The dame and treasures let the Trojan keep;

And Greece returning plough the wat'ry deep.

If by my brother's lance the Trojan bleed, Be his the wealth and beauteous dame decreed:

Th' appointed fine let Ilion justly pay, 360
And age to age record the signal day.
This if the Phrygians shall refuse to yield,
Arms must revenge, and Mars decide the
field.'

With that the Chief the tender victims slew,

And in the dust their bleeding bodies threw:

The vital spirit issued at the wound, And left the members quiv'ring on the ground.

From the same urn they drink the mingled wine,

And add libations to the Powers divine. While thus their prayers united mount the sky:

370

Ordain'd the first to whirl the mighty lance.

Both armies sat, the combat to survey, Beside each Chief his azure armour lay, And round the lists the gen'rous coursers neigh.

410

The beauteous warrior now arrays for fight,
In gilded arms magnificently bright:
The purple cuishes clasp his thighs around,
With flowers adorn'd, with silver buckles
bound:

Lycaon's corslet his fair body dress'd,
Braced in, and fitted to his softer breast;
A radiant baldric, o'er his shoulder tied,
Sustain'd the sword that glitter'd at his
side:

His youthful face a polish'd helm o'erspread;

The waving horse-hair nodded on his head: His figured shield, a shining orb, he takes, And in his hand a pointed jav'lin shakes. 420 With equal speed, and fired by equal

charms,

Say, to new nations must I cross the main,
Or carry wars to some soft Asian plain ?
For whom must Helen break her second
Vow?

What other Paris is thy darling now?
Left to Atrides (victor in the strife)
An odious conquest and a captive wife, 500
Hence let me sail: and, if thy Paris bear
My absence ill, let Venus ease his care.
A handmaid Goddess at his side to wait,
Renounce the glories of thy heav'nly state,
Be fix'd for ever to the Trojan shore,
His spouse, or slave; and mount the skies

Nor add reproaches to the wounds I bear; This day the foe prevail'd by Pallas' power; We yet may vanquish in a happier hour: There want not Gods to favour us above; But let the bus'ness of our life be love: These softer moments let delights employ, And kind embraces snatch the hasty joy. 550 Not thus I lov'd thee, when from Sparta's shore

My forced, my willing, heav'nly prize I bore,

When first entranc'd in Cranae's isle I lay, Mix'd with thy soul, and all dissolv'd away!'

Thus having spoke, th' enamour'd Phrygian boy

Rush'd to the bed, impatient for the joy. Him Helen follow'd slow with bashful charms,

And clasp'd the blooming hero in her arms. While these to love's delicious rapture

yield,

He ceas'd; his army's loud applauses

rise, And the long shout runs echoing thro' the skies.

BOOK IV

THE BREACH OF THE TRUCE, AND THE FIRST BATTLE

THE ARGUMENT

The Gods deliberate in council concerning the Trojan war: they agree upon the continuation of it, and Jupiter sends down Minerva to break the truce. She persuades Pandarus to aim an arrow at Menelaus, who is wounded, but cured by Machaon. In the mean time some of the Trojan troops attack the Greeks. Agamemnon is distinguished in all the parts of a good general; he reviews the troops, and exhorts the leaders, some by praises, and others by reproofs. Nestor is particularly celebrated for his military discipline. The battle joins, and great numbers are slain on both sides.

The same day continues through this, as through the last book; as it does also through the two following, and almost to the end of the seventh book. The scene is wholly in the field before Troy.

AND now Olympus' shining gates unfold; The Gods, with Jove, assume their thrones of gold:

Immortal Hebè, fresh with bloom divine, The golden goblet crowns with purple wine: While the full bowls flow round, the Powers employ

Their careful eyes on long-contended Troy. When Jove, disposed to tempt Saturnia's spleen,

Thus waked the fury of his partial Queen: 'Two Powers divine the son of Atreus aid, Imperial Juno, and the Martial Maid:

10

But high in Heav'n they sit, and gaze from far,

The tame spectators of his deeds of war. Not thus fair Venus helps her favour'd knight,

The Queen of Pleasures shares the toils of fight,

Each danger wards, and, constant in her

care,

Saves in the moment of the last despair.
Her act has rescued Paris' forfeit life,
Tho' great Atrides gain'd the glorious
strife.

doms spare,

Or rouse the Furies, and awake the war? Yet, would the Gods for human good provide,

Atrides soon might gain his beauteous bride,

Still Priam's walls in peaceful honours grow, And thro' his gates the crowding nations flow.'

Thus while he spoke, the Queen of Heav'n, enraged,

And Queen of War, in close consult engaged:

Apart they sit, their deep designs employ,
And meditate the future woes of Troy. 30
Tho' secret anger swell'd Minerva's breast,
The prudent Goddess yet her wrath sup-
press'd;

But Juno, impotent of passion, broke
Her sullen silence, and with fury spoke:

'Shall then, O Tyrant of th' ethereal reign!

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

Have I, for this, shook Ilion with alarms, Assembled nations, set two worlds in arms? To spread the war, I flew from shore to shore;

Th' immortal coursers scarce the labour bore.

40

At length ripe vengeance o'er their heads impends,

But Jove himself the faithless race defends;

Loth as thou art to punish lawless lust,
Not all the Gods are partial and unjust.'
The Sire whose thunder shakes the
cloudy skies,

Sighs from his inmost soul, and thus replies:
Oh lasting rancour! oh insatiate hate
To Phrygia's monarch and the Phrygian
state!

What high offence has fired the wife of
Jove?

Can wretched mortals harm the Powers above?

That Troy and Troy's whole race thou

wouldst confound,

And yon fair structures level with the ground?