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

O stranger, if it be thy will
My life's whole course to know,
Listen in silence seated still,
While with my tale the hours I fill,
Over the goblet's flow.

II

The long and tedious night's career
Leaves time enough for sleep,
Enough a pleasant tale to hear,
Which those who lend attentive ear
From slumber dull will keep.

III

Repose not till the hour assigned;
Harm by much sleep is done.
Let him who feels of drowsier mind,
Departing outward, lie reclined,
Till the up-dawning sun.

IV

When, with the porkers of his lord,
He from his meal may go;
We, seated here beside the board,
Eating and drinking, will record
Each other's tales of wo.

146

V

Sweet is, of perils past and o'er,
The story, treasured well—
Of all the sufferings that we bore:
Our wanderings on a foreign shore—
Such as I now shall tell.

VI

Where turns the sun to set and rise,
All to Ortygia's north,
Thou may'st have heard that Syria lies,
An island of no passing size,
But excellent of worth.

VII

In flocks and kine, in corn and wine,
Abundant is its soil;
There never famine makes to pine,
No maladies to wo consign
The dwellers of the soil.

VIII

When to the years that suit the tomb
Its aged sons attain,
Then Artemis and Phœbus come,
The Archer-gods, to seal their doom,
By painless arrows slain.

IX

Two are its cities, and the land
'Twixt them is parted free;

147

O'er both my sire with regal hand,
Ctesius, the godlike, held command;
Of Ormenus son was he.

X

And often the Phœnicians sought
This island o'er the main.
And their ship-famed men of wily thought
Many curious toys in the galleys brought,
To barter them there for gain.

XI

There chanced in my father's house to be
A woman of their land;
And tall was she, and fair to see,
And in works of art right skilfully
Practised was she of hand.

XII

Her beauty made her fall a prey
To sailor arts ere long;
To bathe when she had ta'en her away,
In a seaman's arms in the ship she lay,
Won by his glozing tongue.

XIII

Women are weak: the deftest dame
By like deceit may fall.
He asked, Who was she? Whence she came?
And at once did she as her dwelling name
My father's high-roofed hall.

148

XIV

“Rich Sidon is my native source,
Rich Arybas my sire;
As from the fields I bent my course,
I by a Taphian pirate-force
Was seized, and here, without remorse,
Sold for the stated hire.”

XV

Spoke then the man, in whose embrace
She secretly had lain:
“Wilt thou with us thy path retrace,
To see once more thy natal place,
Thy father's halls again?

XVI

“Them to see? they still survive,
Rich in abundant store.”
“Be it so; your offer I receive,”
She said; “but ye some pledge must give
To bring me safe to shore.

XVII

“Swear this with solemn oath and true,
And, sailors, yours am I.”
Then, as she bade, did all the crew
Take the firm oath in manner due,
And duly ratify.

XVIII

“Be secret now,” the woman cried;
“Should any from the ship

149

Henceforth to meet with me betide,
In market wide, or at fountain side,
Be closed to me his lip;

XIX

“Lest some one to my master old
Should our discourse betray;
And he, suspecting from what is told,
Should bind me fast in fetters fold,
And plot your crew to slay.

XX

“But keep the secret safely stored,
And your purchase of victuals ply:
When your full stock is laid on board,
Let some one to me, with speedy word,
At yonder mansion hie.

XXI

“And gold with me I shall surely bear,
Whatever to hand may come;
And with willing mind, as a passage fare,
Shall bring you the boy whom as nurse I rear
In that rich man's house at home.

XXII

“He now can run abroad by my side,
And the child is sharp and smart;
Him then shall I to your vessel guide,
And a handsome price he will sure provide,
When sold at a foreign mart.”

150

XXIII

She said, and then the house she sought:
In the isle for a year they staid.
Provision in store for their ship they bought,
And when the vessel was fully fraught,
Their messenger was sped.

XXIV

Crafty was he whom the sailors sent
To take the message sure;
To my father's house his way he bent,
And a necklace of gold with amber blent
He brought with him as a lure.

XXV

With favoring hand and longing eye,
My venerated dame
Did with her household maidens try,
The trinket, which they fain would buy.
Whate'er the price he would name.

XXVI

He winked at the woman, and went his way;
In silence he gave the sign.
With my hand in hers, I was led away,
Through the porch where many a goblet lay
Left where they had met to dine.

XXVII

My father had gone with every guest,
The public court to keep;

151

And she hid three goblets under her vest,
And I, with a foolish mind possessed,
Followed her to the deep.

XXVIII

Down sank the sun, and dark was the street,
And soon we came to the bay,
Where lay the Phœnician galley fleet;
They put us on board, and at once we beat
Fast over the watery way.

XXIX

Fair was the wind, vouchsafed by Jove;
Six days before the blast,
Day and night, in constant course, we drove;
The seventh day was doomed to prove
That Phœnician woman's last.

XXX

Her Artemis' fatal arrows slew;
And with a noisy force,
She fell as plump as sea-coots do,
Into the sink, and then they threw
To the seals and fish her corse.

XXXI

And sadly I was left behind;
But soon to Ithaca's shore
Wafted were we by wave and wind;
To Laertes by sale was I consigned;—
And now my tale is o'er.