But ancient as this appellative is, it is
also so familiar in modern use, that the Translator feared to hazard it.
also so familiar in modern use, that the Translator feared to hazard it.
Odyssey - Cowper
Once within the court received
Pause not, but, with swift pace advancing, seek
My mother; she beside a column sits
In the hearth's blaze, twirling her fleecy threads
Tinged with sea-purple, bright, magnificent! 380
With all her maidens orderly behind.
There also stands my father's throne, on which
Seated, he drinks and banquets like a God.
Pass that; then suppliant clasp my mother's knees,
So shalt thou quickly win a glad return
To thy own home, however far remote.
Her favour, once, and her kind aid secured,
Thenceforth thou may'st expect thy friends to see,
Thy dwelling, and thy native soil again.
So saying, she with her splendid scourge the mules 390
Lash'd onward. They (the stream soon left behind)
With even footsteps graceful smote the ground;
But so she ruled them, managing with art
The scourge, as not to leave afar, although
Following on foot, Ulysses and her train.
The sun had now declined, when in that grove
Renown'd, to Pallas sacred, they arrived,
In which Ulysses sat, and fervent thus
Sued to the daughter of Jove AEgis-arm'd.
Daughter invincible of Jove supreme! 400
Oh, hear me! Hear me now, because when erst
The mighty Shaker of the shores incensed
Toss'd me from wave to wave, thou heard'st me not.
Grant me, among Phaeacia's sons, to find
Benevolence and pity of my woes!
He spake, whose pray'r well-pleas'd the Goddess heard,
But, rev'rencing the brother of her sire,[24]
Appear'd not to Ulysses yet, whom he
Pursued with fury to his native shores.
FOOTNOTES:
[23] In the Original, she calls him, pappa! a more natural stile of
address and more endearing.
But ancient as this appellative is, it is
also so familiar in modern use, that the Translator feared to hazard it.
[24] Neptune.
BOOK VII
ARGUMENT
Nausicaa returns from the river, whom Ulysses follows. He halts, by her
direction, at a small distance from the palace, which at a convenient
time he enters. He is well received by Alcinous and his Queen; and having
related to them the manner of his being cast on the shore of Scheria, and
received from Alcinous the promise of safe conduct home, retires to rest.
Such pray'r Ulysses, toil-worn Chief renown'd,
To Pallas made, meantime the virgin, drawn
By her stout mules, Phaeacia's city reach'd,
And, at her father's house arrived, the car
Stay'd in the vestibule; her brothers five,
All godlike youths, assembling quick around,
Released the mules, and bore the raiment in.
Meantime, to her own chamber she return'd,
Where, soon as she arrived, an antient dame
Eurymedusa, by peculiar charge 10
Attendant on that service, kindled fire.
Sea-rovers her had from Epirus brought
Long since, and to Alcinous she had fall'n
By public gift, for that he ruled, supreme,
Phaeacia, and as oft as he harangued
The multitude, was rev'renced as a God.
She waited on the fair Nausicaa, she
Her fuel kindled, and her food prepared.
And now Ulysses from his seat arose
To seek the city, around whom, his guard 20
Benevolent, Minerva, cast a cloud,
Lest, haply, some Phaeacian should presume
T' insult the Chief, and question whence he came.
But ere he enter'd yet the pleasant town,
Minerva azure-eyed met him, in form
A blooming maid, bearing her pitcher forth.
She stood before him, and the noble Chief
Ulysses, of the Goddess thus enquired.
Daughter! wilt thou direct me to the house
Of brave Alcinous, whom this land obeys? 30
For I have here arrived, after long toil,
And from a country far remote, a guest
To all who in Phaeacia dwell, unknown.
To whom the Goddess of the azure-eyes.
Pause not, but, with swift pace advancing, seek
My mother; she beside a column sits
In the hearth's blaze, twirling her fleecy threads
Tinged with sea-purple, bright, magnificent! 380
With all her maidens orderly behind.
There also stands my father's throne, on which
Seated, he drinks and banquets like a God.
Pass that; then suppliant clasp my mother's knees,
So shalt thou quickly win a glad return
To thy own home, however far remote.
Her favour, once, and her kind aid secured,
Thenceforth thou may'st expect thy friends to see,
Thy dwelling, and thy native soil again.
So saying, she with her splendid scourge the mules 390
Lash'd onward. They (the stream soon left behind)
With even footsteps graceful smote the ground;
But so she ruled them, managing with art
The scourge, as not to leave afar, although
Following on foot, Ulysses and her train.
The sun had now declined, when in that grove
Renown'd, to Pallas sacred, they arrived,
In which Ulysses sat, and fervent thus
Sued to the daughter of Jove AEgis-arm'd.
Daughter invincible of Jove supreme! 400
Oh, hear me! Hear me now, because when erst
The mighty Shaker of the shores incensed
Toss'd me from wave to wave, thou heard'st me not.
Grant me, among Phaeacia's sons, to find
Benevolence and pity of my woes!
He spake, whose pray'r well-pleas'd the Goddess heard,
But, rev'rencing the brother of her sire,[24]
Appear'd not to Ulysses yet, whom he
Pursued with fury to his native shores.
FOOTNOTES:
[23] In the Original, she calls him, pappa! a more natural stile of
address and more endearing.
But ancient as this appellative is, it is
also so familiar in modern use, that the Translator feared to hazard it.
[24] Neptune.
BOOK VII
ARGUMENT
Nausicaa returns from the river, whom Ulysses follows. He halts, by her
direction, at a small distance from the palace, which at a convenient
time he enters. He is well received by Alcinous and his Queen; and having
related to them the manner of his being cast on the shore of Scheria, and
received from Alcinous the promise of safe conduct home, retires to rest.
Such pray'r Ulysses, toil-worn Chief renown'd,
To Pallas made, meantime the virgin, drawn
By her stout mules, Phaeacia's city reach'd,
And, at her father's house arrived, the car
Stay'd in the vestibule; her brothers five,
All godlike youths, assembling quick around,
Released the mules, and bore the raiment in.
Meantime, to her own chamber she return'd,
Where, soon as she arrived, an antient dame
Eurymedusa, by peculiar charge 10
Attendant on that service, kindled fire.
Sea-rovers her had from Epirus brought
Long since, and to Alcinous she had fall'n
By public gift, for that he ruled, supreme,
Phaeacia, and as oft as he harangued
The multitude, was rev'renced as a God.
She waited on the fair Nausicaa, she
Her fuel kindled, and her food prepared.
And now Ulysses from his seat arose
To seek the city, around whom, his guard 20
Benevolent, Minerva, cast a cloud,
Lest, haply, some Phaeacian should presume
T' insult the Chief, and question whence he came.
But ere he enter'd yet the pleasant town,
Minerva azure-eyed met him, in form
A blooming maid, bearing her pitcher forth.
She stood before him, and the noble Chief
Ulysses, of the Goddess thus enquired.
Daughter! wilt thou direct me to the house
Of brave Alcinous, whom this land obeys? 30
For I have here arrived, after long toil,
And from a country far remote, a guest
To all who in Phaeacia dwell, unknown.
To whom the Goddess of the azure-eyes.
