E'er

"Nor in my madness kept my purpose low, / but vowed, if e'er should happier chance invite, / and bring me home a conqueror, even so / my comrade's death with vengeance to requite. / My words aroused his wrath; thence evil's earliest blight. / Thenceforth Ulysses sought with slanderous tongue / to daunt me, scattering in the people's ear / dark hints, and looked for partners of his wrong; / nor rested, till with Calchas' aid, the seer..."

"What, I to leave thee helpless, and to flee? / O father! could'st thou fancy it? Could e'er / a parent speak of such a crime to me?"

But gladly sire Anchises hails the sign, / and gazing upward through the starlit air, / his hands and voice together lifts in prayer: / "O Jove omnipotent, dread power benign, / if aught our piety deserve, if e'er / a suppliant move thee, hearken and incline / this once, and aid us now and ratify thy sign."

“… No rogue e’er felt the halter draw, with a good opinion of the law, and perhaps my own detestation of the law arises from my having frequently broken it. […]”