This happy day with acclamations greet,
Bright with destruction of yon hostile fleet.
The coward counsels of a timorous throng
Of reverend dotards, checked our glory long :
Too long Jove lulled us with lethargic charms,
But now in peals of thunder calls to arms :
In this great day he crowns our full desires,
Wakes all our force, and seconds all our fires.'

He spoke the warriors, at his fierce command,
Pour a new deluge on the Grecian band.
Ev'n Ajax paused (so thick the javelins fly),
Stepped back, and doubted or to live or die.
Yet where the oars are placed he stands to wait
What chief approaching dares attempt his fate :
Ev'n to the last his naval charge defends,

Now shakes his spear, now lifts, and now protends;
Ev'n yet, the Greeks with piercing shouts inspires,
Amidst attacks, and deaths, and darts, and fires :
'O friends! O heroes! names for ever dear,
Once sons of Mars, and thunderbolts of war!
Ah! yet be mindful of your old renown,
Your great forefathers' virtues and your own.
What aids expect you in this utmost strait ?
What bulwarks rising between you and fate?
No aids, no bulwarks, your retreat attend;
No friends to help, no city to defend :
This spot is all you have, to lose or keep;
There stand the Trojans, and here rolls the deep.
'Tis hostile ground you tread; your native lands
Far, far from hence-your fates are in your hands.'
Raging he spoke; nor further wastes his breath,
But turns his javelin to the work of death.
Whate'er bold Trojan arm'd his daring hands,
Against the sable ships, with flaming brands;

So well the chief his naval weapon sped,
The luckless warrior at his stern lay dead :
Full twelve, the boldest, in a moment fell,
Sent by great Ajax to the gates of hell.

The galley of Ajax is at length on fire; but now another hero appears on the field, for Achilles has tardily consented to send Patroclus and his Myrmidons to the aid of the crested Grecians. Clad in the armour of his friend and master, and at the head of the Myrmidons, 'a grim, terrific, formidable band,' he carries consternation into the ranks of the Trojans, who flee terror-stricken in every direction before the spurious Achilles, even to the gates of Troy. In the heat of the fight, Patroclus forgets the command laid upon him by Achilles against going near the walls of the city, and drives his chariot to one of the gates, but here he is repulsed by Apollo and then wounded by Euphorbus, so that the Grecian falls an easy prey to Hector. The Trojan leader strips the armour of Achilles from the body of Patroclus, and also attempts to seize the chariot as a spoil, but it is driven away by the Grecian charioteer Automedon. There is now a long and furious contest for the body of the dead hero, and many of note on both sides are slain; Jupiter at the same time sends a thick darkness over the Greeks, who

begin to despair of bearing away the body of Patroclus,

till at the prayer of Ajax—

'Lord of earth and air!

O king! O father! hear my humble prayer :
Dispel this cloud, the light of heaven restore ;
Give me to see, and Ajax asks no more :
If Greece must perish, we thy will obey,
But let us perish in the face of day !'-

The mist is dispelled, and Ajax and Menelaus resume the fight over the body with Æneas and Hector, the latter having now donned the armour of Achilles. News of the death of his friend and the spoiling of his armour is carried by Antilochus to Achilles, who weeps bitterly till Thetis arrives to comfort him, and Iris also brings a message from Juno commanding the hero to appear on the field, where his very presence and the sound of his voice will cause the Trojans to flee. This command he obeys, and, with a heaven-sent radiance around his head, he took up a position upon the Grecian ramparts—

And thrice divine Achilles loud shouted from the mound; And thrice the Trojans and allies turned routed at the sound;

And twelve of them, their bravest, were strewed upon the

plain;

And lustily the Greeks at last bore off their hero slain,

Clear of the shower of javelins, and laid him on a bier ; While round him thronged his comrades bold, and shed the briny tear.

And with them went Achilles, and shed warm tears of brine To see his friend, the loved, the leal,

Mangled with many a dint of steel, high on the bier

recline;

He, whom himself had summoned, and bade with car and

steed

Go fight for Greece,-nor hailed again returned with happy speed.

Night once more closes over the dreadful field, and Achilles through its dark hours bewails and bemoans the death of his friend; but in the morning Thetis again comes to comfort him, bringing with her new and splendid armour made by Vulcan to replace that taken by Hector from the body of Patroclus. The shield which Vulcan has prepared is of a most elaborate character, being divided into twelve parts, full of figures and depicting scenes of peace and war :

Its utmost verge a threefold circle bound;
A silver chain suspends the massy round;
Five ample plates the broad expanse compose,
And godlike labours on the surface rose.
There shone the image of the master-mind :
There earth, there heaven, there ocean he designed ;
The unwearied sun, the moon completely round;
The starry lights that heaven's high convex crowned.

Donning his new armour, Achilles takes his way to

the Grecian camp, where a reconciliation is effected with Agamemnon-presents are given and received, and the fair Briseis returned to the tent of Achilles. While this is proceeding, the Grecian troops are feasted and then marched off again to the field of battle. Achilles mounts his chariot and prepares for the strife, and, as he drives to the field, reproaches his steeds and bids them not leave him behind as they did Patroclus, whereupon one of them, endowed with speech for the moment by Juno, replies by saying they were not to blame, for that hero's time had come, and further forewarns Achilles that his own day of doom is rapidly drawing near

The intrepid chief replied

With unabated rage: 'So let it be!
Portents and prodigies are lost on me.

I know my fates: to die, to see no more
My much-loved parents and my native shore-
Enough-when Heaven ordains, I sink in night;
Now perish Troy !' he said, and rushed to fight.

The gods are permitted by Jupiter to take part in this battle, when they range themselves on the Greek or Trojan side according to their predilections, and occasionally aid their favourite heroes by shielding them from threatened danger. Achilles is of course the