But Ithaca no level champaign owns,
A nursery of goats, and yet a land
Fairer than richest pastures in mine eye.
But none of all our rugged isles affords
Large growth of herbs, or level space to run,
And Ithaca the rudest is of all.

He said; the hero Menelaus smil'd,

And stroking tenderly his cheek, replied:

Dear youth! thy speech proclaims thy noble blood.
I can with ease supply thee from within

With what shall suit thee better, and the gift
Of all that I possess, which most excels
In beauty, and the noblest shall be thine.
I give thee, wrought elaborate, a cup
Itself all silver, bound with lip of gold.
It is the work of Vulcan, which to me
The hero Phædimus presented, king

Of the Sidonians, when on my return

His house receiv'd me. That shall be thy own

which they eat toasted. The root likewise is eatable, has an agreeable sweetness, is round, and of the size of an apple.-C.

But according to the scholiast there was a tree called lotus, and a species of grass also.-B. & C.

It is doubted whether Phædimus is here a proper name, or an epithet signifying illustrious. They who understand it in the latter sense affirm this illustrious hero, the king of Sidon, to have been Solomon; in support of which opinion Barnes cites the following passage from Clemens Alexandrinus :

Thus they conferr'd; and now the busy train Of menials culinary*, at the gate

Of Menelaus, glorious chief, appear'd.

They brought him sheep, with heart-ennobling wine, While all their wives, their brows with frontlets bound, Came charg'd with bread. Thus busy they prepar'd A banquet in the mansion of the king.

Mean-time, before Ulysses' palace gate
The suitors sported with the quoit and spear
On the smooth area, customary scene

Of all their strife and angry clamour loud †.
There sat Antinoüs, and the godlike youth
Eurymachus, superiour to the rest

"Iramus or Hiram gave his daughter to Solomon, at the time when Menelaus, returning from the siege of Troy, arrived at Phoenice."

Sidon was a city of that country.

* Aarrouwv-generally signifies the founder of a feast; but we are taught by Eustathius to understand by it, in this place, the persons employed in preparing it.-C.

The same commentator understands these preparations to be made not in the palace of Menelaus but of Ulysses. It is however in the beginning of the next paragraph, and not before, that the poet conducts us back to Ithaca. This is noticed by Barnes, who terms it a pardonable errour indeed, but still worthy to be censured as an errour, lest the authority of so learned a critic should mislead the reader.

†The quoit was commonly a stone, but was sometimes made of iron, and had a thong tied about the middle of it, by which they swung and cast it. What the translation calls a spear was rather a javelin, such as was used in goat-hunting.—C.

And chiefs among them, to whom Phronius' son
Noëmon drawing nigh, with anxious mien
Question'd Antinoüs, and thus began:

Know we, Antinoüs! or know we not,
When to expect Telemachus at home
Again from Pylus? In my ship he went,
Which now I need, that I may cross the sea
To Elis, on whose spacious plain I feed
Twelve mares, each suckling a mule-colt as yet
Unbroken, but of which I purpose one

To ferry thence, and break him into use.

He spake, whom they astonish'd heard; for him They deem'd not to Nelëian Pylus gone,

But, likeliest, to the field, his num'rous flocks
To visit, or the steward of his swine.

Then thus, Eupithes' son, Antinoüs, spake:

Say true. When sail'd he forth? of all our youth, Whom chose he for his followers? his own train Of slaves and hirelings? Hath he pow'r to effect This also? Tell me too, for I would learnTook he perforce thy sable bark away, Or gav'st it to him at his first demand* ?

* The question of Antinoüs, says Barnes, seems to be asked with a malicious intention to betray Noëmon into a false accusation of Telemachus, a modest and virtuous prince, whom he affects to consider as one like himself, according to the manner of such profligates

To whom Noëmon, Phronius' son, replied:
I gave it voluntary; what couldst thou,
Should such a prince petition for thy bark
In such distress? Hard were it to refuse.
A band, inferiour to yourselves alone
Attends him forth; and with them I observ'd
Mentor embarking, ruler o'er them all,

Or, if not him, a God; for such he seem'd.
But this much moves my wonder. Yester-morn
I saw, at day-break, noble Mentor here,
Whom shipp'd for Pylus I had seen before.

He ceas'd; and to his father's house return'd; They, hearing, sat aghast. Their games mean-time Finish'd, the suitors on their seats repos'd,

To whom Eupithes' son, Antinoüs, next

Much troubled spake; a black storm overcharg'd
His bosom, and his vivid eyes flash'd fire:
Ye Gods! a proud exploit is here achiev'd,
of Telemachus, by us

This voyage

Pronounc'd impracticable; yet the boy,

In rash defiance of us all, is gone,

With a swift bark, and with a chosen crew.

He soon will prove more mischievous, whose pow'r

as he. But Noëmon answers honestly and boldly, doing justice to the son of the king his master, and tacitly condemning the suitors' iniquitous treatment of him.

Jove wither, ere we suffer its effects!
But, be ye quick, launch also forth for me
A bark with twenty rowers; close conceal'd
Within the narrow frith that sep'rates these
From the rough shores of Samos, will I lurk,
And watch his coming, who shall dearly rue,
That e'er he roam'd to seek his wand'ring sire.

He ceas'd, and loud applause heard in reply,
With warm encouragement. Then, rising all,
Into Ulysses' house at once they throng'd.
Nor was Penelope left uninform'd

Long time of their clandestine plottings deep,
For herald Medon told her all, whose ear
Their councils caught, while in the outer-court
He stood, and they that project fram'd within.
Swift to Penelope the tale he bore,

Who, as he pass'd the gate, him thus address'd:

Why, herald! thus in haste? With what command
Charg'd by the suitors? That Ulysses', maids
Their tasks resign, to furnish, at his cost,

The board for them? Here end, for ever end
Their tedious wooing! May ye * never hence

* This transition from the third to the second person belongs to the original, and is considered as a fine stroke of art in the poet, who represents Penelope, in the warmth of her resentment, forgetting where she is, and addressing the suitors as if present.