Page images
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

Amidst, lay Rhesus, stretch'd in sleep profound,

And the white steeds behind his chariot bound.

The welcome sight Ulysses first descries, 550
And points to Diomed the tempting prize:
"The man, the coursers, and the car be-
hold!

Described by Dolon, with the arms of gold.
Now, brave Tydides! now thy courage try,
Approach the chariot, and the steeds untie;
Or if thy soul aspire to fiercer deeds,
Urge thou the slaughter, while I seize the
steeds.'

Pallas (this said) her hero's bosom

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

Where late the spoils of Hector's spy were laid,

[blocks in formation]

And spring to earth; the Greeks dismiss their fear:

With words of friendship and extended hands

They greet the Kings; and Nestor first deinands:

'Say thou, whose praises all our host proclaim,

640

Thou living glory of the Grecian name! Say, whence these coursers? by what chance bestow'd,

The spoil of foes, or present of a God?
Not those fair steeds so radiant and so gay,
That draw the burning chariot of the day.
Old as I am, to age I scorn to yield,
And daily mingle in the martial field;
But sure till now no coursers struck my
sight

Like these, conspicuous thro' the ranks of fight.

Some God, I deem, conferr'd the glorious prize, 650

Bless'd as ye are, and fav'rites of the skies: The care of him who bids the thunder roar, And her, whose fury bathes the world with gore!'

Father! not so (sage Ithacus rejoin'd), The gifts of Heav'n are of a nobler kind.

[blocks in formation]

Agamemnon, having armed himself, leads the Grecians to battle; Hector prepares the Trojans to receive them: while Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva give the signals of war. Agamemnon bears all before him; and Hector is commanded by Jupiter (who sends Iris for that purpose) to decline the engagement, till the king should be wounded and retire from the field. He then makes a great slaughter of the enemy; Ulysses and Diomede put a stop to him for a time; but the latter, being

wounded by Paris, is obliged to desert his companion, who is encompassed by the Trojans, wounded, and in the utmost danger, till Menelaus and Ajax rescue him. Hector comes against Ajax, but that hero alone opposes multitudes and rallies the Greeks. În the meantime Machaon. in the other wing of the army, is pierced with an arrow by Paris, and carried from the fight in Nestor's chariot. Achilles (who overlooked the action from his ship) sends Patroclus to inquire which of the Greeks was wounded in that manner. Nestor entertains him in his tent with an account of the accidents of the day, and a long recital of some former wars which he had remembered, tending to put Patroclus upon persuading Achilles to fight for his countrymen, or at least to permit him to do it clad in Achilles' armour. Patroclus in his return meets Eurypylus also wounded, and assists in that distress.

This book opens with the eight-and-twentieth day of the poem; and the same day, with its various actions and adventures, is extended through the twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, and part of the eighteenth books. The scene lies in the field near the monument of Ilus.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

When his tired arms refuse the axe to rear,

And claim a respite from the sylvan war; But not till half the prostrate forests lay Stretch'd in long ruin, and exposed to day;)

Then, nor till then, the Greeks' impulsive might

Pierc'd the black phalanx, and let in the light.

Great Agamemnon then the slaughter led, And slew Bienor at his people's head; Whose squire Oïleus, with a sudden spring, Leap'd from the chariot to revenge his King,

130

But in his front he felt the fatal wound, Which pierc'd his brain, and stretch'd him on the ground:

Atrides spoil'd, and left them on the plain: Vain was their youth, their glitt'ring armour vain:

Now soil'd with dust, and naked to the sky, Their snowy limbs and beauteous bodies lie.

Two sons of Priam next to battle move, The product one of marriage, one of love; In the same car the brother warriors ride,

This took the charge to combat, that to guide:

140

Far other task, than when they went to keep,

On Ida's tops, their father's fleecy sheep! These on the mountains once Achilles found,

And captive led, with pliant osiers bound; Then to their sire for ample sums restor❜d; But now to perish by Atrides' sword: Pierc'd in the breast the base-born Isus bleeds:

Cleft thro' the head, his brother's fate succeeds.

Swift to the spoil the hasty victor falls, And, stripp'd, their features to his mind recalls.

150

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

The youths address'd to unrelenting ears: The vengeful Monarch gave this stern reply:

If from Antimachus ye spring, ye die: 19 The daring wretch who once in council stood

To shed Ulysses' and my brother's blood, For proffer'd peace! and sues his seed for grace?

No, die, and pay the forfeit of your race.' This said, Pisander from the car be

[blocks in formation]
« PreviousContinue »