The poems and songs of William Hamilton of Bangour collated with the ms. volume of his poems, and containing several pieces hitherto unpublished; with illustrative notes, and an account of the life of the author. By James Paterson |
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FIRST SCENE OF THE PHILOCTETES OF SOPHOCLES.
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 | The poems and songs of William Hamilton of Bangour |  |
FIRST SCENE OF THE PHILOCTETES OF SOPHOCLES.
(Ulysses speaks.)
Son of Achilles! brave Neoptolemus,You tread the coast of sea-surrounded Lemnos,
Where never mortal yet his dwelling reared.
Here, in obedience to the Grecian chiefs,
I erst exposed the son of noble Pæan,
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In painful agonies; wild from despair,
He filled the camp with lamentations loud,
And execrations dire. No pure libation,
No holy sacrifice, could to the gods
Be offered up: ill-omened sounds of woe
Profaned the sacred rites. But this no more—
Should he discover my return, 'twere vain
The plan my wakeful industry has wove,
Back to restore yet to the aid of Greece
This most important chief. 'Tis thine, brave youth,
To ripen into deed what I propose.
Cast round thy eyes, if thou by chance mayst find
The double rock, where from the winter's cold
He shrouds his limbs, or when the summer glows
Amid the cool, the zephyrs gentle breath
Lulls him to his repose; fast on the left
Flows a fresh fountain; if the hero sees
This living light, one of the attendant train
Speed with the hour to glad my listening ears,
If in that savage haunt he harbours yet,
Or in some other corner of this isle;
Then farther I'll disclose, what chief imports
Our present needs, and claims our common care.
| The poems and songs of William Hamilton of Bangour | |