Homer

“ In sea-girt Ithaca, must be referr'd
To the Gods' will, Telemachus! meantime
Thou hast unquestionable right to keep
Thy own, and to command in thy own house. ⁠510
May never that man on her shores arrive,
While an inhabitant shall yet be left
In Ithaca, who shall by violence wrest
Thine from thee. But permit me, noble Sir! ”

“ Of Ocean. That retreat a Goddess holds,
Daughter of sapient Atlas, who the abyss
Knows to its bottom, and the pillars high
Himself upbears which sep'rate earth from heav'n.
His daughter, there, the sorrowing Chief detains, ⁠70
And ever with smooth speech insidious seeks
To wean his heart from Ithaca; meantime
Ulysses, happy might he but behold
The smoke ascending from his native land,
Death covets. Canst thou not, Olympian Jove! ⁠75
At last relent? Hath not Ulysses oft
With victims slain amid Achaia's fleet
Thee gratified while yet at Troy he fought? ”

“ The suitors with his song, and while the chords
He struck in prelude to his pleasant strains,
Telemachus his head inclining nigh ⁠195
To Pallas' ear, lest others should his words
Witness, the blue-eyed Goddess thus bespake.
⁠My inmate and my friend! far from my lips
Be ev'ry word that might displease thine ear!
The song—the harp,—what can they less than charm ⁠200
These wantons? who the bread unpurchased eat
Of one whose bones on yonder continent
Lie mould'ring, drench'd by all the show'rs of heaven,
Or roll at random in the billowy deep. ”

“ IN a council of the Gods, Minerva calls their attention to Ulysses, still a wanderer. They resolve to grant him a safe return to Ithaca. Minerva descends to encourage Telemachus, and in the form of Mentes directs him in what manner to proceed. Throughout this book the extravagance and profligacy of the suitors are occasionally suggested.
ODYSSEY.
BOOK I.
Muse make the man thy theme, for shrewdness famed
And genius versatile, who far and wide
A Wand'rer, after Ilium overthrown,
Discover'd various cities, and the mind
And manners learn'd of men, in lands remote. ”

“ She bound, ambrosial, which o'er all the earth
And o'er the moist flood waft her fleet as air,
Then, seizing her strong spear pointed with brass,
In length and bulk, and weight a matchless beam,
With which the Jove-born Goddess levels ranks ⁠125
Of Heroes, against whom her anger burns,
From the Olympian summit down she flew,
And on the threshold of Ulysses' hall
In Ithaca, and within his vestibule
Apparent stood; there, grasping her bright spear, ⁠130
[1] Mentes she seem'd, the hospitable Chief
Of Taphos' isle—she found the haughty throng
The suitors ”

“ But Neptune, now, the Æthiopians fought, ⁠30
(The Æthiopians, utmost of mankind,
These Eastward situate, those toward the West)
Call'd to an hecatomb of bulls and lambs.
There sitting, pleas'd he banqueted; the Gods
In Jove's abode, meantime, assembled all, ⁠35
'Midst whom the Sire of heav'n and earth began.
For he recall'd to mind Ægisthus slain
By Agamemnon's celebrated son
Orestes, and retracing in his thought
That dread event, the Immortals thus address'd. ⁠40
⁠Alas! how prone are human-kind to blame
The Pow'rs of Heav'n! ”

“ Some mortal may inform thee, or a [4] word, ⁠355
Perchance, by Jove directed (safest source
Of notice to mankind) may reach thine ear.
First voyaging to Pylus, there enquire
Of noble Nestor; thence to Sparta tend,
To question Menelaus amber-hair'd, ⁠360
Latest arrived of all the host of Greece. ”

“ The brazen spear took from her, and in words
With welcome wing'd Minerva thus address'd.
⁠Stranger, all hail! to share our cordial love
Thou com'st; the banquet finish'd, thou shalt next ⁠155
Inform me wherefore thou hast here arrived. ”

“ There lay Telemachus, on finest wool
Reposed, contemplating all night his course
Prescribed by Pallas to the Pylian shore. ⁠564
↑ We are told that Homer was under obligations to Mentes, who had frequently given him a passage in his ship to different countries which he wished to see, for which reason he has here immortalized him. ↑ Milton uses the word—
———————————Sewers and seneschals. ↑ Ἔρανος, a convivial meeting, at which every man paid his proportion, at least contributed something ”