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ut sacred night Beheld them not upon the Ilian shore; Nay, for about the waning of the light Their swift ships wander'd on the waters hoar, Nor stay'd they the Olympians to adore, So eagerly they left that cursed land, But many a toil, and tempests great and sore, Befell them ere they won the Argive strand. XLIX. To Cyprus and Phoenicia wandering They came, and many a ship, and many a man They lost, and perish'd many a precious thing While bare before the stormy North they ran, And further far than when their quest began From Argos did they seem,--a weary while,-- Becalm'd in sultry seas Egyptian, A long day's voyage from the mouths of Nile. L. But there the Gods had pity on them, and there The ancient Proteus taught them how to flee From that so distant deep,--the fowls of air Scarce in one year can measure out that sea; Yet first within Aegyptus must they be, And hecatombs must offer,--quickly then The Gods abated of their jealousy, Wherewith they scourge the negligence of men. LI. And strong and fair the south wind blew, and fleet Their voyaging, so merrily they fled To win that haven where the waters sweet Of clear Eurotas with the brine are wed, And swift their chariots and their horses sped To pleasant Lacedaemon, lying low Grey in the shade of sunset, but the head Of tall Taygetus like fire did glow. LII. And what but this is sweet: at last to win The fields of home, that change not while we change; To hear the birds their ancient song begin; To wander by the well-loved streams that range Where not one pool, one moss-clad stone is strange, Nor seem we older than long years ago, Though now beneath the grey roof of the grange The children dwell of them we used to know? LIII. Came there no trouble in the later days To mar the life of Helen, when the old Crowns and dominions perish'd, and the blaze Lit by returning Heraclidae roll'd Through every vale and every happy fold Of all the Argive land? Nay, peacefully Did Menelaus and the Queen behold The counted years of mortal life go by. LIV. "Death ends all tales," but this he endeth not; They grew not grey within the valley fair Of hollow Lacedaemon, but were brought To Rhadamanthus of the golden hair, Beyond the wide world's end; ah never there Comes storm nor snow; all grief is left behind, And men immortal, in enchanted air, Breathe th
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