The Odyssey (Wisehouse Classics Edition). Homer

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      There with commutual zeal we both had strove

      In acts of dear benevolence and love:

      Brothers in peace, not rivals in command,

      And death alone dissolved the friendly band!

      Some envious power the blissful scene destroys;

      Vanish’d are all the visionary joys;

      The soul of friendship to my hope is lost,

      Fated to wander from his natal coast!”

      He ceased; a gush of grief began to rise:

      Fast streams a tide from beauteous Helen’s eyes;

      Fast for the sire the filial sorrows flow;

      The weeping monarch swells the mighty woe;

      Thy cheeks, Pisistratus, the tears bedew,

      While pictured so thy mind appear’d in view,

      Thy martial brother; on the Phrygian plain

      Extended pale, by swarthy Memnon slain!

      But silence soon the son of Nestor broke,

      And melting with fraternal pity, spoke:

      “Frequent, O king, was Nestor wont to raise

      And charm attention with thy copious praise;

      To crowd thy various gifts, the sage assign’d

      The glory of a firm capacious mind;

      With that superior attribute control

      This unavailing impotence of soul,

      Let not your roof with echoing grief resound,

      Now for the feast the friendly bowl is crown’d;

      But when, from dewy shade emerging bright,

      Aurora streaks the sky with orient light,

      Let each deplore his dead; the rites of woe

      Are all, alas! the living can bestow;

      O’er the congenial dust enjoin’d to shear

      The graceful curl, and drop the tender tear.

      Then, mingling in the mournful pomp with you,

      I’ll pay my brother’s ghost a warrior’s due,

      And mourn the brave Antilochus, a name

      Not unrecorded in the rolls of fame;

      With strength and speed superior form’d, in fight

      To face the foe, or intercept his flight;

      Too early snatch’d by fate ere known to me!

      I boast a witness of his worth in thee.”

      “Young and mature! (the monarch thus rejoins,)

      In thee renew’d the soul of Nestor shines;

      Form’d by the care of that consummate sage,

      In early bloom an oracle of age.

      Whene’er his influence Jove vouchsafes to shower,

      To bless the natal and the nuptial hour;

      From the great sire transmissive to the race,

      The boon devolving gives distinguish’d grace.

      Such, happy Nestor! was thy glorious doom,

      Around thee, full of years, thy offspring bloom.

      Expert of arms, and prudent in debate;

      The gifts of Heaven to guard thy hoary state.

      But now let each becalm his troubled breast,

      Wash, and partake serene the friendly feast.

      To move thy suit, Telemachus, delay,

      Till heaven’s revolving lamp restores the day.”

      He said, Asphalion swift the laver brings;

      Alternate, all partake the grateful springs;

      Then from the rites of purity repair,

      And with keen gust the savoury viands share.

      Meantime, with genial joy to warm the soul,

      Bright Helen mix’d a mirth inspiring bowl;

      Temper’d with drugs of sovereign use, to assuage

      The boiling bosom of tumultuous rage;

      To clear the cloudy front of wrinkled Care,

      And dry the tearful sluices of Despair;

      Charm’d with that virtuous draught, the exalted mind

      All sense of woe delivers to the wind.

      Though on the blazing pile his parent lay.

      Or a loved brother groan’d his life away.

      Or darling son, oppress’d by ruffian force,

      Fell breathless at his feet, a mangled corse;

      From morn to eve, impassive and serene,

      The man entranced would view the dreadful scene

      These drugs, so friendly to the joys of life.

      Bright Helen learn’d from Thone’s imperial wife;

      Who sway’d the sceptre, where prolific Nile

      With various simples clothes the fatten’d soil.

      With wholesome herbage mix’d, the direful bane

      Of vegetable venom taints the plain;

      From Paeon sprung, their patron-god imparts

      To all the Pharian race his healing arts.

      The beverage now prepared to inspire the feast,

      The circle thus the beauteous queen addressed:

      “Throned in omnipotence, supremest Jove

      Tempers the fates of human race above;

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