IX. The Prophecy of Theoclymenus the Seer.
I
As Pallas bade, the suitor train
Into mad fits of mirth are thrown;
You scarce had deemed the jaws they strain—
So fierce the laughter—were their own.
II
The flesh they eat with blood o'erflows,
With gushing tears are filled their eyne;
And, while each heart impending woes
Presaged, uprose the seer divine.
III
“What is the fate of evil doom
Now threatening you, unhappy race?
I see that night in thickest gloom
Wraps every limb, and form, and face.
IV
“Outbursts like fire the voice of moan,
Drowned are your cheeks with sorrow's flood;
And every wall and pillared stone
Is soaked and dabbled in your blood.
V
“Through hall and porch, full many a ghost
Crowds toward the mansion of the dead;
The sun from out the heavens is lost,
And clouds of darkness rushing spread.”
VI
He ceased, and they with jocund cheer
Into glad peals of laughter broke.
Eurymachus addressed the seer,
And thus in taunting accents spoke:
VII
“Mad is the new-come guest. 'Tis meet
Instant to chase him from our sight;
To turn toward haunts of men his feet,
Since he mistakes the day for night.”
VIII
Then thus replied the seer divine:
“From thee no guide shall I request,
For eyes, and ears, and feet, are mine,
And no weak soul inspires my breast.
IX
“Then from this fated house I go;
Swift comes the destined vengeance on;
None shall escape the deadly blow
Of all the suitors—no, not one.
X
“Not one of those, who now so long
Have in this mansion held control,
With words of insult on the tongue,
And schemes of baseness in the soul.”
XI
He went; and as a welcome guest,
Piræus' friendly halls he found.
The suitors, at the dizzy feast,
Each on the other glanced around;
And turned the stranger into jest,
Telemachus's heart to wound.
