William Cowper- Collected Poetical Works

by William Cowper

  My fellow-voyagers transform’d to swine?

  And, fearing my escape, invit’st thou me

  Into thy bed, with fraudulent pretext

  Of love, that there, enfeebling by thy arts

  My noble spirit, thou may’st make me vile?

  No — trust me — never will I share thy bed

  Till first, O Goddess, thou consent to swear

  The dread all-binding oath, that other harm 420

  Against myself thou wilt imagine none.

  I spake. She swearing as I bade, renounced

  All evil purpose, and (her solemn oath

  Concluded) I ascended, next, her bed

  Magnificent. Meantime, four graceful nymphs

  Attended on the service of the house,

  Her menials, from the fountains sprung and groves,

  And from the sacred streams that seek the sea.

  Of these, one cast fine linen on the thrones,

  Which, next, with purple arras rich she spread; 430

  Another placed before the gorgeous seats

  Bright tables, and set on baskets of gold.

  The third, an argent beaker fill’d with wine

  Delicious, which in golden cups she served;

  The fourth brought water, which she warm’d within

  An ample vase, and when the simm’ring flood

  Sang in the tripod, led me to a bath,

  And laved me with the pleasant stream profuse

  Pour’d o’er my neck and body, till my limbs

  Refresh’d, all sense of lassitude resign’d. 440

  When she had bathed me, and with limpid oil

  Anointed me, and cloathed me in a vest

  And mantle, next, she led me to a throne

  Of royal state, with silver studs emboss’d,

  And footstool’d soft beneath; then came a nymph

  With golden ewer charged and silver bowl,

  Who pour’d pure water on my hands, and placed

  The polish’d board before me, which with food

  Various, selected from her present stores,

  The cat’ress spread, then, courteous, bade me eat. 450

  But me it pleas’d not; with far other thoughts

  My spirit teem’d, on vengeance more intent.

  Soon, then, as Circe mark’d me on my seat

  Fast-rooted, sullen, nor with outstretch’d hands

  Deigning to touch the banquet, she approach’d,

  And in wing’d accents suasive thus began.

  Why sits Ulysses like the Dumb, dark thoughts

  His only food? loaths he the touch of meat,

  And taste of wine? Thou fear’st, as I perceive,

  Some other snare, but idle is that fear, 460

  For I have sworn the inviolable oath.

  She ceas’d, to whom this answer I return’d.

  How can I eat? what virtuous man and just,

  O Circe! could endure the taste of wine

  Or food, till he should see his prison’d friends

  Once more at liberty? If then thy wish

  That I should eat and drink be true, produce

  My captive people; let us meet again.

  So I; then Circe, bearing in her hand

  Her potent rod, went forth, and op’ning wide 470

  The door, drove out my people from the sty,

  In bulk resembling brawns of the ninth year.

  They stood before me; she through all the herd

  Proceeding, with an unctuous antidote

  Anointed each, and at the wholesome touch

  All shed the swinish bristles by the drug

  Dread Circe’s former magic gift, produced.

  Restored at once to manhood, they appear’d

  More vig’rous far, and sightlier than before.

  They knew me, and with grasp affectionate 480

  Hung on my hand. Tears follow’d, but of joy,

  And with loud cries the vaulted palace rang.

  Even the awful Goddess felt, herself,

  Compassion, and, approaching me, began.

  Laertes’ noble son, for wiles renown’d!

  Hence to the shore, and to thy gallant bark;

  First, hale her safe aground, then, hiding all

  Your arms and treasures in the caverns, come

  Thyself again, and hither lead thy friends.

  So spake the Goddess, and my gen’rous mind 490

  Persuaded; thence repairing to the beach,

  I sought my ship; arrived, I found my crew

  Lamenting miserably, and their cheeks

  With tears bedewing ceaseless at her side.

  As when the calves within some village rear’d

  Behold, at eve, the herd returning home

  From fruitful meads where they have grazed their fill,

  No longer in the stalls contain’d, they rush

  With many a frisk abroad, and, blaring oft,

  With one consent, all dance their dams around, 500

  So they, at sight of me, dissolved in tears

  Of rapt’rous joy, and each his spirit felt

  With like affections warm’d as he had reach’d

  Just then his country, and his city seen,

  Fair Ithaca, where he was born and rear’d.

  Then in wing’d accents tender thus they spake.

  Noble Ulysses! thy appearance fills

  Our soul with transports, such as we should feel

  Arrived in safety on our native shore.

  Speak — say how perish’d our unhappy friends? 510

  So they; to whom this answer mild I gave.

  Hale we our vessel first ashore, and hide

  In caverns all our treasures and our arms,

  Then, hasting hence, follow me, and ere long

  Ye shall behold your friends, beneath the roof

  Of Circe banqueting and drinking wine

  Abundant, for no dearth attends them there.

  So I; whom all with readiness obey’d,

  All save Eurylochus; he sought alone

  To stay the rest, and, eager, interposed. 520

  Ah whither tend we, miserable men?

  Why covet ye this evil, to go down

  To Circe’s palace? she will change us all

  To lions, wolves or swine, that we may guard

  Her palace, by necessity constrain’d.

  So some were pris’ners of the Cyclops erst,

  When, led by rash Ulysses, our lost friends

  Intruded needlessly into his cave,

  And perish’d by the folly of their Chief.

  He spake, whom hearing, occupied I stood 530

  In self-debate, whether, my faulchion keen

  Forth-drawing from beside my sturdy thigh,

  To tumble his lopp’d head into the dust,

  Although he were my kinsman in the bonds

  Of close affinity; but all my friends

  As with one voice, thus gently interposed.

  Noble Ulysses! we will leave him here

  Our vessel’s guard, if such be thy command,

  But us lead thou to Circe’s dread abode.

  So saying, they left the galley, and set forth 540

  Climbing the coast; nor would Eurylochus

  Beside the hollow bark remain, but join’d

  His comrades by my dreadful menace awed.

  Meantime the Goddess, busily employ’d,

  Bathed and refresh’d my friends with limpid oil,

  And clothed them. We, arriving, found them all

  Banqueting in the palace; there they met;

  These ask’d, and those rehearsed the wond’rous tale,

  And, the recital made, all wept aloud

  Till the wide dome resounded. Then approach’d 550

  The graceful Goddess, and address’d me thus.

  Laertes’ noble son, for wiles renown’d!

  Provoke ye not each other, now, to tears.

  I am not ignorant, myself, how dread

 
Have been your woes both on the fishy Deep,

  And on the land by force of hostile pow’rs.

  But come — Eat now, and drink ye wine, that so

  Your freshen’d spirit may revive, and ye

  Courageous grow again, as when ye left

  The rugged shores of Ithaca, your home. 560

  For now, through recollection, day by day,

  Of all your pains and toils, ye are become

  Spiritless, strengthless, and the taste forget

  Of pleasure, such have been your num’rous woes.

  She spake, whose invitation kind prevail’d,

  And won us to her will. There, then, we dwelt

  The year complete, fed with delicious fare

  Day after day, and quaffing gen’rous wine.

  But when (the year fulfill’d) the circling hours

  Their course resumed, and the successive months 570

  With all their tedious days were spent, my friends,

  Summoning me abroad, thus greeted me.

  Sir! recollect thy country, if indeed

  The fates ordain thee to revisit safe

  That country, and thy own glorious abode.

  So they; whose admonition I receiv’d

  Well-pleas’d. Then, all the day, regaled we sat

  At Circe’s board with sav’ry viands rare,

  And quaffing richest wine; but when, the sun

  Declining, darkness overshadow’d all, 580

  Then, each within the dusky palace took

  Custom’d repose, and to the Goddess’ bed

  Magnificent ascending, there I urged

  My earnest suit, which gracious she receiv’d,

  And in wing’d accents earnest thus I spake.

  O Circe! let us prove thy promise true;

  Dismiss us hence. My own desires, at length,

  Tend homeward vehement, and the desires

  No less of all my friends, who with complaints

  Unheard by thee, wear my sad heart away. 590

  So I; to whom the Goddess in return.

  Laertes’ noble son, Ulysses famed

  For deepest wisdom! dwell not longer here,

  Thou and thy followers, in my abode

  Reluctant; but your next must be a course

  Far diff’rent; hence departing, ye must seek

  The dreary house of Ades and of dread

  Persephone there to consult the Seer

  Theban Tiresias, prophet blind, but blest

  With faculties which death itself hath spared. 600

  To him alone, of all the dead, Hell’s Queen

  Gives still to prophesy, while others flit

  Mere forms, the shadows of what once they were.

  She spake, and by her words dash’d from my soul

  All courage; weeping on the bed I sat,

  Reckless of life and of the light of day.

  But when, with tears and rolling to and fro

  Satiate, I felt relief, thus I replied.

  O Circe! with what guide shall I perform

  This voyage, unperform’d by living man? 610

  I spake, to whom the Goddess quick replied.

  Brave Laertiades! let not the fear

  To want a guide distress thee. Once on board,

  Your mast erected, and your canvas white

  Unfurl’d, sit thou; the breathing North shall waft

  Thy vessel on. But when ye shall have cross’d

  The broad expanse of Ocean, and shall reach

  The oozy shore, where grow the poplar groves

  And fruitless willows wan of Proserpine,

  Push thither through the gulphy Deep thy bark, 620

  And, landing, haste to Pluto’s murky abode.

  There, into Acheron runs not alone

  Dread Pyriphlegethon, but Cocytus loud,

  From Styx derived; there also stands a rock,

  At whose broad base the roaring rivers meet.

  There, thrusting, as I bid, thy bark ashore,

  O Hero! scoop the soil, op’ning a trench

  Ell-broad on ev’ry side; then pour around

  Libation consecrate to all the dead,

  First, milk with honey mixt, then luscious wine, 630

  Then water, sprinkling, last, meal over all.

  Next, supplicate the unsubstantial forms

  Fervently of the dead, vowing to slay,

  (Return’d to Ithaca) in thy own house,

  An heifer barren yet, fairest and best

  Of all thy herds, and to enrich the pile

  With delicacies such as please the shades;

  But, in peculiar, to Tiresias vow

  A sable ram, noblest of all thy flocks.

  When thus thou hast propitiated with pray’r 640

  All the illustrious nations of the dead,

  Next, thou shalt sacrifice to them a ram

  And sable ewe, turning the face of each

  Right toward Erebus, and look thyself,

  Meantime, askance toward the river’s course.

  Souls num’rous, soon, of the departed dead

  Will thither flock; then, strenuous urge thy friends,

  Flaying the victims which thy ruthless steel

  Hath slain, to burn them, and to sooth by pray’r

  Illustrious Pluto and dread Proserpine. 650

  While thus is done, thou seated at the foss,

  Faulchion in hand, chace thence the airy forms

  Afar, nor suffer them to approach the blood,

  Till with Tiresias thou have first conferr’d.

  Then, glorious Chief! the Prophet shall himself

  Appear, who will instruct thee, and thy course

  Delineate, measuring from place to place

  Thy whole return athwart the fishy flood.

  While thus she spake, the golden dawn arose,

  When, putting on me my attire, the nymph 660

  Next, cloath’d herself, and girding to her waist

  With an embroider’d zone her snowy robe

  Graceful, redundant, veil’d her beauteous head.

  Then, ranging the wide palace, I aroused

  My followers, standing at the side of each —

  Up! sleep no longer! let us quick depart,

  For thus the Goddess hath, herself, advised.

  So I, whose early summons my brave friends

  With readiness obey’d. Yet even thence

  I brought not all my crew. There was a youth, 670

  Youngest of all my train, Elpenor; one

  Not much in estimation for desert

  In arms, nor prompt in understanding more,

  Who overcharged with wine, and covetous

  Of cooler air, high on the palace-roof

  Of Circe slept, apart from all the rest.

  Awaken’d by the clamour of his friends

  Newly arisen, he also sprang to rise,

  And in his haste, forgetful where to find

  The deep-descending stairs, plunged through the roof. 680

  With neck-bone broken from the vertebræ

  Outstretch’d he lay; his spirit sought the shades.

  Then, thus to my assembling friends I spake.

  Ye think, I doubt not, of an homeward course,

  But Circe points me to the drear abode

  Of Proserpine and Pluto, to consult

  The spirit of Tiresias, Theban seer.

  I ended, and the hearts of all alike

  Felt consternation; on the earth they sat

  Disconsolate, and plucking each his hair, 690

  Yet profit none of all their sorrow found.

  But while we sought my galley on the beach

  With tepid tears bedewing, as we went,

  Our cheeks, meantime the Goddess to the shore

  Descending, bound within the bark a ram

  And sable ewe, passing us unperceived.

  For who hath eyes that can discern a God

  Going or coming, if he shun the view?

  BOOK XI


  ARGUMENT

  Ulysses relates to Alcinoüs his voyage to the infernal regions, his

  conference there with the prophet Tiresias concerning his return to

  Ithaca, and gives him an account of the heroes, heroines, and others whom

  he saw there.

  Arriving on the shore, and launching, first,

  Our bark into the sacred Deep, we set

  Our mast and sails, and stow’d secure on board

  The ram and ewe, then, weeping, and with hearts

  Sad and disconsolate, embark’d ourselves.

  And now, melodious Circe, nymph divine,

  Sent after us a canvas-stretching breeze,

  Pleasant companion of our course, and we

  (The decks and benches clear’d) untoiling sat,

  While managed gales sped swift the bark along. 10

  All day, with sails distended, e’er the Deep

  She flew, and when the sun, at length, declined,

  And twilight dim had shadow’d all the ways,

  Approach’d the bourn of Ocean’s vast profound.

  The city, there, of the Cimmerians stands

  With clouds and darkness veil’d, on whom the sun

  Deigns not to look with his beam-darting eye,

  Or when he climbs the starry arch, or when

  Earthward he slopes again his west’ring wheels,

  But sad night canopies the woeful race. 20

  We haled the bark aground, and, landing there

  The ram and sable ewe, journey’d beside

  The Deep, till we arrived where Circe bade.

  Here, Perimedes’ son Eurylochus

  Held fast the destined sacrifice, while I

  Scoop’d with my sword the soil, op’ning a trench

  Ell-broad on ev’ry side, then pour’d around

  Libation consecrate to all the dead,

  First, milk with honey mixt, then luscious wine,

  Then water, sprinkling, last, meal over all. 30

  This done, adoring the unreal forms

  And shadows of the dead, I vow’d to slay,

  (Return’d to Ithaca) in my own abode,

  An heifer barren yet, fairest and best

  Of all my herds, and to enrich the pile

  With delicacies, such as please the shades.

  But, in peculiar, to the Theban seer

  I vow’d a sable ram, largest and best

  Of all my flocks. When thus I had implored

  With vows and pray’r, the nations of the dead, 40

  Piercing the victims next, I turn’d them both

  To bleed into the trench; then swarming came

  From Erebus the shades of the deceased,

  Brides, youths unwedded, seniors long with woe

  Oppress’d, and tender girls yet new to grief.

  Came also many a warrior by the spear