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To Pelasgian Iolkos send him, when boyhood and manhood be met,

To my father and mother, to solace their grief,—if living yet

Haply he find them,—that so, in the stead of the prince their son,

They may win in their halls a dear one, to brighten the hearth left lone.’

He spake, and was gone; and afront of his fellows he strode to the ship,{910}

And the rest of the chiefs followed on, and the oars in their hands did they grip,

Row upon row as they sat; and the hawsers did Argus cast

Loose from the rock brine-lashed; and mightily then and fast

Fell they to smiting with oars long-bladed the seething wave.

And at even by Orpheus’ counsel the keel ashore they drave

On the isle of Elektra the daughter of Atlas, that there they might learn

The mystic rites whose unveiling is not soul-daunting nor stern,

And safelier so might voyage over the chill grey sea:—

No more will I speak of the Hidden Things—but a blessing be

Upon that same isle, and the Gods there dwelling, to whom belong{920}

Those rites whereof it is not vouchsafed that we tell in song.