Page:Homer. The Odyssey (IA homerodyssey00collrich).pdf/54

This page has been validated.
44
THE ODYSSEY.

He at once despatches Mercury to the island of Calypso, to announce to her that Ulysses must be released from her toils; such is his sovereign will, and it must be obeyed. The description of the island-grotto in which Calypso dwells is one of the most beautiful in Homer, and it is a passage upon which our English translators have delighted to employ their very best powers. Perhaps Leigh Hunt's version is the most simply beautiful, and as faithful as any. Mercury has sped on his errand;—

"And now arriving at the isle, he springsOblique, and landing with subsided wings,Walks to the cavern 'mid the tall green rocks,Where dwelt the goddess with the lovely locks.He paused; and there came on him, as he stood,A smell of cedar and of citron wood,That threw a perfume all about the isle;And she within sat spinning all the while,And sang a low sweet song that made him hark and smile.A sylvan nook it was, grown round with trees,Poplars, and elms, and odorous cypresses,In which all birds of ample wing, the owlAnd hawk, had nests, and broad-tongued waterfowl.The cave in front was spread with a green vine,Whose dark round bunches almost burst with wine;And from four springs, running a sprightly race,Four fountains clear and crisp refreshed the place;While all about a meadowy ground was seen,Of violets mingling with the parsley green."

Calypso recognises the messenger, for the immortals, says the poet, know each other always. Mercury tells his errand—a bitter one for the nymph to hear, for she has set her heart upon her mortal lover. Very hard and envious, she says, is the Olympian tyrant, to grudge her this harmless fancy. [She must have thought in her heart, though the poet does not put

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.