116
Translations, &c.
"Of Fate, O Seer! I acquiesce; but, lo!
"Pensive, and silent, by the goary pool
"Abides my mother's shade, nor me vouchsafes 155
Language or look benign: oh! tell me how
"She here may recognize me." He rejoin'd;
"Whatever ghost by your permission sips
"That sacred purple, will to all your quest
"Without deceit reply; the rest withdraw 160
"At your stern interdict." This said, the seer
To the high capital of Dis retir'd:
Mean-time I firm abode, till the dear shade
Had sipp'd the sacred purple, then her son
Instant she knew, and wailing thus began: 165
"My Son! how reach'd you these Tartarean hounds,
"Corporeal? Many a river interfus'd,
"And gulfs unvoyageable, from access
"Debar each living wight; besides th' expanse
"Of ocean wide to sail. Are you from Troy 170
"With your associate peers but now return'd,
"Erroneous from your wife and kingdom still?"
I thus: "By strong necessity constrain'd,
"Down to these nether realms I have presum'd,
"An earthly guest, to hear my doom disclos'd 175
"By sage Tiresias; for since I led
"Auxiliar bands, with Agamemnon leagu'd
"To war on Ilium, traversing the main
"Thro' various perils, I have voyag'd far
"Estrang'd from Greece. But say by what disease,
"Pensive, and silent, by the goary pool
"Abides my mother's shade, nor me vouchsafes 155
Language or look benign: oh! tell me how
"She here may recognize me." He rejoin'd;
"Whatever ghost by your permission sips
"That sacred purple, will to all your quest
"Without deceit reply; the rest withdraw 160
"At your stern interdict." This said, the seer
To the high capital of Dis retir'd:
Mean-time I firm abode, till the dear shade
Had sipp'd the sacred purple, then her son
Instant she knew, and wailing thus began: 165
"My Son! how reach'd you these Tartarean hounds,
"Corporeal? Many a river interfus'd,
"And gulfs unvoyageable, from access
"Debar each living wight; besides th' expanse
"Of ocean wide to sail. Are you from Troy 170
"With your associate peers but now return'd,
"Erroneous from your wife and kingdom still?"
I thus: "By strong necessity constrain'd,
"Down to these nether realms I have presum'd,
"An earthly guest, to hear my doom disclos'd 175
"By sage Tiresias; for since I led
"Auxiliar bands, with Agamemnon leagu'd
"To war on Ilium, traversing the main
"Thro' various perils, I have voyag'd far
"Estrang'd from Greece. But say by what disease,
