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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.

Another.

Ητα.

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;

Haec suit illius sæculi simplicitas: nam vel fraternus quoque Amor, tantus suit, vt labenter hanc redeunti charissimæ sorori, operam præstiterint. Spond.

But tooke from 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' Aperæan borne;
And brought by sea, from Aperæ, t'adorne
The Court of great Alcinous; because
He gaue to all, the blest Phæacians 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 heare
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 Phæacian might foule language passe,
Iustle him vp, and aske him what he was.

Entring the louely Towne yet: through the cloud

Vlysses, a Minerua in ædes Alcinoi perducitur, septus nebula.

Pallas appeard; and like a yong wench showd
Bearing a pitcher; Stood before him so,
As if obiected purposely to know
What there he needed; whom he questiond thus:

Know you not (daughter) where Alcinous,
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 replied:

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 hath giuen them ships, for saile so wrought,
They cut a fether, and command a thought.

νεες ωκειαι οσει naues veloces veluti penna, atque cogitatio.

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, be euer saw before.

Your first shall find the Queene in Court, whose name
Is Arete: of parents borne, the same
That was the King her Spouse: their Pedigree

Arete the wife of Alcinous.

I can report: the great Earth-shaker, he
Of Peribœa, (that her sex out-shone,

100

And yongest daughter was, t'Eurymedon;
Who of th' vnmeasur'd-minded Giants, swaid
Th' Imperiall Scepter; and the pride allaid

For the more perspicuitie of this pedigree, I haue here set down the Diagrā as Spondanus hath it. Neptune begat Nausithous of Peribœa. By Nausithous, Rhexenor, Alcinous, were begot. By Rhexenor, Arete the wife of her vnkle Alcinous.

Of men so impious, 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 Alcinous, now King:
Rhexenor (whose seed did no male fruite spring;
And whom the siluer-bow-glac't Phœbus 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, then the honord most

The honor of Arete (or vertue) alleg.

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 that casts so

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

thicke a shade,
Of Erectheus; she ingression made.

The Court of Alcinous.

Vlysses, 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 gates of gold;
Whose Portall was of siluer; ouer which

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A golden Cornish did the front enrich.
On each side, Dogs of gold and siluer fram'd,
The houses Guard stood; which the Deitie (lam'd)

Vulcan.

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 Phæacian Princes sate
At wine and food; and feasted all the yeare.
Youths forg'd of gold, at euery table there,
Stood holding 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 Phæacian 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, Peares, Oliues, and a number more

Hortus Alcinoi memorabilis.

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.

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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 Phæacia; 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 ofspring, Arete;

Areten, Vlysses supplex orat.

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 Echinaus, th' old Heroe spake.
A man that all Phæacians past in yeares,
And in perswasiue eloquence, all the Peeres;

103

Knew much, and vsde it well; and thus spake he:

Alcinous! it shewes not decently;

Echinaus to Alcinous.

Nor doth your honor, what you see, admit;
That this your guest, should thus abiectly fit:
His chaire the earth; the harth his cushion;
Ashes, as if apposde for food: a Throne
Adornd with due rites, 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 added 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;
Aduanc'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 Epithete, is translated only dulce: which signifies more. μελεφρονα οινον εκιρνα: Vinum quod mellea dulcedine, 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 Phæacians 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:

104

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 ascend;
And in the meane time, without wrong attend,

Ascent to his Countries shore.

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. If some God,

Eustathius will haue this comparison of the Phæacians with the Giants and Cyclops, to proceede out of the inueterate virulency of Antinous 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 and manly reason, euen to the face of one that might haue bin a God, for the past manly appearance he made there) would tell him, and the rest in him, that if they graced those Cyclops with their open appearance, that, thogh descended from them, durst yet denie them; they might much more do them the honor of their open presence that adored them.

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.
Nor 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.

105

But this ease is but forc't, and will not last,
Till what the mind likes, 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 see 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, what, and from whence you are?

Arete to Vlysses.

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, thus answerd: Tis a paine (O Queene)

Vlysses to Arete.

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,

106

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

107

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

αιθοψ οινος, 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 Eubœa be that fight.
And this Eubœa (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

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(In that far-off Eubœa) 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 Phæacians, 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.