LV.
“‘Oh Paris, what is power? Tantalus
And Sisyphus were kings long time ago,
But now they lie in the Lake Dolorous,
The hills of hell are noisy with their woe;
Ay, swift the tides of Empire ebb and flow,
And that is quickly lost was hardly won,
As Ilios herself o’erwell did know
When high walls help’d not King Laomedon.
LVI.
“‘And what are strength and courage? for the child
Of mighty Zeus, the strong man Herakles,
Knew many days and evil, ere men piled
The pyre in Oeta, where he got his ease
In death, where all the ills of brave men cease.
Nay, Love I proffer thee; beyond the brine
Of all the currents of the Western seas,
The fairest woman in the world is thine!’
LVII.
“She spake, and touched the prize, and all grew dim
I heard no voice of anger’d Deity,
But round me did the night air swoon and swim,
And, when I waken’d, lo! the sun was high,
And in that place accursed did I lie,
Where Agelaus found the naked child;
Then with swift foot I did arise and fly
Forth from the deeps of that enchanted wild.
LVIII.
“And down I sped to Ilios, down the dell
Where, years agone, the white bull guided me,
And through green boughs beheld where foam’d and fell
The merry waters of the Western sea;
Of Love the sweet birds sang from sky and tree,
And swift I reach’d the haven and the shore,
And call’d my mariners, and follow’d free
Where Love might lead across the waters hoar.
LIX.
“Three days with fair winds ran we, then we drave
Before the North that made the long waves swell
Round Malea; but hardly from the wave
We ’scaped at Pylos, Nestor’s citadel;
And there the son of Neleus loved us well,
And brought us to the high prince, Diocles,
Who led us hither, and it thus befell
That here, below thy roof, we sit at ease.”