The Odyssey of Homer


google search for The Odyssey of Homer

Return to Master Book Index.

Page
362 363 364 365 366

Quick Jump
1 153 306 459 612

Meantime he voyaged to explore the will  
Of Jove, on high Dodona's holy hill,  
What means might best his safe return avail,  
To come in pomp, or bear a secret sail?  
Full oft has Phidon, whilst he pour'd the wine,  
Attesting solemn all the powers divine,  
That soon Ulysses would return, declared  
The sailors waiting, and the ships prepared.  
But first the king dismiss'd me from his shores,  
For fair Dulichium crown'd with fruitful stores;  
To good Acastus' friendly care consign'd:  
But other counsels pleased the sailors' mind:  
New frauds were plotted by the faithless train,  
And misery demands me once again.  
Soon as remote from shore they plough the wave,  
With ready hands they rush to seize their slave;  
Then with these tatter'd rags they wrapp'd me round  
(
Stripp'd of my own), and to the vessel bound.  
At eve, at Ithaca's delightful land  
The ship arriv'd: forth issuing on the sand,  
They sought repast; while to the unhappy kind,  
The pitying gods themselves my chains unbind.  
Soft I descended, to the sea applied  
My naked breast, and shot along the tide.  
Soon pass'd beyond their sight, I left the flood,  
And took the spreading shelter of the wood.  
364  


Page
362 363 364 365 366

Quick Jump
1 153 306 459 612