Page:The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer (IA iliadodysseyofho02home).pdf/223

Book IX. Then quench'd my sight. Come hither, O my guest! Return, Ulysses! hospitable cheer Awaits thee, and my pray'rs I will prefer To glorious Neptune for thy prosp'rous course; For I am Neptune's offspring, and the God Is proud to be my Sire; he, if he please, And he alone can heal me; none beside Of Pow'rs immortal, or of men below. He spake, to whom I answer thus return'd. I would that of thy life and soul amerced, I could as sure dismiss thee down to Hell, As none shall heal thine eye—not even He. So I; then pray'd the Cyclops to his Sire With hands uprais'd towards the starry heav'n. Hear, Earth-encircler Neptune, azure-hair'd! If I indeed am thine, and if thou boast Thyself my father, grant that never more Ulysses, leveller of hostile tow'rs, Laertes' son, of Ithaca the fair, Behold his native home! but if his fate Decree him yet to see his friends, his house, His native country, let him deep distress'd Return and late, all his companions lost, Indebted for a ship to foreign aid, And let affliction meet him at his door. He spake, and Ocean's sov'reign heard his pray'r. Then lifting from the shore a stone of size