CALYPSO,
was one of the Nymphs, the Daughter of Oceanus and Tethys: She reigned in the Isle of Ogygia, where she entertain'd Ʋlysses kindly, when he was cast upon it by a Storm. They lived together for Seven Years in great Privacy: But Ʋlysses at last forsook it, and pre∣ferred his own Country and his dear Penelopy to his new Mistress.
Lucian in L. 2. of his true History says,
That as he was going out of the Isle of the Blessed, Ʋlysses took him aside and gave him a Letter to Calypso, without the Knowledge of his Wife, and that he arriving within Three Days after in the Isle of Ogygia, broke open this Letter for fear lest this crafty Knare should put so me Trick upon him, and he found written in it what follows: I should not have left you be∣fore, but that I inffer'd Shipwrack, and hardly escaped by the Help of Leucotheus in the Coun∣try of the Phaeaces. When I returned home, I found my Wife courted by a sort of People who consumed my Goods; and after they were killed, I was assassinated by Telemachus whom I had by Circe. At present I am in the Isle of the Blessed, where I remember with Grief the Pleasures we enjoy'd together, and wish that I had always continued with you, and had accepted the Offer you made me of Im∣mortality. If I can therefore make an Escape, you may rest assured that you shall see me again. Farewel.He delivered this Letter to Calypso, whom he found in a Grotto, such as Homer de∣scribes, where she was working Hangings with Figures in them.