Page:Homer - Iliad, translation Pope, 1909.djvu/179

381—429 As never father gave a child before.

Seven ample cities shall confess thy sway,

Thee Enopé, and Pheræ thee obey,

Cardamyé with ample turrets crowned,

And sacred Pedasus, for vines renowned:

Æpea fair, the pastures Hira yields,

And rich Antheia with her flowery fields:

The whole extent to Pylos' sandy plain

Along the verdant margin of the main.

There heifers graze, and labouring oxen toil;

Bold are the men, and generous is the soil.

There shalt thou reign with power and justice crowned,

And rule the tributary realms around.

Such are the proffers which this day we bring,

Such the repentance of a suppliant king.

But if all this, relentless, thou disdain,

If honour, and if interest, plead in vain;

Yet some redress to suppliant Greece afford,

And be, amongst her guardian gods, adored.

If no regard thy suffering country claim,

Hear thy own glory, and the voice of fame:

For now that chief whose unresisted ire

Made nations tremble, and whole hosts retire,

Proud Hector, now, the unequal fight demands,

And only triumphs to deserve thy hands."

Then thus the goddess-born: "Ulysses, hear

A faithful speech, that knows nor art nor fear;

What in my secret soul is understood,

My tongue shall utter, and my deeds make good.

Let Greece then know, my purpose I retain,

Nor with new treaties vex my peace in vain.

Who dares think one thing, and another tell,

My heart detests him as the gates of hell.

"Then thus in short my fixed resolves attend,

Which nor Atrides, nor his Greeks, can bend:

Long toils, long perils, in their cause I bore;

But now the unfruitful glories charm no more.

Fight or not fight, a like reward we claim,

The wretch and hero find their prize the same;

Alike regretted in the dust he lies,

Who yields ignobly, or who bravely dies.

Of all my dangers, all my glorious pains,

A life of labours, lo! what fruit remains?

As the bold bird her helpless young attends,

From danger guards them, and from want defends;

In search of prey she wings the spacious air,

And with the untasted food supplies her care:

For thankless Greece such hardships have I braved,

Her wives, her infants, by my labours saved;