Employ thee, Goddess, now, who bid’st me pass
The perilous gulph of Ocean on a raft,
That wild expanse terrible, which even ships
Pass not, though form’d to cleave their way with ease,
And joyful in propitious winds from Jove.
No—let me never, in despight of thee,
Embark on board a raft, nor till thou swear,
O Goddess! the inviolable oath,
That future mischief thou intend’st me none.
And, while she spake, stroaking his cheek, replied.
Of ignorance hast none, far better taught;
What words were these? How could’st thou thus reply?
Now hear me Earth, and the wide Heav’n above!
Hear, too, ye waters of the Stygian stream
Under the earth (by which the blessed Gods
Swear trembling, and revere the awful oath!)
That future mischief I intend thee none.
No, my designs concerning thee are such
As, in an exigence resembling thine,
Myself, most sure, should for myself conceive.
I have a mind more equal, not of steel
My heart is form’d, but much to pity inclined.
Led on, whose footsteps he as swift pursued.
Within the vaulted cavern they arrived,
The Goddess and the man; on the same throne
Ulysses sat, whence Hermes had aris’n,
And viands of all kinds, such as sustain
The life of mortal man, Calypso placed
Before him, both for bev’rage and for food.
She opposite to the illustrious Chief
Reposed, by her attendant maidens served
With nectar and ambrosia. They their hands
Stretch’d forth together to the ready feast,
And when nor hunger more nor thirst remain’d
Unsated, thus the beauteous nymph began.
And artifice! oh canst thou thus resolve
To seek, incontinent, thy native shores?
I pardon thee. Farewell! but could’st thou guess
The woes which fate ordains thee to endure
Ere yet thou reach thy country, well-content
Here to inhabit, thou would’st keep my grot
And be immortal, howsoe’er thy wife
Engage thy ev’ry wish day after day.
Yet can I not in stature or in form
Myself suspect inferior aught to her,
Since competition cannot be between
Mere mortal beauties, and a form divine.
Awful Divinity! be not incensed.
I know that my Penelope in form
And stature altogether yields to thee,
For she is mortal, and immortal thou,
From age exempt; yet not the less I wish
My home, and languish daily to return.
But should some God amid the sable Deep
Dash me again into a wreck, my soul
Shall bear that also; for, by practice taught,
I have learned patience, having much endured
By tempest and in battle both. Come then
This evil also! I am well prepared.
The earth to darkness. Then in a recess
Interior of the cavern, side by side
222222Reposed, they took their amorous delight.
But when Aurora, daughter of the dawn,
Look’d rosy forth, Ulysses then in haste
Put on his vest and mantle, and, the nymph
Her snowy vesture of transparent woof,
Graceful, redundant; to her waist she bound
Her golden zone, and veil’d her beauteous head,
Then, musing, plann’d the noble Chief’s return.
She gave him, fitted to the grasp, an ax
Of iron, pond’rous, double- edg’d, with haft
Of olive-wood, inserted firm, and wrought
With curious art. Then, placing in his hand
A polish’d adze, she led, herself, the way
To her isles’ utmost verge, where tallest trees
But dry long since and sapless stood, which best
Might serve his purposes, as buoyant most,
The alder, poplar, and cloud- piercing fir.
To that tall grove she led and left him there,
Seeking her grot again. Then slept not He,
But, swinging with both hands the ax, his task
Soon finish’d; trees full twenty to the ground
He cast, which, dext’rous, with his adze he smooth’d,
The knotted surface chipping by a line.
Meantime the lovely Goddess to his aid
Sharp augres brought, with which he bored the beams,
Then, side by side placing them, fitted each
To other, and with long cramps join’d them all.
Broad as an artist, skill’d in naval works,
The bottom of a ship of burthen spreads,
Such breadth Ulysses to his raft assign’d.
He deck’d her over with long planks, upborne
On massy beams; He made the mast, to which
He added suitable the yard;—he framed
Rudder and helm to regulate her course,
With wicker-work he border’d all her length
For safety, and much ballast stow’d within.
Meantime, Calypso brought him for a sail
Fittest materials, which he also shaped,
And to his sail due furniture annex’d
Of cordage strong, foot-ropes, and ropes aloft,
Then heav’d her down with levers to the Deep.
He finish’d all his work on the fourth day,
And on the fifth, Calypso, nymph divine,
Dismiss’d
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