Page:The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer (IA iliadodysseyofho02home).pdf/34

26 Which here he would divulge? or brings he aught Of public import on a diff’rent theme? I deem him, whosoe’er he be, a man Worthy to prosper, and may Jove vouchsafe The full performance of his chief desire! He ended, and Telemachus rejoiced In that good omen. Ardent to begin, He sat not long, but, moving to the midst, Received the sceptre from Pisenor’s hand, His prudent herald, and addressing, next, The hoary Chief Ægyptius, thus began. Not far remote, as thou shalt soon thyself Perceive, oh venerable Chief! he stands, Who hath convened this council. I, am He. I am in chief the suff’rer. Tidings none Of the returning host I have received, Which here I would divulge, nor bring I aught Of public import on a different theme, But my own trouble, on my own house fall’n, And two-fold fall’n. One is, that I have lost A noble father, who, as fathers rule Benign their children, govern’d once yourselves; The other, and the more alarming ill, With ruin threatens my whole house, and all My patrimony with immediate waste. Suitors, (their children who in this our isle Hold highest rank) importunate besiege My mother, though desirous not to wed,