Miscellaneous writings of the late Dr. Maginn :: :: University of Virginia Library

The tables were set where the salt-sea shore
Was washed by the flowing brine,
And all the guests, when the feast was o'er,
Were filled with meat and wine.

II

Then the Knight of Gerene said, “'Tis fit
That we should truly hear
Who are the guests that among us sit,
Since now they are full of cheer.

III

“Strangers, who are ye? whence and why
Sail ye along the sea?
Do you your course as merchants ply,
Or as roving wanderers free?

IV

“As pirates who over the waters spread,
On desperate venture boune,
Putting other men's lives in peril and dread,
All careless of their own?”

V

Then Telemachus answered the chieftain old,
With courage at his heart;
For Athené herself a bearing bold
Did to the youth impart,

VI

That he might ask for his absent sire,
And win for himself high fame:
“King Nestor,” said he, “as thou dost inquire,
Great pride of th' Achaian name,
Our business and course, at thy desire,
I tell thee whence we came.

VII

“From Ithaca's land we hither steer,
All under Neion's head;
No public care has brought us here,
But private feeling led.

VIII

“My father I seek, if his wide renown,
I may find as I take my way;
Odysseus the bold, to thee well known,
Thy partner in war, till Ilion town
Before ye in ruin lay.

IX

“The fate of every chief beside
Who fought at Troy is known;
It is the will of Jove to hide
His untold death alone.

X

“And how he fell can no man tell;
We know not was he slain
In fight on land by hostile hand,
Or plunged beneath the main.

XI

“And here I pray, before thy knee,
To tell my sire's sad fate;
What thou hast seen, or else to thee
Did wayfarers' tongues relate:
Because for sorrow marked was he,
Even from his birth-hour's date.

XII

“No pitying word, no tale to soothe,
From thee do I require;
I only pray thee tell me truth,
If thou hast seen my sire.

XIII

“I pray thee by his words well said,
His deeds right bravely done;
By many a gallant promise made,
And broken never a one.

XIV

“Be the woes and toils which he and thou,
And all the host went through
In Troy's long war, remembered now,
And tell me the story true.”

XV

Answered Gerene's knight: “Why call
My memory back again,
To griefs, there destined to befall
Achaia's tameless men?

XVI

“Whether their course o'er the dark blue sea
Our wandering vessels sped,
Scouring the coast for spoil and prey
Where'er Achilles led;

XVII

“Or fighting around King Priam's hold
Proud Ilion's turrets high;
Brave Aias there in death lies cold,
There does Achilles lie;

XVIII

“There has Patroclus found his grave,
In council sager none;
There lies the blameless and the brave,
Antilochus, my son.

XIX

“My swift of foot, my bold of fight,
My dear, dear boy, lies low;
But living wight can ne'er recite
Our endless tale of wo.

XX

“Wert thou here to abide, for a twelvemonth's tide
Told five or six times o'er,

Question on question might still be tried
Of the ills the Achavi bore,

XXI

“Ere home thou wouldst sail, fatigued with the tale
Of our nine years' constant toil
While we wrought for our foemen grief and bale,
With many a varied wile.

XXII

“Till the weary siege, by Jove's high will,
Was brought to an end at last:
In warrior craft and wily skill
No chief thy sire surpassed.

XXIII

“If great Odysseus be thy sire—
And as on thee I gaze
Wondering, the likeness I admire
Thy speech to his betrays.

XXIV

“Thou must be his. How else suppose
That ever man so young,
Could speak in accents like to those
Of wise Odysseus' tongue?

XXV

“And he and I, in friendship bound,
Often in council state;
Oft, 'mid the Greeks assembled round,
We mingled in debate:

XXVI

“We never differed, felt no jar,
Our counsels still were one,
Planning what should throughout the war
Be best for the Argives done.

XXVII

“But when o'erthrown was Priam's town,
And we sought the ships again,
Then the Achaian host, into discord thrown,
Were scattered upon the main.

XXVIII

“Their home return had Jove designed
To fill with sorrow sad,
To punish the men of reckless mind,
And of feelings base and bad.

XXIX

“Through high-born Pallas' deadly ire
Many an ill death died;
For, 'twixt the Atridæ of quarrel dire
She had the source supplied.

XXX

“They assembled the host of the Argives all,
And a rash hour they set;
As the shades of night began to fall,
The unruly soldiers met.

XXXI

“For heavily laden they came with wine,
And by both chiefs were told,

In several speech, with what design
Did they that meeting hold.

XXXII

“And Sparta's king wished across the seas
They should straight return again;
But this counsel did not his brother please,
Who would the host detain,

XXXIII

“Till they had made the offering due
Of sacred hecatomb;
By sacrifice hoping to subdue
Athené's wrathful gloom.

XXXIV

“Fool! that his vows were thrown away
Unthanked—he should have known;
For the heart of the gods who live for aye
Is not to changing prone.

XXXV

“Fierce were the angry words they spoke,
These jarring brothers proud;
And the Achivi up from the meeting broke
Rising in clamor loud.

XXXVI

“And as seemed best in each man's sight,
Each different side he sought;
And we lay down to rest that night
With bitter and hostile thought;

For Jove had willed that foul despite
Should be to the Danai wrought.

XXXVII

“And we launched our ships when the morning came,
With our well-won treasure stored;
And many a fair, deep-girdled dame
We took with us on board.

XXXVIII

“And half of the men desired to stay,
As Agamemnon bade;
The other half we sailed away,
And a rapid voyage we made.
A god the vasty sea-deep spray
Smooth as a plain had laid.

XXXIX

“When we had come to Tenedos' isle,
We made our offerings there—
Hoping, now danger passed and toil,
We soon should homeward bear.

XL

“But Jove was sternly minded still
To lengthen out our woes;
And by his will of strife the ill
Again among us rose.

XLI

“For some retraced again the seas,
Plying back the laboring oar,

Thinking their ancient chief to please
Whom they left on the Ilian shore;
And, led by king Odysseus, these
Sought the coast of Troy once more.

XLII

“But when I saw the evils dread
Some angry power had planned,
With the crowded galleys I there had led
Beneath mine own command,
Away I fled—away with me fled
Bold Diomed and his band.

XLIII

“By Menelaus, at evening tide,
We were in Lesbos joined;
While pondering how, through the waters wide,
We best our path might find.

XLIV

“Whether we should over Chios hold
Our course, and toward Psyria go,
Leaving Chios and all its headlands bold
Under our larboard bow;

XLV

“Or under Chios, where Mimas' head
Is swept by many a gale.
To the gods for a guiding sign we prayed
To point our course to sail.

XLVI

“They gave the sign, and bade us steer
Right over the sea across,

Making Eubœa in full career,
So shunning wreck and loss.

XLVII

“Shrill did the wind begin to blow,
As through the fishy deep,
Cleft by our vessel's rapid prow
Onward our way we keep.

XLVIII

“Geræstus' haven by night we made,
And the thigh of many a bull
We there on Posidon's altar laid,
Of grateful reverence full.

XLIX

“Grateful that we a track so vast
Safe crossed of the ocean blue;
And ere the fourth day was gone and passed
Came Argos' towers in view,
And Diomed's men his ships at last
Into his harbor drew.

L

“I held on to Pylos, mine own abode,
And never flagged the gale
From the hour that it was the will of the God
That it should fill my sail.

LI

“So came I hither knowing naught,
Which of the Achaian host
Were back, my son, in safety brought,
And which of them were lost.

LII

“But what, since I have dwelt at home,
Hath chanced to reach my ear,
Of all my old companions' doom,
'Tis fit that thou shouldst hear.

LIII

‘Well did the spear-famed Myrmidon
Homeward return, 'tis said,
Beneath Achilles' glorious son,
Back to his country led.

LIV

“Well, also, Pœas' ancient seat
Did Philoctetes gain;
Well did Idomeneus, of Crete,
Bring back of his warrior train
Those who chanced not death in fight to meet;
None perished on the main.

LV

“Though far off ye may dwell, ye have heard men tell,
How, by a hapless doom,
King Agamemnon murdered fell,
On his returning home;
But upon false Ægisthus well
Did fierce avenging come.

LVI

“For a slaughtered man it is always good
A son to leave behind,
As he this traitor, in the blood

Of his noble father all imbued,
Has to cruel death consigned.

LVII

“So thou, my son, whom I behold
A handsome youth, and strong,
Give, in thy bearing brave and bold,
Matter for future song.”