Page:The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer (IA iliadodysseyofho02home).pdf/153

VI. Well known is his abode, so that with ease A child might lead thee to it, for in nought The other houses of our land the house Resemble, in which dwells the Hero, King Alcinoüs. Once within the court received Pause not, but, with swift pace advancing, seek My mother; she beside a column sits In the hearth's blaze, twirling her fleecy threads Tinged with sea-purple, bright, magnificent! With all her maidens orderly behind. There also stands my father's throne, on which Seated, he drinks and banquets like a God. Pass that; then suppliant clasp my mother's knees, So shalt thou quickly win a glad return To thy own home, however far remote. Her favour, once, and her kind aid secured, Thenceforth thou may'st expect thy friends to see, Thy dwelling, and thy native soil again. So saying, she with her splendid scourge the mules Lash'd onward. They (the stream soon left behind) With even footsteps graceful smote the ground; But so she ruled them, managing with art The scourge, as not to leave afar, although Following on foot, Ulysses and her train. The sun had now declined, when in that grove Renown'd, to Pallas sacred, they arrived, In which Ulysses sat, and fervent thus Sued to the daughter of Jove ægis-arm'd.