He number'd us, suspicion none of fraud Conceiving, then couch'd also. We, at once, Loud-shouting flew on him, and in our arms Constrain'd him fast; nor the sea-prophet old Call'd not incontinent his shifts to mind. First he became a long-maned lion grim, Then dragon, panther then, a savage boar, A limpid stream, and an o'ershadowing tree. We persevering held him, till at length The Antient of the Deep, skill'd as he is 560 In wiles, yet weary, question'd me, and said. Oh Atreus' son, by what confed'rate God Instructed liest thou in wait for me, To seize and hold me? what is thy desire? So He; to whom thus answer I return'd. Old Seer! thou know'st; why, fraudful, should'st thou ask? It is because I have been prison'd long Within this isle, whence I have sought in vain Deliv'rance, till my wonted courage fails. Yet say (for the Immortals all things know) 570 What God detains me, and my course forbids Hence to my country o'er the fishy Deep? So I; when thus the old one of the waves. But thy plain duty[16] was to have adored Jove, first, in sacrifice, and all the Gods, That then embarking, by propitious gales Impell'd, thou might'st have reach'd thy country soon. For thou art doom'd ne'er to behold again Thy friends, thy palace, or thy native shores, Till thou have seen once more the hallow'd flood 580 Of Ægypt, and with hecatombs adored Devout, the deathless tenants of the skies. Then will they speed thee whither thou desir'st. He ended, and my heart broke at his words, Which bade me pass again the gloomy gulph To Ægypt; tedious course, and hard to atchieve! Yet, though in sorrow whelm'd, I thus replied. Old prophet! I will all thy will perform. But tell me, and the truth simply reveal; Have the Achaians with their ships arrived 590 All safe, whom Nestor left and I, at Troy? Or of the Chiefs have any in their barks, Or in their followers' arms found a dire death Unlook'd for, since that city's siege we closed? I spake, when answer thus the God return'd. Atrides, why these questions? Need is none That thou should'st all my secrets learn, which once Reveal'd, thou would'st not long dry-eyed remain. Of those no few have died, and many live; But leaders, two alone, in their return 600 Have died (thou also hast had war to wage) And one, still living, roams the boundless sea. Ajax,[17] surrounded by his galleys, died. Him Neptune, first, against the bulky rocks The Gyræ drove, but saved him from the Deep; Nor had he perish'd, hated as he was By Pallas, but for his own impious boast In frenzy utter'd that he would escape The billows, even in the Gods' despight.