Page:The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer (IA iliadodysseyofho02home).pdf/456

448 Attach'd to it myself, more to adorn My honour'd Lord, whom to his native land Return'd secure I shall receive no more. In such an evil hour Ulysses went To that bad city never to be named. To whom Ulysses, ever-wise, replied. Consort revered of Laertiades! No longer let anxiety impair Thy beauteous form, nor any grief consume Thy spirits more for thy Ulysses' sake. And yet I blame thee not; a wife deprived Of her first mate to whom she had produced Fair fruit of mutual love, would mourn his loss, Although he were inferior far to thine, Whom fame affirms the semblance of the Gods. But cease to mourn. Hear me. I will relate A faithful tale, nor will from thee withhold Such tidings of Ulysses living still, And of his safe return, as I have heard Lately, in yon neighb'ring opulent land Of the Thesprotians. He returns enrich'd With many precious stores from those obtain'd Whom he hath visited; but he hath lost, Departing from Thrinacia's isle, his bark And all his lov'd companions in the Deep, For Jove was adverse to him, and the Sun, Whose beeves his followers slew. They perish'd all Amid the billowy flood; but Him, the keel