s: And up the champaign thunder from the shore:


s: Thick, where they drive, the dusty clouds arise,


s: And the lost courser in the whirlwind flies;


s: Loose on their shoulders the long manes reclined,


s: Float in their speed, and dance upon the wind:


s: The smoking chariots, rapid as they bound,


s: Now seem to touch the sky, and now the ground.


s: While hot for fame, and conquest all their care,


s: (Each o’er his flying courser hung in air,)


s: Erect with ardour, poised upon the rein,


s: They pant, they stretch, they shout along the plain.


s: Now (the last compass fetch’d around the goal)


s: At the near prize each gathers all his soul,


s: Each burns with double hope, with double pain,


s: Tears up the shore, and thunders toward the main.


s: With those of Tros bold Diomed succeeds:


s: Close on Eumelus’ back they puff the wind,


s: And seem just mounting on his car behind;


s: Full on his neck he feels the sultry breeze,


s: And, hovering o’er, their stretching shadows sees.


s: Then had he lost, or left a doubtful prize;


s: Strikes from his hand the scourge, and renders vain


s: His matchless horses’ labour on the plain.


s: Rage fills his eye with anguish, to survey


s: Snatch’d from his hope the glories of the day.


s: The fraud celestial Pallas sees with pain,


s: Springs to her knight, and gives the scourge again,


s: And fills his steeds with vigour. At a stroke


s: She breaks his rival’s chariot from the yoke:


s: No more their way the startled horses held;


s: The car reversed came rattling on the field;


s: Shot headlong from his seat, beside the wheel,


s: Prone on the dust the unhappy master fell;


s: His batter’d face and elbows strike the ground;


s: Nose, mouth, and front, one undistinguish’d wound:


s: Grief stops his voice, a torrent drowns his eyes:


s: Minerva’s spirit drives his matchless pace,


s: And crowns him victor of the labour’d race.


s: The next, though distant, Menelaus succeeds;


s: While thus young Nestor animates his steeds:


s: "Now, now, my generous pair, exert your force;


s: Not that we hope to match Tydides’ horse,


s: Since great Minerva wings their rapid way,


s: And gives their lord the honours of the day;


s: Your swiftness? vanquish’d by a female foe?


s: Through your neglect, if lagging on the plain


s: No more shall Nestor’s hand your food supply,


s: Haste then: yon narrow road, before our sight,


s: Presents the occasion, could we use it right."


s: Thus he. The coursers at their master’s threat


s: With quicker steps the sounding champaign beat.


s: ’Twas where, by force of wintry torrents torn,


s: Here, where but one could pass, to shun the throng


s: The Spartan hero’s chariot smoked along.


s: Close up the venturous youth resolves to keep,


s: Still edging near, and bears him toward the steep.


s: Atrides, trembling, casts his eye below,


s: "Hold, stay your steeds—What madness thus to ride


s: This narrow way! take larger field (he cried),


s: Or both must fall."—Atrides cried in vain;


s: He flies more fast, and throws up all the rein.


s: When youthful rivals their full force extend,


s: Before the king: he, cautious, backward drew


s: His horse compell’d; foreboding in his fears


s: The floundering coursers rolling on the plain,


s: And conquest lost through frantic haste to gain.


s: But thus upbraids his rival as he flies:


s: "Go, furious youth! ungenerous and unwise!


s: Go, but expect not I’ll the prize resign;


s: Add perjury to fraud, and make it thine—"


s: Then to his steeds with all his force he cries,


s: "Be swift, be vigorous, and regain the prize!


s: Your rivals, destitute of youthful force,


s: With fainting knees shall labour in the course,


s: And yield the glory yours."—The steeds obey;


s: Already at their heels they wing their way,


s: The coursers bounding o’er the dusty field.


s: The first who mark’d them was the Cretan king;


s: High on a rising ground, above the ring,


s: The monarch sat: from whence with sure survey


s: He well observed the chief who led the way,


s: And saw the foremost steed with sharpen’d eyes;


s: On whose broad front a blaze of shining white,


s: Like the full moon, stood obvious to the sight.


s: He saw; and rising, to the Greeks begun:


s: "Are yonder horse discern’d by me alone?


s: And other steeds than lately led the way?


s: Those, though the swiftest, by some god withheld,


s: For, since the goal they doubled, round the plain


s: I search to find them, but I search in vain.


s: Perchance the reins forsook the driver’s hand,


s: And, turn’d too short, he tumbled on the strand,


s: Shot from the chariot; while his coursers stray


s: With frantic fury from the destined way.


s: Rise then some other, and inform my sight,


s: For these dim eyes, perhaps, discern not right;


s: Yet sure he seems, to judge by shape and air,


s: The great Ætolian chief, renown’d in war."


s: Thy tongue too hastily confers the prize;


s: Of those who view the course, nor sharpest eyed,


s: Nor youngest, yet the readiest to decide.


s: Eumelus’ steeds, high bounding in the chase,


s: Still, as at first, unrivall’d lead the race:


s: I well discern him, as he shakes the rein,


s: And hear his shouts victorious o’er the plain."


s: "Barbarous of words! and arrogant of mind!


s: Contentious prince, of all the Greeks beside


s: The last in merit, as the first in pride!


s: To vile reproach what answer can we make?


s: And be the king the judge. The most unwise


s: Will learn their rashness, when they pay the price."


s: He said: and Ajax, by mad passion borne,


s: Stern had replied; fierce scorn enhancing scorn


s: To fell extremes. But Thetis’ godlike son


s: "Forbear, ye chiefs! reproachful to contend;


s: Much would ye blame, should others thus offend:


s: And lo! the approaching steeds your contest end."


s: No sooner had he spoke, but thundering near,


s: Drives, through a stream of dust, the charioteer.


s: High o’er his head the circling lash he wields:


s: His bounding horses scarcely touch the fields:


s: His car amidst the dusty whirlwind roll’d,


s: Bright with the mingled blaze of tin and gold,


s: Refulgent through the cloud: no eye could find


s: The track his flying wheels had left behind:


s: And the fierce coursers urged their rapid pace


s: So swift, it seem’d a flight, and not a race.


s: Quits his bright car, and springs upon the sands;


s: From the hot steeds the sweaty torrents stream;


s: The well-plied whip is hung athwart the beam:


s: With joy brave Sthenelus receives the prize,


s: The tripod-vase, and dame with radiant eyes:


s: These to the ships his train triumphant leads,


s: The chief himself unyokes the panting steeds.


s: Young Nestor follows (who by art, not force,


s: O’erpass’d Atrides) second in the course.


s: Behind, Atrides urged the race, more near


s: The following car, just touching with his heel


s: And brushing with his tail the whirling wheel:


s: Such, and so narrow now the space between


s: The rivals, late so distant on the green;


s: So soon swift Æthe her lost ground regain’d,


s: One length, one moment, had the race obtain’d.


s: Merion pursued, at greater distance still,


s: Slow dragged the steeds his batter’d chariot on:


s: "Behold! the man whose matchless art surpass’d


s: The sons of Greece! the ablest, yet the last!


s: (Since great Tydides bears the first away)


s: The Greeks consent with loud-applauding cries,


s: And then Eumelus had received the prize,


s: But youthful Nestor, jealous of his fame,


s: The award opposes, and asserts his claim.


s: "Think not (he cries) I tamely will resign,


s: What if the gods, the skilful to confound,


s: Have thrown the horse and horseman to the ground?


s: Perhaps he sought not heaven by sacrifice,


s: If yet (distinction to thy friend to show,


s: Some gift must grace Eumelus, view thy store


s: Of beauteous handmaids, steeds, and shining ore;


s: An ample present let him thence receive,


s: And Greece shall praise thy generous thirst to give.


s: This, who but touches, warriors! is my foe."


s: Thus spake the youth; nor did his words offend;


s: Pleased with the well-turn’d flattery of a friend,


s: Achilles smiled: "The gift proposed (he cried),


s: With plates of brass the corslet cover’d o’er,


s: Whose glittering margins raised with silver shine,


s: (No vulgar gift,) Eumelus! shall be thine."


s: The corslet brought, and gave it to his hand.


s: Distinguish’d by his friend, his bosom glows


s: The herald placed the sceptre in his hands,


s: And still’d the clamour of the shouting bands.


s: Not without cause incensed at Nestor’s son,


s: "The praise of wisdom, in thy youth obtain’d,


s: An act so rash, Antilochus! has stain’d.


s: To you, O Grecians! be my wrong declared:


s: So not a leader shall our conduct blame,


s: But shall not we, ourselves, the truth maintain?


s: What needs appealing in a fact so plain?


s: What Greek shall blame me, if I bid thee rise,


s: And vindicate by oath th’ ill-gotten prize?


s: Rise if thou darest, before thy chariot stand,


s: The driving scourge high-lifted in thy hand;


s: And touch thy steeds, and swear thy whole intent


s: Swear by that god whose liquid arms surround


s: The globe, and whose dread earthquakes heave the ground!"


s: The prudent chief with calm attention heard;


s: Then mildly thus: "Excuse, if youth have err’d;


s: Superior as thou art, forgive the offence,


s: Thou know’st the errors of unripen’d age,


s: Weak are its counsels, headlong is its rage.


s: The prize I quit, if thou thy wrath resign;


s: The mare, or aught thou ask’st, be freely thine


s: Ere I become (from thy dear friendship torn)


s: Hateful to thee, and to the gods forsworn."


s: The mare contested to the king restored.


s: Joy swells his soul: as when the vernal grain


s: Lifts the green ear above the springing plain,


s: And laugh and glitter with the morning dew;


s: Such joy the Spartan’s shining face o’erspread,


s: And lifted his gay heart, while thus he said:


s: "Still may our souls, O generous youth! agree


s: ’Tis now Atrides’ turn to yield to thee.


s: Rash heat perhaps a moment might control,


s: Not break, the settled temper of thy soul.


s: Not but (my friend) ’tis still the wiser way


s: For ah! how few, who should like thee offend,


s: Like thee, have talents to regain the friend!


s: To plead indulgence, and thy fault atone,


s: Generous alike, for me, the sire and son


s: Have greatly suffer’d, and have greatly done.


s: I yield; that all may know, my soul can bend,


s: Nor is my pride preferr’d before my friend."


s: He said; and pleased his passion to command,


s: Friend of the youthful chief: himself content,


s: The golden talents Merion next obtain’d;


s: The fifth reward, the double bowl, remain’d.


s: And thus the purpose of his gift declares:


s: "Accept thou this, O sacred sire! (he said)


s: For ever snatch’d from our desiring eyes!


s: Take thou this token of a grateful heart,


s: Though ’tis not thine to hurl the distant dart,


s: The quoit to toss, the ponderous mace to wield,


s: Or urge the race, or wrestle on the field:


s: But left the glory of the past thy own."


s: He said, and placed the goblet at his side;


s: "Wisely and well, my son, thy words have proved


s: A senior honour’d, and a friend beloved!


s: Too true it is, deserted of my strength,


s: These wither’d arms and limbs have fail’d at length.


s: Oh! had I now that force I felt of yore,


s: Known through Buprasium and the Pylian shore!


s: Ætolians, Pylians, all resign’d the day.


s: And backward hurl’d Ancaeus on the sand,


s: The sons of Actor won the prize of horse,


s: But won by numbers, not by art or force:


s: For the famed twins, impatient to survey


s: Sprung to their car; and with united pains


s: One lash’d the coursers, while one ruled the reins.


s: Such once I was! Now to these tasks succeeds


s: I yield, alas! (to age who must not yield?)


s: Though once the foremost hero of the field.


s: Go thou, my son! by generous friendship led,


s: While pleased I take the gift thy hands present,


s: (Pledge of benevolence, and kind intent,)


s: Rejoiced, of all the numerous Greeks, to see


s: Those due distinctions thou so well canst pay,


s: Proud of the gift, thus spake the full of days:


s: Achilles heard him, prouder of the praise.


s: The prizes next are order’d to the field,


s: For the bold champions who the caestus wield.


s: A stately mule, as yet by toils unbroke,


s: Of six years’ age, unconscious of the yoke,


s: Next stands a goblet, massy, large, and round.


s: Achilles rising, thus: "Let Greece excite


s: Who dare the foe with lifted arms provoke,


s: And rush beneath the long-descending stroke.


s: And whom the Greeks supreme by conquest know,


s: This mule his dauntless labours shall repay,


s: The vanquish’d bear the massy bowl away."


s: This dreadful combat great Epeus chose;(291)


s: High o’er the crowd, enormous bulk! he rose,


s: And seized the beast, and thus began to say:


s: "Stand forth some man, to bear the bowl away!


s: This mule my right; the undoubted victor I)


s: Others, ’tis own’d, in fields of battle shine,


s: But the first honours of this fight are mine;


s: Draw near, but first his certain fortune know;


s: Secure this hand shall his whole frame confound,


s: Mash all his bones, and all his body pound:


s: So let his friends be nigh, a needful train,


s: To heave the batter’d carcase off the plain."


s: To meet his might, and emulate thy sire,


s: The great Mecistheus; who in days of yore


s: In Theban games the noblest trophy bore,


s: (The games ordain’d dead OEdipus to grace,)


s: Warm with the hopes of conquest for his friend;


s: Officious with the cincture girds him round;


s: And to his wrist the gloves of death are bound.


s: Amid the circle now each champion stands,


s: With clashing gauntlets now they fiercely close,


s: Their crackling jaws re-echo to the blows,


s: And painful sweat from all their members flows.


s: Beneath that ponderous arm’s resistless sway


s: Down dropp’d he, nerveless, and extended lay.


s: As a large fish, when winds and waters roar,


s: By some huge billow dash’d against the shore,


s: Lies panting; not less batter’d with his wound,


s: The bleeding hero pants upon the ground.


s: To rear his fallen foe, the victor lends,


s: Scornful, his hand; and gives him to his friends;


s: Whose arms support him, reeling through the throng,


s: Nodding, his head hangs down his shoulder o’er;


s: His mouth and nostrils pour the clotted gore;(292)


s: Wrapp’d round in mists he lies, and lost to thought;


s: His friends receive the bowl, too dearly bought.


s: The third bold game Achilles next demands,


s: And calls the wrestlers to the level sands:


s: And next, the loser’s spirits to restore,


s: Scarce did the chief the vigorous strife prop


s: Amid the ring each nervous rival stands,


s: Close lock’d above, their heads and arms are mix’d:


s: Below, their planted feet at distance fix’d;


s: Like two strong rafters which the builder forms,


s: Proof to the wintry winds and howling storms,


s: Their tops connected, but at wider space


s: Fix’d on the centre stands their solid base.


s: The humid sweat from every pore descends;


s: Their bones resound with blows: sides, shoulders, thighs


s: Swell to each gripe, and bloody tumours rise.


s: Nor could Ulysses, for his art renown’d,


s: O’erturn the strength of Ajax on the ground;


s: Nor could the strength of Ajax overthrow


s: While the long strife even tired the lookers on,


s: "Or let me lift thee, chief, or lift thou me:


s: Prove we our force, and Jove the rest decree."


s: He said; and, straining, heaved him off the ground


s: With matchless strength; that time Ulysses found


s: The strength to evade, and where the nerves combine


s: His ankle struck: the giant fell supine;


s: Shouts of applause run rattling through the skies.


s: He barely stirr’d him, but he could not raise:


s: His knee lock’d fast, the foe’s attempt denied;


s: And grappling close, they tumbled side by side.


s: Still breathing strife, and unsubdued of soul:


s: When great Achilles thus divides the prize:


s: "Your noble vigour, O my friends, restrain;


s: Nor weary out your generous strength in vain.


s: Now prove that prowess you have proved so well."


s: The hero’s words the willing chiefs obey,


s: From their tired bodies wipe the dust away,


s: And, clothed anew, the following games survey.


s: And now succeed the gifts ordain’d to grace


s: The youths contending in the rapid race:


s: A silver urn that full six measures held,


s: By none in weight or workmanship excell’d:


s: Sidonian artists taught the frame to shine,


s: Whence Tyrian sailors did the prize transport,


s: The glorious gift; and, for Lycaon spared,


s: To brave Patroclus gave the rich reward:


s: Now, the same hero’s funeral rites to grace,


s: It stands the prize of swiftness in the race.


s: A well-fed ox was for the second placed;


s: And half a talent must content the last.


s: "Who hope the palm of swiftness to obtain,


s: Stand forth, and bear these prizes from the plain."


s: The hero said, and starting from his place,


s: Ulysses next; and he whose speed surpass’d


s: His youthful equals, Nestor’s son, the last.


s: Ranged in a line the ready racers stand;


s: Pelides points the barrier with his hand;


s: The next Ulysses, measuring pace with pace;


s: As closely following as the running thread


s: The spindle follows, and displays the charms


s: Of the fair spinster’s breast and moving arms:


s: Graceful in motion thus, his foe he plies,


s: And treads each footstep ere the dust can rise;


s: His glowing breath upon his shoulders plays:


s: The admiring Greeks loud acclamations raise:


s: To him they give their wishes, hearts, and eyes,


s: And send their souls before him as he flies.


s: Now three times turn’d in prospect of the goal,


s: The panting chief to Pallas lifts his soul:


s: "Assist, O goddess!" thus in thought he pray’d!


s: And present at his thought descends the maid.


s: Buoy’d by her heavenly force, he seems to swim,


s: All fierce, and ready now the prize to gain,


s: (O’erturn’d by Pallas), where the slippery shore


s: Was clogg’d with slimy dung and mingled gore.


s: (The self-same place beside Patroclus’ pyre,


s: Where late the slaughter’d victims fed the fire.)


s: Besmear’d with filth, and blotted o’er with clay,


s: The well-fed bull (the second prize) he shared,


s: Then, grasping by the horn the mighty beast,


s: The baffled hero thus the Greeks address’d:


s: She urged her favourite on the rapid way,


s: Thus sourly wail’d he, sputtering dirt and gore;


s: A burst of laughter echoed through the shore.


s: Antilochus, more humorous than the rest,


s: Takes the last prize, and takes it with a jest:


s: "Why with our wiser elders should we strive?


s: The gods still love them, and they always thrive.


s: He to Ulysses, still more aged and wise;


s: That proves the hero born in better days!)


s: Must yet be more than hero, more than man."


s: The effect succeeds the speech. Pelides cries,


s: "Thy artful praise deserves a better prize.


s: Nor Greece in vain shall hear thy friend extoll’d;


s: The youth departs content. The host admire


s: Next these a buckler, spear, and helm, he brings;


s: Cast on the plain, the brazen burden rings:


s: Arms which of late divine Sarpedon wore,


s: And great Patroclus in short triumph bore.


s: "Stand forth the bravest of our host! (he cries)


s: Now grace the lists before our army’s sight,


s: And sheathed in steel, provoke his foe to fight.


s: Who first the jointed armour shall explore,


s: And stain his rival’s mail with issuing gore,


s: (A Thracian blade, distinct with studs of gold,)


s: Shall pay the stroke, and grace the striker’s side:


s: These arms in common let the chiefs divide:


s: For each brave champion, when the combat ends,


s: A sumptuous banquet at our tents attends."


s: Fierce at the word uprose great Tydeus’ son,


s: Clad in refulgent steel, on either hand,


s: The dreadful chiefs amid the circle stand;


s: Louring they meet, tremendous to the sight;


s: Each Argive bosom beats with fierce delight.


s: Opposed in arms not long they idly stood,


s: But thrice they closed, and thrice the charge renew’d.


s: Through the broad shield, but at the corslet stay’d.


s: Not thus the foe: his javelin aim’d above


s: The buckler’s margin, at the neck he drove.


s: But Greece, now trembling for her hero’s life,


s: Bade share the honours, and surcease the strife.


s: Yet still the victor’s due Tydides gains,


s: With him the sword and studded belt remains.


s: Then hurl’d the hero, thundering on the ground,


s: Whose weight and size the circling Greeks admire,


s: Rude from the furnace, and but shaped by fire.


s: And from his whirling arm dismiss in air;


s: For this, he bids those nervous artists vie,


s: That teach the disk to sound along the sky.


s: "Let him, whose might can hurl this bowl, arise;


s: Who farthest hurls it, take it as his prize;


s: Of downs for flocks, and arable for grain,


s: Small stock of iron needs that man provide;


s: His hinds and swains whole years shall be supplied


s: From hence; nor ask the neighbouring city’s aid


s: For ploughshares, wheels, and all the rural trade."


s: Stern Polypoetes stepp’d before the throng,


s: And great Leonteus, more than mortal strong;


s: Whose force with rival forces to oppose,


s: High o’er the wondering crowds the whirling circle flew.


s: And third, the strength of godlike Ajax cast.


s: O’er both their marks it flew; till fiercely flung


s: Far as a swain his whirling sheephook throws,


s: That distant falls among the grazing cows,


s: So past them all the rapid circle flies:


s: His friends, while loud applauses shake the skies,


s: With force conjoin’d heave off the weighty prize.


s: He next invites the twanging bow to bend;


s: And twice ten axes casts amidst the round,


s: Ten double-edged, and ten that singly wound


s: The mast, which late a first-rate galley bore,


s: To the tall top a milk-white dove they tie,


s: The trembling mark at which their arrows fly.


s: "Whose weapon strikes yon fluttering bird, shall bear


s: The single, he whose shaft divides the cord."


s: He said: experienced Merion took the word;


s: And skilful Teucer: in the helm they threw


s: Their lots inscribed, and forth the latter flew.


s: Swift from the string the sounding arrow flies;


s: But flies unbless’d! No grateful sacrifice,


s: No firstling lambs, unheedful! didst thou vow


s: To Phoebus, patron of the shaft and bow.


s: For this, thy well-aim’d arrow turn’d aside,


s: Err’d from the dove, yet cut the cord that tied:


s: Adown the mainmast fell the parted string,


s: And the free bird to heaven displays her wing:


s: Sea, shores, and skies, with loud applause resound,


s: He takes the bow, directs the shaft above,


s: And following with his eye the soaring dove,


s: Implores the god to speed it through the skies,


s: With vows of firstling lambs, and grateful sacrific


s: The dove, in airy circles as she wheels,


s: Amid the clouds the piercing arrow feels;


s: Quite through and through the point its passage found,


s: And at his feet fell bloody to the ground.


s: The wounded bird, ere yet she breathed her last,


s: With flagging wings alighted on the mast,


s: A moment hung, and spread her pinions there,


s: Then sudden dropp’d, and left her life in air.


s: From the pleased crowd new peals of thunder rise,


s: And to the ships brave Merion bears the prize.


s: To close the funeral games, Achilles last


s: With flowers high-wrought, not blacken’d yet by flame.


s: For these he bids the heroes prove their art,


s: Whose dexterous skill directs the flying dart.


s: Here too great Merion hopes the noble prize;


s: Nor here disdain’d the king of men to rise.


s: Rose to the monarch, and respectful said:


s: "Thee first in virtue, as in power supreme,


s: O king of nations! all thy Greeks proclaim;


s: And know thee both their greatest and their best.


s: Take then the prize, but let brave Merion bear


s: This beamy javelin in thy brother’s war."


s: Pleased from the hero’s lips his praise to hear,


s: The king to Merion gives the brazen spear:


s: The glittering charger to Talthybius’ hands.


s: Now from the finish’d games the Grecian band


s: Seek their black ships, and clear the crowded strand,


s: All stretch’d at ease the genial banquet share,


s: And pleasing slumbers quiet all their care.


s: His friend’s dear image present to his mind,


s: Takes his sad couch, more unobserved to weep;


s: Nor tastes the gifts of all-composing sleep.


s: Restless he roll’d around his weary bed,


s: The form so pleasing, and the heart so kind,


s: That youthful vigour, and that manly mind,


s: What toils they shared, what martial works they wrought,


s: What seas they measured, and what fields they fought;


s: All pass’d before him in remembrance dear,


s: Thought follows thought, and tear succeeds to tear.


s: And now supine, now prone, the hero lay,


s: Now shifts his side, impatient for the day:


s: Wide on the lonely beach to vent his woes.


s: Soon as it rose, his furious steeds he join’d!


s: The chariot flies, and Hector trails behind.


s: And thrice, Patroclus! round thy monument


s: Was Hector dragg’d, then hurried to the tent.


s: There sleep at last o’ercomes the hero’s eyes;


s: While foul in dust the unhonour’d carcase lies,


s: For Phoebus watch’d it with superior care,


s: Preserved from gaping wounds and tainting air;


s: Spread o’er the sacred corse his golden shield.


s: All heaven was moved, and Hermes will’d to go


s: By stealth to snatch him from the insulting foe:


s: But Neptune this, and Pallas this denies,


s: And th’ unrelenting empress of the skies,


s: What time young Paris, simple shepherd boy,


s: Won by destructive lust (reward obscene),


s: Their charms rejected for the Cyprian queen.


s: But when the tenth celestial morning broke,


s: "Unpitying powers! how oft each holy fane


s: Has Hector tinged with blood of victims slain?


s: And can ye still his cold remains pursue?


s: Still grudge his body to the Trojans’ view?


s: Is then the dire Achilles all your care?


s: In strength of rage, and impotence of pride;


s: Invades around, and breathes but to destroy!


s: Shame is not of his soul; nor understood,


s: The greatest evil and the greatest good.


s: Heaven dooms each mortal, and its will is done:


s: Awhile they sorrow, then dismiss their care;


s: Fate gives the wound, and man is born to bear.


s: But this insatiate, the commission given


s: By fate exceeds, and tempts the wrath of heaven:


s: Hector’s dead earth, insensible of wrong!


s: Brave though he be, yet by no reason awed,


s: Are doom’d both heroes, (Juno thus replies,)


s: If Thetis’ son must no distinction know,


s: Then hear, ye gods! the patron of the bow.


s: Springs from a goddess by a man’s embrace


s: A man divine, and chosen friend of heaven)


s: To grace those nuptials, from the bright abode


s: Yourselves were present; where this minstrel-god,


s: Well pleased to share the feast, amid the quire


s: Stood proud to hymn, and tune his youthful lyre."


s: Then thus the Thunderer checks the imperial dame:


s: "Let not thy wrath the court of heaven inflame;


s: Their merits, nor their honours, are the same.


s: But mine, and every god’s peculiar grace


s: Hector deserves, of all the Trojan race:


s: Still on our shrines his grateful offerings lay,


s: Howe’er by stealth to snatch the corse away,


s: We will not: Thetis guards it night and day.


s: But haste, and summon to our courts above


s: The azure queen; let her persuasion move


s: The proffer’d ransom, and the corse to leave."


s: Swift as a whirlwind, on the message flies,


s: Between where Samos wide his forests spreads,


s: And rocky Imbrus lifts its pointed heads,


s: Down plunged the maid; (the parted waves resound;)


s: She plunged and instant shot the dark profound.


s: As bearing death in the fallacious bait,


s: From the bent angle sinks the leaden weight;


s: So pass’d the goddess through the closing wave,


s: Where Thetis sorrow’d in her secret cave:


s: There placed amidst her melancholy train


s: (The blue-hair’d sisters of the sacred main)


s: Pensive she sat, revolving fates to come,


s: And wept her godlike son’s approaching doom.


s: Then thus the goddess of the painted bow:


s: ’Tis Jove that calls."—"And why (the dame replies)


s: Calls Jove his Thetis to the hated skies?


s: Howe’er, be heaven’s almighty sire obey’d—"


s: She spake, and veil’d her head in sable shade,


s: Which, flowing long, her graceful person clad;


s: Then through the world of waters they repair


s: The deeps dividing, o’er the coast they rise,


s: And touch with momentary flight the skies.


s: There in the lightning’s blaze the sire they found,


s: And all the gods in shining synod round.


s: Thetis approach’d with anguish in her face,


s: (Minerva rising, gave the mourner place,)


s: Even Juno sought her sorrows to console,


s: And offer’d from her hand the nectar-bowl:


s: "Thou comest, fair Thetis, but with grief o’ercast;


s: Maternal sorrows; long, ah, long to last!


s: Suffice, we know and we partake thy cares;


s: But yield to fate, and hear what Jove declares


s: Nine days are past since all the court above


s: In Hector’s cause have moved the ear of Jove;


s: ’Twas voted, Hermes from his godlike foe


s: By stealth should bear him, but we will’d not so:


s: We will, thy son himself the corse restore,


s: And to his conquest add this glory more.


s: Then hie thee to him, and our mandate bear:


s: Tell him he tempts the wrath of heaven too far;


s: Nor let him more (our anger if he dread)


s: Vent his mad vengeance on the sacred dead;


s: But yield to ransom and the father’s prayer;


s: With gifts to sue; and offer to his hands


s: Whate’er his honour asks, or heart demands."


s: His word the silver-footed queen attends,


s: Arrived, she heard the voice of loud lament,


s: And echoing groans that shook the lofty tent:


s: His friends prepare the victim, and dispose


s: Repast unheeded, while he vents his woes;


s: The goddess seats her by her pensive son,


s: She press’d his hand, and tender thus begun:


s: "How long, unhappy! shall thy sorrows flow,


s: And thy heart waste with life-consuming woe:


s: Mindless of food, or love, whose pleasing reign


s: Soothes weary life, and softens human pain?


s: O snatch the moments yet within thy power;


s: Not long to live, indulge the amorous hour!


s: Lo! Jove himself (for Jove’s command I bear)


s: Forbids to tempt the wrath of heaven too far.


s: Nor vent on senseless earth thy vengeance vain,


s: But yield to ransom, and restore the slain."


s: And we submit, since such the will of heaven."


s: While thus they communed, from the Olympian bowers


s: "Haste, winged goddess! to the sacred town,


s: And bear what stern Achilles may receive:


s: Except, to place the dead with decent care,


s: May the slow mules and funeral car command.


s: Nor let him death, nor let him danger dread,


s: Safe through the foe by our protection led:


s: Guard of his life, and partner of his way.


s: Fierce as he is, Achilles’ self shall spare


s: Some thought there must be in a soul so brave,


s: Some sense of duty, some desire to save."


s: Then down her bow the winged Iris drives,


s: And swift at Priam’s mournful court arrives:


s: Where the sad sons beside their father’s throne


s: Sat bathed in tears, and answer’d groan with groan.


s: (Sad scene of woe!) his face his wrapp’d attire


s: Conceal’d from sight; with frantic hands he spread


s: A shower of ashes o’er his neck and head.


s: From room to room his pensive daughters roam;


s: Whose shrieks and clamours fill the vaulted dome;


s: Mindful of those, who late their pride and joy,


s: Lie pale and breathless round the fields of Troy!


s: Before the king Jove’s messenger appears,


s: And thus in whispers greets his trembling ears:


s: "Fear not, O father! no ill news I bear;


s: From Jove I come, Jove makes thee still his care;


s: For Hector’s sake these walls he bids thee leave,


s: And bear what stern Achilles may receive;


s: Except, to place the dead with decent care,


s: May the slow mules and funeral car command.


s: Nor shalt thou death, nor shall thou danger dread:


s: Safe through the foe by his protection led:


s: Guard of thy life, and partner of thy way.


s: Fierce as he is, Achilles’ self shall spare


s: Some thought there must be in a soul so brave,


s: Some sense of duty, some desire to save."


s: She spoke, and vanish’d. Priam bids prepare


s: His gentle mules and harness to the car;


s: There, for the gifts, a polish’d casket lay:


s: Then pass’d the monarch to his bridal-room,


s: Where cedar-beams the lofty roofs perfume,


s: And where the treasures of his empire lay;


s: Then call’d his queen, and thus began to say:


s: Partake the troubles of thy husband’s breast:


s: Forsake these ramparts, and with gifts obtain


s: Tell me thy thought: my heart impels to go


s: Through hostile camps, and bears me to the foe."


s: The hoary monarch thus. Her piercing cries


s: "Ah! whither wanders thy distemper’d mind?


s: And where the prudence now that awed mankind?


s: Through Phrygia once and foreign regions known;


s: Now all confused, distracted, overthrown!


s: Singly to pass through hosts of foes! to face


s: (O heart of steel!) the murderer of thy race!


s: To view that deathful eye, and wander o’er


s: Those hands yet red with Hector’s noble gore!


s: Alas! my lord! he knows not how to spare.


s: And what his mercy, thy slain sons declare;


s: So brave! so many fallen! To claim his rage


s: Vain were thy dignity, and vain thy age.


s: To grief the wretched days we have to live.


s: Still, still for Hector let our sorrows flow,


s: Born to his own, and to his parents’ woe!


s: Doom’d from the hour his luckless life begun,


s: To dogs, to vultures, and to Peleus’ son!


s: For ah! could Hector merit thus, whose breath


s: He poured his latest blood in manly fight,


s: And fell a hero in his country’s right."


s: "Seek not to stay me, nor my soul affright


s: With words of omen, like a bird of night,


s: ’Tis heaven commands me, and you urge in vain.


s: Had any mortal voice the injunction laid,


s: Nor augur, priest, nor seer, had been obey’d.


s: A present goddess brought the high command,


s: I saw, I heard her, and the word shall stand.


s: If in yon camp your powers have doom’d my fall,


s: Add to the slaughter’d son the wretched sire!


s: One cold embrace at least may be allow’d,


s: And my last tears flow mingled with his blood!"


s: From forth his open’d stores, this said, he drew


s: And twelve fair veils, and garments stiff with gold,


s: Two tripods next, and twice two chargers shine,


s: With ten pure talents from the richest mine;


s: And last a large well-labour’d bowl had place,


s: (The pledge of treaties once with friendly Thrace:)


s: Seem’d all too mean the stores he could employ,


s: For one last look to buy him back to Troy!


s: Lo! the sad father, frantic with his pain,


s: Around him furious drives his menial train:


s: In vain each slave with duteous care attends,


s: Each office hurts him, and each face offends.


s: "What make ye here, officious crowds! (he cries).


s: Hence! nor obtrude your anguish on my eyes.


s: Have ye no griefs at home, to fix ye there:


s: No, you must feel him too; yourselves must fall;


s: The same stern god to ruin gives you all:


s: Your sole defence, your guardian power is gone!


s: I see your blood the fields of Phrygia drown,


s: O send me, gods! ere that sad day shall come,


s: A willing ghost to Pluto’s dreary dome!"


s: He said, and feebly drives his friends away:


s: The sorrowing friends his frantic rage obey.


s: And generous Antiphon: for yet these nine


s: Survived, sad relics of his numerous line.


s: Why did not all in Hector’s cause expire?


s: Wretch that I am! my bravest offspring slain.


s: You, the disgrace of Priam’s house, remain!


s: Mestor the brave, renown’d in ranks of war,


s: With Troilus, dreadful on his rushing car,(293)


s: And last great Hector, more than man divine,


s: For sure he seem’d not of terrestrial line!


s: All those relentless Mars untimely slew,


s: And left me these, a soft and servile crew,


s: Whose days the feast and wanton dance employ,


s: Gluttons and flatterers, the contempt of Troy!


s: Why teach ye not my rapid wheels to run,


s: The sons their father’s wretched age revere,


s: The new-made car with solid beauty shined;


s: Box was the yoke, emboss’d with costly pains,


s: And hung with ringlets to receive the reins;


s: Nine cubits long, the traces swept the ground:


s: These to the chariot’s polish’d pole they bound.


s: Then fix’d a ring the running reins to guide,


s: And close beneath the gather’d ends were tied.


s: Next with the gifts (the price of Hector slain)


s: The sad attendants load the groaning wain:


s: Last to the yoke the well-matched mules they bring,


s: But the fair horses, long his darling care,


s: Himself received, and harness’d to his car:


s: Grieved as he was, he not this task denied;


s: The hoary herald help’d him, at his side.


s: While careful these the gentle coursers join’d,


s: Sad Hecuba approach’d with anxious mind;


s: A golden bowl that foam’d with fragrant wine,


s: (Libation destined to the power divine,)


s: Held in her right, before the steed she stands,


s: And thus consigns it to the monarch’s hands:


s: "Take this, and pour to Jove; that safe from harms


s: His grace restore thee to our roof and arms.


s: Since victor of thy fears, and slighting mine,


s: Heaven, or thy soul, inspires this bold design;


s: Pray to that god, who high on Ida’s brow


s: Let the strong sovereign of the plumy race


s: Tower on the right of yon ethereal space.


s: That sign beheld, and strengthen’d from above,


s: Boldly pursue the journey mark’d by Jove:


s: Suppress thy impulse, nor reject advice."


s: "’Tis just (said Priam) to the sire above


s: To raise our hands; for who so good as Jove?"


s: He spoke, and bade the attendant handmaid bring


s: (Her ready hands the ewer and bason held:)


s: Then took the golden cup his queen had fill’d;


s: On the mid pavement pours the rosy wine,


s: Uplifts his eyes, and calls the power divine:


s: "O first and greatest! heaven’s imperial lord!


s: And teach him mercy when a father prays.


s: If such thy will, despatch from yonder sky


s: Tower on the right of yon ethereal space;


s: So shall thy suppliant, strengthen’d from above,


s: Fearless pursue the journey mark’d by Jove."


s: Jove heard his prayer, and from the throne on high,


s: The swift-wing’d chaser of the feather’d game,


s: And known to gods by Percnos’ lofty name.


s: Wide as appears some palace-gate display’d.


s: So broad, his pinions stretch’d their ample shade,


s: As stooping dexter with resounding wings


s: The imperial bird descends in airy rings.


s: The mourning matron dries her timorous tears:


s: Swift on his car the impatient monarch sprung;


s: The mules preceding draw the loaded wain,


s: Charged with the gifts: Idaeus holds the rein:


s: The king himself his gentle steeds controls,


s: And through surrounding friends the chariot rolls.


s: On his slow wheels the following people wait,


s: Mourn at each step, and give him up to fate;


s: With hands uplifted eye him as he pass’d,


s: And gaze upon him as they gazed their last.


s: Now forward fares the father on his way,


s: Through the lone fields, and back to Ilion they.


s: Great Jove beheld him as he cross’d the plain,


s: Then thus to Hermes: "Thou whose constant cares


s: Still succour mortals, and attend their prayers;


s: Behold an object to thy charge consign’d:


s: Go, guard the sire: the observing foe prevent,


s: And safe conduct him to Achilles’ tent."


s: The god obeys, his golden pinions binds,(294)


s: And mounts incumbent on the wings of winds,


s: That high, through fields of air, his flight sustain,


s: O’er the wide earth, and o’er the boundless main;


s: Then grasps the wand that causes sleep to fly,


s: Or in soft slumbers seals the wakeful eye:


s: Thus arm’d, swift Hermes steers his airy way,


s: And stoops on Hellespont’s resounding sea.


s: He seem’d; fair offspring of some princely line!


s: Now twilight veil’d the glaring face of day,


s: And clad the dusky fields in sober grey;


s: (Their chariots stopping at the silver spring,


s: That circling Ilus’ ancient marble flows)


s: Allow’d their mules and steeds a short repose,


s: Through the dim shade the herald first espies


s: A man’s approach, and thus to Priam cries:


s: "I mark some foe’s advance: O king! beware;


s: This hard adventure claims thy utmost care!


s: For much I fear destruction hovers nigh:


s: Our state asks counsel; is it best to fly?


s: Or old and helpless, at his feet to fall,


s: Two wretched suppliants, and for mercy call?"


s: The afflicted monarch shiver’d with despair;


s: Pale grew his face, and upright stood his hair;


s: Sunk was his heart; his colour went and came;


s: A sudden trembling shook his aged frame:


s: When Hermes, greeting, touch’d his royal hand,


s: And, gentle, thus accosts with kind demand:


s: "Say whither, father! when each mortal sight


s: Is seal’d in sleep, thou wanderest through the night?


s: Why roam thy mules and steeds the plains along,


s: Through Grecian foes, so numerous and so strong?


s: What couldst thou hope, should these thy treasures view;


s: These, who with endless hate thy race pursue?


s: For what defence, alas! could’st thou provide;


s: Thyself not young, a weak old man thy guide?


s: Yet suffer not thy soul to sink with dread;


s: From me no harm shall touch thy reverend head;


s: From Greece I’ll guard thee too; for in those lines


s: "Thy words, that speak benevolence of mind,


s: Are true, my son! (the godlike sire rejoin’d:)


s: Great are my hazards; but the gods survey


s: My steps, and send thee, guardian of my way.


s: Hail, and be bless’d! For scarce of mortal kind


s: Appear thy form, thy feature, and thy mind."


s: "Nor true are all thy words, nor erring wide;


s: (The sacred messenger of heaven replied;)


s: But say, convey’st thou through the lonely plains


s: What yet most precious of thy store remains,


s: To lodge in safety with some friendly hand:


s: Prepared, perchance, to leave thy native land?


s: Or fliest thou now?—What hopes can Troy retain,


s: Thy matchless son, her guard and glory, slain?"


s: The king, alarm’d: "Say what, and whence thou art


s: Who search the sorrows of a parent’s heart,


s: And know so well how godlike Hector died?"


s: Thus Priam spoke, and Hermes thus replied:


s: "You tempt me, father, and with pity touch:


s: On this sad subject you inquire too much.


s: Oft have these eyes that godlike Hector view’d


s: In glorious fight, with Grecian blood embrued:


s: I saw him when, like Jove, his flames he toss’d


s: On thousand ships, and wither’d half a host:


s: I saw, but help’d not: stern Achilles’ ire


s: Forbade assistance, and enjoy’d the fire.


s: One ship convey’d us from our native place;


s: Old like thyself, and not unknown to fame;


s: Of seven his sons, by whom the lot was cast


s: To serve our prince, it fell on me, the last.


s: To watch this quarter, my adventure falls:


s: For with the morn the Greeks attack your walls;


s: Sleepless they sit, impatient to engage,


s: And scarce their rulers check their martial rage."


s: "If then thou art of stern Pelides’ train,


s: (The mournful monarch thus rejoin’d again,)


s: Ah tell me truly, where, oh! where are laid


s: My son’s dear relics? what befals him dead?


s: Have dogs dismember’d (on the naked plains),


s: Or yet unmangled rest, his cold remains?"


s: "O favour’d of the skies! (thus answered then


s: The power that mediates between god and men)


s: Nor dogs nor vultures have thy Hector rent,


s: But whole he lies, neglected in the tent:


s: This the twelfth evening since he rested there,


s: Untouch’d by worms, untainted by the air.


s: Round his friend’s tomb Achilles drags the dead:


s: All fresh he lies, with every living grace,


s: Majestical in death! No stains are found


s: O’er all the corse, and closed is every wound,


s: Though many a wound they gave. Some heavenly care,


s: Some hand divine, preserves him ever fair:


s: Or all the host of heaven, to whom he led


s: A life so grateful, still regard him dead."


s: Thus spoke to Priam the celestial guide,


s: "Blest is the man who pays the gods above


s: The constant tribute of respect and love!


s: And heaven, that every virtue bears in mind,


s: But thou, O generous youth! this goblet take,


s: A pledge of gratitude for Hector’s sake;


s: And while the favouring gods our steps survey,


s: To whom the latent god: "O king, forbear


s: To tempt my youth, for apt is youth to err.


s: But can I, absent from my prince’s sight,


s: Take gifts in secret, that must shun the light?


s: What from our master’s interest thus we draw,


s: Is but a licensed theft that ’scapes the law.


s: Respecting him, my soul abjures the offence;


s: And as the crime, I dread the consequence.


s: Thee, far as Argos, pleased I could convey;


s: Guard of thy life, and partner of thy way:


s: O’er pathless forests, or the roaring main."


s: He said, then took the chariot at a bound,


s: And snatch’d the reins, and whirl’d the lash around:


s: Before the inspiring god that urged them on,


s: The coursers fly with spirit not their own.


s: And now they reach’d the naval walls, and found


s: The guards repasting, while the bowls go round;


s: On these the virtue of his wand he tries,


s: And pours deep slumber on their watchful eyes:


s: Then heaved the massy gates, removed the bars,


s: And o’er the trenches led the rolling cars.


s: Unseen, through all the hostile camp they went,


s: On firs the roof was raised, and cover’d o’er


s: With reeds collected from the marshy shore;


s: And, fenced with palisades, a hall of state,


s: (The work of soldiers,) where the hero sat.


s: Large was the door, whose well-compacted strength


s: A solid pine-tree barr’d of wondrous length:


s: Scarce three strong Greeks could lift its mighty weight,


s: But great Achilles singly closed the gate.


s: This Hermes (such the power of gods) set wide;


s: Then swift alighted the celestial guide,


s: And thus reveal’d—"Hear, prince! and understand


s: Thou ow’st thy guidance to no mortal hand:


s: The king of arts, the messenger of Jove,


s: Farewell: to shun Achilles’ sight I fly;


s: Now fearless enter, and prefer thy prayers;


s: Adjure him by his father’s silver hairs,


s: Whatever pity that stern heart can know."


s: Thus having said, he vanish’d from his eyes,


s: The king, confirm’d from heaven, alighted there,


s: With solemn pace through various rooms he went,


s: These served his person at the royal feast;


s: Around, at awful distance, stood the rest.


s: Unseen by these, the king his entry made:


s: And, prostrate now before Achilles laid,


s: Embraced his knees, and bathed his hands in tears;


s: Those direful hands his kisses press’d, embrued


s: Even with the best, the dearest of his blood!


s: As when a wretch (who, conscious of his crime,


s: Pursued for murder, flies his native clime)


s: Just gains some frontier, breathless, pale, amazed,


s: All gaze, all wonder: thus Achilles gazed:


s: Thus stood the attendants stupid with surprise:


s: All mute, yet seem’d to question with their eyes:


s: Each look’d on other, none the silence broke,


s: Till thus at last the kingly suppliant spoke:


s: "Ah think, thou favour’d of the powers divine!(295)


s: Think of thy father’s age, and pity mine!


s: In me that father’s reverend image trace,


s: Those silver hairs, that venerable face;


s: His trembling limbs, his helpless person, see!


s: Yet now, perhaps, some turn of human fate


s: Expels him helpless from his peaceful state;


s: Think, from some powerful foe thou seest him fly,


s: Yet still one comfort in his soul may rise;


s: He hears his son still lives to glad his eyes,


s: And, hearing, still may hope a better day


s: May send him thee, to chase that foe away.


s: No comfort to my griefs, no hopes remain,


s: The best, the bravest, of my sons are slain!


s: Yet what a race! ere Greece to Ilion came,


s: The pledge of many a loved and loving dame:


s: Nineteen one mother bore—Dead, all are dead!


s: Still one was left their loss to recompense;


s: His father’s hope, his country’s last defence.


s: Him too thy rage has slain! beneath thy steel,


s: "For him through hostile camps I bent my way,


s: For him thus prostrate at thy feet I lay;


s: Large gifts proportion’d to thy wrath I bear;


s: O hear the wretched, and the gods revere!


s: "Think of thy father, and this face behold!


s: Though not so wretched: there he yields to me,


s: Thus forced to kneel, thus grovelling to embrace


s: The scourge and ruin of my realm and race;


s: Suppliant my children’s murderer to implore,


s: And kiss those hands yet reeking with their gore!"


s: These words soft pity in the chief inspire,


s: Touch’d with the dear remembrance of his sire.


s: Then with his hand (as prostrate still he lay)


s: The old man’s cheek he gently turn’d away.


s: Now each by turns indulged the gush of woe;


s: And now the mingled tides together flow:


s: This low on earth, that gently bending o’er;


s: But great Achilles different passions rend,


s: And now his sire he mourns, and now his friend.


s: The infectious softness through the heroes ran;


s: They bore as heroes, but they felt as man.


s: From the high throne divine Achilles rose;


s: The reverend monarch by the hand he raised;


s: On his white beard and form majestic gazed,


s: "Alas, what weight of anguish hast thou known,


s: Unhappy prince! thus guardless and alone


s: Two pass through foes, and thus undaunted face


s: The man whose fury has destroy’d thy race!


s: Heaven sure has arm’d thee with a heart of steel,


s: A strength proportion’d to the woes you feel.


s: Rise, then: let reason mitigate your care:


s: To mourn avails not: man is born to bear.


s: They, only they are blest, and only free.


s: Two urns by Jove’s high throne have ever stood,


s: The source of evil one, and one of good;


s: From thence the cup of mortal man he fills,


s: Blessings to these, to those distributes ill;


s: To most he mingles both: the wretch decreed


s: To taste the bad unmix’d, is cursed indeed;


s: Pursued by wrongs, by meagre famine driven,


s: He wanders, outcast both of earth and heaven.


s: The happiest taste not happiness sincere;


s: But find the cordial draught is dash’d with care.


s: Who more than Peleus shone in wealth and power


s: What stars concurring bless’d his natal hour!


s: A realm, a goddess, to his wishes given;


s: Graced by the gods with all the gifts of heaven.


s: See him, in Troy, the pious care decline


s: Of his weak age, to live the curse of thine!


s: Thou too, old man, hast happier days beheld;


s: In riches once, in children once excell’d;


s: And all wide Hellespont’s unmeasured main.


s: But since the god his hand has pleased to turn,


s: And fill thy measure from his bitter urn,


s: What sees the sun, but hapless heroes’ falls?


s: War, and the blood of men, surround thy walls!


s: What must be, must be. Bear thy lot, nor shed


s: Thou canst not call him from the Stygian shore,


s: But thou, alas! may’st live to suffer more!"


s: To whom the king: "O favour’d of the skies!


s: Here let me grow to earth! since Hector lies


s: On the bare beach deprived of obsequies.


s: His corse, and take the gifts: I ask no more.


s: Thou, as thou may’st, these boundless stores enjoy;


s: Safe may’st thou sail, and turn thy wrath from Troy;


s: A weak old man to see the light and live!"


s: "Move me no more, (Achilles thus replies,


s: While kindling anger sparkled in his eyes,)


s: Nor seek by tears my steady soul to bend:


s: For know, from Jove my goddess-mother came,


s: (Old Ocean’s daughter, silver-footed dame,)


s: Nor comest thou but by heaven; nor comest alone,


s: Some god impels with courage not thy own:


s: No human hand the weighty gates unbarr’d,


s: Nor could the boldest of our youth have dared


s: To pass our outworks, or elude the guard.


s: Cease; lest, neglectful of high Jove’s command,


s: I show thee, king! thou tread’st on hostile land;


s: Release my knees, thy suppliant arts give o’er,


s: And shake the purpose of my soul no more."


s: The sire obey’d him, trembling and o’eraw’d.


s: (Whom most he honour’d, since he lost his friend,)


s: These to unyoke the mules and horses went,


s: Next, heap’d on high, the numerous presents bear,


s: (Great Hector’s ransom,) from the polish’d car.


s: Two splendid mantles, and a carpet spread,


s: They leave: to cover and enwrap the dead.


s: Then call the handmaids, with assistant toil


s: Apart from Priam: lest the unhappy sire,


s: Provoked to passion, once more rouse to ire


s: Nor Jove’s command, should check the rising rage.


s: This done, the garments o’er the corse they spread;


s: Then, while the body on the car they laid,


s: He groans, and calls on loved Patroclus’ shade:


s: "If, in that gloom which never light must know,


s: The deeds of mortals touch the ghosts below,


s: O friend! forgive me, that I thus fulfil


s: (Restoring Hector) heaven’s unquestion’d will.


s: The gifts the father gave, be ever thine,


s: To grace thy manes, and adorn thy shrine."(296)


s: He said, and, entering, took his seat of state;


s: Where full before him reverend Priam sate;


s: To whom, composed, the godlike chief begun:


s: "Lo! to thy prayer restored, thy breathless son;


s: And soon as morning paints the eastern skies,


s: The sight is granted to thy longing eyes:


s: But now the peaceful hours of sacred night


s: Nor thou, O father! thus consumed with woe,


s: The common cares that nourish life forego.


s: A parent once, whose sorrows equall’d thine:


s: Six youthful sons, as many blooming maids,


s: In one sad day beheld the Stygian shades;


s: Those by Apollo’s silver bow were slain,


s: These, Cynthia’s arrows stretch’d upon the plain:


s: So was her pride chastised by wrath divine,


s: Who match’d her own with bright Latona’s line;


s: But two the goddess, twelve the queen enjoy’d;


s: Those boasted twelve, the avenging two destroy’d.


s: Steep’d in their blood, and in the dust outspread,


s: Nine days, neglected, lay exposed the dead;


s: None by to weep them, to inhume them none;


s: (For Jove had turn’d the nation all to stone.)


s: The gods themselves, at length relenting gave


s: The unhappy race the honours of a grave.


s: Herself a rock (for such was heaven’s high will)


s: Through deserts wild now pours a weeping rill;


s: Where round the bed whence Achelous springs,


s: She stands, her own sad monument of woe;


s: The rock for ever lasts, the tears for ever flow.


s: "Such griefs, O king! have other parents known;


s: The care of heaven thy Hector has appear’d,


s: Nor shall he lie unwept, and uninterr’d;


s: Soon may thy aged cheeks in tears be drown’d,


s: And all the eyes of Ilion stream around."


s: He said, and, rising, chose the victim ewe


s: With silver fleece, which his attendants slew.


s: The limbs they sever from the reeking hide,


s: With skill prepare them, and in parts divide:


s: Each on the coals the separate morsels lays,


s: And, hasty, snatches from the rising blaze.


s: With bread the glittering canisters they load,


s: Which round the board Automedon bestow’d.


s: The chief himself to each his portion placed,


s: And each indulging shared in sweet repast.


s: When now the rage of hunger was repress’d,


s: The wondering hero eyes his royal guest:


s: Here, youthful grace and noble fire engage;


s: Thus gazing long, the silence neither broke,


s: (A solemn scene!) at length the father spoke:


s: "Permit me now, beloved of Jove! to steep


s: For, since the day that number’d with the dead


s: My hapless son, the dust has been my bed;


s: Soft sleep a stranger to my weeping eyes;


s: Till now, encouraged by the grace you give,


s: I share thy banquet, and consent to live."


s: With that, Achilles bade prepare the bed,


s: With purple soft and shaggy carpets spread;


s: Forth, by the flaming lights, they bend their way,


s: And place the couches, and the coverings lay.


s: Then he: "Now, father, sleep, but sleep not here;


s: Consult thy safety, and forgive my fear,


s: Perchance behold thee, and our grace prevent.


s: Should such report thy honour’d person here,


s: But say with speed, if aught of thy desire


s: Remains unask’d; what time the rites require


s: To inter thy Hector? For, so long we stay


s: Our slaughtering arm, and bid the hosts obey."


s: "If then thy will permit (the monarch said)


s: This of thy grace accord: to thee are known


s: The fears of Ilion, closed within her town;


s: And at what distance from our walls aspire


s: The hills of Ide, and forests for the fire.


s: Nine days to vent our sorrows I request,


s: The tenth shall see the funeral and the feast;


s: The next, to raise his monument be given;


s: The twelfth we war, if war be doom’d by heaven!"


s: "This thy request (replied the chief) enjoy:


s: Till then our arms suspend the fall of Troy."


s: Then gave his hand at parting, to prevent


s: The old man’s fears, and turn’d within the tent;


s: Where fair Briseis, bright in blooming charms,


s: But in the porch the king and herald rest;


s: Sad dreams of care yet wandering in their breast.


s: Now gods and men the gifts of sleep partake;


s: The king’s return revolving in his mind,


s: To pass the ramparts, and the watch to blind.


s: The power descending hover’d o’er his head:


s: "And sleep’st thou, father! (thus the vision said:)


s: Now dost thou sleep, when Hector is restored?


s: Nor fear the Grecian foes, or Grecian lord?


s: Thy presence here should stern Atrides see,


s: Thy still surviving sons may sue for thee;


s: May offer all thy treasures yet contain,


s: To spare thy age; and offer all in vain."


s: Waked with the word the trembling sire arose,


s: And raised his friend: the god before him goes:


s: He joins the mules, directs them with his hand,


s: And moves in silence through the hostile land.


s: When now to Xanthus’ yellow stream they drove,


s: Sprang through the gates of light, and gave the day:


s: Charged with the mournful load, to Ilion go


s: Cassandra first beholds, from Ilion’s spire,


s: Then, as the pensive pomp advanced more near,


s: (Her breathless brother stretched upon the bier,)


s: A shower of tears o’erflows her beauteous eyes,


s: "Turn here your steps, and here your eyes employ,


s: Ye wretched daughters, and ye sons of Troy!


s: If e’er ye rush’d in crowds, with vast delight,


s: To hail your hero glorious from the fight,


s: Now meet him dead, and let your sorrows flow;


s: Your common triumph, and your common woe."


s: In thronging crowds they issue to the plains;


s: In every face the self-same grief is shown;


s: And Troy sends forth one universal groan.


s: At Scaea’s gates they meet the mourning wain,


s: Hang on the wheels, and grovel round the slain.


s: The wife and mother, frantic with despair,


s: Kiss his pale cheek, and rend their scatter’d hair:


s: Thus wildly wailing, at the gates they lay;


s: And there had sigh’d and sorrow’d out the day;


s: But godlike Priam from the chariot rose:


s: "Forbear (he cried) this violence of woes;


s: First to the palace let the car proceed,


s: Then pour your boundless sorrows o’er the dead."


s: Slow rolls the chariot through the following tide;


s: Even to the palace the sad pomp they wait:


s: They weep, and place him on the bed of state.


s: With plaintive sighs, and music’s solemn sound:


s: The obedient tears, melodious in their woe.


s: While deeper sorrows groan from each full heart,


s: And nature speaks at every pause of art.


s: First to the corse the weeping consort flew;


s: Around his neck her milk-white arms she threw,


s: "And oh, my Hector! Oh, my lord! (she cries)


s: Snatch’d in thy bloom from these desiring eyes!


s: Thou to the dismal realms for ever gone!


s: Sad product now of hapless love, remains!


s: For Ilion now (her great defender slain)


s: Who now protects her wives with guardian care?


s: Who saves her infants from the rage of war?


s: Now hostile fleets must waft those infants o’er


s: (Those wives must wait them) to a foreign shore:


s: Thou too, my son, to barbarous climes shall go,


s: Driven hence a slave before the victor’s sword


s: Condemn’d to toil for some inhuman lord:


s: Or else some Greek whose father press’d the plain,


s: Or son, or brother, by great Hector slain,


s: In Hector’s blood his vengeance shall enjoy,


s: And hurl thee headlong from the towers of Troy.(297)


s: For thy stern father never spared a foe:


s: Thence all these tears, and all this scene of woe!


s: Why gav’st thou not to me thy dying hand?


s: And why received not I thy last command?


s: Some word thou would’st have spoke, which, sadly dear,


s: My soul might keep, or utter with a tear;


s: Which never, never could be lost in air,


s: Fix’d in my heart, and oft repeated there!"


s: Thus to her weeping maids she makes her moan,


s: Her weeping handmaids echo groan for groan.


s: The mournful mother next sustains her part:


s: "O thou, the best, the dearest to my heart!


s: Of all my race thou most by heaven approved,


s: And by the immortals even in death beloved!


s: While all my other sons in barbarous bands


s: Achilles bound, and sold to foreign lands,


s: This felt no chains, but went a glorious ghost,


s: Sentenced, ’tis true, by his inhuman doom,


s: Thy noble corse was dragg’d around the tomb;


s: (The tomb of him thy warlike arm had slain;)


s: Yet glow’st thou fresh with every living grace;


s: Dismiss’d thee gently to the shades below."


s: Thus spoke the dame, and melted into tears.


s: Sad Helen next in pomp of grief appears;


s: Fast from the shining sluices of her eyes


s: Fall the round crystal drops, while thus she cries.


s: "Ah, dearest friend! in whom the gods had join’d(298)


s: Tne mildest manners with the bravest mind,


s: Now twice ten years (unhappy years) are o’er


s: Since Paris brought me to the Trojan shore,


s: Seduced this soft, this easy heart of mine!)


s: Yet was it ne’er my fate, from thee to find


s: When others cursed the authoress of their woe,


s: Thy pity check’d my sorrows in their flow.


s: If some proud brother eyed me with disdain,


s: Or scornful sister with her sweeping train,


s: Thy gentle accents soften’d all my pain.


s: For thee I mourn, and mourn myself in thee,


s: Sad Helen has no friend, now thou art gone!


s: Through Troy’s wide streets abandon’d shall I roam!


s: So spoke the fair, with sorrow-streaming eye.


s: Distressful beauty melts each stander-by.


s: On all around the infectious sorrow grows;


s: But Priam check’d the torrent as it rose:


s: "Perform, ye Trojans! what the rites require,


s: And fell the forests for a funeral pyre;


s: Twelve days, nor foes nor secret ambush dread;


s: Achilles grants these honours to the dead."(299)


s: He spoke, and, at his word, the Trojan train


s: Their mules and oxen harness to the wain,


s: Pour through the gates, and fell’d from Ida’s crown,


s: Roll back the gather’d forests to the town.


s: These toils continue nine succeeding days,


s: And high in air a sylvan structure raise.


s: But when the tenth fair morn began to shine,


s: Forth to the pile was borne the man divine,


s: And placed aloft; while all, with streaming eyes,


s: Beheld the flames and rolling smokes arise.


s: With rosy lustre streak’d the dewy lawn,


s: Again the mournful crowds surround the pyre,


s: And quench with wine the yet remaining fire.


s: The snowy bones his friends and brothers place


s: (With tears collected) in a golden vase;


s: The golden vase in purple palls they roll’d,


s: Of softest texture, and inwrought with gold.


s: Last o’er the urn the sacred earth they spread,


s: And raised the tomb, memorial of the dead.


s: (Strong guards and spies, till all the rites were done,


s: Watch’d from the rising to the setting sun.)


s: All Troy then moves to Priam’s court again,


s: Assembled there, from pious toil they rest,


s: And sadly shared the last sepulchral feast.


s: And peaceful slept the mighty Hector’s shade.(300)


s: The unfortunate Priam was killed by Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles.


s: M. AUREL ANTON _de Seipso,_ lib. i. Section 17.


s: consciousness of a natural bond among the families of men which


s: "’Tuque prior, tu parce genus qui ducis Olympo,


s: weakened it and the Celtic feeling towards the Stuarts has been


s: "Somewhat similar may be seen in the disposition to idolize those


s: brother, they have been bet forth by the providence of God to


s: benefactors.’—_Doctrine of the Incarnation,_ pp. 9, 10.


s: legontai, kai ta Omaerou epae to palai pros lyran aedeto.


s: "The voice," observes Heeren, "was always accompanied by some


s: accompanied the song when begun. His voice probably preserved a


s: taken." Lit of Greece, pp. 38 in Encycl. Metrop. Cf. Coleridge,


s: Choricius in Fabric. Bibl. Gr. T. viii. P. 851. logois gar estia,


s: Hereafter, when some stranger from the sea,


s: A hapless wanderer, may your isle explore,


s: And ask you, maid, of all the bards you boast,


s: Who sings the sweetest, and delights you most


s: Oh! answer all,—’A blind old man and poor


s: Sweetest he sings—and dwells on Chios’ rocky shore.’"


s: pareikasai tis an kataduomeno ton Omaeron haelio, oo dixa taes


s: those hypotheses into something like consistency, rather than in


s: gentleman of the highest intellectual attainments, and who held a


s: forwards or backwards, or from the eighth line to the first,


s: alternately the odd and even lines—in short, whatever the passage


s: required from any part of the Bible—even the obscurest and most


s: question before us, but facts they are; and if we find so much


s: Heeren steers between the two opinions, observing that, "The


s: which are committed to writing, for the very reason that they are


s: literature than that of Peisistratus, who is said first to have


s: that has ever been drawn up:—"A hero, injured by his general, and


s: season withdraws himself and his troops from the war. During this


s: presents. The hero, according to the proud obstinacy of his


s: character, persists in his animosity; the army is again defeated,


s: commands him not to engage with the chief of the enemy’s army,


s: because he reserves to himself the honour of that combat, and


s: because he also fears for his friend’s life. The prohibition is


s: reconciled with his general and, thirsting for glory and revenge,


s: "Sing, heavenly Muse, that on the secret top


s: for the custom of decorating temples with garlands was of later


s: later classical pantheon. Throughout both poems, all deaths from


s: oracular functions of the god rose naturally out of the above


s: eloquence, and sometimes for quarrel—but here its ostensible


s: reference is made to these words of Homer, in maintenance of the


s: belief that dreams had a divine origin and an import in which men


s: fancifully supposed that the name was derived from myrmaex, an


s: _ant,_ "because they imitated the diligence of the ants, and like


s: earth; the change from ants to men is founded merely on the


s: equivocation of their name, which resembles that of the ant: they


s: So Proverbs v. 3, "For the lips of a strange woman drop as an


s: liberty to travel whither they would without fear of molestation.


s: difficulty, succeeded in obtaining her hand, as she eluded him by


s: vol. 1 p. 98, sq. (ed. Basil) gives this interpretation, and


s: likewise an allegorical one, which we will spare the reader.


s: Calmet’s Dictionary, p.110, of my edition.


s: The quarry share, their plenteous dinner haste,


s: Some strip the skin; some portion out the spoil;


s: The limbs yet trembling, in the caldrons boil;


s: Some on the fire the reeking entrails broil.


s: Stretch’d on the grassy turf, at ease they dine,


s: Restore their strength with meat, and cheer their souls with


s: Pronounced among the gods, and by an oath,


s: That shook heav’n’s whole circumference, confirm’d."


s: Hurl’d headlong flaming from th ethereal sky,


s: this—After Hercules, had taken and pillaged Troy, Juno raised a


s: Lemnos which island was ever after sacred to Vulcan.


s: Men call’d him Mulciber, and how he fell


s: From heaven, they fabled, thrown by angry Jove


s: Sheer o’er the crystal battlements from morn


s: Dropp’d from the zenith like a falling star


s: On Lemnos, th’ Aegean isle thus they relate."


s: All but the unsleeping eyes of God to rest."


s: "When, by Minerva sent, a _fraudful_ Dream


s: Rush’d from the skies, the bane of her and Troy."


s: Dyce’s "Select Translations from Quintus Calaber," p.10.


s: "Turpe duci totam somno consumere noctem."


s: "To whom once more the winged god appears;


s: His former youthful mien and shape he wears."


s: Pour forth their populous youth about the hive


s: In clusters; they among fresh dews and flowers


s: Fly to and fro, or on the smoothed plank,


s: New-nibb’d with balm, expatiate and confer


s: Their state affairs. So thick the very crowd


s: Swarm’d and were straiten’d."—"Paradise Lost" i. 768.


s: furthering the process of acquisition."—Grote, i. p. 212. Compare


s: Then pledged the chief in a capacious cup,


s: Golden, and framed by art divine (a gift


s: Which to Almighty Jove lame Vulcan brought


s: The Queen of Love), the sire of gods bestow’d


s: And left it, with his wealth, to be possess’d


s: Gave it, and last to Priam’s lot it fell."


s: Of Ceres, ripe for harvest, waving bends


s: His bearded grove of ears, which way the wind


s: Schlegel well observes, "In bas-relief the figures are usually in


s: manner in relief; they are not grouped together, but follow one


s: closed, but that we are left to suppose something both to precede


s: misshapen head, and squinting vision."—Grote, vol. i. p. 97.


s: advanced age might be offered. An ox of five years old was


s: borne the yoke. It was to be perfect in every limb, healthy, and


s: without blemish."—"Elgin Marbles," vol. i. p. 78.


s: Cretan shore, his son fell a victim to his rash vow.


s: distinguished from the other, who was king of Salamis.


s: brother-king visiting another without a formal invitation?


s: Simois, Homer’s Troy is supposed to have stood: this river,


s: according to Homer, was called Xanthus by the gods, Scamander by


s: Mandassero a Cristiani, e di quai parti:


s: Tu ’l sai; ma di tant’ opra a noi si lunge


s: statistical detail can neither be considered as imperatively


s: required, nor perhaps such as would, in ordinary cases, suggest


s: acquaintance with a previously existing Iliad. It were impossible


s: unimportant, and not a few altogether fictitious: or of so many


s: Thucydides supposes the troops to have rowed and navigated


s: themselves; and that very few, besides the chiefs, went as mere


s: passengers or landsmen. In short, we have in the Homeric


s: assigned to those of the Greeks. If the total number of the Greek


s: calculations are, for their curiosity, well worth a careful


s: towns and cities by the names by which they were known in his own


s: His sons, the fairest of her daughters Eve.’


s: Greeks—and these differences existed not only between the several


s: "Marking the tracts of air, the clamorous cranes


s: Wheel their due flight in varied ranks descried:


s: And each with outstretch’d neck his rank maintains,


s: In marshall’d order through th’ ethereal void."


s: Lorenzo de Medici, in Roscoe’s Life, Appendix.


s: Breathing united force with fixed thought,


s: Has with unwary footing press’d a snake;


s: He starts aside, astonish’d, when he spies


s: His rising crest, blue neck, and rolling eyes"


s: breast with a view of enabling themselves to draw the bow freely;


s: universally accepted as past realities in the Iliad. When Priam


s: deadly and perilous undertaking, by those who prudently wished to


s: He paus’d, and on the ground in silence gazed.


s: Unskill’d and uninspired he seems to stand,


s: Nor lifts the eye, nor graceful moves the hand:


s: Then, while the chiefs in still attention hung,


s: While from his lips the melting torrent flows,


s: Soft as the fleeces of descending snows.


s: Now stronger notes engage the listening crowd,


s: Louder the accents rise, and yet more loud,


s: Like thunders rolling from a distant cloud."


s: "This said, his feeble hand a jav’lin threw,


s: Which, flutt’ring, seemed to loiter as it flew,


s: Just, and but barely, to the mark it held,


s: And faintly tinkled on the brazen shield."


s: "Thus having said, she turn’d and made appear


s: Her neck refulgent and dishevell’d hair,


s: Which, flowing from her shoulders, reach’d the ground,


s: And widely spread ambrosial scents around.


s: In length of train descends her sweeping gown;


s: And, by her graceful walk, the queen of love is known."


s: The majesty of heav’n, the sister-wife of Jove."


s: In autumn thwarts the night, when vapours fired


s: From what point of his compass to beware


s: surgical operations, the other as sagacious in detecting and


s: Tempering the juice between her ivory hands


s: This o’er her breast she sheds with sovereign art


s: And bathes with gentle touch the wounded part


s: The wound such virtue from the juice derives,


s: At once the blood is stanch’d, the youth revives."


s: "Would heav’n (said he) my strength and youth recall,


s: Then when I made the foremost foes retire,


s: And set whole heaps of conquer’d shields on fire;


s: Whom with three lives Feronia did endue."


s: "Thus, when a black-brow’d gust begins to rise,


s: White foam at first on the curl’d ocean fries;


s: Then roars the main, the billows mount the skies,


s: Till, by the fury of the storm full blown,


s: The muddy billow o’er the clouds is thrown."


s: E ’l fa grande, et angusto oltre il costume.


s: Gl’ empie d’ honor la faccia, e vi riduce


s: Sweep o’er the yellow year, destroy the pains


s: Of lab’ring oxen, and the peasant’s gains;


s: Flocks, folds, and trees, an undistinguish’d prey."


s: Michael from Adam’s eyes the film removed."


s: "A pair of coursers, born of heav’nly breed,


s: Who from their nostrils breathed ethereal fire;


s: Whom Circe stole from her celestial sire,


s: By substituting mares produced on earth,


s: Whose wombs conceived a more than mortal birth.


s: "A stream of nect’rous humour issuing flow’d,


s: Sanguine, such as celestial spirits may bleed."


s: revenge for the wound she had received from her husband.


s: "Veil’d with his gorgeous wings, upspringing light


s: Flew through the midst of heaven; th’ angelic quires,


s: On each hand parting, to his speed gave way


s: Through all th’ empyreal road; till at the gate


s: Of heaven arrived, the gate self-open’d wide,


s: Waked by the circling Hours, with rosy hand


s: greatness of the space would not with reason cry out that ’If the


s: battle of Honain was restored by the shouts and menaces of Abbas,


s: While Greece and Troy alternate own’d his aid."


s: unemployed metal—gold, copper, and iron are stored up in the


s: treasure-chamber of Odysseus and other chiefs. Coined money is


s: process the copper was tempered and hardened, so as to serve the


s: purpose of the warrior, we do not know; but the use of iron for


s: these objects belongs to a later age."—Grote, vol. ii. p. 142.


s: It struck the bending father to the earth,


s: And cropt the wailing infant at the birth.


s: And they who ne’er offended find a foe?"


s: In hopes to reconcile their heav’nly foe:


s: They weep; they beat their breasts; they rend their hair,


s: And rich embroider’d vests for presents bear."


s: translation, p. 112. The "Aleian field," _i.e._ "the plain of


s: "The fifty nuptial beds, (such hopes had he,


s: The ports of plated gold, and hung with spoils."


s: originally connected with the same feeling—the desire of avoiding


s: practice of burying prisoners alive, with a scantling of food by


s: their side. Though Homer makes no mention of this horrible usage,


s: form a general notion of their ordinary plan, and affords no


s: proportion was but little required or understood, and it is,


s: perhaps, strength and convenience, rather than elegance, that he


s: means to commend, in speaking of the fair house which Paris had


s: built for himself with the aid of the most skilful masons of


s: Va tragl’ armenti, o al fiume usato, o a l’herba."


s: Le ragioni, e ’l riposo, e de la notte."


s: Iliad, the destiny of Achilles, or rather this peculiar crisis of


s: "Seest thou not this? Or do we fear in vain


s: Thy boasted thunders, and thy thoughtless reign?"


s: specially authorised agents of Jove, or on that of one or two


s: contumacious deities, described as boldly setting his commands at


s: allude to the supreme edict as the cause of their present


s: inactivity."—Mure, vol. i. p 257. See however, Muller, "Greek


s: Literature," ch. v. Section 6, and Grote, vol. ii. p. 252.


s: As from the centre thrice to th’ utmost pole."


s: "E quanto e da le stelle al basso inferno,


s: "Some of the epithets which Homer applies to the heavens seem to


s: highest point on the earth, and it is not always carefully


s: distinguished from the aerian regions above The idea of a seat of


s: Hung e’er my realm, link’d in a golden chain


s: "Jove now, sole arbiter of peace and war,


s: Each host he weighs; by turns they both prevail,


s: Till Troy descending fix’d the doubtful scale."


s: "Th’ Eternal, to prevent such horrid fray,


s: Wherein all things created first he weighed;


s: The pendulous round earth, with balanced air


s: In counterpoise; now ponders all events,


s: Battles and realms. In these he puts two weights,


s: The sequel each of parting and of fight:


s: The latter quick up flew, and kick’d the beam."


s: Had gone to wrack, with ruin overspread;


s: Had not th’ Almighty Father, where he sits


s: Gl’ occhi, e cader siu ’l tergo il collo mira."


s: "Struck by the lab’ring priests’ uplifted hands


s: The victims fall: to heav’n they make their pray’r,


s: The curling vapours load the ambient air.


s: But vain their toil: the pow’rs who rule the skies


s: Averse beheld the ungrateful sacrifice."


s: Of all steepe hills and pinnacles thrust up themselves for shows,


s: When the unmeasured firmament bursts to disclose her light,


s: And all the signs in heaven are seene, that glad the shepherd’s


s: Homeric Council is a purely consultative body, assembled not with


s: king, but solely for his information and guidance."


s: contrasted with the rough, but tender disposition of the hero.


s: which receives not only the river Cephisus from the valleys of


s: Phocis, but also other rivers from Parnassus and Helicon" (Grote,


s: The precious charge, and anxiously enjoin’d


s: That I should rear thee as my own with all


s: A parent’s love. I fail’d not in my trust


s: And oft, while round my neck thy hands were lock’d,


s: From thy sweet lips the half articulate sound


s: Of Father came; and oft, as children use,


s: Mewling and puking didst thou drench my tunic."


s: Held to thy lips, and many a time in fits


s: Rejecting thou hast deluged all my vest,


s: farther than to see confusedly what environs him, and to think it


s: "There’s one did laugh in his sleep, and one cry’d murder;


s: And beams of early light the heavens o’erspread."


s: About a goodly palmed hart, hurt with a hunter’s bow


s: Whose escape his nimble feet insure, whilst his warm blood doth


s: And his light knees have power to move: but (maistred by his


s: Embost within a shady hill, the jackals charge him round,


s: And teare his flesh—when instantly fortune sends in the powers


s: Of some sterne lion, with whose sighte they flie and he devours.


s: Where Simois rolls the bodies and the shields


s: Stones rent from stones,—where clouds of dust arise,—


s: Amid that smother, Neptune holds his place,


s: Below the wall’s foundation drives his mace,


s: And heaves the building from the solid base."


s: These royalties and not refuse to reign,


s: Of hazard as of honour, due alike to him


s: Some authors have regarded the phrase "Hippomolgian," _i.e._


s: "And as a round piece of a rocke, which with a winter’s flood


s: Is from his top torn, when a shoure poured from a bursten cloud,


s: Hath broke the naturall band it had within the roughftey rock,


s: Flies jumping all adourne the woods, resounding everie shocke,


s: And on, uncheckt, it headlong leaps till in a plaine it stay,


s: And then (tho’ never so impelled), it stirs not any way:—


s: Di pianto, e sospir tronchi, e molli baci."


s: Around my person wait, and bear my train:


s: Europa; and he is thus carried back into the remotest period of


s: Cretan antiquity known to the poet, apparently as a native hero,


s: recorded by later writers, he is likewise the adopted son of


s: Asterius, as descendant of Dorus, the son of Helen, and is thus


s: connected with a colony said to have been led into Creta by


s: "Forthwith on all sides to his aid was run


s: By angels many and strong, who interpos’d


s: Defence, while others bore him on their shields


s: Back to his chariot, where it stood retir’d


s: From off the files of war; there they him laid,


s: Gnashing for anguish, and despite, and shame."


s: "Thus at their shady lodge arriv’d, both stood,


s: The God that made both sky, air, earth, and heaven,


s: Which they beheld, the moon’s resplendent globe,


s: And starry pole.—Thou also mad’st the night,


s: "But like a rock unmov’d, a rock that braves


s: The raging tempest, and the rising waves—


s: Propp’d on himself he stands: his solid sides


s: Wash off the sea-weeds, and the sounding tides."


s: Chersonese, near the city of Plagusa. Hygin Fab. ciii. Tzetz. on


s: maintained, was not the less admirable and engaging. The heroic


s: companions whom we find celebrated partly by Homer and partly in


s: traditions which, if not of equal antiquity, were grounded on the


s: which, while it often adds a peculiar charm to the poetical


s: Scour through the fields, ne’er fear the stormy night—


s: Their whelps at home expect the promised food,


s: And long to temper their dry chaps in blood—


s: instance in the Iliad itself to illustrate this position, is the


s: passage where Jupiter laments to Juno the approaching death of


s: Sarpedon. ’Alas me!’ says he ’since it is fated (moira) that


s: Sarpedon, dearest to me of men, should be slain by Patroclus, the


s: himself would destroy him by the hands of another."—Coleridge, p.


s: personal prowess decided every thing; the night attack and the


s: ambuscade, although much esteemed, were never upon a large scale.


s: earth with a declivity outwards. Patroclus thrice mounts it in


s: armour. The Trojans are in no respects blockaded, and receive


s: assistance from their allies to the very end."—Coleridge, p. 212.


s: "Fast by the manger stands the inactive steed,


s: And, sunk in sorrow, hangs his languid head;


s: He stands, and careless of his golden grain,


s: Weeps his associates and his master slain."


s: "Nothing is heard upon the mountains now,


s: But pensive herds that for their master low,


s: Straggling and comfortless about they rove,


s: Unmindful of their pasture and their love."


s: "To close the pomp, Æthon, the steed of state,


s: Is led, the funeral of his lord to wait.


s: Stripp’d of his trappings, with a sullen pace


s: He walks, and the big tears run rolling down his face."


s: "Like to a bull, that with impetuous spring


s: Darts, at the moment when the fatal blow


s: "In the wide circle of the shield were seen


s: The work of Vulcan; who had there described


s: The heaven, the ether, and the earth and sea,


s: The winds, the clouds, the moon, the sun, apart


s: In different stations; and you there might view


s: The stars that gem the still-revolving heaven,


s: And, under them, the vast expanse of air,


s: In which, with outstretch’d wings, the long-beak’d bird


s: Winnow’d the gale, as if instinct with life.


s: Around the shield the waves of ocean flow’d,


s: The realms of Tethys, which unnumber’d streams,


s: Were heroes lying with their slaughter’d steeds


s: Upon the ground incarnadin’d with blood.


s: Stern stalked Bellona, smear’d with reeking gore,


s: Through charging ranks; beside her Rout was seen,


s: Inciting men, and Furies breathing flames:


s: Nor absent were the Fates, and the tall shape


s: Of ghastly Death, round whom did Battles throng,


s: Their limbs distilling plenteous blood and sweat;


s: And Gorgons, whose long locks were twisting snakes.


s: That shot their forky tongues incessant forth.


s: "Here was a corn field; reapers in a row,


s: Each with a sharp-tooth’d sickle in his hand,


s: Work’d busily, and, as the harvest fell,


s: Others were ready still to bind the sheaves:


s: The steers were moving; sturdy bullocks here


s: The plough were drawing, and the furrow’d glebe


s: Was black behind them, while with goading wand


s: The active youths impell’d them. Here a feast


s: Was graved: to the shrill pipe and ringing lyre


s: A band of blooming virgins led the dance.


s: compared this with the description of the shield of Hercules by


s: difference of arrangement in the Shield of Hercules is altogether


s: harmonies; whence however, we are hurried back to Perseus, the


s: Brings nectar temper’d with ambrosial dews."


s: All pale and trembling, lest the race of man,


s: Slain by Jove’s wrath, and led by Hermes’ rod,


s: Should fill (a countless throng!) his dark abode."


s: In humble vales they built their soft abodes."


s: "Outstripp’d the winds in speed upon the plain,


s: Flew o’er the field, nor hurt the bearded grain:


s: She swept the seas, and, as she skimm’d along,


s: Her flying feet unbathed on billows hung."


s: treacherous collusion,—a suspicion indirectly glanced at, though


s: emphatically repelled, in the Æneas of Virgil."—Grote, i. p. 427.


s: "When your Æneas fought, but fought with odds


s: I spread a cloud before the victor’s sight,


s: Sustain’d the vanquish’d, and secured his flight—


s: Even then secured him, when I sought with joy


s: The vow’d destruction of ungrateful Troy."


s: ready explanation from physical causes. Yet the subsiding of the


s: flood at the critical moment when the hero’s destruction appeared


s: "So, when with crackling flames a caldron fries,


s: The bubbling waters from the bottom rise.


s: Above the brims they force their fiery way;


s: Black vapours climb aloft, and cloud the day."


s: In the arctic sky, and from his horrid hair


s: "Fairest of stars, last in the train of night,


s: immortality in the isle of Leuke in the Euxine.


s: Art thou so late return’d for our defence?


s: With length of labours, and with, toils of war?


s: Art thou restored to thy declining town?


s: But say, what wounds are these? what new disgrace


s: Deforms the manly features of thy face?"


s: "In vain I reach my feeble hands to join


s: She said, and from his eyes the fleeting fair


s: Retired, like subtle smoke dissolved in air."


s: O’er bog, o’er steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare,


s: With head, hands, wings, or feet pursues his way,


s: And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies."


s: The Trojans found: the sounding axe is placed:


s: Firs, pines, and pitch-trees, and the tow’ring pride


s: And piercing wedges cleave the stubborn oak.


s: High trunks of trees, fell’d from the steepy crown


s: Of the bare mountains, roll with ruin down."


s: "The haughty Dares in the lists appears:


s: Walking he strides, his head erected bears:


s: His nervous arms the weighty gauntlet wield,


s: And loud applauses echo through the field.


s: Such Dares was, and such he strode along,


s: And drew the wonder of the gazing throng


s: His brawny breast and ample chest he shows;


s: His lifted arms around his head he throws,


s: And deals in whistling air his empty blows.


s: His match is sought, but, through the trembling band,


s: No one dares answer to the proud demand.


s: Presuming of his force, with sparkling eyes,


s: If none my matchless valour dares oppose,


s: His faithful friends unhappy Dares bore:


s: His mouth and nostrils pour’d a purple flood,


s: And pounded teeth came rushing with his blood."


s: object of great interest with the subsequent poets."—Grote, i, p.


s: He speeds, and through the vast ethereal sky


s: Sails between worlds and worlds, with steady wing,


s: Now on the polar winds, then with quick fan


s: At once on th’ eastern cliff of Paradise


s: He lights, and to his proper shape returns


s: And shook his plumes, that heavenly fragrance fill’d


s: "Hermes obeys; with golden pinions binds


s: His flying feet, and mounts the western winds:


s: And whether o’er the seas or earth he flies,


s: With rapid force they bear him down the skies


s: But first he grasps within his awful hand


s: The mark of sovereign power, his magic wand;


s: With this he draws the ghost from hollow graves;


s: With this he drives them from the Stygian waves:


s: Thus arm’d, the god begins his airy race,


s: And drives the racking clouds along the liquid space."


s: "By a close study of life, and by a true and natural mode of


s: expressing everything, Homer was enabled to venture upon the most


s: skilful, and yet the simplest and most affecting passage in the


s: Iliad. Quinctilian has taken notice of the following speech of


s: gradually introducing the parallel of his own situation; and,


s: "Here, from the tow’r by stern Ulysses thrown,


s: refinement of feeling and softness of tone which so generally


s: distinguish the last book of the Iliad from the rest."—Classic


s: The frequent and touching allusions, interspersed throughout the


s: finest evidences of the spirit of ethic unity by which the whole


s: framework of the poem is united."—Mure, vol. i. p 201.


s: entertained magnificently; neither pompous nor familiar; not


s: contemptuous, yet without much ceremony." Coleridge, p. 227,


s: considers the termination of "Paradise Lost" somewhat similar.


s: constantly increasing source of interest; and it is not without a


s: "Dactylics call'st thou them? God help thee, silly one!"


s: passages admirably rendered in other metres; and there are many


s: numerous similes, in which every touch is nature, and nothing is


s: Hephaestus, or Leto, would hardly convey to them a definite


s: It has been my aim throughout to produce a translation and not a


s: The vengeance, deep and deadly; whence to Greece


s: Unnumbered ills arose; which many a soul


s: Of mighty warriors to the viewless shades


s: And carrion birds; but so had Jove decreed,


s: From that sad day when first in wordy war,


s: Confronted stood by Peleus' godlike son.


s: Say then, what God the fatal strife provok'd?


s: Jove's and Latona's son; he, filled with wrath


s: Against the King, with deadly pestilence


s: The camp afflicted,--and the people died,--


s: For Chryses' sake, his priest, whom Atreus' son


s: With scorn dismiss'd, when to the Grecian ships


s: He came, his captive daughter to redeem,


s: With costly ransom charg'd; and in his hand


s: And golden staff; to all he sued, but chief


s: To Atreus' sons, twin captains of the host:


s: "Ye sons of Atreus, and ye well-greav'd Greeks,


s: May the great Gods, who on Olympus dwell,


s: Restore, I pray; her proffer'd ransom take,


s: And in his priest, the Lord of Light revere."


s: Then through the ranks assenting murmurs ran,


s: The priest to rev'rence, and the ransom take:


s: And bitter speech, the trembling sire address'd:


s: "Old man, I warn thee, that beside our ships


s: I find thee not, or ling'ring now, or back


s: Returning; lest thou prove of small avail


s: Thy golden staff, and fillet of thy God.


s: Her I release not, till her youth be fled;


s: Within my walls, in Argos, far from home,


s: And share a master's bed. For thee, begone!


s: Incense me not, lest ill betide thee now."


s: He said: the old man trembled, and obeyed;


s: Silent he pass'd; and all apart, he pray'd


s: "Hear me, God of the silver bow! whose care


s: Chrysa surrounds, and Cilia's lovely vale;


s: Whose sov'reign sway o'er Tenedos extends;


s: O Smintheus, hear! if e'er my offered gifts


s: Found favour in thy sight; if e'er to thee


s: I burn'd the fat of bulls and choicest goats,


s: Grant me this boon--upon the Grecian host


s: Let thine unerring darts avenge my tears."


s: Thus as he pray'd, his pray'r Apollo heard:


s: Along Olympus' heights he pass'd, his heart


s: Burning with wrath; behind his shoulders hung


s: Like the night-cloud he pass'd, and from afar


s: He bent against the ships, and sped the bolt;


s: And fierce and deadly twang'd the silver bow.


s: First on the mules and dogs, on man the last,


s: Was pour'd the arrowy storm; and through the camp,


s: Constant and num'rous, blaz'd the fun'ral fires.


s: Nine days the heav'nly Archer on the troops


s: Hurl'd his dread shafts; the tenth, th' assembled Greeks


s: By Juno, white-arm'd Goddess, who beheld


s: With pitying eyes the wasting hosts of Greece.


s: When all were met, and closely throng'd around,


s: Rose the swift-footed chief, and thus began:


s: "Great son of Atreus, to my mind there seems,


s: If we would 'scape from death, one only course,


s: Home to retrace our steps: since here at once


s: But seek we first some prophet, or some priest,


s: Or some wise vision-seer (since visions too


s: From Jove proceed), who may the cause explain,


s: Which with such deadly wrath Apollo fires:


s: He blame us; or if fat of lambs and goats


s: May soothe his anger and the plague assuage."


s: This said, he sat; and Thestor's son arose,


s: Calchas, the chief of seers, to whom were known


s: The present, and the future, and the past;


s: Guided to Ilium's shore the Grecian fleet.


s: Who thus with cautious speech replied, and said;


s: "Achilles, lov'd of Heav'n, thou bidd'st me say


s: Why thus incens'd the far-destroying King;


s: Therefore I speak; but promise thou, and swear,


s: By word and hand, to bear me harmless through.


s: For well I know my speech must one offend,


s: The Argive chief, o'er all the Greeks supreme;


s: He veil his wrath, yet in his bosom pent


s: It still is nurs'd, until the time arrive;


s: Say, then, wilt thou protect me, if I speak?"


s: Him answer'd thus Achilles, swift of foot:


s: "Speak boldly out whate'er thine art can tell;


s: For by Apollo's self I swear, whom thou,


s: O Calchas, serv'st, and who thy words inspires,


s: That, while I live, and see the light of Heav'n,


s: Not one of all the Greeks shall dare on thee,


s: Beside our ships, injurious hands to lay:


s: Who 'mid our warriors boasts the foremost place."


s: Embolden'd thus, th' unerring prophet spoke:


s: "Not for neglected hecatombs or pray'rs,


s: But for his priest, whom Agamemnon scorn'd,


s: Nor took his ransom, nor his child restor'd;


s: This scourge of pestilence, and yet will send;


s: Nor shall we cease his heavy hand to feel,


s: Till to her sire we give the bright-ey'd girl,


s: Unbought, unransom'd, and to Chrysa's shore


s: The God, appeas'd, his anger may remit."


s: This said, he sat; and Atreus' godlike son,


s: His dark soul fill'd with fury, and his eyes


s: Flashing like flames of fire; on Calchas first


s: A with'ring glance he cast, and thus he spoke;


s: "Prophet of ill! thou never speak'st to me


s: Delights to augur ill, but aught of good


s: Thou never yet hast promis'd, nor perform'd.


s: And now among the Greeks thou spread'st abroad


s: Thy lying prophecies, that all these ills


s: And that I rather chose herself to keep,


s: In gifts of form, of feature, or of mind.


s: I wish my people's safety, not their death.


s: But seek me out forthwith some other spoil,


s: Of all the Greeks; for this would ill beseem;


s: And how I lose my present share, ye see."


s: To whom Achilles, swift of foot, replied:


s: "Haughtiest of men, and greediest of the prey!


s: How shall our valiant Greeks for thee seek out


s: Some other spoil? no common fund have we


s: Of hoarded treasures; what our arms have won


s: From captur'd towns, has been already shar'd,


s: Nor can we now resume th' apportion'd spoil.


s: And if Heav'n will that we the strong-built walls


s: Of Troy should raze, our warriors will to thee


s: A threefold, fourfold recompense assign."


s: "Think not, Achilles, valiant though thou art


s: In fight, and godlike, to defraud me thus;


s: Thou shalt not so persuade me, nor o'erreach.


s: Think'st thou to keep thy portion of the spoil,


s: While I with empty hands sit humbly down?


s: The bright-ey'd girl thou bidd'st me to restore;


s: If then the valiant Greeks for me seek out


s: Some other spoil, some compensation just,


s: 'Tis well: if not, I with my own right hand


s: Will from some other chief, from thee perchance,


s: Haste we then now our dark-ribb'd bark to launch,


s: Muster a fitting crew, and place on board


s: Let some one of our councillors be plac'd,


s: Or thou, the most ambitious of them all,


s: That so our rites may soothe the angry God."


s: To whom Achilles thus with scornful glance;


s: "Oh, cloth'd in shamelessness! oh, sordid soul!


s: How canst thou hope that any Greek for thee


s: Will brave the toils of travel or of war?


s: Well dost thou know that 't was no feud of mine


s: With Troy's brave sons that brought me here in arms;


s: They never did me wrong; they never drove


s: In Phthia's fertile, life-sustaining fields


s: To waste the crops; for wide between us lay


s: The shadowy mountains and the roaring sea.


s: With thee, O void of shame! with thee we sail'd,


s: All this hast thou forgotten, or despis'd;


s: And threat'nest now to wrest from me the prize


s: I labour'd hard to win, and Greeks bestow'd.


s: When on some populous town our troops have made