Where have been Thy wand'rings? in what regions of the earth Hast thou arrived? what nations hast thou seen, What cities? say, how many hast thou found Harsh, savage and unjust? how many, kind To strangers, and disposed to fear the Gods? Say also, from what secret grief of heart Thy sorrows flow, oft as thou hear'st the fate Of the Achaians, or of Ilium sung? That fate the Gods prepared; they spin the thread 710 Of man's destruction, that in after days The bard may make the sad event his theme. Perish'd thy father or thy brother there? Or hast thou at the siege of Ilium lost Father-in-law, or son-in-law? for such Are next and dearest to us after those Who share our own descent; or was the dead Thy bosom-friend, whose heart was as thy own? For worthy as a brother of our love The constant friend and the discrete I deem. 720 FOOTNOTES: [27] Agamemnon having inquired at Delphos, at what time the Trojan war would end, was answered that the conclusion of it should happen at a time when a dispute should arise between two of his principal commanders. That dispute occurred at the time here alluded to, Achilles recommending force as most likely to reduce the city, and Ulysses stratagem. [28] Τοισι δ' απο νυσοης τετατο δρομος--This expression is by the commentators generally understood to be significant of the effort which they made at starting, but it is not improbable that it relates merely to the measurement of the course, otherwise, καρπαλιμως επετοντο will be tautologous. [29] In boxing. [30] The Translator is indebted to Mr Grey for an epithet more expressive of the original (Μαρμαρυγας) than any other, perhaps, in all our language. See the Ode on the Progress of Poetry. "To brisk notes in cadence beating, Glance their _many-twinkling_ feet" [31] The original line has received such a variety of interpretations, that a Translator seems free to choose. It has, however, a proverbial turn, which I have endeavoured to preserve, and have adopted the sense of the words which appears best to accord with what immediately follows. Vulcan pleads his own inability to enforce the demand, as a circumstance that made Neptune's promise unacceptable. BOOK IX ARGUMENT Ulysses discovers himself to the Phæacians, and begins the history of his adventures. He destroys Ismarus, city of the Ciconians; arrives among the Lotophagi; and afterwards at the land of the Cyclops. He is imprisoned by Polypheme in his cave, who devours six of his companions; intoxicates the monster with wine, blinds him while he sleeps, and escapes from him.