114
Translations, &c.
"To roam among the dead? but from the pool
"Withdraw, and sheath your falchion, while I taste
"That bloody beverage, then the Fate's decree 100
"Instant I'll utter." Sudden I withdrew,
Sheathing my falchion whilst he drank the gore;
Then thus the seer pronounc'd the Fates' decree.
"What means may best befit your wish'd return,
"Illustrious Greek! you'd know. The sov'reign pow'r
"Whose strong earth-shaking mace the floods revere,
"Insidious waits a time to wreak revenge 107
"For Polypheme his son, whose visual orb
"You late eclips'd with ever-during shade.
"Howe'er you safe may voyage, and avoid 110
"Disasters various, if your mates refrain
"From sacrilegious spoil, when safe they tread
"Trinacria's herby soil; for there the flocks
"And herds of Phœbus o'er the verd'rous lawn 114
"Browze fatt'ning pasture, (he, the world's great eye,
"Views all below his orient beam, nor ought
"Can shun his wakeful ear) with evil hand
"If them they seize, unerring I foretell
"An hideous wreck. Unequal to the storm
"Your ship, deep in the nether waves ingulf'd, 120
"Shall perish with her crew: you shall regain
"The dry without surviving friend to cheer
"Your pilgrim steps; however late and hard,
"You shall revisit your lov'd natal shore,
"Transported in a vessel not your own. 125
"Withdraw, and sheath your falchion, while I taste
"That bloody beverage, then the Fate's decree 100
"Instant I'll utter." Sudden I withdrew,
Sheathing my falchion whilst he drank the gore;
Then thus the seer pronounc'd the Fates' decree.
"What means may best befit your wish'd return,
"Illustrious Greek! you'd know. The sov'reign pow'r
"Whose strong earth-shaking mace the floods revere,
"Insidious waits a time to wreak revenge 107
"For Polypheme his son, whose visual orb
"You late eclips'd with ever-during shade.
"Howe'er you safe may voyage, and avoid 110
"Disasters various, if your mates refrain
"From sacrilegious spoil, when safe they tread
"Trinacria's herby soil; for there the flocks
"And herds of Phœbus o'er the verd'rous lawn 114
"Browze fatt'ning pasture, (he, the world's great eye,
"Views all below his orient beam, nor ought
"Can shun his wakeful ear) with evil hand
"If them they seize, unerring I foretell
"An hideous wreck. Unequal to the storm
"Your ship, deep in the nether waves ingulf'd, 120
"Shall perish with her crew: you shall regain
"The dry without surviving friend to cheer
"Your pilgrim steps; however late and hard,
"You shall revisit your lov'd natal shore,
"Transported in a vessel not your own. 125
