Deep o’er his knee inseam’d remain’d the scar;
Which noted token of the woodland war
When Euryclea found, the ablution ceased: 
Down dropp’d the leg, from her slack hand released;
The mingled fluids from the base redound;
The vase reclining floats the floor around! 
Smiles dew’d with tears the pleasing strife express’d
Of grief and joy, alternate in her breast. 
Her fluttering words in melting murmurs died;
At length abrupt—­“My son!—­my king!”—­she cried. 
His neck with fond embrace infolding fast,
Full on the queen her raptured eye she cast
Ardent to speak the monarch safe restored: 
But, studious to conceal her royal lord,
Minerva fix’d her mind on views remote,
And from the present bliss abstracts her thought. 
His hand to Euryclea’s mouth applied,
“Art thou foredoom’d my pest? (the hero cried:)
Thy milky founts my infant lips have drain’d;
And have the Fates thy babbling age ordain’d
To violate the life thy youth sustain’d? 
An exile have I told, with weeping eyes,
Full twenty annual suns in distant skies;
At length return’d, some god inspires thy breast
To know thy king, and here I stand confess’d. 
This heaven-discover’d truth to thee consign’d,
Reserve the treasure of thy inmost mind: 
Else, if the gods my vengeful arm sustain,
And prostrate to my sword the suitor-train;
With their lewd mates, thy undistinguish’d age
Shall bleed a victim to vindictive rage.”

Then thus rejoin’d the dame, devoid of fear: 
“What words, my son, have passed thy lips severe? 
Deep in my soul the trust shall lodge secured;
With ribs of steel, and marble heart, immured. 
When Heaven, auspicious to thy right avow’d,
Shall prostrate to thy sword the suitor-crowd,
The deeds I’ll blazon of the menial fair;
The lewd to death devote, the virtuous spare.”

“Thy aid avails me not (the chief replied);
My own experience shall their doom decide: 
A witness-judge precludes a long appeal: 
Suffice it then thy monarch to conceal.”

He said:  obsequious, with redoubled pace,
She to the fount conveys the exhausted vase: 
The bath renew’d, she ends the pleasing toil
With plenteous unction of ambrosial oil. 
Adjusting to his limbs the tatter’d vest,
His former seat received the stranger guest;
Whom thus with pensive air the queen addressed: 

“Though night, dissolving grief in grateful ease,
Your drooping eyes with soft impression seize;
Awhile, reluctant to her pleasing force,
Suspend the restful hour with sweet discourse. 
The day (ne’er brighten’d with a beam of joy!)
My menials, and domestic cares employ;
And, unattended by sincere repose,
The night assists my ever-wakeful woes;
When nature’s hush’d beneath her brooding shade,
My echoing griefs the starry vault invade. 
As when the months are clad in flowery green,