Till we returning shall our guest demand,

Accept this charge with honour, at our hand.”


To this Peiraeus: “Joyful I obey,

Well pleased the hospitable rites to pay.

The presence of thy guest shall best reward

(If long thy stay) the absence of my lord.”


With that, their anchors he commands to weigh,

Mount the tall bark, and launch into the sea.

All with obedient haste forsake the shores,

And, placed in order, spread their equal oars.

Then from the deck the prince his sandals takes;

Poised in his hand the pointed javelin shakes.

They part; while, lessening from the hero’s view

Swift to the town the well-row’d galley flew:

The hero trod the margin of the main,

And reach’d the mansion of his faithful swain.


BOOK XVI.


ARGUMENT.

THE DISCOVERY OF ULYSSES TO TELEMACHUS.


Telemachus arriving at the lodge of Eumaeus, sends him to carry Penelope the

news of his return. Minerva appearing to Ulysses, commands him to discover

himself to his son. The princes, who had lain in ambush to intercept Telemachus

in his way, their project being defeated, return to

Ithaca.


Soon as the morning blush’d along the plains,

Ulysses, and the monarch of the swains,

Awake the sleeping fires, their meals prepare,

And forth to pasture send the bristly care.

The prince’s near approach the dogs descry,

And fawning round his feet confess their joy.

Their gentle blandishment the king survey’d,

Heard his resounding step, and instant said:


“Some well-known friend, Eumaeus, bends this way;

His steps I hear; the dogs familiar play.”


While yet he spoke, the prince advancing drew

Nigh to the lodge, and now appear’d in view.

Transported from his seat Eumaeus sprung,

Dropp’d the full bowl, and round his bosom hung;

Kissing his cheek, his hand, while from his eye

The tears rain’d copious in a shower of joy,

As some fond sire who ten long winters grieves,

From foreign climes an only son receives