Have sent, with costly offerings to the God :
But her, assign’d me by the sons of Greece,
Brises' fair daughter, from my tent e'en now
The heralds bear away. Then, Goddess, thou,
If thou hast pow'r, protect thy injur'd son.
Fly to Olympus, to the feet of Jove,
And make thy pray'r to him, if on his heart
Thou hast in truth, by word or deed, a claim.
For I remember, in my father's house,
I oft have heard thee boast, how thou, alone
Of all th' Immortals, Saturn's cloud-girt son
Didst shield from foul disgrace, when all the rest,
Juno, and Neptune, and Minerva joind,
With chains to bind him; then, O Goddess, thou
Didst set him free, invoking to his aid
Him of the hundred arms - whom Briareus
Th’immortal Gods, and men Ægeon call.
He, mightier than his father, took his seat
By Saturn's son, exulting in his strength:
Fear seiz’d on all the Gods, nor did they dare
To bind their King: of this remind him now,
And clasp his knees, and supplicate his aid
For Troy's brave warriors, that the routed Greeks
Back to their ships with slaughter may be driv'n;
That all may taste the folly of their King,
And Agamemnon's haughty self may mourn
The slight on Grecia's bravest warrior cast."
Thus he; and Thetis, weeping, thus replied:
“ Alas, my child, that e'er I gave thee birth!
Would that beside thy ships thou couldst remain
From grief exempt, and insult! since by fate
Few years are thine, and not a lengthen’d term ;
At once to early death and sorrows doom'd
Beyond the lot of man! in evil hour
I gave thee birth! But to the snow-clad heights
Of great Olympus, to the throne of Jove,
Who wields the thunder, thy complaints I bear.
Thou by thy ships, meanwhile, against the Greeks
Thine anger nurse, and from the fight abstain.
For Jove is to a solemn banquet gone
Beyond the sea, on Æthiopia's shore,
Since yesternight; and with him all the Gods.
On the twelfth day he purpos’d to return
To high Olympus; thither then will I,
And at his feet my supplication make;
And he, I think, will not deny my suit.”
This said, she disappeard; and left him there
Musing in anger on the lovely form
Torn from his arms by violence away.
Meantime, Ulysses, with his sacred freight,
Arriv'd at Chrysa's isle; and when his bark
Had reach'd the shelter of the deep sea bay,
Their sails they furl’d, and lower'd to the hold;
Slack’d the retaining shrouds, and quickly struck
And stow'd away the mast; then with their sweeps
Pull’d for the shore, and cast their anchors out,
And made her fast with cables to the strand.
Then on the shingly breakwater themselves
They landed, and the sacred hecatomb
To great Apollo; and Chryseis last.
Her to the altar straight Ulysses led,
The wise in counsel ; in her father's hand
He plac'd the maiden, and address’d him thus :
“ Chryses, from Agamemnon, king of men,
To thee I come, thy daughter to restore;
And to thy God, upon the Greeks' behalf,
To offer sacrifice, if haply so
We may appease his wrath, who now incens'd
With grievous suff'ring visits all our host.”
Then to her sire he gave her; he with joy
Receiv'd his child; the sacred hecatomb
Around the well-built altar for the God
In order due they plac’d; their hands then wash'd
And the salt cake prepard, before them all
With hands uplifted Chryses pray'd aloud :
“Hear me, God of the silver bow! whose care
Chrysa surrounds, and Cilla's lovely isle,
Whose sov’reign sway o'er Tenedos extends !
Once hast thou heard my pray’r, aveng'd my cause,
And pour’d thy fury on the Grecian host.
Hear yet again, and grant what now I ask;
Withdraw thy chast’ning hand, and stay the plague.”
Thus, as he pray’d, his pray’r Apollo heard.
Their pray’rs concluded, and the salt cake strew'd
Upon the victims' heads, they drew them back,
And slew, and flay'd; then cutting from the thighs
The choicest pieces, spread them o'er with fat
In double layers, and above them plac'd
The due meat-off'rings; then the aged priest
The cleft wood kindled, and libations pour'd
Of ruddy wine; arm’d with the five-fork'd prongs
Th' attendant ministers beside him stood.
The thighs consum'd with fire, the inward parts
They tasted first; the rest upon the spits
Roasted with care, and from the fire withdrew.
Their labours ended, and the feast prepar’d,
They shar'd the social meal, nor lack'd there ought.
The rage of thirst and hunger satisfied,
Th’ attendant youths the flowing goblets crown'd,
And in fit order serv'd the cups to all.
All day they sought the favour of the God,
The glorious pæans chanting, and the praise
Of Phæbus : he, well pleas'd, the strain receiv'd.
But when the sun was set, and shades of night
O’erspread the sky, upon the sandy beach
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