No More Learning

To the Olympian summit they essay'd
To heave up Ossa, and to Ossa's crown 380
Branch-waving Pelion; so to climb the heav'ns.
Nor had they failed, maturer grown in might,
To accomplish that emprize, but them the son[46]
Of radiant-hair'd Latona and of Jove
Slew both, ere yet the down of blooming youth
Thick-sprung, their cheeks or chins had tufted o'er.
Phaedra I also there, and Procris saw,
And Ariadne for her beauty praised,
Whose sire was all-wise Minos. Theseus her
From Crete toward the fruitful region bore 390
Of sacred Athens, but enjoy'd not there,
For, first, she perish'd by Diana's shafts
In Dia, Bacchus witnessing her crime. [47]
Maera and Clymene I saw beside,
And odious Eriphyle, who received
The price in gold of her own husband's life.
But all the wives of Heroes whom I saw,
And all their daughters can I not relate;
Night, first, would fail; and even now the hour
Calls me to rest either on board my bark, 400
Or here; meantime, I in yourselves confide,
And in the Gods to shape my conduct home.
He ceased; the whole assembly silent sat,
Charm'd into ecstacy by his discourse
Throughout the twilight hall, till, at the last,
Areta iv'ry arm'd them thus bespake.
Phaeacians! how appears he in your eyes
This stranger, graceful as he is in port,
In stature noble, and in mind discrete?
My guest he is, but ye all share with me 410
That honour; him dismiss not, therefore, hence
With haste, nor from such indigence withhold
Supplies gratuitous; for ye are rich,
And by kind heav'n with rare possessions blest.
The Hero, next, Echeneus spake, a Chief
Now ancient, eldest of Phaeacia's sons.
Your prudent Queen, my friends, speaks not beside
Her proper scope, but as beseems her well.
Her voice obey; yet the effect of all
Must on Alcinous himself depend. 420
To whom Alcinous, thus, the King, replied.
I ratify the word.
So shall be done,
As surely as myself shall live supreme
O'er all Phaeacia's maritime domain.
Then let the guest, though anxious to depart,
Wait till the morrow, that I may complete
The whole donation. His safe conduct home
Shall be the gen'ral care, but mine in Chief,
To whom dominion o'er the rest belongs.
Him answer'd, then, Ulysses ever-wise. 430
Alcinous! Prince! exalted high o'er all
Phaeacia's sons! should ye solicit, kind,
My stay throughout the year, preparing still
My conduct home, and with illustrious gifts
Enriching me the while, ev'n that request
Should please me well; the wealthier I return'd,
The happier my condition; welcome more
And more respectable I should appear
In ev'ry eye to Ithaca restored.
To whom Alcinous answer thus return'd. 440
Ulysses! viewing thee, no fears we feel
Lest thou, at length, some false pretender prove,
Or subtle hypocrite, of whom no few
Disseminated o'er its face the earth
Sustains, adepts in fiction, and who frame
Fables, where fables could be least surmised.
Thy phrase well turn'd, and thy ingenuous mind
Proclaim _thee_ diff'rent far, who hast in strains
Musical as a poet's voice, the woes
Rehears'd of all thy Greecians, and thy own. 450
But say, and tell me true. Beheld'st thou there
None of thy followers to the walls of Troy
Slain in that warfare? Lo! the night is long--
A night of utmost length; nor yet the hour
Invites to sleep.