaft still nockt, and hurling round his frowne
At those vext hoverers, 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, Battels, Combats, Deaths.
Who wrought that worke did never such before,
Nor so divinely will do ever more.
Soone as he saw he knew me, and gave speech:
" Sonne of Laertes, high in wisedome's reach,
And yet unhappie wretch, for in this heart,
Of all exploits atchiev'd by thy desert,
Thy worth but works out some sinister Fate,
As I in earth did. I was generate
By Jove 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 Pluto's Court; when I stood firme, for show
Of more Heroes of the times before,
And might perhaps have seene my wish of more
(As Theseus and Pirithous, deriv'd
From rootes of Deitie), but before th'atchiev'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 Gorgon's head
Rusht in amongst them, thrust up, in my dread,
By grim Persephone. I therefore sent
My men before to ship, and after went —
Where, boorded, set, and lancht, th'Ocean wave
Our Ores and forewinds speedie passage gave.