Thus Agelaüs spake, Diastor’s son.
And rude reply, words rational and just;
Assault no more the stranger, nor of all
The servants of renown’d Ulysses here
Harm any. My advice, both to the Queen
And to Telemachus, shall gentle be,
May it but please them. While the hope survived
Within your bosoms of the safe return
Of wise Ulysses to his native isle,
So long good reason was that she should use
Delay, and hold our wooing in suspence;
For had Ulysses come, that course had proved
Wisest and best; but that he comes no more
Appears, now, manifest. Thou, therefore, Prince!
Seeking thy mother, counsel her to wed
The noblest, and who offers richest dow’r,
That thou, for thy peculiar, may’st enjoy
Thy own inheritance in peace and ease,
And she, departing, find another home.
I swear by Jove, and by my father’s woes,
Who either hath deceased far from his home,
Or lives a wand’rer, that I interpose
No hindrance to her nuptials. Let her wed
Who offers most, and even whom she will.
But to dismiss her rudely were a deed
Unfilial—That I dare not—God forbid!
The suitors with delirium; wide they stretch’d
Their jaws with unspontaneous laughter loud;
Their meat dripp’d blood; tears fill’d their eyes, and dire
Presages of approaching woe, their hearts.
Then thus the prophet Theoclymenus.
That takes you now? night wraps itself around
Your faces, bodies, limbs; the palace shakes
With peals of groans—and oh, what floods ye weep!
I see the walls and arches dappled thick
With gore; the vestibule is throng’d, the court
On all sides throng’d with apparitions grim
Of slaughter’d men sinking into the gloom
Of Erebus; the sun is blotted out
From heav’n, and midnight whelms you premature.
Of Polybus, Eurymachus replied.
His wits behind. Hoa there! conduct him hence
Into the forum; since he dreams it night
Already, teach him there that it is day.
I have no need, Eurymachus, of guides
To lead me hence, for I have eyes and ears,
The use of both my feet, and of a mind
In no respect irrational or wild.
These shall conduct me forth, for well I know
That evil threatens you, such, too, as none
Shall ’scape of all the suitors, whose delight
Is to insult the unoffending guest
Received beneath this hospitable roof.
Piræus’ house, who gladly welcom’d him.
Then all the suitors on each other cast
A look significant, and to provoke
Telemachus the more, fleer’d at his guests.
Of whom a youth thus, insolent began.
Guests such as thine. Witness, we know not who,
This hungry vagabond, whose means of life
Are none, and who hath neither skill nor force
To earn them, a mere burthen on the ground.
Witness the other also, who upstarts
A prophet suddenly. Take my advice;
I counsel wisely; send them both on board
Some gallant bark to Sicily for sale;
Thus shall they somewhat profit thee at last.
Heard unconcern’d, and, silent, look’d and look’d
Toward his father, watching still the time
When he should punish that licentious throng.
Meantime, Icarius’ daughter, who had placed
Her splendid seat opposite, heard distinct
Their taunting speeches. They, with noisy mirth,
Feasted deliciously, for they had slain
Many a fat victim; but a sadder feast
Than, soon, the Goddess and the warrior Chief
Should furnish for them, none shall ever share.
Of which their crimes had furnish’d first the cause.
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