The yoke all day, and when the setting sun
To dusky ev'ning had resign'd the roads,
At Phere they arriv'd, and at the house
Where dwelt Diocles, whose illustrious sire,
Orsilochus, from Alpheus sprang, repos'd.

But when Aurora, daughter of the dawn,
Look'd rosy forth, then, binding to the yoke
Their steeds again they mounted. Nestor's son
Urg'd through the vestibule and sounding porch
His coursers, of themselves not slack to go.
A corn-invested land* receiv'd them next,
And there they brought their journey to a close,
So rapidly they sped; and now the sun

Went down, and even-tide dimm'd all the ways.

* Lacedæmon.

ARGUMENT OF THE FOURTH BOOK.

Telemachus, with Pisistratus, arrives at the palace of Menelaus, from whom he receives some fresh information concerning the return of the Greecians, and is in particular told on the authority of Proteus, that his father is detained by Calypso. The suitors, plotting against the life of Telemachus, lie in wait to intercept him in his return to Ithaca. Penelope being informed of his departure, and of their designs to slay him, becomes inconsolable, but is relieved by a dream sent to her from Minerva.

BOOK IV.

IN hollow Lacedæmon's spacious vale
Arriving, to the residence they drove
Of royal Menelaus; him they found
In his own palace, all his num'rous friends
Regaling at a nuptial banquet giv'n

Both for his daughter and the prince his son.
His daughter to renown'd Achilles' heir

He sent, to whom he had at Troy engag'd

To give her, and the Gods now made her his.
With chariots and with steeds he sent her forth
To Phthia's glorious city, where he reign'd.
But to his son he gave a Spartan fair,
Alector's daughter; from a handmaid* sprang
That son to Menelaus in his age,

Brave Megapenthes; for the Gods vouchsaf'd
No child to Helen, after her who vied
With Venus' self in charms, Hermione.

Thus all the neighbour princes and the friends
Of noble Menelaus feasting sat

Within his spacious palace, among whom

A sacred bard sang sweetly to his harp,

While, in the midst, two dancers smote the ground
With measur'd steps responsive to his song.
Sudden, within the vestibule appear'd

Those two, Telemachus, illustrious youth,
And Nestor's son. Them, issuing from the hall,
The noble Eteoneus, of the train

Of Menelaus, saw; at once he ran

Across the palace to report the news

To his lord's ear, and, standing at his side,
With eager haste his tidings thus declar'd:

O Menelaus! Heav'n-descended chief!

* From a handmaid called Teridaë, by whom he had also a sonnamed Nicostratus.-B. & C.

Two guests arrive, both strangers, but alike
Resembling in their form the sons of Jove.

Say, shall we loose, ourselves, their rapid steeds,
Or hence dismiss them to some other host?

But Menelaus, hero golden-hair'd,
Indignant answer'd him: Boethe's son !
Thou wast not, Eteoneus, heretofore,
A babbler, who now pratest as a child.
We have ourselves arriv'd indebted much
To hospitality of other men,

If Jove shall, even here, some pause at last
Therefore loose, at once,

Of wo afford us.

Their steeds, and introduce them to the feast.
He said, and, issuing, Eteoneus call'd

The brisk attendants to his aid, with whom
He loos'd their foaming coursers from the yoke.
Them first they bound to mangers, which with oats
And mingled barley they supplied, then thrust
The chariot sidelong to the splendid wall *.
Themselves he, next, into the royal house
Conducted, who with wonder view'd the abode
Of the illustrious chief; for on all sides

As with the splendour of the sun or moon

*Hesychius tells us, that the Greccians ornamented with much attention the front wall of their courts for the admiration of passengers.

The lofty dome of Menelaus blaz'd*.

Satiate, at length, with wonder at that sight,
They enter'd each a bath, and by the hands
Of maidens lav'd, and oil'd, and cloth'd again
With shaggy mantles and resplendent vests,
Sat both enthron'd at Menelaus' side.

And now a maiden charg'd with golden ew'r,
And with an argent laver, pouring first
Pure water on their hands, supplied them next
With a bright table, which the maiden, chief
In office, furnish'd plenteously with bread
And dainties, remnants of the last regale.
Then came the sew'r, who with delicious meats
Of all kinds serv'd them, and with cups of gold,
And Menelaus, greeting each, began:

Eat and rejoice, and when ye shall have shar'd
Our nuptial banquet, we will then inquire
Who are ye both; for certain not from those
Whose generation perishes are ye,

But rather of some race of sceptred chiefs

* It is remarked by Athenæus, that whoever goes to be entertained at another's table should not, like a glutton and a winebibber, immediately on his entrance take his place in the symposium or banquetting room, but should first employ a reasonable time in viewing and giving due commendation to the house and furniture. A point of good breeding in which it appears, that Telemachus and his friend were not deficient.-C.