The Death of Palinurus
THE DEATH OF PALINURUS .
Over the heart of the gentle chief joy banishing fear
Steals in its turn; and swiftly he bids his mariners rear
Every mast, stretch every sail on the sail-yards wide.
All, in accord and together, the ropes make fast to the side;
Now on the right hand, now on the left, they loosen the sheet,
Vary the points of the sail. Fair winds waft onward the fleet.
Foremost rides Palinurus; in front of the squadron he speeds;
Others behind him are bidden to steer their course as he leads.
Near to the slope of the furthest heavens, night dank with the dew
Reached already, in peaceful slumber the limbs of the crew
Gently reposed, each laid on the rude oak bench by his oar;
When Sleep, lightly descending from heaven's star-glistening floor,
Parted the darksome air, and dispelled night's shadows, in quest,
Brave Palinurus, of thee. Dire dreams for thine innocent breast
Bore the immortal god, as he sate on the poop of the ship,
Phorbas in outward shape, these words on his heavenly lip:
" Iasus-born Palinurus, the sea takes onward the fleet;
Airs breathe evenly; lo! 't is an hour when slumber were sweet.
Rest those brows, let wearied eyes play truant to toil;
I for a little will ply thy task and be pilot awhile. "
Hardly uplifting his glance, Palinurus answered and spake
" Is it the old Palinurus thy lips bid thus to mistake
Look of a tranquil water, of billows seeming to sleep?
Me, Palinurus, to rest on the faith of the monster deep?
What, trust Troy's Æneas to breezes treacherous, I,
Duped so oft by the treason of clear and unclouded sky? "
Even as he spake, to the tiller he still clung closely, his hand
Never relaxing, the stars with his eye still steadily scanned.
Lo! the immortal god waves over his temples a spray
Steeped in a Stygian charm and in Lethe's dews by the way,
Closes, despite his endeavours, the mariner's swimming eyes.
Soon as his limbs were slackening in slumber's early surprise
Stooping, he hurled him below to the shining seas, in his fall
Trailing shattered planks from the stern and the rudder withal,
Headlong driven, and invoking his comrades vainly and oft.
Then to the viewless breezes the god sailed lightly aloft.
Not less safely and swiftly the fleet rides over the wave,
Travels bold and secure in the promise that Neptune gave.
Nearly at last to the cliffs of the Sirens now it was blown,
Dangerous once, still whitened with many a mariner's bone.
Hollow with thunder of surge everlasting the great rocks sound.
Then, perceiving the roll of his vessel, her helmsman drowned,
Troy's chief helmed her himself through the midnight waves and the gloom,
Groaning aloud, sore stricken with grief for his follower's doom,
" Ah! too readily trusting to calm of waters and sky,
Thine upon sands unknown, Palinurus, naked to lie! "
Over the heart of the gentle chief joy banishing fear
Steals in its turn; and swiftly he bids his mariners rear
Every mast, stretch every sail on the sail-yards wide.
All, in accord and together, the ropes make fast to the side;
Now on the right hand, now on the left, they loosen the sheet,
Vary the points of the sail. Fair winds waft onward the fleet.
Foremost rides Palinurus; in front of the squadron he speeds;
Others behind him are bidden to steer their course as he leads.
Near to the slope of the furthest heavens, night dank with the dew
Reached already, in peaceful slumber the limbs of the crew
Gently reposed, each laid on the rude oak bench by his oar;
When Sleep, lightly descending from heaven's star-glistening floor,
Parted the darksome air, and dispelled night's shadows, in quest,
Brave Palinurus, of thee. Dire dreams for thine innocent breast
Bore the immortal god, as he sate on the poop of the ship,
Phorbas in outward shape, these words on his heavenly lip:
" Iasus-born Palinurus, the sea takes onward the fleet;
Airs breathe evenly; lo! 't is an hour when slumber were sweet.
Rest those brows, let wearied eyes play truant to toil;
I for a little will ply thy task and be pilot awhile. "
Hardly uplifting his glance, Palinurus answered and spake
" Is it the old Palinurus thy lips bid thus to mistake
Look of a tranquil water, of billows seeming to sleep?
Me, Palinurus, to rest on the faith of the monster deep?
What, trust Troy's Æneas to breezes treacherous, I,
Duped so oft by the treason of clear and unclouded sky? "
Even as he spake, to the tiller he still clung closely, his hand
Never relaxing, the stars with his eye still steadily scanned.
Lo! the immortal god waves over his temples a spray
Steeped in a Stygian charm and in Lethe's dews by the way,
Closes, despite his endeavours, the mariner's swimming eyes.
Soon as his limbs were slackening in slumber's early surprise
Stooping, he hurled him below to the shining seas, in his fall
Trailing shattered planks from the stern and the rudder withal,
Headlong driven, and invoking his comrades vainly and oft.
Then to the viewless breezes the god sailed lightly aloft.
Not less safely and swiftly the fleet rides over the wave,
Travels bold and secure in the promise that Neptune gave.
Nearly at last to the cliffs of the Sirens now it was blown,
Dangerous once, still whitened with many a mariner's bone.
Hollow with thunder of surge everlasting the great rocks sound.
Then, perceiving the roll of his vessel, her helmsman drowned,
Troy's chief helmed her himself through the midnight waves and the gloom,
Groaning aloud, sore stricken with grief for his follower's doom,
" Ah! too readily trusting to calm of waters and sky,
Thine upon sands unknown, Palinurus, naked to lie! "
Translation:
Language:
Reviews
No reviews yet.