Toward his loved coast he roll’d his eyes in vain,

Till, dimm’d with rising grief, they stream’d again.


Now graceful seated on her shining throne,

To Hermes thus the nymph divine begun:


“God of the golden wand! on what behest

Arrivest thou here, an unexpected guest?

Loved as thou art, thy free injunctions lay;

’Tis mine with joy and duty to obey.

Till now a stranger, in a happy hour

Approach, and taste the dainties of my bower.”


Thus having spoke, the nymph the table spread

(Ambrosial cates, with nectar rosy-red);

Hermes the hospitable rite partook,

Divine refection! then, recruited, spoke:


“What moves this journey from my native sky,

A goddess asks, nor can a god deny.

Hear then the truth. By mighty Jove’s command

Unwilling have I trod this pleasing land:

For who, self-moved, with weary wing would sweep

Such length of ocean and unmeasured deep;

A world of waters! far from all the ways

Where men frequent, or sacred altars blaze!

But to Jove’s will submission we must pay;

What power so great to dare to disobey?

A man, he says, a man resides with thee,

Of all his kind most worn with misery.

The Greeks, (whose arms for nine long year employ’d

Their force on Ilion, in the tenth destroy’d,)

At length, embarking in a luckless hour,

With conquest proud, incensed Minerva’s power:

Hence on the guilty race her vengeance hurl’d,

With storms pursued them through the liquid world.

There all his vessels sunk beneath the wave!

There all his dear companions found their grave!

Saved from the jaws of death by Heaven’s decree,

The tempest drove him to these shores and thee.

Him, Jove now orders to his native lands

Straight to dismiss: so destiny commands:

Impatient Fate his near return attends,

And calls him to his country, and his friends.”


E’en to her inmost soul the goddess shook;

Then thus her anguish, and her passion broke:

“Ungracious gods! with spite and envy cursed!