Now came the night, and darkness cover’d o’er
The face of things; the winds began to roar;
The driving storm the watery west-wind pours,
And Jove descends in deluges of showers. 
Studious of rest and warmth, Ulysses lies,
Foreseeing from the first the storm would rise
In mere necessity of coat and cloak,
With artful preface to his host he spoke: 
“Hear me, my friends! who this good banquet grace;
’Tis sweet to play the fool in time and place,
And wine can of their wits the wise beguile,
Make the sage frolic, and the serious smile,
The grave in merry measures frisk about,
And many a long-repented word bring out. 
Since to be talkative I now commence,
Let wit cast off the sullen yoke of sense. 
Once I was strong (would Heaven restore those days!)
And with my betters claim’d a share of praise. 
Ulysses, Menelaus, led forth a band,
And join’d me with them (’twas their own command);
A deathful ambush for the foe to lay,
Beneath Troy walls by night we took our way: 
There, clad in arms, along the marshes spread,
We made the osier-fringed bank our bed. 
Full soon the inclemency of heaven I feel,
Nor had these shoulders covering, but of steel. 
Sharp blew the north; snow whitening all the fields
Froze with the blast, and gathering glazed our shields. 
There all but I, well fenced with cloak and vest,
Lay cover’d by their ample shields at rest. 
Fool that I was!  I left behind my own,
The skill of weather and of winds unknown,
And trusted to my coat and shield alone! 
When now was wasted more than half the night,
And the stars faded at approaching light,
Sudden I jogg’d Ulysses, who was laid
Fast by my side, and shivering thus I said: 

“’Here longer in this field I cannot lie;
The winter pinches, and with cold I die,
And die ashamed (O wisest of mankind),
The only fool who left his cloak behind.’

“He thought and answer’d:  hardly waking yet,
Sprung in his mind a momentary wit
(That wit, which or in council or in fight,
Still met the emergence, and determined right). 
’Hush thee (he cried, soft whispering in my ear),
Speak not a word, lest any Greek may hear’—­
And then (supporting on his arm his head),
’Hear me, companions! (thus aloud he said:)
Methinks too distant from the fleet we lie: 
E’en now a vision stood before my eye,
And sure the warning vision was from high: 
Let from among us some swift courier rise,
Haste to the general, and demand supplies.’

“Up started Thoas straight, Andraemon’s son,
Nimbly he rose, and cast his garment down! 
Instant, the racer vanish’d off the ground;
That instant in his cloak I wrapp’d me round: 
And safe I slept, till brightly-dawning shone
The morn conspicuous on her golden throne.

“Oh were my strength as then, as then my age! 
Some friend would fence me from the winter’s rage. 
Yet, tatter’d as I look, I challenged then
The honours and the offices of men: 
Some master, or some servant would allow
A cloak and vest—­but I am nothing now!”