'If then thy will permit' (the Monarch said),

'To finish all due honours to the dead, This, of thy grace, accord: to thee are known

830

The fears of Ilion, closed within her town; And at what distance from our walls aspire

The hills of Ide, and forests for the fire. Nine days to vent our sorrows I request, The tenth shall see the funeral and the feast;

The next, to raise his monument be giv'n; The twelfth we war, if war be doom'd by Heav'n !'

"This thy request' (replied the Chief) ' enjoy:

Till then, our arms suspend the fall of Troy.'

Then gave his hand at parting, to pre

vent

840 The old man's fears, and turn'd within the tent

Where fair Briseïs, bright in blooming charms,

Expects her hero with desiring arms.
But in the porch the King and Herald

WE have now passed through the Iliad, and seen the anger of Achilles, and the terrible effects of it, at an end: as that only was the subject of the poem, and the nature of epic poetry would not permit our author to proceed to the event of the war, it may perhaps be acceptable to the common reader to give a short account of what happened to Troy and the chief actors in this poem, after the conclusion of it.

I need not mention that Troy was taken soon after the death of Hector, by the stratagem of the wooden horse, the particulars of which are described by Virgil in the second book of the Eneis.

Achilles fell before Troy, by the hand of Paris, by the shot of an arrow in his heel, as Hector had prophesied at his death, book xxii

The unfortunate Priam was killed by Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles.

Ajax, after the death of Achilles, had a contest with Ulysses for the armour of Vulcan, but being defeated in his aim, he slew himself through indignation.

Helen, after the death of Paris, married Deïphobus his brother, and at the taking of Troy betrayed him, in order to reconcile herself to Menelaus, her first husband, who re ceived her again into favour.

Agamemnon at his return was barbaroustr murdered by Ægisthus, at the instigation of Clytemnestra, his wife, who in his absence ba dishonoured his bed with Agisthus.

Diomed, after the fall of Troy, was expelled his own country, and scarce escaped with life from his adulterous wife Egiale; but at last was received by Daunus in Apulia, and shared his kingdom; it is uncertain how be died.

Nestor lived in peace, with his children, in Pylos, his native country.

Ulysses also, after innumerable troubles by sea and land, at last returned in safety to Ithaca, which is the subject of Homer's Odyssey.

I must end these notes by discharging my duty to two of my friends, which is the more an indispensable piece of justice, as the one of them is since dead. The merit of their kindness to me will appear infinitely the greater, as the task they undertook was, in its own nature, of much more labour, than either pleasure or reputation. The larger part of the extracts from Eustathius, together with several excellent observations, were sent me by Mr. Broome : and the whole Essay upon Homer was written, upon such memoirs as I had collected, by the late Dr. Parnell, Archdeacon of Clogher in Ireland. How very much that gentleman's friendship prevailed over his genius, in detaining a writer of his spirit in the drudgery of removing the rubbish of past pedants, will soon appear to the world, when they shall see those

beautiful pieces of poetry, the publication of which he left to my charge, almost with his dying breath.

For what remains, I beg to be excused from the ceremonies of taking leave at the end of my work; and from embarrassing myself, or others, with any defences or apologies about it. But instead of endeavouring to raise a vain monument to myself, of the merits or difficulties of it (which must be left to the world, to truth, and to posterity), let me leave behind me a memorial of my friendship with one of the most valuable men, as well as finest writers, of my age and country; one who has tried, and knows by his own experience how hard an undertaking it is, to do justice to Homer; and one who (I am sure) sincerely rejoices with me at the period of my labours. To him, therefore, having brought this long work to a conclusion, I desire to dedicate it; and to have the honour and satisfaction of placing together, in this manner, the names of Mr. CONGREVE, and of

March 25, 1720.

A. POPE.

THE remarkable success which met the translation of The Iliad, encouraged Pope to attempt The Odyssey. He had already made some experiment at translating certain fragments, which had been published in one of Lintot's Miscellanies in 1714. His experience with The Iliad had, however, left him no strong inclination for the drudgery of translation. He therefore enlisted the services of two friends, Fenton and Broome. Eventually he himself translated only the third, fifth, seventh, ninth, thirteenth, fourteenth, seventeenth, twentyfirst, twenty-second, and twenty-fourth books, and most of the tenth and the fifteenth. Pope

BOOK III

THE INTERVIEW OF TELEMACHUS AND NESTOR

THE ARGUMENT

was slow in admitting publicly the extent of his indebtedness to his collaborators, but it has long been known that Fenton translated the first, fourth, nineteenth, and twentieth books, and Broome the rest. Fenton's manuscript has been preserved in the British Museum and shows few alterations in Pope's hand. Broome's work is said to have needed much more careful revision, but there is no direct evidence in the matter. Broome supplied all the notes. With the exception of the hardly distinguishable portions of the tenth and fifteenth books which he accredited to his helpers, only Pope's own work is included here.

suitors. Nestor advises him to go to Sparta, and inquire further of Menelaus. The sacrifice ending with the night, Minerva vanishes from them in the form of an eagle: Telemachus is lodged in the palace. The next morning they sacrifice a bullock to Minerva; and Telemachus proceeds on his journey to Sparta, attended by Pisistratus. The scene lies on the sea-shore of Pylos.

Thro' Heav'n's eternal brazen portals blazed; THE sacred Sun, above the waters rais'd, And wide o'er earth diffused his cheering ray,

Now on the coast of Pyle the vessel falls,
Before old Neleus' venerable walls.
There, suppliant to the Monarch of the
Flood,

At nine green theatres the Pylians stood.
Each held five hundred (a deputed train),
At each, nine oxen on the sand lay slain. 10
They taste the entrails, and the altars load
With smoking thighs, an off'ring to the
God.

Full for the port the Ithacensians stand,
And furl their sails, and issue on the land.
Telemachus already press'd the shore;
Not first; the Power of Wisdom march'd
before,

And, ere the sacrificing throng he join'd, Admonish'd thus his well-attending mind: Proceed, my son! this youthful shame expel;

6

20

An honest business never blush to tell. To learn what Fates thy wretched sire detain,

We pass'd the wide immeasurable main. Meet then the senior far renown'd for sense,

With rev'rend awe, but decent confidence: Urge him with truth to frame his fair replies;

And sure he will: for Wisdom never lies.' 'O tell me, Mentor! tell me, faithful guide'

(The youth with prudent modesty replied), How shall I meet, or how accost the sage, Unskill'd in speech, nor yet mature of

For all mankind alike require their grace, All born to want; a miserable race!"

He spake, and to her hand preferr'd the
bowl:

A secret pleasure touch'd Athena's sonl,
To see the pref'rence due to sacred age
Regarded ever by the just and sage.
Of Ocean's King she then implores the
grace:

O thou! whose arms this ample globe embrace,

Fulfil our wish, and let thy glory shine 70 On Nestor first, and Nestor's royal line; Next grant the Pylian states their just desires,

Pleas'd with their hecatomb's ascending fires;

Last, deign Telemachus and me to bless, And crown our voyage with desired success.'

Thus she: and, having paid the rite divine,

Gave to Ulysses' son the rosy wine. Suppliant he pray'd. And now, the victims dress'd,

They draw, divide, and celebrate the feast.