s: Haste, generous Ithacus! prevent the shame,


s: Recall your armies, and your chiefs reclaim.


s: And to the immortals trust the fall of Troy."


s: The voice divine confess’d the warlike maid,


s: Then meeting first Atrides, from his hand


s: Received the imperial sceptre of command.


s: Thus graced, attention and respect to gain,


s: He runs, he flies through all the Grecian train;


s: Each prince of name, or chief in arms approved,


s: He fired with praise, or with persuasion moved.


s: "Warriors like you, with strength and wisdom bless’d,


s: By brave examples should confirm the rest.


s: The monarch’s will not yet reveal’d appears;


s: He tries our courage, but resents our fears.


s: Not thus the king in secret council spoke.


s: Jove loves our chief, from Jove his honour springs,


s: Beware! for dreadful is the wrath of kings."


s: Him with reproof he check’d or tamed with blows.


s: "Be still, thou slave, and to thy betters yield;


s: Be silent, wretch, and think not here allow’d


s: That worst of tyrants, an usurping crowd.


s: To one sole monarch Jove commits the sway;


s: His are the laws, and him let all obey."(86)


s: With words like these the troops Ulysses ruled,


s: The loudest silenced, and the fiercest cool’d.


s: Back to the assembly roll the thronging train,


s: Desert the ships, and pour upon the plain.


s: Murmuring they move, as when old ocean roars,


s: And heaves huge surges to the trembling shores;


s: The groaning banks are burst with bellowing sound,


s: The rocks remurmur and the deeps rebound.


s: At length the tumult sinks, the noises cease,


s: And a still silence lulls the camp to peace.


s: Loquacious, loud, and turbulent of tongue:


s: Awed by no shame, by no respect controll’d,


s: Scorn all his joy, and laughter all his aim:—


s: But chief he gloried with licentious style


s: To lash the great, and monarchs to revile.


s: His figure such as might his soul proclaim;


s: One eye was blinking, and one leg was lame:


s: His mountain shoulders half his breast o’erspread,


s: Thin hairs bestrew’d his long misshapen head.


s: Spleen to mankind his envious heart possess’d,


s: And much he hated all, but most the best:


s: Long had he lived the scorn of every Greek,


s: Vex’d when he spoke, yet still they heard him speak.


s: Sharp was his voice; which in the shrillest tone,


s: Thus with injurious taunts attack’d the throne.


s: "Amidst the glories of so bright a reign,


s: What moves the great Atrides to complain?


s: ’Tis thine whate’er the warrior’s breast inflames,


s: The golden spoil, and thine the lovely dames.


s: With all the wealth our wars and blood bestow,


s: Thy tents are crowded and thy chests o’erflow.


s: Thus at full ease in heaps of riches roll’d,


s: What grieves the monarch? Is it thirst of gold?


s: Say, shall we march with our unconquer’d powers


s: (The Greeks and I) to Ilion’s hostile towers,


s: But safer plunder thy own host supplies;


s: Say, wouldst thou seize some valiant leader’s prize?


s: Or, if thy heart to generous love be led,


s: Some captive fair, to bless thy kingly bed?


s: Whate’er our master craves submit we must,


s: Plagued with his pride, or punish’d for his lust.


s: Hence let us fly, and let him waste his store


s: In loves and pleasures on the Phrygian shore.


s: When Hector comes: so great Achilles may:


s: From him he forced the prize we jointly gave,


s: From him, the fierce, the fearless, and the brave:


s: And durst he, as he ought, resent that wrong,


s: This mighty tyrant were no tyrant long."


s: Fierce from his seat at this Ulysses springs,(87)


s: In generous vengeance of the king of kings.


s: He views the wretch, and sternly thus replies:


s: "Peace, factious monster, born to vex the state,


s: With wrangling talents form’d for foul debate:


s: Curb that impetuous tongue, nor rashly vain,


s: And singly mad, asperse the sovereign reign.


s: Have we not known thee, slave! of all our host,


s: The man who acts the least, upbraids the most?


s: Think not the Greeks to shameful flight to bring,


s: Nor let those lips profane the name of king.


s: For our return we trust the heavenly powers;


s: Be that their care; to fight like men be ours.


s: But grant the host with wealth the general load,


s: Except detraction, what hast thou bestow’d?


s: Suppose some hero should his spoils resign,


s: Art thou that hero, could those spoils be thine?


s: Gods! let me perish on this hateful shore,


s: And let these eyes behold my son no more;


s: If, on thy next offence, this hand forbear


s: To strip those arms thou ill deserv’st to wear,


s: Expel the council where our princes meet,


s: And send thee scourged and howling through the fleet."


s: The weighty sceptre on his bank descends.(88)


s: On the round bunch the bloody tumours rise:


s: The tears spring starting from his haggard eyes;


s: Trembling he sat, and shrunk in abject fears,


s: From his vile visage wiped the scalding tears;


s: While to his neighbour each express’d his thought:


s: "Ye gods! what wonders has Ulysses wrought!


s: What fruits his conduct and his courage yield!


s: Great in the council, glorious in the field.


s: Generous he rises in the crown’s defence,


s: To curb the factious tongue of insolence,


s: Sedition silence, and assert the throne."


s: ’Twas thus the general voice the hero praised,


s: Who, rising, high the imperial sceptre raised:


s: The blue-eyed Pallas, his celestial friend,


s: (In form a herald,) bade the crowds attend.


s: The expecting crowds in still attention hung,


s: To hear the wisdom of his heavenly tongue.


s: Then deeply thoughtful, pausing ere he spoke,


s: His silence thus the prudent hero broke:


s: With shame deserting, heap with vile disgrace.


s: Not such at Argos was their generous vow:


s: Once all their voice, but ah! forgotten now:


s: Ne’er to return, was then the common cry,


s: Till Troy’s proud structures should in ashes lie.


s: Behold them weeping for their native shore;


s: What could their wives or helpless children more?


s: What heart but melts to leave the tender train,


s: And, one short month, endure the wintry main?


s: Few leagues removed, we wish our peaceful seat,


s: When the ship tosses, and the tempests beat:


s: Then well may this long stay provoke their tears,


s: The tedious length of nine revolving years.


s: Not for their grief the Grecian host I blame;


s: But vanquish’d! baffled! oh, eternal shame!


s: Expect the time to Troy’s destruction given.


s: And try the faith of Chalcas and of heaven.


s: What pass’d at Aulis, Greece can witness bear,(89)


s: And all who live to breathe this Phrygian air.


s: Beside a fountain’s sacred brink we raised


s: Our verdant altars, and the victims blazed:


s: ’Twas where the plane-tree spread its shades around,


s: The altars heaved; and from the crumbling ground


s: From Jove himself the dreadful sign was sent.


s: Straight to the tree his sanguine spires he roll’d,


s: And curl’d around in many a winding fold;


s: The topmost branch a mother-bird possess’d;


s: Eight callow infants fill’d the mossy nest;


s: Herself the ninth; the serpent, as he hung,


s: Stretch’d his black jaws and crush’d the crying young;


s: While hovering near, with miserable moan,


s: The drooping mother wail’d her children gone.


s: The mother last, as round the nest she flew,


s: Seized by the beating wing, the monster slew;


s: Nor long survived: to marble turn’d, he stands


s: Such was the will of Jove; and hence we dare


s: For while around we gazed with wondering eyes,


s: And trembling sought the powers with sacrifice,


s: Full of his god, the reverend Chalcas cried,(90)


s: ’Ye Grecian warriors! lay your fears aside.


s: This wondrous signal Jove himself displays,


s: Of long, long labours, but eternal praise.


s: As many birds as by the snake were slain,


s: So many years the toils of Greece remain;


s: But wait the tenth, for Ilion’s fall decreed:’


s: Thus spoke the prophet, thus the Fates succeed.


s: Obey, ye Grecians! with submission wait,


s: Nor let your flight avert the Trojan fate."


s: He said: the shores with loud applauses sound,


s: The hollow ships each deafening shout rebound.


s: Then Nestor thus—"These vain debates forbear,


s: Ye talk like children, not like heroes dare.


s: Where now are all your high resolves at last?


s: Your leagues concluded, your engagements past?


s: Vow’d with libations and with victims then,


s: Now vanish’d like their smoke: the faith of men!


s: While useless words consume the unactive hours,


s: No wonder Troy so long resists our powers.


s: Rise, great Atrides! and with courage sway;


s: We march to war, if thou direct the way.


s: But leave the few that dare resist thy laws,


s: The mean deserters of the Grecian cause,


s: To grudge the conquests mighty Jove prepares,


s: On that great day, when first the martial train,


s: Big with the fate of Ilion, plough’d the main,


s: Jove, on the right, a prosperous signal sent,


s: And thunder rolling shook the firmament.


s: Encouraged hence, maintain the glorious strife,


s: Till every soldier grasp a Phrygian wife,


s: Till Helen’s woes at full revenged appear,


s: And Troy’s proud matrons render tear for tear.


s: His country’s troops to base, inglorious flight,


s: Stand forth that Greek! and hoist his sail to fly,


s: But now, O monarch! all thy chiefs advise:(91)


s: Nor what they offer, thou thyself despise.


s: Among those counsels, let not mine be vain;


s: In tribes and nations to divide thy train:


s: His separate troops let every leader call,


s: Each strengthen each, and all encourage all.


s: What chief, or soldier, of the numerous band,


s: Or bravely fights, or ill obeys command,


s: When thus distinct they war, shall soon be known


s: And what the cause of Ilion not o’erthrown;


s: If fate resists, or if our arms are slow,


s: To him the king: "How much thy years excel


s: In arts of counsel, and in speaking well!


s: O would the gods, in love to Greece, decree


s: But ten such sages as they grant in thee;


s: Such wisdom soon should Priam’s force destroy,


s: And soon should fall the haughty towers of Troy!


s: But Jove forbids, who plunges those he hates


s: In fierce contention and in vain debates:


s: Now great Achilles from our aid withdraws,


s: By me provoked; a captive maid the cause:


s: If e’er as friends we join, the Trojan wall


s: Must shake, and heavy will the vengeance fall!


s: But now, ye warriors, take a short repast;


s: And, well refresh’d, to bloody conflict haste.


s: His sharpen’d spear let every Grecian wield,


s: And every Grecian fix his brazen shield,


s: And all for combat fit the rattling car.


s: This day, this dreadful day, let each contend;


s: No rest, no respite, till the shades descend;


s: Till darkness, or till death, shall cover all:


s: Let the war bleed, and let the mighty fall;


s: Till bathed in sweat be every manly breast,


s: With the huge shield each brawny arm depress’d,


s: Each aching nerve refuse the lance to throw,


s: And each spent courser at the chariot blow.


s: Who dares, inglorious, in his ships to stay,


s: Who dares to tremble on this signal day;


s: That wretch, too mean to fall by martial power,


s: The birds shall mangle, and the dogs devour."


s: The monarch spoke; and straight a murmur rose,


s: Loud as the surges when the tempest blows,


s: That dash’d on broken rocks tumultuous roar,


s: And foam and thunder on the stony shore.


s: Straight to the tents the troops dispersing bend,


s: The fires are kindled, and the smokes ascend;


s: With hasty feasts they sacrifice, and pray,


s: To avert the dangers of the doubtful day.


s: A steer of five years’ age, large limb’d, and fed,(92)


s: There bade the noblest of the Grecian peers;


s: And Nestor first, as most advanced in years.


s: Then wise Ulysses in his rank was placed;


s: The chiefs surround the destined beast, and take


s: When thus the king prefers his solemn prayer;


s: "O thou! whose thunder rends the clouded air,


s: Who in the heaven of heavens hast fixed thy throne,


s: Hear! and before the burning sun descends,


s: Before the night her gloomy veil extends,


s: Low in the dust be laid yon hostile spires,


s: Be Priam’s palace sunk in Grecian fires.


s: In Hector’s breast be plunged this shining sword,


s: And slaughter’d heroes groan around their lord!"


s: Thus prayed the chief: his unavailing prayer


s: Great Jove refused, and toss’d in empty air:


s: The God averse, while yet the fumes arose,


s: Prepared new toils, and doubled woes on woes.


s: Their prayers perform’d the chiefs the rite pursue,


s: The barley sprinkled, and the victim slew.


s: The limbs they sever from the inclosing hide,


s: The thighs, selected to the gods, divide.


s: On these, in double cauls involved with art,


s: The choicest morsels lie from every part,


s: From the cleft wood the crackling flames aspires


s: While the fat victims feed the sacred fire.


s: The thighs thus sacrificed, and entrails dress’d


s: The assistants part, transfix, and roast the rest;


s: Then spread the tables, the repast prepare,


s: Each takes his seat, and each receives his share.


s: Soon as the rage of hunger was suppress’d,


s: The generous Nestor thus the prince address’d.


s: "Now bid thy heralds sound the loud alarms,


s: And call the squadrons sheathed in brazen arms;


s: Now seize the occasion, now the troops survey,


s: And lead to war when heaven directs the way."


s: He said; the monarch issued his commands;


s: Straight the loud heralds call the gathering bands


s: The chiefs inclose their king; the hosts divide,


s: In tribes and nations rank’d on either side.


s: High in the midst the blue-eyed virgin flies;


s: From rank to rank she darts her ardent eyes;


s: The dreadful aegis, Jove’s immortal shield,


s: Blazed on her arm, and lighten’d all the field:


s: Round the vast orb a hundred serpents roll’d,


s: Form’d the bright fringe, and seem’d to burn in gold,


s: With this each Grecian’s manly breast she warms,


s: Swells their bold hearts, and strings their nervous arms,


s: No more they sigh, inglorious, to return,


s: But breathe revenge, and for the combat burn.


s: As on some mountain, through the lofty grove,


s: The crackling flames ascend, and blaze above;


s: The fires expanding, as the winds arise,


s: Shoot their long beams, and kindle half the skies:


s: So from the polish’d arms, and brazen shields,


s: A gleamy splendour flash’d along the fields.


s: Not less their number than the embodied cranes,


s: Or milk-white swans in Asius’ watery plains.


s: That, o’er the windings of Cayster’s springs,(97)


s: Stretch their long necks, and clap their rustling wings,


s: Now tower aloft, and course in airy rounds,


s: Now light with noise; with noise the field resounds.


s: Thus numerous and confused, extending wide,


s: The legions crowd Scamander’s flowery side;(98)


s: With rushing troops the plains are cover’d o’er,


s: And thundering footsteps shake the sounding shore.


s: Along the river’s level meads they stand,


s: Thick as in spring the flowers adorn the land,


s: Or leaves the trees; or thick as insects play,


s: That, drawn by milky steams, at evening hours,


s: In gather’d swarms surround the rural bowers;


s: The gilded legions, glittering in the sun.


s: So throng’d, so close, the Grecian squadrons stood


s: In radiant arms, and thirst for Trojan blood.


s: Each leader now his scatter’d force conjoins


s: In close array, and forms the deepening lines.


s: Not with more ease the skilful shepherd-swain


s: Collects his flocks from thousands on the plain.


s: Towers o’er his armies, and outshines them all;


s: Like some proud bull, that round the pastures leads


s: His subject herds, the monarch of the meads,


s: Great as the gods, the exalted chief was seen,


s: His strength like Neptune, and like Mars his mien;(99)


s: Jove o’er his eyes celestial glories spread,


s: And dawning conquest played around his head.


s: Say, virgins, seated round the throne divine,


s: All-knowing goddesses! immortal nine!(100)


s: Since earth’s wide regions, heaven’s umneasur’d height,


s: And hell’s abyss, hide nothing from your sight,


s: (We, wretched mortals! lost in doubts below,


s: But guess by rumour, and but boast we know,)


s: O say what heroes, fired by thirst of fame,


s: Or urged by wrongs, to Troy’s destruction came.


s: To count them all, demands a thousand tongues,


s: A throat of brass, and adamantine lungs.


s: Daughters of Jove, assist! inspired by you


s: What crowded armies, from what climes they bring,


s: Their names, their numbers, and their chiefs I sing.


s: With these Arcesilaus and Clonius stand,


s: These head the troops that rocky Aulis yields,


s: And Eteon’s hills, and Hyrie’s watery fields,


s: And Schoenos, Scholos, Graea near the main,


s: Heleon and Hyle, which the springs o’erflow;


s: Copae, and Thisbe, famed for silver doves;


s: For flocks Erythrae, Glissa for the vine;


s: And they whom Thebe’s well-built walls inclose,


s: And Arne rich, with purple harvests crown’d;


s: Full fifty ships they send, and each conveys


s: Twice sixty warriors through the foaming seas.(102)


s: To these succeed Aspledon’s martial train,


s: Who plough the spacious Orchomenian plain.


s: Two valiant brothers rule the undaunted throng,


s: Whose virgin charms subdued the god of war:


s: (In Actor’s court as she retired to rest,


s: The strength of Mars the blushing maid compress’d)


s: Their troops in thirty sable vessels sweep,


s: With equal oars, the hoarse-resounding deep.


s: The Phocians next in forty barks repair;


s: From those rich regions where Cephisus leads


s: His silver current through the flowery meads;


s: These, ranged in order on the floating tide,


s: Close, on the left, the bold Boeotians’ side.


s: Fierce Ajax led the Locrian squadrons on,


s: Skill’d to direct the flying dart aright;


s: Swift in pursuit, and active in the fight.


s: Him, as their chief, the chosen troops attend,


s: Which Bessa, Thronus, and rich Cynos send;


s: And those who dwell where pleasing Augia stands,


s: And where Boagrius floats the lowly lands,


s: Or in fair Tarphe’s sylvan seats reside:


s: And sends the brave Abantes to the wars:


s: Breathing revenge, in arms they take their way


s: From Chalcis’ walls, and strong Eretria;


s: The Isteian fields for generous vines renown’d,


s: The fair Caristos, and the Styrian ground;


s: Where Dios from her towers o’erlooks the plain,


s: And high Cerinthus views the neighbouring main.


s: Down their broad shoulders falls a length of hair;


s: Their hands dismiss not the long lance in air;


s: But with protended spears in fighting fields


s: Pierce the tough corslets and the brazen shields.


s: Twice twenty ships transport the warlike bands,


s: Which bold Elphenor, fierce in arms, commands.


s: Full fifty more from Athens stem the main,


s: Led by Menestheus through the liquid plain.


s: (Athens the fair, where great Erectheus sway’d,


s: That owed his nurture to the blue-eyed maid,


s: But from the teeming furrow took his birth,


s: The mighty offspring of the foodful earth.


s: Him Pallas placed amidst her wealthy fane,


s: Where, as the years revolve, her altars blaze,


s: And all the tribes resound the goddess’ praise.)


s: No chief like thee, Menestheus! Greece could yield,


s: The extended wings of battle to display,


s: Or close the embodied host in firm array.


s: Nestor alone, improved by length of days,


s: For martial conduct bore an equal praise.


s: In twelve black ships to Troy they steer their course,


s: And with the great Athenians join their force.


s: Next move to war the generous Argive train,


s: Whom strong Tyrinthe’s lofty walls surround,


s: And Epidaure with viny harvests crown’d:


s: Their cliffs above, and ample bay below.


s: But chief Tydides bore the sovereign sway:


s: In fourscore barks they plough the watery way.


s: The proud Mycene arms her martial powers,


s: Cleone, Corinth, with imperial towers,(103)


s: Fair Araethyrea, Ornia’s fruitful plain,


s: And those who dwell along the sandy shore,


s: And where Pellene yields her fleecy store,


s: Great Agamemnon rules the numerous band,


s: And crowded nations wait his dread command.


s: High on the deck the king of men appears,


s: And his refulgent arms in triumph wears;


s: Proud of his host, unrivall’d in his reign,


s: His brother follows, and to vengeance warms


s: Phares and Brysia’s valiant troops, and those


s: Or Messe’s towers for silver doves renown’d,


s: And those whom OEtylos’ low walls contain,


s: These, o’er the bending ocean, Helen’s cause,


s: Eager and loud from man to man he flies,


s: While vainly fond, in fancy oft he hears


s: The fair one’s grief, and sees her falling tears.


s: In ninety sail, from Pylos’ sandy coast,


s: Nestor the sage conducts his chosen host:


s: Where Æpy high, and little Pteleon stand;


s: Where beauteous Arene her structures shows,


s: And Thryon’s walls Alpheus’ streams inclose:


s: And Dorion, famed for Thamyris’ disgrace,


s: Till, vain of mortals’ empty praise, he strove


s: To match the seed of cloud-compelling Jove!


s: Too daring bard! whose unsuccessful pride


s: Deprived his eyes, and snatch’d his voice away;


s: No more his heavenly voice was heard to sing,


s: His hand no more awaked the silver string.


s: Where under high Cyllene, crown’d with wood,


s: From Ripe, Stratie, Tegea’s bordering towns,


s: The Phenean fields, and Orchomenian downs,


s: Where the fat herds in plenteous pasture rove;


s: And Stymphelus with her surrounding grove;


s: Parrhasia, on her snowy cliffs reclined,


s: Their ships, supplied by Agamemnon’s care,


s: Through roaring seas the wondering warriors bear;


s: The first to battle on the appointed plain,


s: Those, where fair Elis and Buprasium join;


s: Whom Hyrmin, here, and Myrsinus confine,


s: And bounded there, where o’er the valleys rose


s: The Olenian rock; and where Alisium flows;


s: Beneath four chiefs (a numerous army) came:


s: The strength and glory of the Epean name.


s: In separate squadrons these their train divide,


s: Each leads ten vessels through the yielding tide.


s: But those who view fair Elis o’er the seas


s: From the blest islands of the Echinades,


s: To strong Dulichium from his sire he fled,


s: And thence to Troy his hardy warriors led.


s: Ulysses follow’d through the watery road,


s: With those whom Cephalenia’s line inclosed,


s: Or till their fields along the coast opposed;


s: Or where fair Ithaca o’erlooks the floods,


s: Where high Neritos shakes his waving woods,


s: These in twelve galleys with vermilion prores,


s: Beneath his conduct sought the Phrygian shores.


s: Thoas came next, Andraemon’s valiant son,


s: From Pleuron’s walls, and chalky Calydon,


s: And rough Pylene, and the Olenian steep,


s: And Chalcis, beaten by the rolling deep.


s: He led the warriors from the Ætolian shore,


s: For now the sons of OEneus were no more!


s: The glories of the mighty race were fled!


s: To Thoas’ care now trust the martial train,


s: His forty vessels follow through the main.


s: Next, eighty barks the Cretan king commands,


s: Of Gnossus, Lyctus, and Gortyna’s bands;


s: And those who dwell where Rhytion’s domes arise,


s: Or white Lycastus glitters to the skies,


s: Or where by Phaestus silver Jardan runs;


s: Crete’s hundred cities pour forth all her sons.


s: These march’d, Idomeneus, beneath thy care,


s: Led nine swift vessels through the foamy seas,


s: From Rhodes, with everlasting sunshine bright,


s: From Ephyr’s walls and Selle’s winding shore,


s: Where mighty towns in ruins spread the plain,


s: And saw their blooming warriors early slain.


s: For this, constrain’d to quit his native place,


s: And shun the vengeance of the Herculean race,


s: A fleet he built, and with a numerous train


s: Of willing exiles wander’d o’er the main;


s: Where, many seas and many sufferings past,


s: On happy Rhodes the chief arrived at last:


s: There in three tribes divides his native band,


s: And rules them peaceful in a foreign land;


s: Increased and prosper’d in their new abodes


s: By mighty Jove, the sire of men and gods;


s: With joy they saw the growing empire rise,


s: And showers of wealth descending from the skies.


s: Three ships with Nireus sought the Trojan shore,


s: Nireus, in faultless shape and blooming grace,


s: The loveliest youth of all the Grecian race;(104)


s: But few his troops, and small his strength in arms.


s: Next thirty galleys cleave the liquid plain,


s: Of those Calydnae’s sea-girt isles contain;


s: Casus the strong, and Crapathus the fair;


s: Cos, where Eurypylus possess’d the sway,


s: Till great Alcides made the realms obey:


s: These Antiphus and bold Phidippus bring,


s: Sprung from the god by Thessalus the king.


s: Now, Muse, recount Pelasgic Argos’ powers,


s: From Phthia’s spacious vales; and Hella, bless’d


s: Full fifty ships beneath Achilles’ care,


s: The Achaians, Myrmidons, Hellenians bear;


s: Thessalians all, though various in their name;


s: The same their nation, and their chief the same.


s: But now inglorious, stretch’d along the shore,


s: They hear the brazen voice of war no more;


s: No more the foe they face in dire array:


s: Close in his fleet the angry leader lay;


s: Since fair Briseis from his arms was torn,


s: The noblest spoil from sack’d Lyrnessus borne,


s: Then, when the chief the Theban walls o’erthrew,


s: There mourn’d Achilles, plunged in depth of care,


s: But soon to rise in slaughter, blood, and war.


s: And grassy Pteleon deck’d with cheerful greens,


s: The bowers of Ceres, and the sylvan scenes.


s: Sweet Pyrrhasus, with blooming flowerets crown’d,


s: And Antron’s watery dens, and cavern’d ground.


s: These own’d, as chief, Protesilas the brave,


s: The first who boldly touch’d the Trojan shore,


s: And dyed a Phrygian lance with Grecian gore;


s: There lies, far distant from his native plain;


s: And his sad consort beats her breast in vain.


s: Yet still they mourn’d their ancient leader lost.


s: The men who Glaphyra’s fair soil partake,


s: Where hills incircle Boebe’s lowly lake,


s: Where Phaere hears the neighbouring waters fall,


s: In ten black ships embark’d for Ilion’s shore,


s: The grace and glory of the beauteous kind,


s: With Philoctetes sail’d whose matchless art


s: From the tough bow directs the feather’d dart.


s: Seven were his ships; each vessel fifty row,


s: Skill’d in his science of the dart and bow.


s: But he lay raging on the Lemnian ground,


s: A poisonous hydra gave the burning wound;


s: There groan’d the chief in agonizing pain,


s: Whom Greece at length shall wish, nor wish in vain.


s: His forces Medon led from Lemnos’ shore,


s: The Œchalian race, in those high towers contain’d


s: Where once Eurytus in proud triumph reign’d,


s: Or where her humbler turrets Tricca rears,


s: Or where Ithome, rough with rocks, appears,


s: In thirty sail the sparkling waves divide,


s: To these his skill their parent-god imparts,


s: Where Titan hides his hoary head in snow,


s: And where Hyperia’s silver fountains flow.


s: And Eleon, shelter’d by Olympus’ shades,


s: Gyrtone’s warriors; and where Orthe lies,


s: (That day, when hurl’d from Pelion’s cloudy head,


s: To distant dens the shaggy Centaurs fled)


s: In twenty sail the bold Perrhaebians came


s: From Cyphus, Guneus was their leader’s name.


s: With these the Enians join’d, and those who freeze


s: Or where the pleasing Titaresius glides,


s: Yet o’er the silvery surface pure they flow,


s: The sacred stream unmix’d with streams below,


s: Styx pours them forth, the dreadful oath of gods!


s: Last, under Prothous the Magnesians stood,


s: (Prothous the swift, of old Tenthredon’s blood;)


s: Who dwell where Pelion, crown’d with piny boughs,


s: Obscures the glade, and nods his shaggy brows;


s: Or where through flowery Tempe Peneus stray’d:


s: (The region stretch’d beneath his mighty shade:)


s: In forty sable barks they stemm’d the main;


s: Such were the chiefs, and such the Grecian train.


s: Who bravest fought, or rein’d the noblest steeds?


s: Eumelus’ mares were foremost in the chase,


s: Bred where Pieria’s fruitful fountains flow,


s: And train’d by him who bears the silver bow.


s: Fierce in the fight their nostrils breathed a flame,


s: Their height, their colour, and their age the same;


s: O’er fields of death they whirl the rapid car,


s: And break the ranks, and thunder through the war.


s: While stern Achilles in his wrath retired:


s: (His was the strength that mortal might exceeds,


s: And his the unrivall’d race of heavenly steeds:)


s: But Thetis’ son now shines in arms no more;


s: His troops, neglected on the sandy shore.


s: In empty air their sportive javelins throw,


s: Unstain’d with blood his cover’d chariots stand;


s: The immortal coursers graze along the strand;


s: But the brave chiefs the inglorious life deplored,


s: And, wandering o’er the camp, required their lord.


s: Now, like a deluge, covering all around,


s: The shining armies sweep along the ground;


s: Swift as a flood of fire, when storms arise,


s: Floats the wild field, and blazes to the skies.


s: Earth groan’d beneath them; as when angry Jove


s: Hurls down the forky lightning from above,


s: And fires Typhoeus with redoubled blows,


s: Where Typhon, press’d beneath the burning load,


s: Still feels the fury of the avenging god.


s: But various Iris, Jove’s commands to bear,


s: Speeds on the wings of winds through liquid air;


s: In Priam’s porch the Trojan chiefs she found,


s: The old consulting, and the youths around.


s: Polites’ shape, the monarch’s son, she chose,


s: Who from Æsetes’ tomb observed the foes,(105)


s: High on the mound; from whence in prospect lay


s: The fields, the tents, the navy, and the bay.


s: In this dissembled form, she hastes to bring


s: The unwelcome message to the Phrygian king.


s: "Cease to consult, the time for action calls;


s: War, horrid war, approaches to your walls!


s: But ne’er till now such numbers charged a field:


s: Thick as autumnal leaves or driving sand,


s: The moving squadrons blacken all the strand.


s: Thou, godlike Hector! all thy force employ,


s: The foreign troops: this day demands them all!"


s: The voice divine the mighty chief alarms;


s: The council breaks, the warriors rush to arms.


s: The gates unfolding pour forth all their train,


s: Nations on nations fill the dusky plain,


s: Men, steeds, and chariots, shake the trembling ground:


s: The tumult thickens, and the skies resound.


s: Amidst the plain, in sight of Ilion, stands


s: A rising mount, the work of human hands;


s: (This for Myrinne’s tomb the immortals know,


s: Though call’d Bateia in the world below;)


s: Beneath their chiefs in martial order here,


s: The auxiliar troops and Trojan hosts appear.


s: The godlike Hector, high above the rest,


s: Shakes his huge spear, and nods his plumy crest:


s: In throngs around his native bands repair,


s: And groves of lances glitter in the air.


s: Anchises’ son, by Venus’ stolen embrace,


s: Born in the shades of Ida’s secret grove;


s: (A mortal mixing with the queen of love;)


s: The warrior’s toils, and combat by his side.


s: Who fair Zeleia’s wealthy valleys till,(106)


s: Graced with the presents of his shafts and bow.


s: From rich Apaesus and Adrestia’s towers,


s: High Teree’s summits, and Pityea’s bowers;


s: Old Merops’ sons; whom, skill’d in fates to come,


s: The sire forewarn’d, and prophesied their doom:


s: Fate urged them on! the sire forewarn’d in vain,


s: They rush’d to war, and perish’d on the plain.


s: From Practius’ stream, Percote’s pasture lands,


s: And Sestos and Abydos’ neighbouring strands,


s: From great Arisba’s walls and Selle’s coast,


s: High on his car he shakes the flowing reins,


s: His fiery coursers thunder o’er the plains.


s: The fierce Pelasgi next, in war renown’d,


s: March from Larissa’s ever-fertile ground:


s: In equal arms their brother leaders shine,


s: Next Acamas and Pyrous lead their hosts,


s: In dread array, from Thracia’s wintry coasts;


s: Round the bleak realms where Hellespontus roars,


s: And Boreas beats the hoarse-resounding shores.


s: Sprung from Troezenian Ceus, loved by Jove.


s: Skill’d in the fight their crooked bows to bend;


s: Axius, that swells with all his neighbouring rills,


s: And wide around the floating region fills.


s: Where rich Henetia breeds her savage mules,


s: Where Erythinus’ rising cliffs are seen,


s: And where Parthenius, roll’d through banks of flowers,


s: Reflects her bordering palaces and bowers.


s: Here march’d in arms the Halizonian band,


s: From those far regions where the sun refines


s: There mighty Chromis led the Mysian train,


s: For stern Achilles lopp’d his sacred head,


s: Roll’d down Scamander with the vulgar dead.


s: The Ascanian Phrygians, eager for the fight.


s: Of those who round Maeonia’s realms reside,


s: Or whom the vales in shades of Tmolus hide,


s: Mestles and Antiphus the charge partake,


s: Born on the banks of Gyges’ silent lake.


s: There, from the fields where wild Maeander flows,


s: And proud Miletus, came the Carian throngs,


s: With mingled clamours and with barbarous tongues.(107)


s: Amphimachus and Naustes guide the train,


s: Who, trick’d with gold, and glittering on his car,


s: Fool that he was! by fierce Achilles slain,


s: There whelm’d with waves the gaudy warrior lies


s: The valiant victor seized the golden prize.


s: Which blameless Glaucus and Sarpedon lead


s: The warlike bands that distant Lycia yields,


s: Where gulfy Xanthus foams along the fields.


s: Thus by their leaders’ care each martial band


s: Moves into ranks, and stretches o’er the land.


s: With shouts the Trojans, rushing from afar,


s: Proclaim their motions, and provoke the war


s: With piercing frosts, or thick-descending rain,


s: To warmer seas the cranes embodied fly,(108)


s: With noise, and order, through the midway sky;


s: To pigmy nations wounds and death they bring,


s: But silent, breathing rage, resolved and skill’d(109)


s: Swift march the Greeks: the rapid dust around


s: Darkening arises from the labour’d ground.


s: Thus from his flaggy wings when Notus sheds


s: A night of vapours round the mountain heads,


s: Swift-gliding mists the dusky fields invade,


s: To thieves more grateful than the midnight shade;


s: While scarce the swains their feeding flocks survey,


s: Lost and confused amidst the thicken’d day:


s: So wrapp’d in gathering dust, the Grecian train,


s: A moving cloud, swept on, and hid the plain.


s: Now front to front the hostile armies stand,


s: When, to the van, before the sons of fame


s: Whom Troy sent forth, the beauteous Paris came:


s: In form a god! the panther’s speckled hide


s: Flow’d o’er his armour with an easy pride:


s: His bended bow across his shoulders flung,


s: Two pointed spears he shook with gallant grace,


s: And dared the bravest of the Grecian race.


s: As thus, with glorious air and proud disdain,


s: He boldly stalk’d, the foremost on the plain,


s: With heart elated, and with joyful eyes:


s: Or mountain goat, his bulky prize, appear;


s: Press’d by bold youths and baying dogs in vain.


s: Thus fond of vengeance, with a furious bound,


s: In clanging arms he leaps upon the ground


s: From his high chariot: him, approaching near,


s: The beauteous champion views with marks of fear,


s: Smit with a conscious sense, retires behind,


s: And shuns the fate he well deserved to find.


s: As when some shepherd, from the rustling trees(110)


s: Shot forth to view, a scaly serpent sees,


s: Trembling and pale, he starts with wild affright


s: And all confused precipitates his flight:


s: So from the king the shining warrior flies,


s: And plunged amid the thickest Trojans lies.


s: As godlike Hector sees the prince retreat,


s: He thus upbraids him with a generous heat:


s: "Unhappy Paris! but to women brave!(111)


s: Oh, hadst thou died when first thou saw’st the light,


s: Or died at least before thy nuptial rite!


s: A better fate than vainly thus to boast,


s: And fly, the scandal of thy Trojan host.


s: Gods! how the scornful Greeks exult to see


s: Their fears of danger undeceived in thee!


s: But ill thy soul supplies a form so fair.


s: In former days, in all thy gallant pride,


s: When thy tall ships triumphant stemm’d the tide,


s: When Greece beheld thy painted canvas flow,


s: And crowds stood wondering at the passing show,


s: Say, was it thus, with such a baffled mien,


s: You met the approaches of the Spartan queen,


s: Thus from her realm convey’d the beauteous prize,


s: And both her warlike lords outshined in Helen’s eyes?


s: This deed, thy foes’ delight, thy own disgrace,


s: Thy father’s grief, and ruin of thy race;


s: This deed recalls thee to the proffer’d fight;


s: Or hast thou injured whom thou dar’st not right?


s: Soon to thy cost the field would make thee know


s: Thou keep’st the consort of a braver foe.


s: Thy graceful form instilling soft desire,


s: Thy curling tresses, and thy silver lyre,


s: Beauty and youth; in vain to these you trust,


s: When youth and beauty shall be laid in dust:


s: Troy yet may wake, and one avenging blow


s: Crush the dire author of his country’s woe."


s: His silence here, with blushes, Paris breaks:


s: "’Tis just, my brother, what your anger speaks:


s: But who like thee can boast a soul sedate,


s: So firmly proof to all the shocks of fate?


s: Thy force, like steel, a temper’d hardness shows,


s: Still edged to wound, and still untired with blows,


s: Like steel, uplifted by some strenuous swain,


s: With falling woods to strew the wasted plain.


s: Thy gifts I praise; nor thou despise the charms


s: Soft moving speech, and pleasing outward show,


s: No wish can gain them, but the gods bestow.


s: Yet, would’st thou have the proffer’d combat stand,


s: The Greeks and Trojans seat on either hand;


s: Then let a midway space our hosts divide,


s: And, on that stage of war, the cause be tried:


s: By Paris there the Spartan king be fought,


s: For beauteous Helen and the wealth she brought;


s: His be the fair, and his the treasure too.


s: Thus with a lasting league your toils may cease,


s: And Troy possess her fertile fields in peace;


s: Thus may the Greeks review their native shore,


s: Much famed for generous steeds, for beauty more."


s: He said. The challenge Hector heard with joy,


s: Then with his spear restrain’d the youth of Troy,


s: Held by the midst, athwart; and near the foe


s: While round his dauntless head the Grecians pour


s: Their stones and arrows in a mingled shower.


s: Then thus the monarch, great Atrides, cried:


s: "Forbear, ye warriors! lay the darts aside:


s: We know him by the various plume he wears."


s: Awed by his high command the Greeks attend,


s: The tumult silence, and the fight suspend.


s: While from the centre Hector rolls his eyes


s: On either host, and thus to both applies:


s: "Hear, all ye Trojan, all ye Grecian bands,


s: Your shining swords within the sheath restrain,


s: And pitch your lances in the yielding plain.


s: Here in the midst, in either army’s sight,


s: He dares the Spartan king to single fight;


s: And wills that Helen and the ravish’d spoil,


s: That caused the contest, shall reward the toil.


s: Let these the brave triumphant victor grace,


s: And different nations part in leagues of peace."


s: He spoke: in still suspense on either side


s: Each army stood: the Spartan chief replied:


s: "Me too, ye warriors, hear, whose fatal right


s: Fall he that must, beneath his rival’s arms;


s: And live the rest, secure of future harms.


s: Two lambs, devoted by your country’s rite,


s: Prepare, ye Trojans! while a third we bring


s: And add the sanction of considerate age;


s: His sons are faithless, headlong in debate,


s: And youth itself an empty wavering state;


s: Turns on all hands its deep-discerning eyes;


s: Sees what befell, and what may yet befall,


s: Concludes from both, and best provides for all.


s: The nations hear with rising hopes possess’d,


s: And peaceful prospects dawn in every breast.


s: Within the lines they drew their steeds around,


s: And from their chariots issued on the ground;


s: Next, all unbuckling the rich mail they wore,


s: Laid their bright arms along the sable shore.


s: On either side the meeting hosts are seen


s: With lances fix’d, and close the space between.


s: Two heralds now, despatch’d to Troy, invite


s: The Phrygian monarch to the peaceful rite.


s: Talthybius hastens to the fleet, to bring


s: Meantime to beauteous Helen, from the skies


s: The various goddess of the rainbow flies:


s: The loveliest nymph of Priam’s royal race:)


s: Her in the palace, at her loom she found;


s: The golden web her own sad story crown’d,


s: The Trojan wars she weaved (herself the prize)


s: And the dire triumphs of her fatal eyes.


s: "Approach, and view the wondrous scene below!(112)


s: Each hardy Greek, and valiant Trojan knight,


s: So dreadful late, and furious for the fight,


s: Now rest their spears, or lean upon their shields;


s: Ceased is the war, and silent all the fields.


s: In single fight to toss the beamy lance;


s: Each met in arms, the fate of combat tries,


s: Thy love the motive, and thy charms the prize."


s: This said, the many-coloured maid inspires


s: Her husband’s love, and wakes her former fires;


s: Her country, parents, all that once were dear,


s: Rush to her thought, and force a tender tear,


s: O’er her fair face a snowy veil she threw,


s: And, softly sighing, from the loom withdrew.


s: Her silent footsteps to the Scaean gate.


s: There sat the seniors of the Trojan race:


s: (Old Priam’s chiefs, and most in Priam’s grace,)


s: The king the first; Thymoetes at his side;


s: Lampus and Clytius, long in council tried;


s: And next, the wisest of the reverend throng,


s: Lean’d on the walls and bask’d before the sun:


s: Chiefs, who no more in bloody fights engage,


s: But wise through time, and narrative with age,


s: In summer days, like grasshoppers rejoice,


s: A bloodless race, that send a feeble voice.


s: These, when the Spartan queen approach’d the tower,


s: In secret own’d resistless beauty’s power:


s: They cried, "No wonder such celestial charms(113)


s: For nine long years have set the world in arms;


s: What winning graces! what majestic mien!


s: She moves a goddess, and she looks a queen!


s: Yet hence, O Heaven, convey that fatal face,


s: And from destruction save the Trojan race."


s: The good old Priam welcomed her, and cried,


s: "Approach, my child, and grace thy father’s side.


s: See on the plain thy Grecian spouse appears,


s: The friends and kindred of thy former years.


s: No crime of thine our present sufferings draws,


s: Not thou, but Heaven’s disposing will, the cause


s: The gods these armies and this force employ,


s: The hostile gods conspire the fate of Troy.


s: But lift thy eyes, and say, what Greek is he


s: (Far as from hence these aged orbs can see)


s: Around whose brow such martial graces shine,


s: Though some of larger stature tread the green,


s: None match his grandeur and exalted mien:


s: He seems a monarch, and his country’s pride."


s: Thus ceased the king, and thus the fair replied:


s: With conscious shame and reverential fear.


s: Ah! had I died, ere to these walk I fled,


s: False to my country, and my nuptial bed;


s: My brothers, friends, and daughter left behind,


s: For this I mourn, till grief or dire disease


s: Shall waste the form whose fault it was to please!


s: Great in the war, and great in arts of sway:


s: My brother once, before my days of shame!


s: And oh! that still he bore a brother’s name!"


s: With wonder Priam view’d the godlike man,


s: Extoll’d the happy prince, and thus began:


s: "O bless’d Atrides! born to prosperous fate,


s: How vast thy empire! Of your matchless train


s: What numbers lost, what numbers yet remain!


s: In Phrygia once were gallant armies known,


s: In ancient time, when Otreus fill’d the throne,


s: When godlike Mygdon led their troops of horse,


s: And I, to join them, raised the Trojan force:


s: Against the manlike Amazons we stood,(114)


s: And Sangar’s stream ran purple with their blood.


s: But far inferior those, in martial grace,


s: And strength of numbers, to this Grecian race."


s: This said, once more he view’d the warrior train;


s: "What’s he, whose arms lie scatter’d on the plain?


s: Broad is his breast, his shoulders larger spread,


s: Nor yet appear his care and conduct small;


s: From rank to rank he moves, and orders all.


s: The stately ram thus measures o’er the ground,


s: And, master of the flock, surveys them round."


s: Then Helen thus: "Whom your discerning eyes


s: A barren island boasts his glorious birth;


s: His fame for wisdom fills the spacious earth."


s: Antenor took the word, and thus began:(115)


s: "Myself, O king! have seen that wondrous man


s: When, trusting Jove and hospitable laws,


s: To Troy he came, to plead the Grecian cause;


s: (Great Menelaus urged the same request;)


s: My house was honour’d with each royal guest:


s: I knew their persons, and admired their parts,


s: Both brave in arms, and both approved in arts.


s: Erect, the Spartan most engaged our view;


s: When Atreus’ son harangued the listening train,


s: Just was his sense, and his expression plain,


s: His words succinct, yet full, without a fault;


s: He spoke no more than just the thing he ought.


s: But when Ulysses rose, in thought profound,(116)


s: His modest eyes he fix’d upon the ground;


s: Nor raised his head, nor stretch’d his sceptred hand;


s: But, when he speaks, what elocution flows!


s: Soft as the fleeces of descending snows,(117)


s: The copious accents fall, with easy art;


s: Melting they fall, and sink into the heart!


s: Wondering we hear, and fix’d in deep surprise,


s: Our ears refute the censure of our eyes."


s: The king then ask’d (as yet the camp he view’d)


s: "What chief is that, with giant strength endued,


s: Whose brawny shoulders, and whose swelling chest,


s: "Ajax the great, (the beauteous queen replied,)


s: Himself a host: the Grecian strength and pride.


s: The rest I know, and could in order name;


s: All valiant chiefs, and men of mighty fame.


s: Yet two are wanting of the numerous train,


s: Whom long my eyes have sought, but sought in vain:


s: Castor and Pollux, first in martial force,


s: One bold on foot, and one renown’d for horse.


s: My brothers these; the same our native shore,


s: One house contain’d us, as one mother bore.


s: Perhaps the chiefs, from warlike toils at ease,


s: For distant Troy refused to sail the seas;


s: Perhaps their swords some nobler quarrel draws,


s: Ashamed to combat in their sister’s cause."


s: So spoke the fair, nor knew her brothers’ doom;(118)


s: Adorn’d with honours in their native shore,


s: Silent they slept, and heard of wars no more.


s: Meantime the heralds, through the crowded town.


s: Bring the rich wine and destined victims down.


s: Idaeus’ arms the golden goblets press’d,(119)


s: The nations call, thy joyful people wait


s: To seal the truce, and end the dire debate.


s: Paris, thy son, and Sparta’s king advance,


s: In measured lists to toss the weighty lance;


s: His be the dame, and his the treasure too.


s: Thus with a lasting league our toils may cease,


s: And Troy possess her fertile fields in peace:


s: So shall the Greeks review their native shore,


s: Much famed for generous steeds, for beauty more."


s: With grief he heard, and bade the chiefs prepare


s: To join his milk-white coursers to the car;


s: He mounts the seat, Antenor at his side;


s: The gentle steeds through Scaea’s gates they guide:(120)


s: Next from the car descending on the plain,


s: Slow they proceed: the sage Ulysses then


s: Arose, and with him rose the king of men.


s: The wine they mix, and on each monarch’s hands


s: Pour the full urn; then draws the Grecian lord


s: His cutlass sheathed beside his ponderous sword;


s: From the sign’d victims crops the curling hair;(121)


s: The heralds part it, and the princes share;


s: Then loudly thus before the attentive bands


s: He calls the gods, and spreads his lifted hands:


s: "O first and greatest power! whom all obey,


s: Eternal Jove! and you bright orb that roll


s: From east to west, and view from pole to pole!


s: Thou mother Earth! and all ye living floods!


s: Who rule the dead, and horrid woes prepare


s: For perjured kings, and all who falsely swear!


s: Hear, and be witness. If, by Paris slain,


s: The dame and treasures let the Trojan keep,


s: And Greece returning plough the watery deep.


s: If by my brother’s lance the Trojan bleed,


s: Be his the wealth and beauteous dame decreed:


s: The appointed fine let Ilion justly pay,


s: This if the Phrygians shall refuse to yield,


s: Arms must revenge, and Mars decide the field."


s: With that the chief the tender victims slew,


s: And in the dust their bleeding bodies threw;


s: And left the members quivering on the ground.


s: From the same urn they drink the mingled wine,


s: While thus their prayers united mount the sky,


s: "Hear, mighty Jove! and hear, ye gods on high!


s: And may their blood, who first the league confound,


s: Shed like this wine, disdain the thirsty ground;


s: May all their consorts serve promiscuous lust,


s: And all their lust be scatter’d as the dust!"


s: Thus either host their imprecations join’d,


s: Which Jove refused, and mingled with the wind.


s: The rites now finish’d, reverend Priam rose,


s: And thus express’d a heart o’ercharged with woes:


s: "Ye Greeks and Trojans, let the chiefs engage,


s: But spare the weakness of my feeble age:


s: In yonder walls that object let me shun,


s: Whose arms shall conquer and what prince shall fall,


s: Heaven only knows; for heaven disposes all."


s: This said, the hoary king no longer stay’d,


s: But on his car the slaughter’d victims laid:


s: Then seized the reins his gentle steeds to guide,


s: The lists of combat, and the ground inclose:


s: Who first shall launch his pointed spear in air.


s: And words like these are heard through all the bands:


s: "Immortal Jove, high Heaven’s superior lord,


s: Whoe’er involved us in this dire debate,


s: And joyful nations join in leagues of peace."


s: The lots of fight and shakes the brazen urn.


s: Then, Paris, thine leap’d forth; by fatal chance


s: Ordain’d the first to whirl the weighty lance.


s: And round the lists the generous coursers neigh.


s: The beauteous warrior now arrays for fight,


s: The purple cuishes clasp his thighs around,


s: With flowers adorn’d, with silver buckles bound:


s: Braced in and fitted to his softer breast;


s: A radiant baldric, o’er his shoulder tied,


s: Sustain’d the sword that glitter’d at his side:


s: His youthful face a polish’d helm o’erspread;


s: The waving horse-hair nodded on his head:


s: His figured shield, a shining orb, he takes,


s: And in his hand a pointed javelin shakes.


s: With equal speed and fired by equal charms,


s: The Spartan hero sheathes his limbs in arms.


s: Now round the lists the admiring armies stand,


s: With javelins fix’d, the Greek and Trojan band.


s: Amidst the dreadful vale, the chiefs advance,


s: All pale with rage, and shake the threatening lance.


s: The Trojan first his shining javelin threw;


s: Full on Atrides’ ringing shield it flew,


s: Nor pierced the brazen orb, but with a bound(122)


s: Leap’d from the buckler, blunted, on the ground.


s: In act to throw, but first prefers his prayers:


s: "Give me, great Jove! to punish lawless lust,


s: Destroy the aggressor, aid my righteous cause,


s: And guard from wrong fair friendship’s holy name."


s: Be said, and poised in air the javelin sent,


s: Through Paris’ shield the forceful weapon went,


s: His corslet pierces, and his garment rends,


s: And glancing downward, near his flank descends.


s: Eludes the death, and disappoints his foe:


s: But fierce Atrides waved his sword, and strook


s: Full on his casque: the crested helmet shook;


s: The brittle steel, unfaithful to his hand,


s: Broke short: the fragments glitter’d on the sand.


s: The raging warrior to the spacious skies


s: Raised his upbraiding voice and angry eyes:


s: "Then is it vain in Jove himself to trust?


s: And is it thus the gods assist the just?


s: When crimes provoke us, Heaven success denies;


s: The dart falls harmless, and the falchion flies."


s: Furious he said, and towards the Grecian crew


s: (Seized by the crest) the unhappy warrior drew;


s: Struggling he followed, while the embroider’d thong


s: That tied his helmet, dragg’d the chief along.


s: But Venus trembled for the prince of Troy:


s: Unseen she came, and burst the golden band;


s: The casque, enraged, amidst the Greeks he threw;


s: The Greeks with smiles the polish’d trophy view.


s: Then, as once more he lifts the deadly dart,


s: In thirst of vengeance, at his rival’s heart;


s: The queen of love her favour’d champion shrouds


s: (For gods can all things) in a veil of clouds.


s: Raised from the field the panting youth she led,


s: With pleasing sweets his fainting sense renews,


s: And all the dome perfumes with heavenly dews.


s: Meantime the brightest of the female kind,


s: The matchless Helen, o’er the walls reclined;


s: To her, beset with Trojan beauties, came,


s: In borrow’d form, the laughter-loving dame.


s: (She seem’d an ancient maid, well-skill’d to cull


s: The snowy fleece, and wind the twisted wool.)


s: The goddess softly shook her silken vest,


s: That shed perfumes, and whispering thus address’d:


s: "Haste, happy nymph! for thee thy Paris calls,


s: Safe from the fight, in yonder lofty walls,


s: Fair as a god; with odours round him spread,


s: He lies, and waits thee on the well-known bed;


s: But some gay dancer in the public show."


s: She spoke, and Helen’s secret soul was moved;


s: She scorn’d the champion, but the man she loved.


s: Fair Venus’ neck, her eyes that sparkled fire,


s: And breast, reveal’d the queen of soft desire.(123)


s: Struck with her presence, straight the lively red


s: Forsook her cheek; and trembling, thus she said:


s: "Then is it still thy pleasure to deceive?


s: Say, to new nations must I cross the main,


s: For whom must Helen break her second vow?


s: Left to Atrides, (victor in the strife,)


s: Hence let me sail; and if thy Paris bear


s: My absence ill, let Venus ease his care.


s: Renounce the glories of thy heavenly state,


s: His spouse, or slave; and mount the skies no more.


s: And keen reproach, from every Phrygian dame:


s: Ill suits it now the joys of love to know,


s: Too deep my anguish, and too wild my woe."


s: Then thus incensed, the Paphian queen replies:


s: "Obey the power from whom thy glories rise:


s: Should Venus leave thee, every charm must fly,


s: Fade from thy cheek, and languish in thy eye.


s: Cease to provoke me, lest I make thee more


s: The world’s aversion, than their love before;


s: Now the bright prize for which mankind engage,


s: Than, the sad victim, of the public rage."


s: And veil’d her blushes in a silken shade;


s: Unseen, and silent, from the train she moves,


s: Led by the goddess of the Smiles and Loves.


s: Arrived, and enter’d at the palace gate,


s: The maids officious round their mistress wait;


s: Then, all dispersing, various tasks attend;


s: The queen and goddess to the prince ascend.


s: Full in her Paris’ sight, the queen of love


s: Had placed the beauteous progeny of Jove;


s: Where, as he view’d her charms, she turn’d away


s: Her glowing eyes, and thus began to say:


s: "Is this the chief, who, lost to sense of shame,


s: Late fled the field, and yet survives his fame?


s: O hadst thou died beneath the righteous sword


s: Of that brave man whom once I call’d my lord!


s: With Sparta’s king to meet in single fray:


s: Go now, once more thy rival’s rage excite,


s: Yet Helen bids thee stay, lest thou unskill’d


s: Shouldst fall an easy conquest on the field."


s: The prince replies: "Ah cease, divinely fair,


s: Nor add reproaches to the wounds I bear;


s: This day the foe prevail’d by Pallas’ power:


s: But let the business of our life be love:


s: These softer moments let delights employ,


s: Not thus I loved thee, when from Sparta’s shore


s: My forced, my willing heavenly prize I bore,


s: When first entranced in Cranae’s isle I lay,(124)


s: Mix’d with thy soul, and all dissolved away!"


s: Thus having spoke, the enamour’d Phrygian boy


s: Rush’d to the bed, impatient for the joy.


s: Him Helen follow’d slow with bashful charms,


s: And clasp’d the blooming hero in her arms.


s: While these to love’s delicious rapture yield,


s: The stern Atrides rages round the field:


s: Roars through the desert, and demands his prey.


s: But seeks in vain along the troops of Troy;


s: Even those had yielded to a foe so brave


s: The recreant warrior, hateful as the grave.


s: Then speaking thus, the king of kings arose,


s: "Ye Trojans, Dardans, all our generous foes!


s: Hear and attest! from Heaven with conquest crown’d,


s: Our brother’s arms the just success have found:


s: Be therefore now the Spartan wealth restor’d,


s: The appointed fine let Ilion justly pay,


s: He ceased; his army’s loud applauses rise,


s: And the long shout runs echoing through the skies.


s: The gods, with Jove, assume their thrones of gold:


s: The golden goblet crowns with purple wine:


s: While the full bowls flow round, the powers employ


s: Their careful eyes on long-contended Troy.


s: When Jove, disposed to tempt Saturnia’s spleen,


s: Thus waked the fury of his partial queen,


s: "Two powers divine the son of Atreus aid,


s: Imperial Juno, and the martial maid;(125)


s: But high in heaven they sit, and gaze from far,


s: The tame spectators of his deeds of war.


s: Not thus fair Venus helps her favour’d knight,


s: The queen of pleasures shares the toils of fight,


s: Each danger wards, and constant in her care,


s: Saves in the moment of the last despair.


s: Her act has rescued Paris’ forfeit life,


s: Though great Atrides gain’d the glorious strife.


s: Then say, ye powers! what signal issue waits


s: To crown this deed, and finish all the fates!


s: Shall Heaven by peace the bleeding kingdoms spare,


s: Yet, would the gods for human good provide,


s: Atrides soon might gain his beauteous bride,


s: Still Priam’s walls in peaceful honours grow,


s: And through his gates the crowding nations flow."


s: Thus while he spoke, the queen of heaven, enraged,


s: And queen of war, in close consult engaged:


s: Apart they sit, their deep designs employ,


s: Though secret anger swell’d Minerva’s breast,


s: The prudent goddess yet her wrath suppress’d;


s: Her sullen silence, and with fury spoke:


s: "Shall then, O tyrant of the ethereal reign!


s: My schemes, my labours, and my hopes be vain?


s: Have I, for this, shook Ilion with alarms,


s: Assembled nations, set two worlds in arms?


s: To spread the war, I flew from shore to shore;


s: The immortal coursers scarce the labour bore.


s: At length ripe vengeance o’er their heads impends,


s: But Jove himself the faithless race defends.


s: Loth as thou art to punish lawless lust,


s: Not all the gods are partial and unjust."


s: The sire whose thunder shakes the cloudy skies,


s: Sighs from his inmost soul, and thus replies:


s: To Phrygia’s monarch, and the Phrygian state!


s: What high offence has fired the wife of Jove?


s: Can wretched mortals harm the powers above,


s: That Troy, and Troy’s whole race thou wouldst confound,


s: And yon fair structures level with the ground!


s: Haste, leave the skies, fulfil thy stern desire,


s: Burst all her gates, and wrap her walls in fire!


s: Let Priam bleed! if yet you thirst for more,


s: Bleed all his sons, and Ilion float with gore:


s: To boundless vengeance the wide realm be given,


s: Till vast destruction glut the queen of heaven!


s: So let it be, and Jove his peace enjoy,(126)


s: When heaven no longer hears the name of Troy.


s: But should this arm prepare to wreak our hate


s: On thy loved realms, whose guilt demands their fate;


s: Presume not thou the lifted bolt to stay,


s: Remember Troy, and give the vengeance way.


s: For know, of all the numerous towns that rise


s: Beneath the rolling sun and starry skies,


s: Which gods have raised, or earth-born men enjoy,


s: None stands so dear to Jove as sacred Troy.


s: No mortals merit more distinguish’d grace


s: Than godlike Priam, or than Priam’s race.


s: Still to our name their hecatombs expire,


s: And altars blaze with unextinguish’d fire."


s: At this the goddess rolled her radiant eyes,


s: Then on the Thunderer fix’d them, and replies:


s: "Three towns are Juno’s on the Grecian plains,


s: More dear than all the extended earth contains,


s: Mycenae, Argos, and the Spartan wall;(127)


s: These thou mayst raze, nor I forbid their fall:


s: The crime’s sufficient that they share my love.


s: Of power superior why should I complain?


s: Yet some distinction Juno might require,


s: Sprung with thyself from one celestial sire,


s: A goddess born, to share the realms above,


s: And styled the consort of the thundering Jove;


s: Nor thou a wife and sister’s right deny;(128)


s: Let both consent, and both by terms comply;


s: So shall the gods our joint decrees obey,


s: And heaven shall act as we direct the way.


s: See ready Pallas waits thy high commands


s: To raise in arms the Greek and Phrygian bands;


s: Their sudden friendship by her arts may cease,


s: And the proud Trojans first infringe the peace."


s: The advice approved, and bade Minerva fly,


s: Dissolve the league, and all her arts employ


s: To make the breach the faithless act of Troy.


s: Fired with the charge, she headlong urged her flight,


s: And shot like lightning from Olympus’ height.


s: To fright the nations with a dire portent,


s: Or trembling sailors on the wintry main,)


s: With sweeping glories glides along in air,


s: And shakes the sparkles from its blazing hair:(129)


s: Shot the bright goddess in a trail of light,


s: The power descending, and the heavens on fire!


s: "The gods (they cried), the gods this signal sent,


s: And fate now labours with some vast event:


s: Jove seals the league, or bloodier scenes prepares;


s: Jove, the great arbiter of peace and wars."


s: They said, while Pallas through the Trojan throng,


s: (In shape a mortal,) pass’d disguised along.


s: Like bold Laodocus, her course she bent,


s: Who from Antenor traced his high descent.


s: Amidst the ranks Lycaon’s son she found,


s: The warlike Pandarus, for strength renown’d;


s: Whose squadrons, led from black Æsepus’ flood,(130)


s: With flaming shields in martial circle stood.


s: To him the goddess: "Phrygian! canst thou hear


s: A well-timed counsel with a willing ear?


s: What praise were thine, couldst thou direct thy dart,


s: Amidst his triumph, to the Spartan’s heart?


s: What gifts from Troy, from Paris wouldst thou gain,


s: Thy country’s foe, the Grecian glory slain?


s: Then seize the occasion, dare the mighty deed,


s: Aim at his breast, and may that aim succeed!


s: But first, to speed the shaft, address thy vow


s: And swear the firstlings of thy flock to pay,


s: On Zelia’s altars, to the god of day."(131)


s: He heard, and madly at the motion pleased,


s: His polish’d bow with hasty rashness seized.


s: ’Twas form’d of horn, and smooth’d with artful toil:


s: A mountain goat resign’d the shining spoil.


s: Who pierced long since beneath his arrows bled;


s: The stately quarry on the cliffs lay dead,


s: And sixteen palms his brow’s large honours spread:


s: The workmen join’d, and shaped the bended horns,


s: And beaten gold each taper point adorns.


s: This, by the Greeks unseen, the warrior bends,


s: Screen’d by the shields of his surrounding friends:


s: There meditates the mark; and couching low,


s: Fits the sharp arrow to the well-strung bow.


s: One from a hundred feather’d deaths he chose,


s: Fated to wound, and cause of future woes;


s: Then offers vows with hecatombs to crown


s: Now with full force the yielding horn he bends,


s: Drawn to an arch, and joins the doubling ends;


s: Close to his breast he strains the nerve below,


s: Till the barb’d points approach the circling bow;


s: The impatient weapon whizzes on the wing;


s: Sounds the tough horn, and twangs the quivering string.


s: But thee, Atrides! in that dangerous hour


s: The gods forget not, nor thy guardian power,


s: Pallas assists, and (weakened in its force)


s: Diverts the weapon from its destined course:


s: So from her babe, when slumber seals his eye,


s: The watchful mother wafts the envenom’d fly.


s: Just where his belt with golden buckles join’d,


s: Where linen folds the double corslet lined,


s: She turn’d the shaft, which, hissing from above,


s: Pass’d the broad belt, and through the corslet drove;


s: The folds it pierced, the plaited linen tore,


s: And razed the skin, and drew the purple gore.


s: As when some stately trappings are decreed


s: To grace a monarch on his bounding steed,


s: Stains the pure ivory with a lively red;


s: The shining whiteness, and the Tyrian dye:


s: So great Atrides! show’d thy sacred blood,


s: As down thy snowy thigh distill’d the streaming flood.


s: With horror seized, the king of men descried


s: The shaft infix’d, and saw the gushing tide:


s: Nor less the Spartan fear’d, before he found


s: The shining barb appear above the wound,


s: Then, with a sigh, that heaved his manly breast,


s: The royal brother thus his grief express’d,


s: And grasp’d his hand; while all the Greeks around


s: With answering sighs return’d the plaintive sound.


s: The solemn truce, a fatal truce to thee!


s: Wert thou exposed to all the hostile train,


s: To fight for Greece, and conquer, to be slain!


s: And faith is scorn’d by all the perjured line.


s: Not thus our vows, confirm’d with wine and gore,


s: Those hands we plighted, and those oaths we swore,


s: Shall all be vain: when Heaven’s revenge is slow,


s: Jove but prepares to strike the fiercer blow.


s: The day shall come, that great avenging day,


s: When Troy’s proud glories in the dust shall lay,


s: When Priam’s powers and Priam’s self shall fall,


s: Bare his red arm, and bid the thunder roll;


s: And shake his aegis o’er their guilty head.


s: Such mighty woes on perjured princes wait;


s: But thou, alas! deserv’st a happier fate.


s: Still must I mourn the period of thy days,


s: And only mourn, without my share of praise?


s: Deprived of thee, the heartless Greeks no more


s: Shall dream of conquests on the hostile shore;


s: Troy seized of Helen, and our glory lost,


s: Thy bones shall moulder on a foreign coast;


s: While some proud Trojan thus insulting cries,


s: (And spurns the dust where Menelaus lies,)


s: ’Such are the trophies Greece from Ilion brings,


s: And such the conquest of her king of kings!


s: Lo his proud vessels scatter’d o’er the main,


s: And unrevenged, his mighty brother slain.’


s: Oh! ere that dire disgrace shall blast my fame,


s: O’erwhelm me, earth! and hide a monarch’s shame."


s: He said: a leader’s and a brother’s fears


s: Possess his soul, which thus the Spartan cheers:


s: "Let not thy words the warmth of Greece abate;


s: The feeble dart is guiltless of my fate:


s: Stiff with the rich embroider’d work around,


s: My varied belt repell’d the flying wound."


s: To whom the king: "My brother and my friend,


s: Thus, always thus, may Heaven thy life defend!


s: Now seek some skilful hand, whose powerful art


s: May stanch the effusion, and extract the dart.


s: Pierced with a winged shaft (the deed of Troy),


s: The Grecian’s sorrow, and the Dardan’s joy."


s: With hasty zeal the swift Talthybius flies;


s: Through the thick files he darts his searching eyes,


s: And finds Machaon, where sublime he stands(132)


s: In arms incircled with his native bands.


s: Then thus: "Machaon, to the king repair,


s: His wounded brother claims thy timely care;


s: Pierced by some Lycian or Dardanian bow,


s: The heavy tidings grieved the godlike man


s: Swift to his succour through the ranks he ran.


s: The dauntless king yet standing firm he found,


s: And all the chiefs in deep concern around.


s: Where to the steely point the reed was join’d,


s: The shaft he drew, but left the head behind.


s: Straight the broad belt with gay embroidery graced,


s: He loosed; the corslet from his breast unbraced;


s: Then suck’d the blood, and sovereign balm infused,(133)


s: While round the prince the Greeks employ their care,


s: Once more they glitter in refulgent arms,


s: Once more the fields are fill’d with dire alarms.


s: Confused, unactive, or surprised with fear;


s: His beating bosom claim’d the rising fight.


s: No longer with his warlike steeds he stay’d,


s: Or press’d the car with polish’d brass inlaid


s: On foot through all the martial ranks he moves


s: And these encourages, and those reproves.


s: "Brave men!" he cries, (to such who boldly dare


s: Urge their swift steeds to face the coming war),


s: "Your ancient valour on the foes approve;


s: Jove is with Greece, and let us trust in Jove.


s: ’Tis not for us, but guilty Troy, to dread,


s: Whose crimes sit heavy on her perjured head;


s: Her sons and matrons Greece shall lead in chains,


s: And her dead warriors strew the mournful plains."


s: Thus with new ardour he the brave inspires;


s: Or thus the fearful with reproaches fires:


s: "Shame to your country, scandal of your kind;


s: Born to the fate ye well deserve to find!


s: Why stand ye gazing round the dreadful plain,


s: Prepared for flight, but doom’d to fly in vain?


s: Confused and panting thus, the hunted deer


s: Falls as he flies, a victim to his fear.


s: Still must ye wait the foes, and still retire,


s: Till yon tall vessels blaze with Trojan fire?


s: Or trust ye, Jove a valiant foe shall chase,


s: This said, he stalk’d with ample strides along,


s: To Crete’s brave monarch and his martial throng;


s: High at their head he saw the chief appear,


s: At this the king his generous joy express’d,


s: And clasp’d the warrior to his armed breast.


s: To worth like thine! what praise shall we bestow?


s: To thee the foremost honours are decreed,


s: First in the fight and every graceful deed.


s: For this, in banquets, when the generous bowls


s: Restore our blood, and raise the warriors’ souls,


s: Though all the rest with stated rules we bound,


s: Unmix’d, unmeasured, are thy goblets crown’d.


s: Be still thyself, in arms a mighty name;


s: Maintain thy honours, and enlarge thy fame."


s: To whom the Cretan thus his speech address’d:


s: Fix’d to thy side, in every toil I share,


s: But let the signal be this moment given;


s: The field shall prove how perjuries succeed,


s: And chains or death avenge the impious deed."


s: Charm’d with this heat, the king his course pursues,


s: And next the troops of either Ajax views:


s: In one firm orb the bands were ranged around,


s: A cloud of heroes blacken’d all the ground.


s: A swain surveys the gathering storm below;


s: Slow from the main the heavy vapours rise,


s: Spread in dim streams, and sail along the skies,


s: Till black as night the swelling tempest shows,


s: The cloud condensing as the west-wind blows:


s: He dreads the impending storm, and drives his flock


s: Such, and so thick, the embattled squadrons stood,


s: A shady light was shot from glimmering shields,


s: And their brown arms obscured the dusky fields.


s: "O heroes! worthy such a dauntless train,


s: Whose godlike virtue we but urge in vain,


s: (Exclaim’d the king), who raise your eager bands


s: With great examples, more than loud commands.


s: Ah! would the gods but breathe in all the rest


s: Such souls as burn in your exalted breast,


s: Soon should our arms with just success be crown’d,


s: And Troy’s proud walls lie smoking on the ground."


s: Then to the next the general bends his course;


s: (His heart exults, and glories in his force);


s: There reverend Nestor ranks his Pylian bands,


s: With strictest order sets his train in arms,


s: The chiefs advises, and the soldiers warms.


s: Alastor, Chromius, Haemon, round him wait,


s: The horse and chariots to the front assign’d,


s: The foot (the strength of war) he ranged behind;


s: The middle space suspected troops supply,


s: Inclosed by both, nor left the power to fly;


s: He gives command to "curb the fiery steed,


s: Nor cause confusion, nor the ranks exceed:


s: Before the rest let none too rashly ride;


s: No strength nor skill, but just in time, be tried:


s: The charge once made, no warrior turn the rein,


s: But fight, or fall; a firm embodied train.


s: He whom the fortune of the field shall cast


s: From forth his chariot, mount the next in haste;


s: Content with javelins to provoke the war.


s: Our great forefathers held this prudent course,


s: Thus ruled their ardour, thus preserved their force;


s: By laws like these immortal conquests made,


s: And earth’s proud tyrants low in ashes laid."


s: And touch’d with transport great Atrides’ heart.


s: "Oh! hadst thou strength to match thy brave desires,


s: And nerves to second what thy soul inspires!


s: But wasting years, that wither human race,


s: Exhaust thy spirits, and thy arms unbrace.


s: What once thou wert, oh ever mightst thou be!


s: Thus to the experienced prince Atrides cried;


s: He shook his hoary locks, and thus replied:


s: "Well might I wish, could mortal wish renew(134)


s: That strength which once in boiling youth I knew;


s: Beneath this arm, fell prostrate on the plain.


s: But heaven its gifts not all at once bestows,


s: These years with wisdom crowns, with action those:


s: The field of combat fits the young and bold,


s: The solemn council best becomes the old:


s: Let sage advice, the palm of age, be mine."


s: He said. With joy the monarch march’d before,


s: And found Menestheus on the dusty shore,


s: With whom the firm Athenian phalanx stands;


s: And next Ulysses, with his subject bands.


s: Remote their forces lay, nor knew so far


s: The peace infringed, nor heard the sounds of war;


s: The tumult late begun, they stood intent


s: To watch the motion, dubious of the event.


s: The king, who saw their squadrons yet unmoved,


s: With hasty ardour thus the chiefs reproved:


s: "Can Peleus’ son forget a warrior’s part.


s: And fears Ulysses, skill’d in every art?


s: Why stand you distant, and the rest expect


s: To mix in combat which yourselves neglect?


s: From you ’twas hoped among the first to dare


s: The shock of armies, and commence the war;


s: For this your names are call’d before the rest,


s: To share the pleasures of the genial feast:


s: And can you, chiefs! without a blush survey


s: Whole troops before you labouring in the fray?


s: Say, is it thus those honours you requite?


s: The first in banquets, but the last in fight."


s: Ulysses heard: the hero’s warmth o’erspread


s: His cheek with blushes: and severe, he said:


s: "Take back the unjust reproach! Behold we stand


s: Sheathed in bright arms, and but expect command.


s: If glorious deeds afford thy soul delight,


s: Behold me plunging in the thickest fight.


s: Then give thy warrior-chief a warrior’s due,


s: Who dares to act whate’er thou dar’st to view."


s: Struck with his generous wrath, the king replies:


s: "O great in action, and in council wise!


s: With ours, thy care and ardour are the same,


s: Nor need I to commend, nor aught to blame.


s: Sage as thou art, and learn’d in human kind,


s: Forgive the transport of a martial mind.


s: Haste to the fight, secure of just amends;


s: The gods that make, shall keep the worthy, friends."


s: He said, and pass’d where great Tydides lay,


s: His steeds and chariots wedged in firm array;


s: (The warlike Sthenelus attends his side;)(135)


s: To whom with stern reproach the monarch cried:


s: "O son of Tydeus! (he, whose strength could tame


s: The bounding steed, in arms a mighty name)


s: Canst thou, remote, the mingling hosts descry,


s: With hands unactive, and a careless eye?


s: Not thus thy sire the fierce encounter fear’d;


s: Still first in front the matchless prince appear’d:


s: What glorious toils, what wonders they recite,


s: Who view’d him labouring through the ranks of fight?


s: I saw him once, when gathering martial powers,


s: A peaceful guest, he sought Mycenae’s towers;


s: Armies he ask’d, and armies had been given,


s: Not we denied, but Jove forbade from heaven;


s: While dreadful comets glaring from afar,


s: Forewarn’d the horrors of the Theban war.(136)


s: Next, sent by Greece from where Asopus flows,


s: A fearless envoy, he approach’d the foes;


s: Thebes’ hostile walls unguarded and alone,


s: Dauntless he enters, and demands the throne.


s: The tyrant feasting with his chiefs he found,


s: And dared to combat all those chiefs around:


s: Dared, and subdued before their haughty lord;


s: For Pallas strung his arm and edged his sword.


s: Stung with the shame, within the winding way,


s: Those fifty slaughter’d in the gloomy vale.


s: He spared but one to bear the dreadful tale,


s: Such Tydeus was, and such his martial fire;


s: Gods! how the son degenerates from the sire!"


s: But heard respectful, and in secret burn’d:


s: Stern as his sire, the boaster thus begun:


s: "What needs, O monarch! this invidious praise,


s: Ourselves to lessen, while our sire you raise?


s: With fewer troops we storm’d the Theban wall,


s: And happier saw the sevenfold city fall,(137)


s: The sons subdued, for Heaven was on their side.


s: Far more than heirs of all our parents’ fame,


s: Our glories darken their diminish’d name."


s: To him Tydides thus: "My friend, forbear;


s: Suppress thy passion, and the king revere:


s: His high concern may well excuse this rage,


s: Whose cause we follow, and whose war we wage:


s: His the first praise, were Ilion’s towers o’erthrown,


s: And, if we fail, the chief disgrace his own.


s: Let him the Greeks to hardy toils excite,


s: ’Tis ours to labour in the glorious fight."


s: He spoke, and ardent, on the trembling ground


s: Sprung from his car: his ringing arms resound.


s: Dire was the clang, and dreadful from afar,


s: As when the winds, ascending by degrees,(138)


s: First move the whitening surface of the seas,


s: The billows float in order to the shore,


s: The wave behind rolls on the wave before;


s: Till, with the growing storm, the deeps arise,


s: Foam o’er the rocks, and thunder to the skies.


s: So to the fight the thick battalions throng,


s: Shields urged on shields, and men drove men along


s: Sedate and silent move the numerous bands;


s: No sound, no whisper, but the chief’s commands,


s: Those only heard; with awe the rest obey,


s: As if some god had snatch’d their voice away.


s: Not so the Trojans; from their host ascends


s: A general shout that all the region rends.


s: As when the fleecy flocks unnumber’d stand


s: In wealthy folds, and wait the milker’s hand,


s: The hollow vales incessant bleating fills,


s: The lambs reply from all the neighbouring hills:


s: Such clamours rose from various nations round,


s: Mix’d was the murmur, and confused the sound.


s: Each host now joins, and each a god inspires,


s: These Mars incites, and those Minerva fires,


s: Pale flight around, and dreadful terror reign;


s: And discord raging bathes the purple plain;


s: Discord! dire sister of the slaughtering power,


s: Small at her birth, but rising every hour,


s: While scarce the skies her horrid head can bound,


s: She stalks on earth, and shakes the world around;(139)


s: The nations bleed, where’er her steps she turns,


s: The groan still deepens, and the combat burns.


s: Now shield with shield, with helmet helmet closed,


s: To armour armour, lance to lance opposed,


s: Host against host with shadowy squadrons drew,


s: The sounding darts in iron tempests flew,


s: Victors and vanquish’d join’d promiscuous cries,


s: And shrilling shouts and dying groans arise;


s: With streaming blood the slippery fields are dyed,


s: And slaughter’d heroes swell the dreadful tide.


s: As torrents roll, increased by numerous rills,


s: With rage impetuous, down their echoing hills


s: Rush to the vales, and pour’d along the plain.


s: Roar through a thousand channels to the main:


s: The distant shepherd trembling hears the sound;


s: So mix both hosts, and so their cries rebound.


s: The first who struck a valiant Trojan dead:


s: Razed his high crest, and through his helmet drives;


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


s: And shades eternal settle o’er his eyes.


s: So sinks a tower, that long assaults had stood


s: Of force and fire, its walls besmear’d with blood.


s: Him, the bold leader of the Abantian throng,(140)


s: Seized to despoil, and dragg’d the corpse along:


s: But while he strove to tug the inserted dart,


s: Agenor’s javelin reach’d the hero’s heart.


s: His flank, unguarded by his ample shield,


s: Admits the lance: he falls, and spurns the field;


s: The nerves, unbraced, support his limbs no more;


s: The soul comes floating in a tide of gore.


s: Trojans and Greeks now gather round the slain;


s: The war renews, the warriors bleed again:


s: As o’er their prey rapacious wolves engage,


s: Man dies on man, and all is blood and rage.


s: Sent by great Ajax to the shades of hell;


s: Amid the flocks on silver Simois’ shore:


s: The nymph descending from the hills of Ide,


s: To seek her parents on his flowery side,


s: Brought forth the babe, their common care and joy,


s: And thence from Simois named the lovely boy.


s: Short was his date! by dreadful Ajax slain,


s: He falls, and renders all their cares in vain!


s: So falls a poplar, that in watery ground


s: Raised high the head, with stately branches crown’d,


s: (Fell’d by some artist with his shining steel,


s: To shape the circle of the bending wheel,)


s: Cut down it lies, tall, smooth, and largely spread,


s: With all its beauteous honours on its head


s: There, left a subject to the wind and rain,


s: And scorch’d by suns, it withers on the plain


s: Stretch’d on the shore, and thus neglected dies.


s: The pointed lance with erring fury flew,


s: And Leucus, loved by wise Ulysses, slew.


s: And sinks a breathless carcase on the plain.


s: This saw Ulysses, and with grief enraged,


s: Strode where the foremost of the foes engaged;


s: Arm’d with his spear, he meditates the wound,


s: In act to throw; but cautious look’d around,


s: Struck at his sight the Trojans backward drew,


s: And trembling heard the javelin as it flew.


s: A chief stood nigh, who from Abydos came,


s: Cold through his temples glides the whizzing spear;(141)


s: With piercing shrieks the youth resigns his breath,


s: His eye-balls darken with the shades of death;


s: Ponderous he falls; his clanging arms resound,


s: And his broad buckler rings against the ground.


s: Seized with affright the boldest foes appear;


s: E’en godlike Hector seems himself to fear;


s: Slow he gave way, the rest tumultuous fled;


s: The Greeks with shouts press on, and spoil the dead:


s: But Phoebus now from Ilion’s towering height


s: Shines forth reveal’d, and animates the fight.


s: "Trojans, be bold, and force with force oppose;


s: Your foaming steeds urge headlong on the foes!


s: Nor are their bodies rocks, nor ribb’d with steel;


s: Your weapons enter, and your strokes they feel.


s: Have ye forgot what seem’d your dread before?


s: The great, the fierce Achilles fights no more."


s: Array’d in terrors, roused the Trojan powers:


s: While war’s fierce goddess fires the Grecian foe,


s: And shouts and thunders in the fields below.


s: In vain his valour and illustrious line.


s: (Who from cold Ænus led the Thracian crew,)(142)


s: Full on his ankle dropp’d the ponderous stone,


s: Burst the strong nerves, and crash’d the solid bone.


s: Before his helpless friends, and native bands,


s: And spreads for aid his unavailing hands.


s: The foe rush’d furious as he pants for breath,


s: And through his navel drove the pointed death:


s: His gushing entrails smoked upon the ground,


s: And the warm life came issuing from the wound.


s: His lance bold Thoas at the conqueror sent,


s: Deep in his breast above the pap it went,


s: Amid the lungs was fix’d the winged wood,


s: And quivering in his heaving bosom stood:


s: Till from the dying chief, approaching near,


s: The Ætolian warrior tugg’d his weighty spear:


s: Then sudden waved his flaming falchion round,


s: And gash’d his belly with a ghastly wound;


s: The corpse now breathless on the bloody plain,


s: To spoil his arms the victor strove in vain;


s: The Thracian bands against the victor press’d,


s: A grove of lances glitter’d at his breast.


s: Stern Thoas, glaring with revengeful eyes,


s: Thus fell two heroes; one the pride of Thrace,


s: Death’s sable shade at once o’ercast their eyes,


s: In dust the vanquish’d and the victor lies.


s: With copious slaughter all the fields are red,


s: And heap’d with growing mountains of the dead.


s: Had some brave chief this martial scene beheld,


s: By Pallas guarded through the dreadful field;


s: Might darts be bid to turn their points away,


s: The war’s whole art with wonder had he seen,


s: And counted heroes where he counted men.


s: So fought each host, with thirst of glory fired,


s: And crowds on crowds triumphantly expired.


s: But Pallas now Tydides’ soul inspires,(143)


s: Fills with her force, and warms with all her fires,


s: Above the Greeks his deathless fame to raise,


s: And crown her hero with distinguish’d praise.


s: High on his helm celestial lightnings play,


s: The unwearied blaze incessant streams supplies,


s: Like the red star that fires the autumnal skies,


s: When fresh he rears his radiant orb to sight,


s: And, bathed in ocean, shoots a keener light.


s: Such glories Pallas on the chief bestow’d,


s: Such, from his arms, the fierce effulgence flow’d:


s: Onward she drives him, furious to engage,


s: Where the fight burns, and where the thickest rage.


s: The sons of Dares first the combat sought,


s: A wealthy priest, but rich without a fault;


s: In Vulcan’s fane the father’s days were led,


s: The sons to toils of glorious battle bred;


s: These singled from their troops the fight maintain,


s: These, from their steeds, Tydides on the plain.


s: Fierce for renown the brother-chiefs draw near,


s: And first bold Phegeus cast his sounding spear,


s: Which o’er the warrior’s shoulder took its course,


s: And spent in empty air its erring force.


s: Not so, Tydides, flew thy lance in vain,


s: But pierced his breast, and stretch’d him on the plain.


s: Left the rich chariot, and his brother dead.


s: He too had sunk to death’s eternal shade;


s: The steeds and chariot, to the navy led,


s: Struck with amaze and shame, the Trojan crew,


s: Or slain, or fled, the sons of Dares view;


s: When by the blood-stain’d hand Minerva press’d


s: The god of battles, and this speech address’d:


s: "Stern power of war! by whom the mighty fall,


s: Who bathe in blood, and shake the lofty wall!


s: Let the brave chiefs their glorious toils divide;


s: And whose the conquest, mighty Jove decide:


s: While we from interdicted fields retire,


s: Nor tempt the wrath of heaven’s avenging sire."


s: Her words allay the impetuous warrior’s heat,


s: The god of arms and martial maid retreat;


s: Removed from fight, on Xanthus’ flowery bounds


s: They sat, and listen’d to the dying sounds.


s: Meantime, the Greeks the Trojan race pursue,


s: And some bold chieftain every leader slew:


s: First Odius falls, and bites the bloody sand,


s: As he to flight his wheeling car address’d,


s: The speedy javelin drove from back to breast.


s: His arms resound, the spirit wings its way.


s: Thy fate was next, O Phaestus! doom’d to feel


s: From fruitful Tarne to the fields of Troy.


s: The Cretan javelin reach’d him from afar,


s: And pierced his shoulder as he mounts his car;


s: Back from the car he tumbles to the ground,


s: And everlasting shades his eyes surround.


s: Then died Scamandrius, expert in the chase,


s: In woods and wilds to wound the savage race;


s: To bend the bow, and aim unerring darts:


s: The fatal lance arrests him as he flies;


s: Through his broad back and heaving bosom went:


s: Down sinks the warrior with a thundering sound,


s: His brazen armour rings against the ground.


s: Bold Merion sent him to the realms of hell.


s: Thy father’s skill, O Phereclus! was thine,


s: The graceful fabric and the fair design;


s: To him the shipwright’s and the builder’s art.


s: Beneath his hand the fleet of Paris rose,


s: The fatal cause of all his country’s woes;


s: But he, the mystic will of heaven unknown,


s: Nor saw his country’s peril, nor his own.


s: The hapless artist, while confused he fled,


s: The spear of Merion mingled with the dead.


s: Through his right hip, with forceful fury cast,


s: Between the bladder and the bone it pass’d;


s: Prone on his knees he falls with fruitless cries,


s: And death in lasting slumber seals his eyes.


s: From Meges’ force the swift Pedaeus fled,


s: Whose generous spouse, Theanor, heavenly fair,


s: Nursed the young stranger with a mother’s care.


s: How vain those cares! when Meges in the rear


s: Full in his nape infix’d the fatal spear;


s: Swift through his crackling jaws the weapon glides,


s: And the cold tongue and grinning teeth divides.


s: Then died Hypsenor, generous and divine,


s: Sprung from the brave Dolopion’s mighty line,


s: Priest of the stream, and honoured as a god.


s: On him, amidst the flying numbers found,


s: On his broad shoulders fell the forceful brand,


s: Thence glancing downwards, lopp’d his holy hand,


s: Which stain’d with sacred blood the blushing sand.


s: Down sunk the priest: the purple hand of death


s: Closed his dim eye, and fate suppress’d his breath.


s: Thus toil’d the chiefs, in different parts engaged.


s: Rapt through the ranks he thunders o’er the plain;


s: Now here, now there, he darts from place to place,


s: Pours on the rear, or lightens in their face.


s: Thus from high hills the torrents swift and strong


s: Deluge whole fields, and sweep the trees along,


s: Through ruin’d moles the rushing wave resounds,


s: O’erwhelm’s the bridge, and bursts the lofty bounds;


s: The yellow harvests of the ripen’d year,


s: And flatted vineyards, one sad waste appear!(144)


s: While Jove descends in sluicy sheets of rain,


s: And all the labours of mankind are vain.


s: Drove armies back, and made all Troy retire.


s: With grief the leader of the Lycian band


s: Saw the wide waste of his destructive hand:


s: His bended bow against the chief he drew;


s: Swift to the mark the thirsty arrow flew,


s: Whose forky point the hollow breastplate tore,


s: Deep in his shoulder pierced, and drank the gore:


s: The rushing stream his brazen armour dyed,


s: While the proud archer thus exulting cried:


s: "Hither, ye Trojans, hither drive your steeds!


s: Lo! by our hand the bravest Grecian bleeds,


s: Not long the deathful dart he can sustain;


s: Or Phoebus urged me to these fields in vain."


s: So spoke he, boastful: but the winged dart


s: Stopp’d short of life, and mock’d the shooter’s art.


s: The wounded chief, behind his car retired,


s: Swift from his seat he leap’d upon the ground,


s: And tugg’d the weapon from the gushing wound;


s: When thus the king his guardian power address’d,


s: The purple current wandering o’er his vest:


s: If e’er my godlike sire deserved thy aid,


s: If e’er I felt thee in the fighting field;


s: Now, goddess, now, thy sacred succour yield.


s: O give my lance to reach the Trojan knight,


s: Whose arrow wounds the chief thou guard’st in fight;


s: And lay the boaster grovelling on the shore,


s: That vaunts these eyes shall view the light no more."


s: His nerves confirm’d, his languid spirits cheer’d;


s: He feels each limb with wonted vigour light;


s: His beating bosom claim’d the promised fight.


s: "Be bold, (she cried), in every combat shine,


s: War be thy province, thy protection mine;


s: Rush to the fight, and every foe control;


s: Strength swells thy boiling breast, infused by me,


s: And all thy godlike father breathes in thee;


s: Yet more, from mortal mists I purge thy eyes,(145)


s: These see thou shun, through all the embattled plain;


s: Nor rashly strive where human force is vain.


s: Her shalt thou wound: so Pallas gives command."


s: With that, the blue-eyed virgin wing’d her flight;


s: With tenfold ardour now invades the plain,


s: Wild with delay, and more enraged by pain.


s: As on the fleecy flocks when hunger calls,


s: If chance some shepherd with a distant dart


s: The savage wound, he rouses at the smart,


s: He foams, he roars; the shepherd dares not stay,


s: But trembling leaves the scattering flocks a prey;


s: Heaps fall on heaps; he bathes with blood the ground,


s: Then leaps victorious o’er the lofty mound.


s: And two brave leaders at an instant slew;


s: Astynous breathless fell, and by his side,


s: His people’s pastor, good Hypenor, died;


s: Astynous’ breast the deadly lance receives,


s: Hypenor’s shoulder his broad falchion cleaves.


s: Those slain he left, and sprung with noble rage


s: Could fate foresee, and mystic dreams unfold;


s: The youths return’d not from the doubtful plain,


s: And the sad father tried his arts in vain;


s: No mystic dream could make their fates appear,


s: Though now determined by Tydides’ spear.


s: Young Xanthus next, and Thoon felt his rage;


s: The joy and hope of Phaenops’ feeble age:


s: Vast was his wealth, and these the only heirs


s: Cold death o’ertakes them in their blooming years,


s: To strangers now descends his heapy store,


s: The race forgotten, and the name no more.


s: Glittering in arms, and combat side by side.


s: Where grazing heifers range the lonely wood,


s: He leaps amidst them with a furious bound,


s: Bends their strong necks, and tears them to the ground:


s: So from their seats the brother chiefs are torn,


s: Their steeds and chariot to the navy borne.


s: The foe prevailing, and his friends pursued;


s: Through the thick storm of singing spears he flies,


s: "Where, Pandarus, are all thy honours now,


s: Thy matchless skill, thy yet unrivall’d fame,


s: That wondrous force by which whole armies fall;


s: Or god incensed, who quits the distant skies


s: (Which, oh avert from our unhappy state!


s: For what so dreadful as celestial hate)?


s: Whoe’er he be, propitiate Jove with prayer;


s: If man, destroy; if god, entreat to spare."


s: To him the Lycian: "Whom your eyes behold,


s: Such coursers whirl him o’er the dusty field,


s: So towers his helmet, and so flames his shield.


s: If ’tis a god, he wears that chief’s disguise:


s: Or if that chief, some guardian of the skies,


s: Involved in clouds, protects him in the fray,


s: And turns unseen the frustrate dart away.


s: The stroke had fix’d him to the gates of hell;


s: And, but some god, some angry god withstands,


s: His fate was due to these unerring hands.


s: Skill’d in the bow, on foot I sought the war,


s: Nor join’d swift horses to the rapid car.


s: Ten polish’d chariots I possess’d at home,


s: And still they grace Lycaon’s princely dome:


s: There veil’d in spacious coverlets they stand;


s: And twice ten coursers wait their lord’s command.


s: The good old warrior bade me trust to these,


s: When first for Troy I sail’d the sacred seas;


s: In fields, aloft, the whirling car to guide,


s: And through the ranks of death triumphant ride.


s: But vain with youth, and yet to thrift inclined,


s: I heard his counsels with unheedful mind,


s: And thought the steeds (your large supplies unknown)


s: Might fail of forage in the straiten’d town;


s: So took my bow and pointed darts in hand


s: And left the chariots in my native land.


s: "Too late, O friend! my rashness I deplore;


s: These shafts, once fatal, carry death no more.


s: Tydeus’ and Atreus’ sons their points have found,


s: And undissembled gore pursued the wound.


s: Serves, not to slaughter, but provoke the foe.


s: In evil hour these bended horns I strung,


s: And seized the quiver where it idly hung.


s: Cursed be the fate that sent me to the field


s: Without a warrior’s arms, the spear and shield!


s: If e’er with life I quit the Trojan plain,


s: This bow, unfaithful to my glorious aims,


s: Broke by my hand, shall feed the blazing flames."


s: "Be calm, nor Phoebus’ honour’d gift disgrace.


s: The distant dart be praised, though here we need


s: The rushing chariot and the bounding steed.


s: Against yon hero let us bend our course,


s: And, hand to hand, encounter force with force.


s: Now mount my seat, and from the chariot’s height


s: Observe my father’s steeds, renown’d in fight;


s: Practised alike to turn, to stop, to chase,


s: To dare the shock, or urge the rapid race;


s: Secure with these, through fighting fields we go;


s: Or safe to Troy, if Jove assist the foe.


s: Haste, seize the whip, and snatch the guiding rein;


s: The warrior’s fury let this arm sustain;


s: Or, if to combat thy bold heart incline,


s: Take thou the spear, the chariot’s care be mine."


s: "O prince! (Lycaon’s valiant son replied)


s: As thine the steeds, be thine the task to guide.


s: The horses, practised to their lord’s command,


s: Shall bear the rein, and answer to thy hand;


s: Thy voice alone can animate their flight;


s: Else shall our fates be number’d with the dead,


s: And these, the victor’s prize, in triumph led.


s: Thine be the guidance, then: with spear and shield


s: Myself will charge this terror of the field."


s: And now both heroes mount the glittering car;


s: The bounding coursers rush amidst the war;


s: Their fierce approach bold Sthenelus espied,