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THE ODYSSEY.

well both of gods and men. It is agreed to send Mercury, the messenger of the Immortals, to the island where Calypso holds Ulysses captive in her toils, to announce to him that the day of his return draws near. Minerva herself, meanwhile, will go to Ithaca, and put strength into the heart of his son Telemachus, that he may rid his house of this hateful brood of revellers, and set forth to make search for his father. The passage in which the poet describes her visit is a fine one, and it has been finely rendered by Mr Worsley:—

"So ending, underneath her feet she bound Her faery sandals of ambrosial gold, Which o'er the waters and the solid ground Swifter than wind have borne her from of old; Then on the iron-pointed spear laid hold, Heavy and tall, wherewith she smites the brood Of heroes till her anger waxes cold; Then from Olympus swept in eager mood, And with the island-people in the court she stood
"Fast by the threshold of the outer gate Of brave Odysseus: in her hand she boreThe iron-pointed spear, heavy and great,And, waiting as a guest-friend at the door,Of Mentes, Taphian chief, the likeness wore; There found the suitors, who beguiled with play The hours, and sat the palace-gates beforeOn hides of oxen which themselves did slay—Haughty of mien they sat, and girt with proud array."

As the young prince sits thus, an unwilling host in his father's hall, meditating, says the poet, whether or no some day that father may return suddenly and take vengeance on these invaders of his rights, against whom he himself seems powerless, he lifts his eyes

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