Page:The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer (IA iliadodysseyofho02home).pdf/414

406 To num'rous wand'rers (whencesoe'er they came) All that they needed; I was also served By many, and enjoy'd all that denotes The envied owner opulent and blest. But Jove (for so it pleas'd him) hath reduced My all to nothing, prompting me, in league With rovers of the Deep, to sail afar To Ægypt, for my sure destruction there. Within th' Ægyptian stream my barks well-oar'd I station'd, and, enjoining strict my friends To watch them close-attendant at their side, Commanded spies into the hill-tops; but they, Under the impulse of a spirit rash And hot for quarrel, the well-cultur'd fields Pillaged of the Ægyptians, captive led Their wives and little-ones, and slew the men. Ere long, the loud alarm their city reach'd. Down came the citizens, by dawn of day, With horse and foot and with the gleam of arms Filling the plain. Then Jove with panic dread Struck all my people; none found courage more To stand, for mischiefs swarm'd on ev'ry side. There, num'rous by the glitt'ring spear we fell Slaughter'd, while others they conducted thence Alive to servitude; but me they gave To Dmetor, King in Cyprus, Jasus' son; He entertained me liberally, and thence This land I reach'd, but poor and woe-begone.