s: Even he whose trident sways the watery reign


s: Heard the loud summons, and forsook the main,


s: Assumed his throne amid the bright abodes,


s: And question’d thus the sire of men and gods:


s: "What moves the god who heaven and earth commands,


s: And grasps the thunder in his awful hands,


s: Thus to convene the whole ethereal state?


s: Is Greece and Troy the subject in debate?


s: And death stands ardent on the edge of war."


s: "’Tis true (the cloud-compelling power replies)


s: This day we call the council of the skies


s: In care of human race; even Jove’s own eye


s: Ourself will sit, and see the hand of fate


s: Work out our will. Celestial powers! descend,


s: And as your minds direct, your succour lend


s: To either host. Troy soon must lie o’erthrown,


s: Their troops but lately durst not meet his eyes;


s: What can they now, if in his rage he rise?


s: Assist them, gods! or Ilion’s sacred wall


s: May fall this day, though fate forbids the fall."


s: He said, and fired their heavenly breasts with rage.


s: On adverse parts the warring gods engage:


s: Heaven’s awful queen; and he whose azure round


s: Girds the vast globe; the maid in arms renown’d;


s: And Vulcan, the black sovereign of the fire:


s: These to the fleet repair with instant flight;


s: Mars fiery-helm’d, the laughter-loving dame,


s: Xanthus, whose streams in golden currents flow,


s: And the chaste huntress of the silver bow.


s: Ere yet the gods their various aid employ,


s: Each Argive bosom swell’d with manly joy,


s: While great Achilles (terror of the plain),


s: Long lost to battle, shone in arms again.


s: Dreadful he stood in front of all his host;


s: Pale Troy beheld, and seem’d already lost;


s: Her bravest heroes pant with inward fear,


s: But when the powers descending swell’d the fight,


s: Then tumult rose: fierce rage and pale affright


s: Varied each face: then Discord sounds alarms,


s: Earth echoes, and the nations rush to arms.


s: Now through the trembling shores Minerva calls,


s: And now she thunders from the Grecian walls.


s: Mars hovering o’er his Troy, his terror shrouds


s: In gloomy tempests, and a night of clouds:


s: Now through each Trojan heart he fury pours


s: With voice divine, from Ilion’s topmost towers:


s: Now shouts to Simois, from her beauteous hill;


s: The mountain shook, the rapid stream stood still.


s: Above, the sire of gods his thunder rolls,


s: And peals on peals redoubled rend the poles.


s: Beneath, stern Neptune shakes the solid ground;


s: The forests wave, the mountains nod around;


s: Through all their summits tremble Ida’s woods,


s: And from their sources boil her hundred floods.


s: Troy’s turrets totter on the rocking plain,


s: And the toss’d navies beat the heaving main.


s: Deep in the dismal regions of the dead,(260)


s: The infernal monarch rear’d his horrid head,


s: Leap’d from his throne, lest Neptune’s arm should lay


s: And pour in light on Pluto’s drear abodes,


s: Abhorr’d by men, and dreadful even to gods.(261)


s: Such war the immortals wage; such horrors rend


s: The world’s vast concave, when the gods contend


s: First silver-shafted Phoebus took the plain


s: Against blue Neptune, monarch of the main.


s: The god of arms his giant bulk display’d,


s: Opposed to Pallas, war’s triumphant maid.


s: (Her golden arrows sounding at her side,)


s: The sacred flood that rolls on golden sands;


s: Xanthus his name with those of heavenly birth,


s: But called Scamander by the sons of earth.


s: While thus the gods in various league engage,


s: Achilles glow’d with more than mortal rage:


s: Hector he sought; in search of Hector turn’d


s: His eyes around, for Hector only burn’d;


s: And burst like lightning through the ranks, and vow’d


s: To glut the god of battles with his blood.


s: But swell’d his bosom with undaunted might,


s: Half-forced and half-persuaded to the fight.


s: In voice and aspect, seem’d the power divine;


s: And bade the chief reflect, how late with scorn


s: In distant threats he braved the goddess-born.


s: From Ida’s woods he chased us to the field,


s: Our force he scattered, and our herds he kill’d;


s: But (Jove assisting) I survived the day:


s: Else had I sunk oppress’d in fatal fight


s: Where’er he moved, the goddess shone before,


s: And bathed his brazen lance in hostile gore.


s: The immortals guard him through the dreadful plain,


s: And suffer not his dart to fall in vain.


s: Were God my aid, this arm should check his power,


s: Though strong in battle as a brazen tower."


s: To whom the son of Jove: "That god implore,


s: From heavenly Venus thou deriv’st thy strain,


s: But Jove himself the sacred source of thine.


s: This said, and spirit breathed into his breast,


s: Through the thick troops the embolden’d hero press’d:


s: His venturous act the white-arm’d queen survey’d,


s: And thus, assembling all the powers, she said:


s: "Behold an action, gods! that claims your care,


s: Phoebus impels, and Phoebus gives him force.


s: Restrain his bold career; at least, to attend


s: Our favour’d hero, let some power descend.


s: To guard his life, and add to his renown,


s: We, the great armament of heaven, came down.


s: Hereafter let him fall, as Fates design,


s: That spun so short his life’s illustrious line:(262)


s: But lest some adverse god now cross his way,


s: Give him to know what powers assist this day:


s: For how shall mortal stand the dire alarms,


s: When heaven’s refulgent host appear in arms?"(263)


s: Thus she; and thus the god whose force can make


s: "Against the might of man, so feeble known,


s: Why should celestial powers exert their own?


s: Suffice from yonder mount to view the scene,


s: And leave to war the fates of mortal men.


s: Obstruct Achilles, or commence the fight.


s: Thence on the gods of Troy we swift descend:


s: Full soon, I doubt not, shall the conflict end;


s: And these, in ruin and confusion hurl’d,


s: Yield to our conquering arms the lower world."


s: Thus having said, the tyrant of the sea,


s: Coerulean Neptune, rose, and led the way.


s: Advanced upon the field there stood a mound


s: Of earth congested, wall’d, and trench’d around;


s: (The work of Trojans, with Minerva’s aid,)


s: What time a vengeful monster of the main


s: Swept the wide shore, and drove him to the plain.


s: Here Neptune and the gods of Greece repair,


s: With clouds encompass’d, and a veil of air:


s: Crown the fair hills that silver Simois shade.


s: In circle close each heavenly party sat,


s: Intent to form the future scheme of fate;


s: But mix not yet in fight, though Jove on high


s: Gives the loud signal, and the heavens reply.


s: Meanwhile the rushing armies hide the ground;


s: The trampled centre yields a hollow sound:


s: Steeds cased in mail, and chiefs in armour bright,


s: The gleaming champaign glows with brazen light.


s: Amid both hosts (a dreadful space) appear,


s: With towering strides Aeneas first advanced;


s: The nodding plumage on his helmet danced:


s: Spread o’er his breast the fencing shield he bore,


s: And, so he moved, his javelin flamed before.


s: He rush’d impetuous. Such the lion’s rage,


s: Who viewing first his foes with scornful eyes,


s: Though all in arms the peopled city rise,


s: Stalks careless on, with unregarding pride;


s: Till at the length, by some brave youth defied,


s: To his bold spear the savage turns alone,


s: He grins, he foams, he rolls his eyes around


s: Lash’d by his tail his heaving sides resound;


s: He calls up all his rage; he grinds his teeth,


s: Resolved on vengeance, or resolved on death.


s: Ere yet the stern encounter join’d, begun


s: "Why comes Æneas through the ranks so far?


s: And prove his merits to the throne of Troy?


s: Grant that beneath thy lance Achilles dies,


s: The partial monarch may refuse the prize;


s: Sons he has many; those thy pride may quell:


s: And ’tis his fault to love those sons too well,


s: Has Troy proposed some spacious tract of land


s: Of hills for vines, and arable for grain?


s: Even this, perhaps, will hardly prove thy lot.


s: Once (as I think) you saw this brandish’d spear


s: And then the great Æneas seem’d to fear:


s: With hearty haste from Ida’s mount he fled,


s: Nor, till he reach’d Lyrnessus, turn’d his head.


s: Her lofty walls not long our progress stay’d;


s: Those, Pallas, Jove, and we, in ruins laid:


s: In Grecian chains her captive race were cast;


s: ’Tis true, the great Aeneas fled too fast.


s: What then I lost, the gods this day restore.


s: Go; while thou may’st, avoid the threaten’d fate;


s: Fools stay to feel it, and are wise too late."


s: To this Anchises’ son: "Such words employ


s: To one that fears thee, some unwarlike boy;


s: With mean reproaches, and unmanly pride;


s: Unworthy the high race from which we came


s: Proclaim’d so loudly by the voice of fame:


s: Each from illustrious fathers draws his line;


s: Each goddess-born; half human, half divine.


s: Thetis’ this day, or Venus’ offspring dies,


s: And tears shall trickle from celestial eyes:


s: For when two heroes, thus derived, contend,


s: ’Tis not in words the glorious strife can end.


s: If yet thou further seek to learn my birth


s: (A tale resounded through the spacious earth)


s: From ancient Dardanus, the first from Jove:


s: Dardania’s walls he raised; for Ilion, then,


s: Was not. The natives were content to till


s: The shady foot of Ida’s fountful hill.(264)


s: From Dardanus great Erichthonius springs,


s: The richest, once, of Asia’s wealthy kings;


s: Three thousand mares his spacious pastures bred,


s: Three thousand foals beside their mothers fed.


s: Boreas, enamour’d of the sprightly train,


s: Conceal’d his godhead in a flowing mane,


s: With voice dissembled to his loves he neigh’d,


s: And coursed the dappled beauties o’er the mead:


s: Hence sprung twelve others of unrivall’d kind,


s: Swift as their mother mares, and father wind.


s: These lightly skimming, when they swept the plain,


s: Nor plied the grass, nor bent the tender grain;


s: And when along the level seas they flew,(265)


s: Scarce on the surface curl’d the briny dew.


s: Such Erichthonius was: from him there came


s: The sacred Tros, of whom the Trojan name.


s: Three sons renown’d adorn’d his nuptial bed,


s: Whom heaven, enamour’d, snatch’d to upper air,


s: To bear the cup of Jove (ethereal guest,


s: The grace and glory of the ambrosial feast).


s: From him Tithonus, now in cares grown old,


s: And Priam, bless’d with Hector, brave and bold;


s: Such is our race: ’tis fortune gives us birth,


s: But Jove alone endues the soul with worth:


s: He, source of power and might! with boundless sway,


s: Long in the field of words we may contend,


s: Arm’d or with truth or falsehood, right or wrong;


s: Wounded, we wound; and neither side can fail,


s: For every man has equal strength to rail:


s: Women alone, when in the streets they jar,


s: Like us they stand, encompass’d with the crowd,


s: Cease then—Our business in the field of fight


s: Is not to question, but to prove our might.


s: To all those insults thou hast offer’d here,


s: Receive this answer: ’tis my flying spear."


s: He spoke. With all his force the javelin flung,


s: Fix’d deep, and loudly in the buckler rung.


s: Far on his outstretch’d arm, Pelides held


s: (To meet the thundering lance) his dreadful shield,


s: That trembled as it stuck; nor void of fear


s: Saw, ere it fell, the immeasurable spear.


s: His fears were vain; impenetrable charms


s: Secured the temper of the ethereal arms.


s: Through two strong plates the point its passage held,


s: But stopp’d, and rested, by the third repell’d.


s: Five plates of various metal, various mould,


s: Composed the shield; of brass each outward fold,


s: Of tin each inward, and the middle gold:


s: There stuck the lance. Then rising ere he threw,


s: The forceful spear of great Achilles flew,


s: And pierced the Dardan shield’s extremest bound,


s: Where the shrill brass return’d a sharper sound:


s: Through the thin verge the Pelean weapon glides,


s: And the slight covering of expanded hides.


s: And o’er him high the riven targe extends,


s: Sees, through its parting plates, the upper air,


s: And at his back perceives the quivering spear:


s: A fate so near him, chills his soul with fright;


s: And swims before his eyes the many-colour’d light.


s: Achilles, rushing in with dreadful cries,


s: Draws his broad blade, and at Æneas flies:


s: With force collected, heaves a mighty stone:


s: No two of earth’s degenerate sons could raise.


s: But ocean’s god, whose earthquakes rock the ground.


s: Saw the distress, and moved the powers around:


s: By Phoebus urged; but Phoebus has bestow’d


s: His aid in vain: the man o’erpowers the god.


s: And can ye see this righteous chief atone


s: With guiltless blood for vices not his own?


s: To all the gods his constant vows were paid;


s: Sure, though he wars for Troy, he claims our aid.


s: Fate wills not this; nor thus can Jove resign


s: The future father of the Dardan line:(266)


s: The first great ancestor obtain’d his grace,


s: And still his love descends on all the race:


s: For Priam now, and Priam’s faithless kind,


s: At length are odious to the all-seeing mind;


s: And sons succeeding sons the lasting line sustain."


s: The great earth-shaker thus: to whom replies


s: The imperial goddess with the radiant eyes:


s: The Dardan prince, O Neptune! be thy care;


s: Pallas and I, by all that gods can bind,


s: Have sworn destruction to the Trojan kind;


s: Not even an instant to protract their fate,


s: Or save one member of the sinking state;


s: Till her last flame be quench’d with her last gore,


s: And even her crumbling ruins are no more."


s: The king of ocean to the fight descends,


s: Through all the whistling darts his course he bends,


s: Swift interposed between the warrior flies,


s: And casts thick darkness o’er Achilles’ eyes.(267)


s: From great Æneas’ shield the spear he drew,


s: And at his master’s feet the weapon threw.


s: That done, with force divine he snatch’d on high


s: The Dardan prince, and bore him through the sky,


s: Smooth-gliding without step, above the heads


s: Of warring heroes, and of bounding steeds:


s: Till at the battle’s utmost verge they light,


s: Where the slow Caucans close the rear of fight.


s: The godhead there (his heavenly form confess’d)


s: With words like these the panting chief address’d:


s: "What power, O prince! with force inferior far,


s: Urged thee to meet Achilles’ arm in war?


s: Henceforth beware, nor antedate thy doom,


s: Defrauding fate of all thy fame to come.


s: But when the day decreed (for come it must)


s: Shall lay this dreadful hero in the dust,


s: Let then the furies of that arm be known,


s: Secure no Grecian force transcends thy own."


s: With that, he left him wondering as he lay,


s: Then from Achilles chased the mist away:


s: Sudden, returning with a stream of light,


s: The scene of war came rushing on his sight.


s: Then thus, amazed; "What wonders strike my mind!


s: My spear, that parted on the wings of wind,


s: Laid here before me! and the Dardan lord,


s: That fell this instant, vanish’d from my sword!


s: I thought alone with mortals to contend,


s: But powers celestial sure this foe defend.


s: Great as he is, our arms he scarce will try,


s: Content for once, with all his gods, to fly.


s: Now then let others bleed." This said, aloud


s: He vents his fury and inflames the crowd:


s: "O Greeks! (he cries, and every rank alarms)


s: Join battle, man to man, and arms to arms!


s: ’Tis not in me, though favour’d by the sky,


s: To mow whole troops, and make whole armies fly:


s: Not Mars himself, nor great Minerva’s rage.


s: Whate’er of active force, or acting fire;


s: Whate’er this heart can prompt, or hand obey;


s: All, all Achilles, Greeks! is yours to-day.


s: Through yon wide host this arm shall scatter fear,


s: And thin the squadrons with my single spear."


s: He said: nor less elate with martial joy,


s: The godlike Hector warm’d the troops of Troy:


s: "Trojans, to war! Think, Hector leads you on;


s: Nor dread the vaunts of Peleus’ haughty son.


s: Deeds must decide our fate. E’en these with words


s: Insult the brave, who tremble at their swords:


s: The weakest atheist-wretch all heaven defies,


s: But shrinks and shudders when the thunder flies.


s: Nor from yon boaster shall your chief retire,


s: Not though his heart were steel, his hands were fire;


s: That fire, that steel, your Hector should withstand,


s: And brave that vengeful heart, that dreadful hand."


s: Thus (breathing rage through all) the hero said;


s: Clamours on clamours tempest all the air,


s: They join, they throng, they thicken to the war.


s: But Phoebus warns him from high heaven to shun


s: The single fight with Thetis’ godlike son;


s: More safe to combat in the mingled band,


s: Nor tempt too near the terrors of his hand.


s: And, plunged within the ranks, awaits the fight.


s: Then fierce Achilles, shouting to the skies,


s: On Troy’s whole force with boundless fury flies.


s: First falls Iphytion, at his army’s head;


s: Brave was the chief, and brave the host he led;


s: From great Otrynteus he derived his blood,


s: Beneath the shades of Tmolus, crown’d with snow,


s: From Hyde’s walls he ruled the lands below.


s: Fierce as he springs, the sword his head divides:


s: With loud-resounding arms he strikes the plain;


s: While thus Achilles glories o’er the slain:


s: "Lie there, Otryntides! the Trojan earth


s: Receives thee dead, though Gygae boast thy birth;


s: Those beauteous fields where Hyllus’ waves are roll’d,


s: And plenteous Hermus swells with tides of gold,


s: Are thine no more."—The insulting hero said,


s: The rolling wheels of Greece the body tore,


s: And dash’d their axles with no vulgar gore.


s: Demoleon next, Antenor’s offspring, laid


s: Breathless in dust, the price of rashness paid.


s: The impatient steel with full-descending sway


s: Forced through his brazen helm its furious way,


s: Resistless drove the batter’d skull before,


s: And dash’d and mingled all the brains with gore.


s: This sees Hippodamas, and seized with fright,


s: Deserts his chariot for a swifter flight:


s: The panting Trojan rivets to the ground.


s: He groans away his soul: not louder roars,


s: At Neptune’s shrine on Helice’s high shores,


s: The victim bull; the rocks re-bellow round,


s: And ocean listens to the grateful sound.


s: Then fell on Polydore his vengeful rage,(268)


s: The youngest hope of Priam’s stooping age:


s: (Whose feet for swiftness in the race surpass’d:)


s: Of all his sons, the dearest, and the last.


s: To the forbidden field he takes his flight,


s: In the first folly of a youthful knight,


s: To vaunt his swiftness wheels around the plain,


s: But vaunts not long, with all his swiftness slain:


s: Struck where the crossing belts unite behind,


s: And golden rings the double back-plate join’d


s: Forth through the navel burst the thrilling steel;


s: And on his knees with piercing shrieks he fell;


s: The rushing entrails pour’d upon the ground


s: His hands collect; and darkness wraps him round.


s: When Hector view’d, all ghastly in his gore,


s: His soul no longer brook’d the distant fight:


s: Full in Achilles’ dreadful front he came,


s: And shook his javelin like a waving flame.


s: The son of Peleus sees, with joy possess’d,


s: His heart high-bounding in his rising breast.


s: "And, lo! the man on whom black fates attend;


s: The man, that slew Achilles, is his friend!


s: No more shall Hector’s and Pelides’ spear


s: Turn from each other in the walks of war."—


s: Then with revengeful eyes he scann’d him o’er:


s: "Come, and receive thy fate!" He spake no more.


s: Hector, undaunted, thus: "Such words employ


s: To one that dreads thee, some unwarlike boy:


s: But heaven alone confers success in war:


s: Mean as I am, the gods may guide my dart,


s: And give it entrance in a braver heart."


s: Then parts the lance: but Pallas’ heavenly breath


s: Far from Achilles wafts the winged death:


s: And at the feet of its great master lies.


s: His heart and eyes with flaming fury glow:


s: Thrice struck Pelides with indignant heart,


s: Thrice in impassive air he plunged the dart;


s: The spear a fourth time buried in the cloud.


s: "Wretch! thou hast ’scaped again; once more thy flight


s: Has saved thee, and the partial god of light.


s: But long thou shalt not thy just fate withstand,


s: Fly then inglorious! but thy flight this day


s: Whole hecatombs of Trojan ghosts shall pay."


s: With that, he gluts his rage on numbers slain:


s: Then Dryops tumbled to the ensanguined plain,


s: Pierced through the neck: he left him panting there,


s: And stopp’d Demuchus, great Philetor’s heir.


s: Gigantic chief! deep gash’d the enormous blade,


s: Both in one instant from the chariot hurl’d,


s: Sunk in one instant to the nether world:


s: This difference only their sad fates afford


s: That one the spear destroy’d, and one the sword.


s: Nor less unpitied, young Alastor bleeds;


s: In vain his youth, in vain his beauty pleads;


s: In vain he begs thee, with a suppliant’s moan,


s: To spare a form, an age so like thy own!


s: E’er bent that fierce, inexorable heart!


s: While yet he trembled at his knees, and cried,


s: The ruthless falchion oped his tender side;


s: That drowns his bosom till he pants no more.


s: Through Mulius’ head then drove the impetuous spear:


s: The warrior falls, transfix’d from ear to ear.


s: Thy life, Echeclus! next the sword bereaves,


s: Deep though the front the ponderous falchion cleaves;


s: Warm’d in the brain the smoking weapon lies,


s: The purple death comes floating o’er his eyes.


s: Then brave Deucalion died: the dart was flung


s: Where the knit nerves the pliant elbow strung;


s: He dropp’d his arm, an unassisting weight,


s: Full on his neck the falling falchion sped,


s: From his broad shoulders hew’d his crested head:


s: Forth from the bone the spinal marrow flies,


s: And, sunk in dust, the corpse extended lies.


s: Rhigmas, whose race from fruitful Thracia came,


s: (The son of Pierus, an illustrious name,)


s: Succeeds to fate: the spear his belly rends;


s: Prone from his car the thundering chief descends.


s: The squire, who saw expiring on the ground


s: His prostrate master, rein’d the steeds around;


s: His back, scarce turn’d, the Pelian javelin gored,


s: And stretch’d the servant o’er his dying lord.


s: As when a flame the winding valley fills,


s: And runs on crackling shrubs between the hills;


s: Then o’er the stubble up the mountain flies,


s: Fires the high woods, and blazes to the skies,


s: This way and that, the spreading torrent roars:


s: So sweeps the hero through the wasted shores;


s: Around him wide, immense destruction pours


s: And earth is deluged with the sanguine showers


s: And thick bestrewn, lies Ceres’ sacred floor;


s: When round and round, with never-wearied pain,


s: The trampling steers beat out the unnumber’d grain:


s: So the fierce coursers, as the chariot rolls,


s: Tread down whole ranks, and crush out heroes’ souls,


s: Dash’d from their hoofs while o’er the dead they fly,


s: Black, bloody drops the smoking chariot dye:


s: The spiky wheels through heaps of carnage tore;


s: And thick the groaning axles dropp’d with gore.


s: High o’er the scene of death Achilles stood,


s: All grim with dust, all horrible in blood:


s: Yet still insatiate, still with rage on flame;


s: And now to Xanthus’ gliding stream they drove,


s: The river here divides the flying train,


s: Part to the town fly diverse o’er the plain,


s: Where late their troops triumphant bore the fight,


s: Now chased, and trembling in ignoble flight:


s: (These with a gathered mist Saturnia shrouds,


s: And rolls behind the rout a heap of clouds:)


s: Part plunge into the stream: old Xanthus roars,


s: The flashing billows beat the whiten’d shores:


s: With cries promiscuous all the banks resound,


s: And here, and there, in eddies whirling round,


s: The flouncing steeds and shrieking warriors drown’d.


s: As the scorch’d locusts from their fields retire,


s: While fast behind them runs the blaze of fire;


s: Driven from the land before the smoky cloud,


s: The clustering legions rush into the flood:


s: So, plunged in Xanthus by Achilles’ force,


s: Roars the resounding surge with men and horse.


s: (Which spreading tamarisks on the margin hide,)


s: Then, like a god, the rapid billows braves,


s: Arm’d with his sword, high brandish’d o’er the waves:


s: Now down he plunges, now he whirls it round,


s: Deep groan’d the waters with the dying sound;


s: Repeated wounds the reddening river dyed,


s: And the warm purple circled on the tide.


s: Swift through the foamy flood the Trojans fly,


s: And close in rocks or winding caverns lie:


s: So the huge dolphin tempesting the main,


s: In shoals before him fly the scaly train,


s: Confusedly heap’d they seek their inmost caves,


s: Or pant and heave beneath the floating waves.


s: Now, tired with slaughter, from the Trojan band


s: Twelve chosen youths he drags alive to land;


s: With their rich belts their captive arms restrains


s: (Late their proud ornaments, but now their chains).


s: These his attendants to the ships convey’d,


s: Sad victims destined to Patroclus’ shade;


s: Then, as once more he plunged amid the flood,


s: But late made captive in his father’s land


s: Lopp’d the green arms to spoke a chariot wheel)


s: To Lemnos’ isle he sold the royal slave,


s: Where Jason’s son the price demanded gave;


s: The ransom’d prince to fair Arisbe bore.


s: Ten days were past, since in his father’s reign


s: The next, that god whom men in vain withstand


s: Gives the same youth to the same conquering hand


s: His well-known face when great Achilles eyed,


s: With wild affright, and dropp’d upon the field


s: His useless lance and unavailing shield,)


s: As trembling, panting, from the stream he fled,


s: And knock’d his faltering knees, the hero said.


s: "Ye mighty gods! what wonders strike my view!


s: Is it in vain our conquering arms subdue?


s: Sure I shall see yon heaps of Trojans kill’d


s: Rise from the shades, and brave me on the field;


s: As now the captive, whom so late I bound


s: And sold to Lemnos, stalks on Trojan ground!


s: Not him the sea’s unmeasured deeps detain,


s: That bar such numbers from their native plain;


s: Lo! he returns. Try, then, my flying spear!


s: Try, if the grave can hold the wanderer;


s: If earth, at length this active prince can seize,


s: Earth, whose strong grasp has held down Hercules."


s: Thus while he spoke, the Trojan pale with fears


s: Approach’d, and sought his knees with suppliant tears


s: Loth as he was to yield his youthful breath,


s: And his soul shivering at the approach of death.


s: Achilles raised the spear, prepared to wound;


s: He kiss’d his feet, extended on the ground:


s: And while, above, the spear suspended stood,


s: Longing to dip its thirsty point in blood,


s: One hand embraced them close, one stopp’d the dart,


s: While thus these melting words attempt his heart:


s: "Thy well-known captive, great Achilles! see,


s: Who shared the gifts of Ceres at thy board;


s: Whom late thy conquering arm to Lemnos bore,


s: Far from his father, friends, and native shore;


s: And scarce twelve morning suns have seen me here;


s: (Old Altes’ daughter, and Lelegia’s heir;


s: And ruled the fields where silver Satnio flow’d,)


s: For ah! one spear shall drink each brother’s gore,


s: How from that arm of terror shall I fly?


s: Ah! think not me too much of Hector’s kind!


s: Not the same mother gave thy suppliant breath,


s: With his, who wrought thy loved Patroclus’ death."


s: These words, attended with a shower of tears,


s: The youth address’d to unrelenting ears:


s: "Talk not of life, or ransom (he replies):


s: But least, the sons of Priam’s hateful race.


s: Die then, my friend! what boots it to deplore?


s: The great, the good Patroclus is no more!


s: He, far thy better, was foredoom’d to die,


s: Seest thou not me, whom nature’s gifts adorn,


s: Sprung from a hero, from a goddess born?


s: The day shall come (which nothing can avert)


s: When by the spear, the arrow, or the dart,


s: By night, or day, by force, or by design,


s: Impending death and certain fate are mine!


s: Die then,"—He said; and as the word he spoke,


s: The fainting stripling sank before the stroke:


s: His hand forgot its grasp, and left the spear,


s: While all his trembling frame confess’d his fear:


s: Sudden, Achilles his broad sword display’d,


s: And buried in his neck the reeking blade.


s: Prone fell the youth; and panting on the land,


s: The gushing purple dyed the thirsty sand.


s: The victor to the stream the carcase gave,


s: And thus insults him, floating on the wave:


s: "Lie there, Lycaon! let the fish surround


s: Thy bloated corpse, and suck thy gory wound:


s: There no sad mother shall thy funerals weep,


s: But swift Scamander roll thee to the deep,


s: Whose every wave some watery monster brings,


s: To feast unpunish’d on the fat of kings.


s: So perish Troy, and all the Trojan line!


s: Such ruin theirs, and such compassion mine.


s: What boots ye now Scamander’s worshipp’d stream,


s: Your living coursers glut his gulfs in vain!


s: Thus he rewards you, with this bitter fate;


s: Thus, till the Grecian vengeance is complete:


s: Thus is atoned Patroclus’ honour’d shade,


s: And the short absence of Achilles paid."


s: These boastful words provoked the raging god;


s: What means divine may yet the power employ


s: Meanwhile the hero springs in arms, to dare


s: Flows from the source of Axius, stream divine!


s: (Fair Peribaea’s love the god had crown’d,


s: With all his refluent waters circled round:)


s: On him Achilles rush’d; he fearless stood,


s: And shook two spears, advancing from the flood;


s: The flood impell’d him, on Pelides’ head


s: To avenge his waters choked with heaps of dead.


s: "What art thou, boldest of the race of man?


s: Who, or from whence? Unhappy is the sire


s: Whose son encounters our resistless ire."


s: (Replied the warrior) our illustrious race?


s: Arm’d with protended spears, my native band;


s: Now shines the tenth bright morning since I came


s: Axius, who swells with all the neighbouring rills,


s: And wide around the floated region fills,


s: Begot my sire, whose spear much glory won:


s: Now lift thy arm, and try that hero’s son!"


s: Threatening he said: the hostile chiefs advance;


s: At once Asteropeus discharged each lance,


s: (For both his dexterous hands the lance could wield,)


s: One struck, but pierced not, the Vulcanian shield;


s: One razed Achilles’ hand; the spouting blood


s: Spun forth; in earth the fasten’d weapon stood.


s: Like lightning next the Pelean javelin flies:


s: Deep in the swelling bank was driven the spear,


s: Even to the middle earth; and quiver’d there.


s: Then from his side the sword Pelides drew,


s: The foe thrice tugg’d, and shook the rooted wood;


s: Repulsive of his might the weapon stood:


s: The fourth, he tries to break the spear in vain;


s: Bent as he stands, he tumbles to the plain;


s: The reeking entrails pour upon the ground.


s: Beneath the hero’s feet he panting lies,


s: And his eye darkens, and his spirit flies;


s: While the proud victor thus triumphing said,


s: His radiant armour tearing from the dead:


s: "So ends thy glory! Such the fate they prove,


s: Who strive presumptuous with the sons of Jove!


s: Sprung from a river, didst thou boast thy line?


s: But great Saturnius is the source of mine.


s: How durst thou vaunt thy watery progeny?


s: The race of these superior far to those,


s: As he that thunders to the stream that flows.


s: What rivers can, Scamander might have shown;


s: But Jove he dreads, nor wars against his son.


s: And all the roaring billows of the main.


s: The eternal ocean, from whose fountains flow


s: The seas, the rivers, and the springs below,


s: The thundering voice of Jove abhors to hear,


s: And in his deep abysses shakes with fear."


s: He said: then from the bank his javelin tore,


s: And left the breathless warrior in his gore.


s: The floating tides the bloody carcase lave,


s: And beat against it, wave succeeding wave;


s: Till, roll’d between the banks, it lies the food


s: Of curling eels, and fishes of the flood.


s: All scatter’d round the stream (their mightiest slain)


s: The amazed Paeonians scour along the plain;


s: And numbers more his lance had plunged to hell,


s: But from the bottom of his gulfs profound


s: Scamander spoke; the shores return’d the sound.


s: "O first of mortals! (for the gods are thine)


s: In valour matchless, and in force divine!


s: If Jove have given thee every Trojan head,


s: ’Tis not on me thy rage should heap the dead.


s: See! my choked streams no more their course can keep,


s: Nor roll their wonted tribute to the deep.


s: Turn then, impetuous! from our injured flood;


s: Content, thy slaughters could amaze a god."


s: In human form, confess’d before his eyes,


s: The river thus; and thus the chief replies:


s: "O sacred stream! thy word we shall obey;


s: But not till Troy the destined vengeance pay,


s: Not till within her towers the perjured train


s: Shall pant, and tremble at our arms again;


s: Not till proud Hector, guardian of her wall,


s: Or stain this lance, or see Achilles fall."


s: He said; and drove with fury on the foe.


s: Full and express, that Phoebus should employ


s: And make her conquer, till Hyperion’s fall


s: In awful darkness hide the face of all?"


s: He spoke in vain—The chief without dismay


s: Ploughs through the boiling surge his desperate way.


s: Then rising in his rage above the shores,


s: From all his deep the bellowing river roars,


s: Huge heaps of slain disgorges on the coast,


s: And round the banks the ghastly dead are toss’d.


s: While all before, the billows ranged on high,


s: (A watery bulwark,) screen the bands who fly.


s: Now bursting on his head with thundering sound,


s: The falling deluge whelms the hero round:


s: His loaded shield bends to the rushing tide;


s: His feet, upborne, scarce the strong flood divide,


s: Sliddering, and staggering. On the border stood


s: A spreading elm, that overhung the flood;


s: He seized a bending bough, his steps to stay;


s: The plant uprooted to his weight gave way.(270)


s: Loud flash the waters to the rushing fall


s: Of the thick foliage. The large trunk display’d


s: Bridged the rough flood across: the hero stay’d


s: On this his weight, and raised upon his hand,


s: Leap’d from the channel, and regain’d the land.


s: Then blacken’d the wild waves: the murmur rose:


s: And bursts the bank, ambitious to destroy


s: He like the warlike eagle speeds his pace


s: (Swiftest and strongest of the aerial race);


s: Far as a spear can fly, Achilles springs;


s: At every bound his clanging armour rings:


s: Now here, now there, he turns on every side,


s: And winds his course before the following tide;


s: The waves flow after, wheresoe’er he wheels,


s: And gather fast, and murmur at his heels.


s: Soft rills of water from the bubbling springs,


s: And calls the floods from high, to bless his bowers,


s: And feed with pregnant streams the plants and flowers:


s: Soon as he clears whate’er their passage stay’d,


s: Swift o’er the rolling pebbles, down the hills,


s: Louder and louder purl the falling rills;


s: Before him scattering, they prevent his pains,


s: And shine in mazy wanderings o’er the plains.


s: Still flies Achilles, but before his eyes


s: Still swift Scamander rolls where’er he flies:


s: Not all his speed escapes the rapid floods;


s: The first of men, but not a match for gods.


s: And bravely try if all the powers were foes;


s: So oft the surge, in watery mountains spread,


s: Beats on his back, or bursts upon his head.


s: Yet dauntless still the adverse flood he braves,


s: And still indignant bounds above the waves.


s: Tired by the tides, his knees relax with toil;


s: Wash’d from beneath him slides the slimy soil;


s: When thus (his eyes on heaven’s expansion thrown)


s: Forth bursts the hero with an angry groan:


s: Prevent, O Jove! this ignominious date,(271)


s: And make my future life the sport of fate.


s: Of all heaven’s oracles believed in vain,


s: But most of Thetis must her son complain;


s: By Phoebus’ darts she prophesied my fall,


s: In glorious arms before the Trojan wall.


s: Oh! had I died in fields of battle warm,


s: Might Hector’s spear this dauntless bosom rend,


s: And my swift soul o’ertake my slaughter’d friend.


s: Like some vile swain, whom on a rainy day,


s: Crossing a ford, the torrent sweeps away,


s: And thus in human form address’d the chief:


s: The power of ocean first: "Forbear thy fear,


s: Behold! from Jove descending to thy aid,


s: Propitious Neptune, and the blue-eyed maid.


s: Stay, and the furious flood shall cease to rave


s: ’Tis not thy fate to glut his angry wave.


s: But thou, the counsel heaven suggests, attend!


s: Nor breathe from combat, nor thy sword suspend,


s: Till Troy receive her flying sons, till all


s: Her routed squadrons pant behind their wall:


s: Hector alone shall stand his fatal chance,


s: And Hector’s blood shall smoke upon thy lance.


s: Thine is the glory doom’d." Thus spake the gods:


s: Then swift ascended to the bright abodes.


s: Stung with new ardour, thus by heaven impell’d,


s: He springs impetuous, and invades the field:


s: O’er all the expanded plain the waters spread;


s: Heaved on the bounding billows danced the dead,


s: Floating ’midst scatter’d arms; while casques of gold


s: And turn’d-up bucklers glitter’d as they roll’d.


s: High o’er the surging tide, by leaps and bounds,


s: He wades, and mounts; the parted wave resounds.


s: Not a whole river stops the hero’s course,


s: While Pallas fills him with immortal force.


s: With equal rage, indignant Xanthus roars,


s: And lifts his billows, and o’erwhelms his shores.


s: Then thus to Simois! "Haste, my brother flood;


s: And check this mortal that controls a god;


s: Our bravest heroes else shall quit the fight,


s: And Ilion tumble from her towery height.


s: Call then thy subject streams, and bid them roar,


s: From all thy fountains swell thy watery store,


s: With broken rocks, and with a load of dead,


s: Charge the black surge, and pour it on his head.


s: Mark how resistless through the floods he goes,


s: And boldly bids the warring gods be foes!


s: But nor that force, nor form divine to sight,


s: Shall aught avail him, if our rage unite:


s: Whelm’d under our dark gulfs those arms shall lie,


s: That blaze so dreadful in each Trojan eye;


s: And deep beneath a sandy mountain hurl’d,


s: Immersed remain this terror of the world.


s: Such ponderous ruin shall confound the place,


s: No Greeks shall e’er his perish’d relics grace,


s: No hand his bones shall gather, or inhume;


s: These his cold rites, and this his watery tomb."


s: He said; and on the chief descends amain,


s: Increased with gore, and swelling with the slain.


s: Then, murmuring from his beds, he boils, he raves,


s: The crimson surge, and deluged him with blood.


s: Fear touch’d the queen of heaven: she saw dismay’d,


s: She call’d aloud, and summon’d Vulcan’s aid.


s: "Rise to the war! the insulting flood requires


s: Thy wasteful arm! assemble all thy fires!


s: While to their aid, by our command enjoin’d,


s: Rush the swift eastern and the western wind:


s: These from old ocean at my word shall blow,


s: Corses and arms to one bright ruin turn,


s: And hissing rivers to their bottoms burn.


s: Go, mighty in thy rage! display thy power,


s: Drink the whole flood, the crackling trees devour.


s: Scorch all the banks! and (till our voice reclaim)


s: Exert the unwearied furies of the flame!"


s: Wide o’er the plain he pours the boundless blaze;


s: At once consumes the dead, and dries the soil


s: And the shrunk waters in their channel boil.


s: And instant blows the water’d gardens dry:


s: So look’d the field, so whiten’d was the ground,


s: While Vulcan breathed the fiery blast around.


s: Swift on the sedgy reeds the ruin preys;


s: Along the margin winds the running blaze:


s: The trees in flaming rows to ashes turn,


s: The flowering lotos and the tamarisk burn,


s: Broad elm, and cypress rising in a spire;


s: The watery willows hiss before the fire.


s: Now glow the waves, the fishes pant for breath,


s: The eels lie twisting in the pangs of death:


s: Now flounce aloft, now dive the scaly fry,


s: Or, gasping, turn their bellies to the sky.


s: At length the river rear’d his languid head,


s: And thus, short-panting, to the god he said:


s: "Oh Vulcan! oh! what power resists thy might?


s: He ceased; wide conflagration blazing round;


s: The bubbling waters yield a hissing sound.


s: As when the flames beneath a cauldron rise,(272)


s: Amid the fierce embrace of circling fires


s: The waters foam, the heavy smoke aspires:


s: So boils the imprison’d flood, forbid to flow,


s: And choked with vapours feels his bottom glow.


s: The burning river sends his earnest prayer:


s: Me, only me, with all his wasteful rage?


s: For mightier gods assert the cause of Troy.


s: But ah! withdraw this all-destroying hand.


s: Hear then my solemn oath, to yield to fate


s: Till Greece shall gird her with destructive flame,


s: His warm entreaty touch’d Saturnia’s ear:


s: She bade the ignipotent his rage forbear,


s: Infest a god: the obedient flame withdraws:


s: Again the branching streams begin to spread,


s: While these by Juno’s will the strife resign,


s: The warring gods in fierce contention join:


s: Rekindling rage each heavenly breast alarms:


s: With horrid clangour shock the ethereal arms:


s: Heaven in loud thunder bids the trumpet sound;


s: And wide beneath them groans the rending ground.


s: Jove, as his sport, the dreadful scene descries,


s: And views contending gods with careless eyes.


s: The power of battles lifts his brazen spear,


s: And first assaults the radiant queen of war:


s: "What moved thy madness, thus to disunite


s: Ethereal minds, and mix all heaven in fight?


s: What wonder this, when in thy frantic mood


s: He spoke, and smote the long-resounding shield,


s: Which bears Jove’s thunder on its dreadful field:


s: That turns the glancing bolt and forked fire.


s: Then heaved the goddess in her mighty hand


s: A stone, the limit of the neighbouring land,


s: There fix’d from eldest times; black, craggy, vast;


s: Thundering he falls, a mass of monstrous size:


s: And seven broad acres covers as he lies.


s: The stunning stroke his stubborn nerves unbound:


s: Loud o’er the fields his ringing arms resound:


s: The scornful dame her conquest views with smiles,


s: And, glorying, thus the prostrate god reviles:


s: "Hast thou not yet, insatiate fury! known


s: How far Minerva’s force transcends thy own?


s: Juno, whom thou rebellious darest withstand,


s: Corrects thy folly thus by Pallas’ hand;


s: Thus meets thy broken faith with just disgrace,


s: And partial aid to Troy’s perfidious race."


s: The goddess spoke, and turn’d her eyes away,


s: That, beaming round, diffused celestial day.


s: Jove’s Cyprian daughter, stooping on the land,


s: Lent to the wounded god her tender hand:


s: Slowly he rises, scarcely breathes with pain,


s: And, propp’d on her fair arm, forsakes the plain.


s: This the bright empress of the heavens survey’d,


s: And, scoffing, thus to war’s victorious maid:


s: "Lo! what an aid on Mars’s side is seen!


s: The smiles’ and loves’ unconquerable queen!


s: She moves: let Pallas, if she dares, pursue."


s: Minerva smiling heard, the pair o’ertook,


s: And slightly on her breast the wanton strook:


s: She, unresisting, fell (her spirits fled);


s: On earth together lay the lovers spread.


s: "And like these heroes be the fate of all


s: (Minerva cries) who guard the Trojan wall!


s: To Grecian gods such let the Phrygian be,


s: Then from the lowest stone shall Troy be moved."


s: Thus she, and Juno with a smile approved.


s: Meantime, to mix in more than mortal fight,


s: The god of ocean dares the god of light.


s: "What sloth has seized us, when the fields around


s: Ring with conflicting powers, and heaven returns the sound:


s: Shall, ignominious, we with shame retire,


s: No deed perform’d, to our Olympian sire?


s: Come, prove thy arm! for first the war to wage,


s: Suits not my greatness, or superior age:


s: Rash as thou art to prop the Trojan throne,


s: (Forgetful of my wrongs, and of thy own,)


s: Hast thou forgot, how, at the monarch’s prayer,


s: We shared the lengthen’d labours of a year?


s: Troy walls I raised (for such were Jove’s commands),


s: And yon proud bulwarks grew beneath my hands:


s: Thy task it was to feed the bellowing droves


s: Along fair Ida’s vales and pendant groves.


s: But when the circling seasons in their train


s: Brought back the grateful day that crown’d our pain,


s: With menace stern the fraudful king defied


s: Our latent godhead, and the prize denied:


s: Mad as he was, he threaten’d servile bands,


s: And doom’d us exiles far in barbarous lands.(273)


s: Incensed, we heavenward fled with swiftest wing,


s: And destined vengeance on the perjured king.


s: Dost thou, for this, afford proud Ilion grace,


s: And not, like us, infest the faithless race;


s: Like us, their present, future sons destroy,


s: And from its deep foundations heave their Troy?"


s: They owe their life and nourishment to earth;


s: Like yearly leaves, that now, with beauty crown’d,


s: Smile on the sun; now, wither on the ground.


s: To their own hands commit the frantic scene,


s: Then turns his face, far-beaming heavenly fires,


s: And from the senior power submiss retires:


s: The quiver’d huntress of the sylvan shades:


s: "And is it thus the youthful Phoebus flies,


s: And yields to ocean’s hoary sire the prize?


s: How vain that martial pomp, and dreadful show


s: Now boast no more in yon celestial bower,


s: Thy force can match the great earth-shaking power."


s: Silent he heard the queen of woods upbraid:


s: But furious thus: "What insolence has driven


s: Thy pride to face the majesty of heaven?


s: What though by Jove the female plague design’d,


s: The wretched matron feels thy piercing dart;


s: What though tremendous in the woodland chase


s: Thy certain arrows pierce the savage race?


s: How dares thy rashness on the powers divine


s: Employ those arms, or match thy force with mine?


s: Learn hence, no more unequal war to wage—"


s: She said, and seized her wrists with eager rage;


s: These in her left hand lock’d, her right untied


s: The bow, the quiver, and its plumy pride.


s: Now here, now there, she winds her from the blow;


s: The scattering arrows, rattling from the case,


s: Drop round, and idly mark the dusty place.


s: Swift from the field the baffled huntress flies,


s: And scarce restrains the torrent in her eyes:


s: So, when the falcon wings her way above,


s: To the cleft cavern speeds the gentle dove;


s: (Not fated yet to die;) there safe retreats,


s: Yet still her heart against the marble beats.


s: Whom Hermes viewing, thus declines the war:


s: "How shall I face the dame, who gives delight


s: To him whose thunders blacken heaven with night?


s: Go, matchless goddess! triumph in the skies,


s: And boast my conquest, while I yield the prize."


s: He spoke; and pass’d: Latona, stooping low,


s: Collects the scatter’d shafts and fallen bow,


s: That, glittering on the dust, lay here and there


s: Then swift pursued her to her blest abode,


s: Where, all confused, she sought the sovereign god;


s: Weeping, she grasp’d his knees: the ambrosial vest


s: Shook with her sighs, and panted on her breast.


s: The sire superior smiled, and bade her show


s: What heavenly hand had caused his daughter’s woe?


s: Abash’d, she names his own imperial spouse;


s: And the pale crescent fades upon her brows.


s: Thus they above: while, swiftly gliding down,


s: The guardian-god now trembled for her wall,


s: And fear’d the Greeks, though fate forbade her fall.


s: Return the shining bands of gods in arms;


s: Some proud in triumph, some with rage on fire;


s: And take their thrones around the ethereal sire.


s: Through blood, through death, Achilles still proceeds,


s: O’er slaughter’d heroes, and o’er rolling steeds.


s: As when avenging flames with fury driven


s: On guilty towns exert the wrath of heaven;


s: The pale inhabitants, some fall, some fly;


s: So raged Achilles: death and dire dismay,


s: And toils, and terrors, fill’d the dreadful day.


s: And marks the waste of his destructive hands;


s: Views, from his arm, the Trojans’ scatter’d flight,


s: No stop, no check, no aid! With feeble pace,


s: Fast as he could, he sighing quits the walls;


s: And thus descending, on the guards he calls:


s: "You to whose care our city-gates belong,


s: Set wide your portals to the flying throng:


s: But when within the walls our troops take breath,


s: Lock fast the brazen bars, and shut out death."


s: Thus charged the reverend monarch: wide were flung


s: The opening folds; the sounding hinges rung.


s: Phoebus rush’d forth, the flying bands to meet;


s: Struck slaughter back, and cover’d the retreat,


s: On heaps the Trojans crowd to gain the gate,


s: And gladsome see their last escape from fate.


s: Thither, all parch’d with thirst, a heartless train,


s: Hoary with dust, they beat the hollow plain:


s: And gasping, panting, fainting, labour on


s: With heavier strides, that lengthen toward the town.


s: Enraged Achilles follows with his spear;


s: Then had the Greeks eternal praise acquired,


s: And Troy inglorious to her walls retired;


s: But he, the god who darts ethereal flame,


s: Shot down to save her, and redeem her fame:


s: (Antenor’s offspring, haughty, bold, and brave;)


s: In aid of him, beside the beech he sate,


s: And wrapt in clouds, restrain’d the hand of fate.


s: When now the generous youth Achilles spies.


s: Thick beats his heart, the troubled motions rise.


s: (So, ere a storm, the waters heave and roll.)


s: He stops, and questions thus his mighty soul;


s: "What, shall I fly this terror of the plain!


s: Like others fly, and be like others slain?


s: Vain hope! to shun him by the self-same road


s: Yon line of slaughter’d Trojans lately trod.


s: No: with the common heap I scorn to fall—


s: What if they pass’d me to the Trojan wall,


s: While I decline to yonder path, that leads


s: To Ida’s forests and surrounding shades?


s: So may I reach, conceal’d, the cooling flood,


s: From my tired body wash the dirt and blood,


s: As soon as night her dusky veil extends,


s: What if?—But wherefore all this vain debate?


s: Stand I to doubt, within the reach of fate?


s: Even now perhaps, ere yet I turn the wall,


s: The fierce Achilles sees me, and I fall:


s: Such is his swiftness, ’tis in vain to fly,


s: And such his valour, that who stands must die.


s: Howe’er ’tis better, fighting for the state,


s: Here, and in public view, to meet my fate.


s: (Like all the sons of earth) the force of steel.


s: One only soul informs that dreadful frame:


s: And Jove’s sole favour gives him all his fame."


s: He said, and stood, collected, in his might;


s: And all his beating bosom claim’d the fight.


s: So from some deep-grown wood a panther starts,


s: Roused from his thicket by a storm of darts:


s: Untaught to fear or fly, he hears the sounds


s: Of shouting hunters, and of clamorous hounds;


s: Though struck, though wounded, scarce perceives the pain;


s: And the barb’d javelin stings his breast in vain:


s: On their whole war, untamed, the savage flies;


s: And tears his hunter, or beneath him dies.


s: Not less resolved, Antenor’s valiant heir


s: Disdainful of retreat: high held before,


s: His shield (a broad circumference) he bore;


s: Then graceful as he stood, in act to throw


s: The lifted javelin, thus bespoke the foe:


s: "How proud Achilles glories in his fame!


s: And hopes this day to sink the Trojan name


s: Beneath her ruins! Know, that hope is vain;


s: A thousand woes, a thousand toils remain.


s: Parents and children our just arms employ,


s: And strong and many are the sons of Troy.


s: Great as thou art, even thou may’st stain with gore


s: These Phrygian fields, and press a foreign shore."


s: He said: with matchless force the javelin flung


s: Smote on his knee; the hollow cuishes rung


s: Beneath the pointed steel; but safe from harms


s: He stands impassive in the ethereal arms.


s: Then fiercely rushing on the daring foe,


s: But, jealous of his fame, Apollo shrouds


s: The god-like Trojan in a veil of clouds.


s: Safe from pursuit, and shut from mortal view,


s: Dismiss’d with fame, the favoured youth withdrew.


s: Meanwhile the god, to cover their escape,


s: Assumes Agenor’s habit, voice and shape,


s: Flies from the furious chief in this disguise;


s: The furious chief still follows where he flies.


s: Now o’er the fields they stretch with lengthen’d strides,


s: Now urge the course where swift Scamander glides:


s: The god, now distant scarce a stride before,


s: Tempts his pursuit, and wheels about the shore;


s: While all the flying troops their speed employ,


s: And pour on heaps into the walls of Troy:


s: No stop, no stay; no thought to ask, or tell,


s: Who ’scaped by flight, or who by battle fell.


s: ’Twas tumult all, and violence of flight;


s: And sudden joy confused, and mix’d affright.


s: Pale Troy against Achilles shuts her gate:


s: And nations breathe, deliver’d from their fate.


s: Thus to their bulwarks, smit with panic fear,


s: The herded Ilians rush like driven deer:


s: There safe they wipe the briny drops away,


s: And drown in bowls the labours of the day.


s: Close to the walls, advancing o’er the fields


s: Beneath one roof of well-compacted shields,


s: March, bending on, the Greeks’ embodied powers,


s: Far stretching in the shade of Trojan towers.


s: Great Hector singly stay’d: chain’d down by fate


s: There fix’d he stood before the Scaean gate;


s: Still his bold arms determined to employ,


s: The guardian still of long-defended Troy.


s: (The power confess’d in all his glory burns:)


s: "And what (he cries) has Peleus’ son in view,


s: For not to thee to know the gods is given,


s: Unskill’d to trace the latent marks of heaven.


s: What boots thee now, that Troy forsook the plain?


s: Vain thy past labour, and thy present vain:


s: Safe in their walls are now her troops bestow’d,


s: While here thy frantic rage attacks a god."


s: The chief incensed—"Too partial god of day!


s: To check my conquests in the middle way:


s: What gasping numbers now had bit the ground!


s: Powerful of godhead, and of fraud divine:


s: Mean fame, alas! for one of heavenly strain,


s: With high and haughty steps he tower’d along,


s: So the proud courser, victor of the prize,


s: To the near goal with double ardour flies.


s: Him, as he blazing shot across the field,


s: Not half so dreadful rises to the sight,(274)


s: Through the thick gloom of some tempestuous night,


s: Orion’s dog (the year when autumn weighs),


s: And o’er the feebler stars exerts his rays;


s: Taints the red air with fevers, plagues, and death.


s: So flamed his fiery mail. Then wept the sage:


s: He strikes his reverend head, now white with age;


s: He lifts his wither’d arms; obtests the skies;


s: He calls his much-loved son with feeble cries:


s: The son, resolved Achilles’ force to dare,


s: Full at the Scaean gates expects the war;


s: While the sad father on the rampart stands,


s: And thus adjures him with extended hands:


s: "Ah stay not, stay not! guardless and alone;


s: Hector! my loved, my dearest, bravest son!


s: And stretch’d beneath that fury of the plain.


s: Thee, vultures wild should scatter round the shore.


s: And bloody dogs grow fiercer from thy gore.


s: Valiant in vain! by thy cursed arm destroy’d:


s: Or, worse than slaughtered, sold in distant isles


s: To shameful bondage, and unworthy toils.


s: Two, while I speak, my eyes in vain explore,


s: Two from one mother sprung, my Polydore,


s: Oh! if in yonder hostile camp they live,


s: What heaps of gold, what treasures would I give!


s: (Their grandsire’s wealth, by right of birth their own,


s: Consign’d his daughter with Lelegia’s throne:)


s: But if (which Heaven forbid) already lost,


s: All pale they wander on the Stygian coast;


s: What sorrows then must their sad mother know,


s: Yet less that anguish, less to her, to me,


s: Less to all Troy, if not deprived of thee.


s: And spare thyself, thy father, spare us all!


s: Save thy dear life; or, if a soul so brave


s: Neglect that thought, thy dearer glory save.


s: Pity, while yet I live, these silver hairs;


s: While yet thy father feels the woes he bears,


s: Yet cursed with sense! a wretch, whom in his rage


s: (All trembling on the verge of helpless age)


s: Great Jove has placed, sad spectacle of pain!


s: The bitter dregs of fortune’s cup to drain:


s: To fill with scenes of death his closing eyes,


s: My heroes slain, my bridal bed o’erturn’d,


s: My daughters ravish’d, and my city burn’d,


s: My bleeding infants dash’d against the floor;


s: These I have yet to see, perhaps yet more!


s: (Dire pomp of sovereign wretchedness!) must fall,


s: And stain the pavement of my regal hall;


s: Where famish’d dogs, late guardians of my door,


s: Shall lick their mangled master’s spatter’d gore.


s: Yet for my sons I thank ye, gods! ’tis well;


s: Well have they perish’d, for in fight they fell.


s: Who dies in youth and vigour, dies the best,


s: Struck through with wounds, all honest on the breast.


s: But when the fates, in fulness of their rage,


s: And pour to dogs the life-blood scarcely warm:


s: This, this is misery! the last, the worse,


s: That man can feel! man, fated to be cursed!"


s: He said, and acting what no words could say,


s: Rent from his head the silver locks away.


s: With him the mournful mother bears a part;


s: Yet all her sorrows turn not Hector’s heart.


s: The zone unbraced, her bosom she display’d;


s: And thus, fast-falling the salt tears, she said:


s: The words of age; attend a parent’s prayer!


s: If ever thee in these fond arms I press’d,


s: Or still’d thy infant clamours at this breast;


s: Ah do not thus our helpless years forego,


s: But, by our walls secured, repel the foe.


s: Against his rage if singly thou proceed,


s: Should’st thou, (but Heaven avert it!) should’st thou bleed,


s: Nor must thy corse lie honour’d on the bier,


s: Nor spouse, nor mother, grace thee with a tear!


s: Far from our pious rites those dear remains


s: Must feast the vultures on the naked plains."


s: So they, while down their cheeks the torrents roll;


s: But fix’d remains the purpose of his soul;


s: Resolved he stands, and with a fiery glance


s: So, roll’d up in his den, the swelling snake


s: Beholds the traveller approach the brake;


s: When fed with noxious herbs his turgid veins


s: Have gather’d half the poisons of the plains;


s: He burns, he stiffens with collected ire,


s: And his red eyeballs glare with living fire.


s: Beneath a turret, on his shield reclined,


s: He stood, and question’d thus his mighty mind:(275)


s: "Where lies my way? to enter in the wall?


s: Honour and shame the ungenerous thought recall:


s: Proclaim, his counsels are obey’d too late,


s: Which timely follow’d but the former night,


s: What numbers had been saved by Hector’s flight?


s: Methinks my suffering country’s voice I hear,


s: But most her worthless sons insult my ear,


s: On my rash courage charge the chance of war,


s: And blame those virtues which they cannot share.


s: Glorious, my country’s terror laid in dust:


s: In field at least, and fighting for her wall.


s: And yet suppose these measures I forego,


s: Approach unarm’d, and parley with the foe,


s: The warrior-shield, the helm, and lance, lay down.


s: And treat on terms of peace to save the town:


s: The wife withheld, the treasure ill-detain’d


s: (Cause of the war, and grievance of the land)


s: And add half Ilion’s yet remaining store,


s: Which Troy shall, sworn, produce; that injured Greece


s: May share our wealth, and leave our walls in peace.


s: But why this thought? Unarm’d if I should go,


s: What hope of mercy from this vengeful foe,


s: But woman-like to fall, and fall without a blow?


s: We greet not here, as man conversing man,


s: Met at an oak, or journeying o’er a plain;


s: Like youths and maidens in an evening walk:


s: War is our business, but to whom is given


s: To die, or triumph, that, determine Heaven!"


s: Thus pondering, like a god the Greek drew nigh;


s: His dreadful plumage nodded from on high;


s: Shot trembling rays that glitter’d o’er the land;


s: And on his breast the beamy splendour shone,


s: Like Jove’s own lightning, or the rising sun.


s: Struck by some god, he fears, recedes, and flies.


s: He leaves the gates, he leaves the wall behind:


s: (The swiftest racer of the liquid skies),


s: Just when he holds, or thinks he holds his prey,


s: Obliquely wheeling through the aerial way,


s: With open beak and shrilling cries he springs,


s: And aims his claws, and shoots upon his wings:


s: No less fore-right the rapid chase they held,


s: One urged by fury, one by fear impell’d:


s: Now circling round the walls their course maintain,


s: Where the high watch-tower overlooks the plain;


s: Now where the fig-trees spread their umbrage broad,


s: (A wider compass,) smoke along the road.


s: Next by Scamander’s double source they bound,


s: Where two famed fountains burst the parted ground;


s: This hot through scorching clefts is seen to rise,


s: That the green banks in summer’s heat o’erflows,


s: Like crystal clear, and cold as winter snows:


s: Each gushing fount a marble cistern fills,


s: Whose polish’d bed receives the falling rills;


s: Where Trojan dames (ere yet alarm’d by Greece)


s: Wash’d their fair garments in the days of peace.(276)


s: By these they pass’d, one chasing, one in flight:


s: (The mighty fled, pursued by stronger might:)


s: Swift was the course; no vulgar prize they play,


s: (Such as in races crown the speedy strife:)


s: The prize contended was great Hector’s life.


s: As when some hero’s funerals are decreed


s: Where high rewards the vigorous youth inflame


s: (Some golden tripod, or some lovely dame)


s: The panting coursers swiftly turn the goal,


s: And with them turns the raised spectator’s soul:


s: Thus three times round the Trojan wall they fly.


s: The gazing gods lean forward from the sky;


s: To whom, while eager on the chase they look,


s: The sire of mortals and immortals spoke:


s: "Unworthy sight! the man beloved of heaven,


s: Behold, inglorious round yon city driven!


s: My heart partakes the generous Hector’s pain;


s: Hector, whose zeal whole hecatombs has slain,


s: Whose grateful fumes the gods received with joy,


s: From Ida’s summits, and the towers of Troy:


s: Now see him flying; to his fears resign’d,


s: And fate, and fierce Achilles, close behind.


s: Consult, ye powers! (’tis worthy your debate)


s: Whether to snatch him from impending fate,


s: Or let him bear, by stern Pelides slain,


s: (Good as he is) the lot imposed on man."


s: Then Pallas thus: "Shall he whose vengeance forms


s: The forky bolt, and blackens heaven with storms,


s: Shall he prolong one Trojan’s forfeit breath?


s: And will no murmurs fill the courts above?


s: No gods indignant blame their partial Jove?"


s: "Go then (return’d the sire) without delay,


s: Exert thy will: I give the Fates their way.


s: Swift at the mandate pleased Tritonia flies,


s: And stoops impetuous from the cleaving skies.


s: As through the forest, o’er the vale and lawn,


s: The well-breath’d beagle drives the flying fawn,


s: In vain he tries the covert of the brakes,


s: Or deep beneath the trembling thicket shakes;


s: The certain hound his various maze pursues.


s: Thus step by step, where’er the Trojan wheel’d,


s: There swift Achilles compass’d round the field.


s: Oft as to reach the Dardan gates he bends,


s: And hopes the assistance of his pitying friends,


s: (Whose showering arrows, as he coursed below,


s: From the high turrets might oppress the foe,)


s: As men in slumbers seem with speedy pace,


s: One to pursue, and one to lead the chase,


s: Their sinking limbs the fancied course forsake,


s: Nor this can fly, nor that can overtake:


s: No less the labouring heroes pant and strain:


s: While that but flies, and this pursues in vain.


s: What god, O muse, assisted Hector’s force


s: With fate itself so long to hold the course?


s: Phoebus it was; who, in his latest hour,


s: Endued his knees with strength, his nerves with power:


s: And great Achilles, lest some Greek’s advance


s: Should snatch the glory from his lifted lance,


s: Sign’d to the troops to yield his foe the way,


s: And leave untouch’d the honours of the day.


s: Jove lifts the golden balances, that show


s: The fates of mortal men, and things below:


s: Here each contending hero’s lot he tries,


s: And weighs, with equal hand, their destinies.


s: Low sinks the scale surcharged with Hector’s fate;


s: Heavy with death it sinks, and hell receives the weight.


s: Then Phoebus left him. Fierce Minerva flies


s: To stern Pelides, and triumphing, cries:


s: "O loved of Jove! this day our labours cease,


s: And conquest blazes with full beams on Greece.


s: Great Hector falls; that Hector famed so far,


s: Falls by thy hand, and mine! nor force, nor flight,


s: Shall more avail him, nor his god of light.


s: See, where in vain he supplicates above,


s: Rest here: myself will lead the Trojan on,


s: And urge to meet the fate he cannot shun."


s: Her voice divine the chief with joyful mind


s: Obey’d; and rested, on his lance reclined


s: (Her face, her gesture, and her arms the same),


s: In show an aid, by hapless Hector’s side


s: Approach’d, and greets him thus with voice belied:


s: "Too long, O Hector! have I borne the sight


s: Of this distress, and sorrow’d in thy flight:


s: And here, as brothers, equal fates partake."


s: Then he: "O prince! allied in blood and fame,


s: Dearer than all that own a brother’s name;


s: Long tried, long loved: much loved, but honoured more!


s: Since you, of all our numerous race alone


s: Defend my life, regardless of your own."


s: Again the goddess: "Much my father’s prayer,


s: And much my mother’s, press’d me to forbear:


s: My friends embraced my knees, adjured my stay,


s: Come then, the glorious conflict let us try,


s: Let the steel sparkle, and the javelin fly;


s: Or let us stretch Achilles on the field,


s: Or to his arm our bloody trophies yield."


s: Fraudful she said; then swiftly march’d before:


s: Sternly they met. The silence Hector broke:


s: His dreadful plumage nodded as he spoke:


s: "Enough, O son of Peleus! Troy has view’d


s: Her walls thrice circled, and her chief pursued.


s: Thine, or my fate: I kill thee, or I die.


s: And for a moment’s space suspend the day;


s: Let Heaven’s high powers be call’d to arbitrate


s: The just conditions of this stern debate,


s: And faithful guardians of the treasured vow!)


s: To them I swear; if, victor in the strife,


s: Jove by these hands shall shed thy noble life,


s: No vile dishonour shall thy corse pursue;


s: Stripp’d of its arms alone (the conqueror’s due)


s: The rest to Greece uninjured I’ll restore:


s: Now plight thy mutual oath, I ask no more."


s: "Talk not of oaths (the dreadful chief replies,


s: While anger flash’d from his disdainful eyes),


s: Nor oath nor pact Achilles plights with thee:


s: Such pacts as lambs and rabid wolves combine,


s: Such leagues as men and furious lions join,


s: To such I call the gods! one constant state


s: No thought but rage, and never-ceasing strife,


s: Till death extinguish rage, and thought, and life.


s: Rouse then thy forces this important hour,


s: Collect thy soul, and call forth all thy power.


s: No further subterfuge, no further chance;


s: ’Tis Pallas, Pallas gives thee to my lance.


s: Each Grecian ghost, by thee deprived of breath,


s: Now hovers round, and calls thee to thy death."


s: He spoke, and launch’d his javelin at the foe;


s: He stoop’d, while o’er his head the flying spear


s: Sang innocent, and spent its force in air.


s: Then drew, and gave to great Achilles’ hand,


s: Now shakes his lance, and braves the dread of Troy.


s: "The life you boasted to that javelin given,


s: Prince! you have miss’d. My fate depends on Heaven,


s: To thee, presumptuous as thou art, unknown,


s: Or what must prove my fortune, or thy own.


s: Boasting is but an art, our fears to blind,


s: And with false terrors sink another’s mind.


s: My soul shall bravely issue from my breast.


s: But first, try thou my arm; and may this dart


s: End all my country’s woes, deep buried in thy heart."


s: The weapon flew, its course unerring held,


s: Unerring, but the heavenly shield repell’d


s: From off the ringing orb, it struck the ground.


s: All comfortless he stands: then, with a sigh;


s: "’Tis so—Heaven wills it, and my hour is nigh!


s: A god deceived me; Pallas, ’twas thy deed,


s: Death and black fate approach! ’tis I must bleed.


s: Great Jove deserts me, and the son of Jove,


s: Propitious once, and kind! Then welcome fate!


s: Fierce, at the word, his weighty sword he drew,


s: So Jove’s bold bird, high balanced in the air,


s: Stoops from the clouds to truss the quivering hare.


s: Nor less Achilles his fierce soul prepares:


s: Before his breast the flaming shield he bears,


s: The gilded horse-hair sparkled in the sun.


s: Nodding at every step: (Vulcanian frame!)


s: And as he moved, his figure seem’d on flame.


s: As radiant Hesper shines with keener light,(277)


s: Far-beaming o’er the silver host of night,


s: When all the starry train emblaze the sphere:


s: So shone the point of great Achilles’ spear.


s: In his right hand he waves the weapon round,


s: Eyes the whole man, and meditates the wound;


s: One space at length he spies, to let in fate,


s: Where ’twixt the neck and throat the jointed plate


s: Gave entrance: through that penetrable part


s: Furious he drove the well-directed dart:


s: Nor pierced the windpipe yet, nor took the power


s: Of speech, unhappy! from thy dying hour.


s: Prone on the field the bleeding warrior lies,


s: While, thus triumphing, stern Achilles cries:


s: "At last is Hector stretch’d upon the plain,


s: Who fear’d no vengeance for Patroclus slain:


s: Then, prince! you should have fear’d, what now you feel;


s: Yet a short space the great avenger stayed,


s: Then low in dust thy strength and glory laid.


s: Peaceful he sleeps, with all our rites adorn’d,


s: For ever honour’d, and for ever mourn’d:


s: While cast to all the rage of hostile power,


s: Thee birds shall mangle, and the gods devour."


s: Then Hector, fainting at the approach of death:


s: "By thy own soul! by those who gave thee breath!


s: Ah, leave me not for Grecian dogs to tear!


s: To soothe a father’s and a mother’s woe:


s: Let their large gifts procure an urn at least,


s: And Hector’s ashes in his country rest."


s: "No, wretch accursed! relentless he replies;


s: (Flames, as he spoke, shot flashing from his eyes;)


s: Not those who gave me breath should bid me spare,


s: Nor all the sacred prevalence of prayer.


s: Should Troy, to bribe me, bring forth all her store,


s: And giving thousands, offer thousands more;


s: Should Dardan Priam, and his weeping dame,


s: Drain their whole realm to buy one funeral flame:


s: Their Hector on the pile they should not see,


s: Nor rob the vultures of one limb of thee."


s: Then thus the chief his dying accents drew:


s: The Furies that relentless breast have steel’d,


s: And cursed thee with a heart that cannot yield.


s: Yet think, a day will come, when fate’s decree


s: And angry gods shall wreak this wrong on thee;


s: And stretch thee here before the Scaean gate."(278)


s: He ceased. The Fates suppress’d his labouring breath,


s: And his eyes stiffen’d at the hand of death;


s: To the dark realm the spirit wings its way,


s: And plaintive glides along the dreary coast,


s: O’er the dead hero, thus unheard, replies:


s: "Die thou the first! When Jove and heaven ordain,


s: I follow thee"—He said, and stripp’d the slain.


s: Then forcing backward from the gaping wound


s: The reeking javelin, cast it on the ground.


s: The thronging Greeks behold with wondering eyes


s: While some, ignobler, the great dead deface


s: With wounds ungenerous, or with taunts disgrace:


s: "How changed that Hector, who like Jove of late


s: Sent lightning on our fleets, and scatter’d fate!"


s: High o’er the slain the great Achilles stands,


s: Begirt with heroes and surrounding bands;


s: And thus aloud, while all the host attends:


s: "Princes and leaders! countrymen and friends!


s: Since now at length the powerful will of heaven


s: The dire destroyer to our arm has given,


s: Is not Troy fallen already? Haste, ye powers!


s: Are left unmann’d; or if they yet retain


s: The souls of heroes, their great Hector slain.


s: Or why reflects my mind on aught but thee,


s: Divine Patroclus! Death hath seal’d his eyes;


s: Long as the vital spirit moves my heart?


s: The flames of friends and lovers cease to glow,


s: Yet mine shall sacred last; mine, undecay’d,


s: Burn on through death, and animate my shade.


s: Meanwhile, ye sons of Greece, in triumph bring


s: The corpse of Hector, and your paeans sing.


s: Be this the song, slow-moving toward the shore,


s: Then his fell soul a thought of vengeance bred;


s: The nervous ancles bored, his feet he bound


s: With thongs inserted through the double wound;


s: These fix’d up high behind the rolling wain,


s: His graceful head was trail’d along the plain.


s: Proud on his car the insulting victor stood,


s: And bore aloft his arms, distilling blood.


s: He smites the steeds; the rapid chariot flies;


s: The sudden clouds of circling dust arise.


s: The face divine, and long-descending hair,


s: Purple the ground, and streak the sable sand;


s: Deform’d, dishonour’d, in his native land,


s: Given to the rage of an insulting throng,


s: And, in his parents’ sight, now dragg’d along!


s: The mother first beheld with sad survey;


s: And cast, far off, the regal veils away.


s: With piercing shrieks his bitter fate she moans,


s: While the sad father answers groans with groans


s: Tears after tears his mournful cheeks o’erflow,


s: And the whole city wears one face of woe:


s: No less than if the rage of hostile fires.


s: From her foundations curling to her spires,


s: O’er the proud citadel at length should rise,


s: And the last blaze send Ilion to the skies.


s: The wretched monarch of the falling state,


s: Scarce the whole people stop his desperate course,


s: While strong affliction gives the feeble force:


s: Grief tears his heart, and drives him to and fro,


s: At length he roll’d in dust, and thus begun,


s: "Ah! let me, let me go where sorrow calls;


s: (Guide or companion, friends! I ask ye none),


s: (Vigorous no more, as when his young embrace


s: Begot this pest of me, and all my race).


s: Has that cursed hand send headlong to the tomb!


s: Thee, Hector! last: thy loss (divinely brave)


s: Sinks my sad soul with sorrow to the grave.


s: O had thy gentle spirit pass’d in peace,


s: While both thy parents wept the fatal hour,


s: And, bending o’er thee, mix’d the tender shower!


s: Some comfort that had been, some sad relief,


s: Thus wail’d the father, grovelling on the ground,


s: And all the eyes of Ilion stream’d around.


s: (A mourning princess, and a train in tears;)


s: "Ah why has Heaven prolong’d this hated breath,


s: Patient of horrors, to behold thy death?


s: O Hector! late thy parents’ pride and joy,


s: The boast of nations! the defence of Troy!


s: To whom her safety and her fame she owed;


s: Her chief, her hero, and almost her god!


s: But not as yet the fatal news had spread


s: Not e’en his stay without the Scaean gate.


s: A growing work employ’d her secret hours,


s: Confusedly gay with intermingled flowers.


s: Her fair-haired handmaids heat the brazen urn,


s: The bath preparing for her lord’s return


s: In vain; alas! her lord returns no more;


s: Unbathed he lies, and bleeds along the shore!


s: Now from the walls the clamours reach her ear,


s: And all her members shake with sudden fear:


s: Forth from her ivory hand the shuttle falls,


s: And thus, astonish’d, to her maids she calls:


s: "Ah follow me! (she cried) what plaintive noise


s: Invades my ear? ’Tis sure my mother’s voice.


s: My faltering knees their trembling frame desert,


s: Some strange disaster, some reverse of fate


s: (Ye gods avert it!) threats the Trojan state.


s: Far be the omen which my thoughts suggest!


s: But much I fear my Hector’s dauntless breast


s: Confronts Achilles; chased along the plain,


s: Shut from our walls! I fear, I fear him slain!


s: Safe in the crowd he ever scorn’d to wait,


s: And sought for glory in the jaws of fate:


s: Perhaps that noble heat has cost his breath,


s: Now quench’d for ever in the arms of death."


s: She spoke: and furious, with distracted pace,


s: Fears in her heart, and anguish in her face,


s: Flies through the dome (the maids her steps pursue),


s: And mounts the walls, and sends around her view.


s: Too soon her eyes the killing object found,


s: The godlike Hector dragg’d along the ground.


s: A sudden darkness shades her swimming eyes:


s: She faints, she falls; her breath, her colour flies.


s: Her hair’s fair ornaments, the braids that bound,


s: The net that held them, and the wreath that crown’d,


s: Around a train of weeping sisters stands,


s: To raise her sinking with assistant hands.


s: Scarce from the verge of death recall’d, again


s: She faints, or but recovers to complain.


s: Born with one fate, to one unhappy life!


s: For sure one star its baneful beam display’d


s: On Priam’s roof, and Hippoplacia’s shade.


s: From different parents, different climes we came.


s: At different periods, yet our fate the same!


s: And why was all that tender care bestow’d?


s: Would I had never been!—O thou, the ghost


s: Thou to the dismal realms for ever gone!


s: An only child, once comfort of my pains,


s: Sad product now of hapless love, remains!


s: No more to smile upon his sire; no friend


s: For should he ’scape the sword, the common doom,


s: What wrongs attend him, and what griefs to come!


s: Even from his own paternal roof expell’d,


s: Some stranger ploughs his patrimonial field.


s: The day, that to the shades the father sends,


s: Robs the sad orphan of his father’s friends:


s: He, wretched outcast of mankind! appears


s: Hangs on the robe, or trembles at the knee,


s: While those his father’s former bounty fed


s: Nor reach the goblet, nor divide the bread:


s: The kindest but his present wants allay,


s: To leave him wretched the succeeding day.


s: Frugal compassion! Heedless, they who boast


s: Both parents still, nor feel what he has lost,


s: Shall cry, ’Begone! thy father feasts not here:’


s: Thus wretched, thus retiring all in tears,


s: With princes sported, and on dainties fed,


s: And when still evening gave him up to rest,


s: Sunk soft in down upon the nurse’s breast,


s: Must—ah what must he not? Whom Ilion calls


s: Astyanax, from her well-guarded walls,(279)


s: Since now no more thy father guards his Troy.


s: But thou, my Hector, liest exposed in air,


s: Far from thy parents’ and thy consort’s care;


s: Whose hand in vain, directed by her love,


s: The martial scarf and robe of triumph wove.


s: Now to devouring flames be these a prey,


s: Useless to thee, from this accursed day!


s: So spake the mournful dame: her matrons hear,


s: Sigh back her sighs, and answer tear with tear.


s: Thus humbled in the dust, the pensive train


s: Through the sad city mourn’d her hero slain.


s: The body soil’d with dust, and black with gore,


s: Lies on broad Hellespont’s resounding shore.


s: The Grecians seek their ships, and clear the strand,


s: These yet assembled great Achilles holds,


s: And the stern purpose of his mind unfolds:


s: "Not yet, my brave companions of the war,


s: Release your smoking coursers from the car;


s: But, with his chariot each in order led,


s: Ere yet from rest or food we seek relief,


s: Some rites remain, to glut our rage of grief."


s: The troops obey’d; and thrice in order led(281)


s: (Achilles first) their coursers round the dead;


s: And thrice their sorrows and laments renew;


s: Tears bathe their arms, and tears the sands bedew.


s: For such a warrior Thetis aids their woe,


s: Melts their strong hearts, and bids their eyes to flow.


s: But chief, Pelides: thick-succeeding sighs


s: Burst from his heart, and torrents from his eyes:


s: His slaughtering hands, yet red with blood, he laid


s: On his dead friend’s cold breast, and thus he said:


s: "All hail, Patroclus! let thy honour’d ghost


s: Hear, and rejoice on Pluto’s dreary coast;


s: The bloody Hector stretch’d before thy feet.


s: And twelve sad victims, of the Trojan line,


s: Sacred to vengeance, instant shall expire;


s: Their lives effused around thy funeral pyre."


s: Before the bier the bleeding Hector threw,


s: Unbraced their armour, and the steeds unbound.


s: Frequent and full, the genial feast to share.


s: Now from the well-fed swine black smokes aspire,


s: The bristly victims hissing o’er the fire:


s: The huge ox bellowing falls; with feebler cries


s: Expires the goat; the sheep in silence dies.


s: Around the hero’s prostrate body flow’d,


s: In one promiscuous stream, the reeking blood.


s: And now a band of Argive monarchs brings


s: The glorious victor to the king of kings.


s: From his dead friend the pensive warrior went,


s: With steps unwilling, to the regal tent.


s: The attending heralds, as by office bound,


s: With kindled flames the tripod-vase surround:


s: To cleanse his conquering hands from hostile gore,


s: They urged in vain; the chief refused, and swore:(282)


s: "No drop shall touch me, by almighty Jove!


s: The first and greatest of the gods above!


s: Till on the pyre I place thee; till I rear


s: The grassy mound, and clip thy sacred hair.


s: Some ease at least those pious rites may give,


s: And soothe my sorrows, while I bear to live.


s: And share your feast; but with the dawn of day,


s: (O king of men!) it claims thy royal care,


s: That Greece the warrior’s funeral pile prepare,


s: And bid the forests fall: (such rites are paid


s: Then, when his earthly part shall mount in fire,


s: Let the leagued squadrons to their posts retire."


s: He spoke: they hear him, and the word obey;


s: Then ease in sleep the labours of the day.


s: But great Pelides, stretch’d along the shore,


s: Where, dash’d on rocks, the broken billows roar,


s: Lies inly groaning; while on either hand


s: Along the grass his languid members fall,


s: Tired with his chase around the Trojan wall;


s: Hush’d by the murmurs of the rolling deep,


s: At length he sinks in the soft arms of sleep.


s: When lo! the shade, before his closing eyes,


s: Of sad Patroclus rose, or seem’d to rise:


s: In the same robe he living wore, he came:


s: In stature, voice, and pleasing look, the same.


s: The form familiar hover’d o’er his head,


s: "And sleeps Achilles? (thus the phantom said:)


s: Living, I seem’d his dearest, tenderest care,


s: Let my pale corse the rites of burial know,


s: And give me entrance in the realms below:


s: Till then the spirit finds no resting-place,


s: But here and there the unbodied spectres chase


s: Now give thy hand; for to the farther shore


s: When once we pass, the soul returns no more:


s: When once the last funereal flames ascend,


s: No more shall meet Achilles and his friend;


s: No more our thoughts to those we loved make known;


s: Me fate has sever’d from the sons of earth,


s: The fate fore-doom’d that waited from my birth:


s: Thee too it waits; before the Trojan wall


s: Even great and godlike thou art doom’d to fall.


s: Hear then; and as in fate and love we join,


s: Ah suffer that my bones may rest with thine!


s: One house received us, and one table fed;


s: That golden urn, thy goddess-mother gave,


s: "And is it thou? (he answers) To my sight(283)


s: Once more return’st thou from the realms of night?


s: O more than brother! Think each office paid,


s: But grant one last embrace, unhappy boy!


s: He said, and with his longing arms essay’d


s: Like a thin smoke he sees the spirit fly,(284)


s: Confused he wakes; amazement breaks the bands


s: Of golden sleep, and starting from the sands,


s: "’Tis true, ’tis certain; man, though dead, retains


s: Part of himself; the immortal mind remains:


s: The form subsists without the body’s aid,


s: This night my friend, so late in battle lost,


s: Stood at my side, a pensive, plaintive ghost:


s: Alas! how different! yet how like the same!"


s: Thus while he spoke, each eye grew big with tears:


s: Shows every mournful face with tears o’erspread,


s: And glares on the pale visage of the dead.


s: With mules and waggons sends a chosen band


s: To load the timber, and the pile to rear;


s: A charge consign’d to Merion’s faithful care.


s: With proper instruments they take the road,


s: Axes to cut, and ropes to sling the load.


s: First march the heavy mules, securely slow,


s: O’er hills, o’er dales, o’er crags, o’er rocks they go:(285)


s: Jumping, high o’er the shrubs of the rough ground,


s: Rattle the clattering cars, and the shock’d axles bound


s: But when arrived at Ida’s spreading woods,(286)


s: (Fair Ida, water’d with descending floods,)


s: Loud sounds the axe, redoubling strokes on strokes;


s: On all sides round the forest hurls her oaks


s: Headlong. Deep echoing groan the thickets brown;


s: Then rustling, crackling, crashing, thunder down.


s: The wood the Grecians cleave, prepared to burn;


s: And the slow mules the same rough road return


s: (Such charge was given them) to the sandy shore;


s: There on the spot which great Achilles show’d,


s: They eased their shoulders, and disposed the load;


s: Circling around the place, where times to come


s: Shall view Patroclus’ and Achilles’ tomb.


s: High on their cars in all the pomp of war;


s: Each in refulgent arms his limbs attires,


s: All mount their chariots, combatants and squires.


s: The chariots first proceed, a shining train;


s: Then clouds of foot that smoke along the plain;


s: O’er all the corse their scattered locks they throw;


s: Achilles next, oppress’d with mighty woe,


s: Supporting with his hands the hero’s head,


s: Bends o’er the extended body of the dead.


s: Patroclus decent on the appointed ground


s: They place, and heap the sylvan pile around.


s: But great Achilles stands apart in prayer,


s: And from his head divides the yellow hair;


s: Those curling locks which from his youth he vow’d,(287)


s: And sacred grew, to Sperchius’ honour’d flood:


s: Then sighing, to the deep his locks he cast,


s: And roll’d his eyes around the watery waste:


s: "Sperchius! whose waves in mazy errors lost


s: These locks to fall, and hecatombs to burn:


s: Where to the day thy silver fountains rise,


s: And where in shade of consecrated bowers


s: Thy altars stand, perfumed with native flowers!


s: So vow’d my father, but he vow’d in vain;


s: In that vain hope these hairs no longer grow,


s: Patroclus bears them to the shades below."


s: Thus o’er Patroclus while the hero pray’d,


s: On his cold hand the sacred lock he laid.


s: Once more afresh the Grecian sorrows flow:


s: But to the king of men thus spoke the chief:


s: "Enough, Atrides! give the troops relief:


s: And let the chiefs alone attend the pyre;


s: The pious care be ours, the dead to burn—"


s: He said: the people to their ships return:


s: Heap with a rising pyramid the plain.(288)


s: A hundred foot in length, a hundred wide,


s: The growing structure spreads on every side;


s: High on the top the manly corse they lay,


s: Achilles covered with their fat the dead,


s: And the piled victims round the body spread;


s: Then jars of honey, and of fragrant oil,


s: Suspends around, low-bending o’er the pile.


s: Four sprightly coursers, with a deadly groan


s: Pour forth their lives, and on the pyre are thrown.


s: Of nine large dogs, domestic at his board,


s: Fall two, selected to attend their lord,


s: Sad sacrifice! twelve Trojan captives fell.(289)


s: On these the rage of fire victorious preys,


s: Involves and joins them in one common blaze.


s: Smear’d with the bloody rites, he stands on high,


s: And calls the spirit with a dreadful cry:(290)


s: "All hail, Patroclus! let thy vengeful ghost


s: Hear, and exult, on Pluto’s dreary coast.


s: Twelve Trojan heroes offer’d to thy shade;


s: But heavier fates on Hector’s corse attend,


s: Saved from the flames, for hungry dogs to rend."


s: So spake he, threatening: but the gods made vain


s: His threat, and guard inviolate the slain:


s: And roseate unguents, heavenly fragrance! shed:


s: She watch’d him all the night and all the day,


s: And drove the bloodhounds from their destined prey.


s: Nor sacred Phoebus less employ’d his care;


s: He pour’d around a veil of gather’d air,


s: And kept the nerves undried, the flesh entire,


s: Nor yet the pile, where dead Patroclus lies,


s: Smokes, nor as yet the sullen flames arise;


s: But, fast beside, Achilles stood in prayer,


s: Invoked the gods whose spirit moves the air,


s: And victims promised, and libations cast,


s: He call’d the aerial powers, along the skies


s: To breathe, and whisper to the fires to rise.


s: And instant hasten’d to their airy hall,


s: Where in old Zephyr’s open courts on high,


s: Sat all the blustering brethren of the sky.


s: She shone amidst them, on her painted bow;


s: The rocky pavement glitter’d with the show.


s: All from the banquet rise, and each invites


s: The various goddess to partake the rites.


s: "Not so (the dame replied), I haste to go


s: And heaven is feasting on the world’s green end


s: With righteous Ethiops (uncorrupted train!)


s: Far on the extremest limits of the main.


s: But Peleus’ son entreats, with sacrifice,


s: The western spirit, and the north, to rise!


s: Let on Patroclus’ pile your blast be driven,


s: And bear the blazing honours high to heaven."


s: Swift as the word she vanish’d from their view;


s: Swift as the word the winds tumultuous flew;


s: Forth burst the stormy band with thundering roar,


s: And heaps on heaps the clouds are toss’d before.


s: To the wide main then stooping from the skies,


s: The heaving deeps in watery mountains rise:


s: Troy feels the blast along her shaking walls,


s: Till on the pile the gather’d tempest falls.


s: The structure crackles in the roaring fires,


s: And all the night the plenteous flame aspires.


s: All night Achilles hails Patroclus’ soul,


s: With large libations from the golden bowl.


s: Takes a sad pleasure the last bones to burn,


s: And pours in tears, ere yet they close the urn:


s: So stay’d Achilles, circling round the shore,


s: So watch’d the flames, till now they flame no more.


s: ’Twas when, emerging through the shades of night.


s: The morning planet told the approach of light;


s: O’er the broad ocean pour’d the golden day:


s: Then sank the blaze, the pile no longer burn’d,


s: And to their caves the whistling winds return’d:


s: Across the Thracian seas their course they bore;


s: The ruffled seas beneath their passage roar.


s: Then parting from the pile he ceased to weep,


s: And sank to quiet in the embrace of sleep,


s: Exhausted with his grief: meanwhile the crowd


s: Of thronging Grecians round Achilles stood;


s: The tumult waked him: from his eyes he shook


s: Unwilling slumber, and the chiefs bespoke:


s: "Ye kings and princes of the Achaian name!


s: First let us quench the yet remaining flame


s: With sable wine; then, as the rites direct,


s: The hero’s bones with careful view select:


s: Amidst the heap, and obvious to the eye:


s: These wrapp’d in double cauls of fat, prepare;


s: And in the golden vase dispose with care;


s: There let them rest with decent honour laid,


s: Till I shall follow to the infernal shade.


s: Meantime erect the tomb with pious hands,


s: Hereafter Greece some nobler work may raise,


s: The Greeks obey; where yet the embers glow,


s: Wide o’er the pile the sable wine they throw,


s: Next the white bones his sad companions place,


s: With tears collected, in the golden vase.


s: The sacred relics to the tent they bore;


s: That done, they bid the sepulchre aspire,


s: And cast the deep foundations round the pyre;


s: High in the midst they heap the swelling bed


s: The swarming populace the chief detains,


s: And leads amidst a wide extent of plains;


s: There placed them round: then from the ships proceeds


s: A train of oxen, mules, and stately steeds,


s: Vases and tripods (for the funeral games),


s: Resplendent brass, and more resplendent dames.


s: First stood the prizes to reward the force


s: A woman for the first, in beauty’s bloom,


s: Skill’d in the needle, and the labouring loom;


s: And a large vase, where two bright handles rise,


s: The second victor claims a mare unbroke,


s: The third, a charger yet untouch’d by flame;


s: Four ample measures held the shining frame:


s: Two golden talents for the fourth were placed:


s: These in fair order ranged upon the plain,


s: The hero, rising, thus address’d the train:


s: "Behold the prizes, valiant Greeks! decreed


s: To the brave rulers of the racing steed;


s: Prizes which none beside ourself could gain,


s: Should our immortal coursers take the plain;


s: (A race unrivall’d, which from ocean’s god


s: Peleus received, and on his son bestow’d.)


s: Nor suit, with them, the games of this sad day:


s: Lost is Patroclus now, that wont to deck


s: Their flowing manes, and sleek their glossy neck.


s: Sad, as they shared in human grief, they stand,


s: And trail those graceful honours on the sand!


s: Who trust the courser and the flying car."


s: Fired at his word the rival racers rise;


s: But far the first Eumelus hopes the prize,


s: Famed though Pieria for the fleetest breed,


s: And skill’d to manage the high-bounding steed.


s: The steeds of Tros beneath his yoke compell’d


s: (Which late obey’d the Dardan chiefs command,


s: When scarce a god redeem’d him from his hand).


s: And the famed courser of the king of kings:


s: Whom rich Echepolus (more rich than brave),


s: (Æthe her name) at home to end his days;


s: Base wealth preferring to eternal praise.


s: With beating heart, and cheers his Pylian horse.


s: Experienced Nestor gives his son the reins,


s: Directs his judgment, and his heat restrains;


s: Nor idly warns the hoary sire, nor hears


s: "My son! though youthful ardour fire thy breast,


s: The gods have loved thee, and with arts have bless’d;


s: Neptune and Jove on thee conferr’d the skill


s: Swift round the goal to turn the flying wheel.


s: To guide thy conduct little precept needs;


s: But slow, and past their vigour, are my steeds.


s: Fear not thy rivals, though for swiftness known;


s: Compare those rivals’ judgment and thy own:


s: It is not strength, but art, obtains the prize,


s: And to be swift is less than to be wise.


s: ’Tis more by art than force of numerous strokes


s: The dexterous woodman shapes the stubborn oaks;


s: By art the pilot, through the boiling deep


s: And howling tempest, steers the fearless ship;


s: And ’tis the artist wins the glorious course;


s: Not those who trust in chariots and in horse.


s: In vain, unskilful to the goal they strive,


s: And short, or wide, the ungovern’d courser drive:


s: While with sure skill, though with inferior steeds,


s: Fix’d on the goal his eye foreruns the course,


s: His hand unerring steers the steady horse,


s: And now contracts, or now extends the rein,


s: Observing still the foremost on the plain.


s: Mark then the goal, ’tis easy to be found;


s: Yon aged trunk, a cubit from the ground;


s: Of some once stately oak the last remains,


s: Or hardy fir, unperish’d with the rains:


s: Inclosed with stones, conspicuous from afar;


s: And round, a circle for the wheeling car.


s: (Some tomb perhaps of old, the dead to grace;


s: A little bending to the left-hand steed;


s: But urge the right, and give him all the reins;


s: While thy strict hand his fellow’s head restrains,


s: And turns him short; till, doubling as they roll,


s: The wheel’s round naves appear to brush the goal.


s: Yet (not to break the car, or lame the horse)


s: Clear of the stony heap direct the course;


s: Lest through incaution failing, thou mayst be


s: So shalt thou pass the goal, secure of mind,


s: And leave unskilful swiftness far behind:


s: Though thy fierce rival drove the matchless steed


s: Which bore Adrastus, of celestial breed;


s: Or the famed race, through all the regions known,


s: That whirl’d the car of proud Laomedon."


s: Thus (nought unsaid) the much-advising sage


s: Concludes; then sat, stiff with unwieldy age.


s: The last, but not least ardent for the prize.


s: They mount their seats; the lots their place dispose


s: (Roll’d in his helmet, these Achilles throws).


s: Young Nestor leads the race: Eumelus then;


s: And next the brother of the king of men:


s: They stand in order, an impatient train:


s: Pelides points the barrier on the plain,


s: And sends before old Phoenix to the place,


s: To mark the racers, and to judge the race.


s: At once the coursers from the barrier bound;


s: The lifted scourges all at once resound;


s: Their heart, their eyes, their voice, they send before;