Page:Homer - Iliad, translation Pope, 1909.djvu/183

The bloom I boasted, and the port I bore,
When Greece of old beheld my youthful flames,
Delightful Greece, the land of lovely dames.
My father, faithless to my mother's arms,
Old as he was, adored a stranger's charms;
I tried what youth could do, at her desire,
To win the damsel, and prevent my sire.
My sire with curses loads my hated head,
And cries, 'Ye furies! barren be his bed.'
Infernal Jove, the vengeful fiends below,
And ruthless Proserpine, confirmed his vow,
Despair and grief attract my labouring mind;
Gods! what a crime my impious heart designed!
I thought—but some kind God that thought suppressed—
To plunge the poniard in my father's breast:
Then meditate my flight; my friends in vain
With prayers entreat me, and with force detain.
On fat of rams, black bulls, and brawny swine,
They daily feast, with draughts of fragrant wine:
Strong guards they placed, and watched nine nights entire:
The roofs and porches flamed with constant fire.
The tenth, I forced the gates, unseen of all;
And, favoured by the night, o'erleaped the wall.
My travels thence through spacious Greece extend:
In Pthia's court at last my labours end.
Your sire received me, as his son caressed,
With gifts enriched, and with possessions blessed.
The strong Dolopians thenceforth owned my reign,
And all the coast that runs along the main.
By love to thee his bounties I repaid,
And early wisdom to thy soul conveyed:
Great as thou art, my lessons made thee brave,
A child I took thee, but a hero gave.
Thy infant breast a like affection showed:
Still in my arms, an ever-pleasing load,
Or at my knee, by Phœnix wouldst thou stand;
No food was grateful but from Phœnix' hand.
I pass my watchings o'er thy helpless years,
The tender labours, the compliant cares;
The gods, I thought, reversed their hard decree,
And Phœnix felt a father's joys in thee:
Thy growing virtues justified my cares,
And promised comfort to my silver hairs.
Now be thy rage, thy fatal rage, resigned;
A cruel heart ill suits a manly mind:
The gods, the only great, and only wise,
Are moved by offerings, vows, and sacrifice;
Offending man their high compassion wins,