Page:The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer (IA iliadodysseyofho02home).pdf/67

III. Shrill blasts the Thund'rer pour'd into his sails, And wild waves sent him mountainous. His ships There scatter'd, some to the Cydonian coast Of Crete he push'd, near where the Jardan flows. Beside the confines of Gortyna stands, Amid the gloomy flood, a smooth rock, steep Toward the sea, against whose leftward point Phæstus by name, the South wind rolls the surge Amain, which yet the rock, though small, repells. Hither with part he came, and scarce the crews Themselves escaped, while the huge billows broke Their ships against the rocks; yet five he saved, Which winds and waves drove to the Ægyptian shore. Thus he, provision gath'ring as he went And gold abundant, roam'd to distant lands And nations of another tongue. Meantime, Ægisthus these enormities at home Devising, slew Atrides, and supreme Rul'd the subjected land; sev'n years he reign'd In opulent Mycenæ, but the eighth From Athens brought renown'd Orestes home For his destruction, who of life bereaved Ægisthus base assassin of his Sire. Orestes, therefore, the funereal rites Performing to his shameless mother's shade And to her lustful paramour, a feast Gave to the Argives; on which self-same day The warlike Menelaus, with his ships