mandate I reveal, and hasten hence, With all our fleet, to our beloved homes; For Troy with her broad streets we cannot take.”
He spake, and in the bosoms of the crowd Stirred every heart; even those who heard him not Were moved: the assembly wavered to and fro Like the long billows of the Icarian Sea, Roused by the East wind and the South, that rush Forth from the cloudy seat of Father Jove; Or like the harvest-field, when west winds stoop Suddenly from above, and toss the wheat. So was the whole assembly swayed; they ran With tumult to the ships; beneath their feet Rose clouds of dust, and each exhorted each To seize the ships and drag them to the deep. They cleared the channels mid the clamorous cries Of multitudes, who hastened to return, And drew the props from underneath their barques.
Then had the Greeks returned before their time If Juno had not to Minerva said:—
“Unconquerable child of Jove! What change Is this? Shall then the Argive army thus Flee to their homes across the deep and leave Glory to Priam, and to Ilium’s sons The Argive Helen, for whose sake have died So many Greeks upon the Trojan strand, Far from the land they loved? But hasten thou To the host of Argive warriors mailed in brass, And with persuasive words restrain their men. Nor let them launch their barques upon the sea.”
She spake; nor did the blue-eyed Pallas fail To heed the mandate, but with quick descent She left the Olympian height and suddenly Stood by the swift ships of the Grecian host. She found Ulysses there, the man endowed With wisdom like to Jove’s; he had not touched His well-appointed barque, for grief had seized The hero’s heart. The blue-eyed goddess took Her place beside him, and addressed him thus:—
“Son of Laertes, nobly born and sage Ulysses, will ye, entering your good ships, Return in flight to your own land and leave Glory to Priam, and to