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870

In arms we flept, befide the winding flood,
While round the town the fierce Epeians ftood.
Soon as the fun, with all revealing ray,
Flam'd in the front of heaven, and gave the day;
Bright scenes of arms, and works of war appear;
The nations meet; there Pylos, Elis here.
The first who fell, beneath my javelin bled;
King Augias' fon, and spouse of Agamede: 875
(She that all fimples' healing virtues knew,
And every herb that drinks the morning dew.)
I feiz'd his car, the van of battle led;
Th' Epeians faw, they trembled, and they fled.
The foe difpers'd, their braveft warriour kill'd,

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Fierce as a whirlwind now I fwept the field:
Full fifty captive chariots grac'd my train;
Two chiefs from each fell breathless to the plain.
Then Actor's fons had dy'd, but Neptune shrouds
The youthful heroes in a veil of clouds.
O'er heapy fhields, and o'er the proftrate throng,
Collecting (poils, and flaughtering all along,
Through wide Buprafian fields we forc'd the
foes,

Where o'er the vales th' Olenian rocks arose;
Till Pallas ftopp'd us where Alifium flows. 890.
Ev'n there the hindmost of their rear I flay,
And the fame arm that led, concludes the day,
Then back to Pyle triumphant take my way.
There to high Jove were public thanks affign'd,
As first of Gods; to Neftor, of mankind.
Such then I was, impell'd by youthful blood;
So prov'd my valour for my country's good.
Achilles with unactive fury glows,
And gives to paffion what to Greece he owes.
How hall he grieve, when to th' eternal fhade

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Along the fhore with hafty strides he went; 935
Soon as he came, where, on the crouded strand,
The public mart and court of juftice stand,
Where the tall fleet of great Ulyffes lies,
And altars to the guardian Gods arife;
There fad he met the brave Evæmon's fon,
Large painful drops from all his members run;
An arrow's head yet rooted in his wound,
The fable blood in circles mark'd the ground.
As faintly reeling he confefs'd the smart;
Weak was his pace, but dauntless was his heart;
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Divine compaffion touch'd Patroclus' breast,
Who, fighing, thus his bleeding friend addreft:
Ah, hapless leaders of the Grecian host!
Thus muft ye perish on a barbarous coaft?
Is this your fate, to glut the dogs with gore,
Far from your friends, and from your native,

fhore?

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Say, great Eurypylus! fhall Greece yet stand?
Refifts the yet the raging Hector's hand?
Or are her heroes doom'd to die with fhame,
And this the period of our wars and fame ›
Eurypylus replies: No more, my friend,
Greece is no more! this day her glories end.
Ev'n to the fhips victorious Troy pursues,
Her force encreafing as her toil renews.
Thofe chiefs, that us'd her utmost rage to meet,
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Lie pierc'd with wounds, and bleeding in the
fleet.

Her hofts fhall fink, nor his the power to aid?
O friend! my memory recalls the day,
When, gathering aids along the Grecian fea,
I, and Ulyffes, touch'd at Phthia's port,
And enter'd Peleus' hofpitable court.

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A bull to Jove he flew in facrifice,

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And pour'd libations on the flaming thighs.
Thyfelf, Achilles, and thy reverend fire
Mencetius, turn'd the fragments on the fire.
Achilles fees us, to the feast invites;
Social we fit, and share the genial rites.
We then explain'd the cause on which we came,
Urg'd you to arms, and found you fierce for fame.
Your ancient fathers generous precepts gave;
Peleus faid only this" My fon! be brave:" 915
Mencetius thus: "Though great Achilles thine
"In ftrength fuperior, and of race divine,
"Yet cooler thoughts thy elder years attend ;
"Let thy just counfels aid, and rule thy friend."
Thus fpoke your father at Theffalia's court; 920
Words now forgot, though now of vaft import.
Ah! try the utmost that a friend can fay,
Such gentle force the fierceft minds obey.
Some favouring God Achilles' heart may move;
Though deaf to glory, he may yield to love. 925
If fome dire oracle his breast alarm,

If aught from heaven with-hold his faving arm;
VOL. VI.

But thou, Patroclus! act a friendly part,
Lead to my fhips, and draw this deadly dart;
With lukewarm water wash the gore away,
With healing balms the raging smart allay,
Such as fage Chiron, fire of Pharmacy,
Once taught Achilles, and Achilles thee.
Of two fam'd furgeons, Podalirius ftands
This hour furrounded by the Trojan bands;
And great Machaon, wounded in his tent,
Now wants that fuccour which fo oft he lent.

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To him the chief: What then remains to do?
Th' event of things the Gods alone can view.
Charg'd by Achilles' great command I fly,
And bear with hafte the Pylian king's reply; 975
But thy distress this inftant claims relief.
He said, and in his arms upheld the chief.
The flaves their master's flow approach furvey'd,
And hides of oxen on the floor display'd;
There ftretch'd at length the wounded hero lay,

Patroclus cut the forky steel away.
Then in his hands a bitter root he bruis'd;
The wound he wafh'd, the ftyptic juice infus'd.
The closing flesh that inftant ceas'd to glow,
The wound to torture, and the blood to flow.

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THE Greeks being retired into their entrenchments, Hector attempts to force them; but it proving impoffible to pass the ditch, Polydamas advises to quit their chariots, and manage the attack on foot. The Trojans follow his counsel, and, having divided their army into five bodies of foot, begin the affault. But upon the jignal of an eagle with a ferpent in his talons, which appeared on the left hand of the Trojans, Polydamas endeavours to withdraw them again. This Hector oppofes, and continues the attack; in which, after many actions, Sarpedon makes the first breach in the wall: Hector alfo cafting a Stone of a vaft fize, forces open one of the gates, and enters at the head of bis troops, who victoriously pursue the Grecians even to their ships.

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WHILE thus the hero's pious cares attend
The care and fafety of his wounded friend,
Trojans and Greeks with clashing fhields engage,
And mutual deaths are dealt with mutual rage.
Nor long the trench or lofty walls oppofe;
With Gods averfe th' ill-fated works arofe:
Their powers neglected, and no victim flain,
The walls were rais'd, the trenches funk in vain.
Without the Gods, how fhort period stands
The proudest monument of mortal hands!
This flood, while Hector and Achilles rag'd,
While facred Troy the warring hofts engag'd;
But when her fons were flain, her city burn'd,
And what furviv'd of Greece to Greece return'd;
Then Neptune and Apollo thook the shore,
Then Ida's ummits pour'd their watery store;
Rhefus and Rhodius then unite their rills,
Carefus roaring down the ftony hills,
Efepus, Granicus, with mingled force,

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And Xanthus foaming from his fruitful fource;

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And gulphy Simoïs, rolling to the main
Helme's, and fields, and god-like heroes flain:
Thete turn'd by Phoebus from their wonted ways,
Deluged the rapire nine continual days;
The weight of waters faps the yielding wall, 25
And to the fea the floating bulwarks fall.

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Arm'd foes around a dreadful circle form,
And hiffing javelins rain an iron storm:
His powers untam'd their bold affault defy,
And where he turns, the rout difperfe, or die:
He foams, he glares, he bounds against them all,
And if he falls, his courage makes him fail,
With equal rage encompass'd Hector glows;
Exhorts his armies, and the trenches shows.
The panting steeds impatient fury breathe
But fnort and tremble at the gulph beath;
Juft on the brink they pergi, and paw the
ground,

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And the turftnblcs, and the skies refound. 60
Eager they view'd the profpect dark and deep,
Vat was the leap, and headlong hung the fteep;
The bottom bare (a formidable show!)
And bristled thick with fharpened stakes below.
The foot alone this ftrong defence could force, 65
And try the pafs impervious to the horse.
This faw Polydamas; who, wifely brave,
Reftrain'd great Hector, and his counfel gave:
Oh thou! bold leader of the Trojan bands,
And you, confederate chiefs from foreign lands!
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What entrance here can cumbrous chariots find,
The ftakes beneath, the Grecian walls behind?
No país through thofe, without a thousand
wounds,

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This counfel pleas'd: the God-like Hector fprung

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In arms with thefe the mighty Afius ftood,
Who drew from Hyrtacus his noble blood,
And whom Ariba's yellow courfers bore,
The courfers fed on Selle's winding fhore.
Antenor's fons the fourth battalion guide,
And great Eneas, born on fountful ide.
Divine Sarpedon the laft band bbey'd,
whom Glaucus and Afteropæus aid;
Next him, the braveft at their army's head,
But he more brave than all the hofts he led.
Now with compacted fhields, in clofe array,
The moving legions fpeed their headlong way:

Already in their hopes they fire the fleet,
And fee the Grecians gafping at their feet.
While every Trojan thus, and every aid,
Th' advice of wife Polydamas obey'd;
Afius alone, confiding in his car,

His vaunted courfers urg'd to meet the war.
Unhappy hero! and advis'd in vain!

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Those wheels returning ne'er fhall mark the plain;

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No more thofe courfers with triumphant joy
Reftore their master to the gates of Troy!
Black death attends behind the Grecian wall,
And great Idomeneus fhiali boast thy fall.
Fierce to the left he drives, where from the

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The gates half-cpen'd to receive the last.
Thither, exulting in his force, he flier :

His following hoft with clamours rend the fkies;
To plunge the Grecians headlong in the main,
Such their proud hopes, but all their hopes were
vain.

To guard the gates, two mighty chiefs attend,
Who from the Lapiths' warlike race defcend;
This Pilypetes' great Pirithous heir,
And that Leonteus, like the God of war.
As two tall oaks, before the wall they rife; 145
Their roots in earth, their heads amidst the skies:
Whofe fpreading arms, with leafy honours
crown'd,

Forbid the tempeft, and protect the ground;
High on the hill appears their stately form,
And their deep roots for ever brave the ftorm

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So graceful thefe, and fo the fhock they stand
Of raging Afius, and his furious band.
Oreftes, Acam. in fron: appear,
And Oenomaus and Thoon close the rear;
In vain their chamours thake the ambient fields,

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Swift from his feat; his clanging armour rung.
The chief's example follow'd by his train,
Each quits his car, and iffues on the plain.
By orders ftrict the charioteers enjoin'd,
Compel the courfers to their ranks behind.
The forces part in five diftinguish'd bands,
And all obey their feveral chiefs' commands. roo
The best and braveft in the first confpire,
Pant for the fight, and threat the fleet with fire:
Great Hector glorious in the van of these,
Polydamas, and brave Cebriones,

Before the next the graceful Paris fhines,
And bold Alcathoüs, and Agenor joins.
The fons of Priam with the third appear,
Deiphobus, and Helenus the feer;

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Ev'n yet the dauntlefs Lapithæ maintain The dreadful país, and round them heap the flain.

First Damafus, by Polypœtes' steel
Pierc'd through his helmet's brazen vizor, fell;
The weapon drank the mingled brains and gore ;
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The warriour finks, tremendous now no more!
Next menus and Pylon yield their breath,
Nor lefs Leontos ftrows the field with death:
First through the belt opomachus he gor❜d,
Then fudden wav'd his unrended fword;
Antiphates, as through the ranks he broke,
The faulchion ftruck, and fate puriu the
ftroke;

Jämenus, Oreftes, Menon, bled;

And round him rofe a monument of dead. Meantime, the braveft of the Trojan crew, 225

Bold Hector and Polydamas pursue ;
Fierce with impatience on the works to fall,
And wrap in rolling flames the fleet and wall.
Thefe on the farther bank now stood and gaz'd,
By Heaven alarm'd, by prodigies amaz'd:
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A fignal omen stopp'd the paffing host,
Their martial fury in their wonder loft.
Jove's bird on founding pinions beat the skies;
A bleeding ferpent, of enormous fize,
His talons trufs'd; alive, and curling round, 235
He ftung the bird, whofe throat receiv'd the
wound:

Mad wit the fmart, he drops the fatal prey,
In airy circle wings, his painful way,

Floats on the winds, and rends the heavens with cries:

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Amidst the hoft the falling ferpent lies.
They, pale with terrour, mark its fpires unroll'd,
And Jove's portent with beating hearts behold.
Then firft Polydamas the filence broke,
Long weigh'd the fignal, and to Hector spoke :

How oft, my brother, thy reproach I bear, 245
For words well-meant, and fentiments fincere!
True to those counfels which I judge the beft,
I tell the faithful dictates of my breast.
To speak his thoughts, is every freeman's right,
In peace and war, in council and in fight;
And all I move, deferring to thy fway,
But tends to raise that power which I obey.
Then hear my words, nor may my words be
vain ;

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Seek not, this day, the Grecian ships to gain;
For fure, to warn us Jove his omen fent,
And thus my mind explains its clear event.
The victor eagle, whofe finifter flight
Retards our hoft, and fills our hearts with fright,
Difmifs'd his conqueft in the middle skies,
Allow'd to feize, but not poffefs the prize;
Thus though we gird with fires the Grecian
flect,

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Though thefe proud bulwarks tumble at our feet,
Toils unforeseen, and fiercer, are decreed;
More woes fhall follow, and more heroes bleed.
So bodes my foul, and bids me thus advife; 265
For thus a ĺkilful feer would read the skies.

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To him then Hector with disdain return'd; (Fierce as he spoke, his eyes with fury burn'd) Are thefe the faithful counfels of thy tongue? Thy will is partial, not thy reafon wrong: Or, if the purpofe of thy heart thou vent, Sure Heaven refumes the litt e fenfe it lent. What coward counfels would thy madness move, Against the word, the will reveal'd of Jove? The leading fign, th' irrevocable nod, And happy thunders of the favouring God, These fhall I flight? and guide my wavering

mind

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By wandering birds, that flit with every wind?
Ye vagrants of the fky! your wings extend,
Or where the funs arife, or where defcend; 280
To right, to left, unheeded take your way,
While I the dictates of high Heaven obey.
Wrhout a fign his fword the brave man draws,
And asks no omen but his country's caufe.
But why shouldst thou fufpect the war's fuccefs?
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None fears it more, as none promotes it lefs:
Though all our chiefs amid yon fhips expire,
Truft thy own cowardife t' efcape their fire.
Troy and her fons may find a general grave,
But thou canst live, for thou canft be a flave. 290
Yet fhould the fears that wary mind fuggefts
Spread their cold poifon through our foldiers'
breafts,

My javelin can revenge fo base a part,
And free the foul that quivers in thy heart.

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Furious he spoke, and, rushing to the wall, 295
Calls on his hoft; his hoft obey the call;
With ardour follow where their leader flies:
Redoubling clamours thunder in the skies.
Jove breathes a whirlwind from the hills of Ide,
And drifts of duft the clouded navy hide:
He fills the Greeks with terrour and difmay,
And gives great Hector the predeftin'd day.
Strong in them felves, but ftronger in their aid,
Clofe to the works their rigid fiege they laid."
In vain the mounds and maffy beams defend, 305
While thefe they undermine, and those they rend;
Upheave the piles that prop the folid wall;
And heaps on heaps the fmoky ruins fall.
Greece on her rampart ftands the fierce alarms;
The clouded bulwarks blaze with waving arms,
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Shield touching fhield, a long refulgent row;
Whence hiffing darts, inceffant, rain below.
The bold Ajaces fly from tower to tower,
And rouze, with flame divine, the Grecian power.
The generous impulfe every Greek obeys:
Threats urge the fearful; and the valiant, praife.
Fellows in arms! whofe deeds are known to
fame,

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And you whofe ardour hopes an equal name!
Since not alike endued with force or art;
Behold a day when each may act his part!
A day to fire the brave, and warm the cold,
To gain new glories, or augment the old.
Urge thofe who ftand; and those who faint, ex-
cite;

Drown Hector's vaunts in loud exhorts of fight;
Conqueft, not fafety, fill the thoughts of all; 325
Seek not your fleet, but fally from the wall;

So Jove once more may drive their routed train, And Troy lie trembling in her walls again.

Their ardour kindles all the Grecian powers; And now the ftones defcend in heavier fhowers. 330

As when high Jove his sharp artillery forms,
And opes his cloudy magazine of storms;
In winter's bleak, uncomfortable reign,
A fnowy inundation hides the plain;
He, ftills the winds, and bids the kies to deep; 335
Then pours the filent tempeft, thick and deep:
And firft the mountain-tops are cover'd o'er,
Then the green fields, and then the fandy shore;
Bent with the weight the nodding woods are
feen,

And one bright waste hides all the works of men: 340

The circling feas alone, absorbing all,
Drink the diffolving fleeces as they fall.
So from each fide increas'd the ftony rain,
And the white ruin rifes o'er the plain.
Thus god-like Hector and his troops contend

345 To force the ramparts, and the gates to rend; Nor Troy could conquer, nor the Greeks would yield,

Till great Sarpedon tower'd amid the field;
For mighty Jove infpir'd with martial flame
His matchlefs fon, and urg'd him on to fame. 350
In arms he fhines, confpicuous from afar,
And bears aloft his ample fhield in air;
Within whofe orb the thick bull-hides were roll'd,
Ponderous with brafs, and bound with ductile
gold:

And, while two pointed javelins arm his hands,
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Majeftic moves along, and leads his Lycian bands.
So, prefs'd with hunger, from the mountain's

brow

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Defcends a lion on the flocks below;
So ftalks the lordly favage o'er the plain,
In fullen majefty, and stern difdain:
In vain loud mastiffs bay him from afar,
And shepherds gall him with an iron war;
Regardless, furious, he purfues his way;
He foams, he roars, he rends the panting prey.
Refolv'd alike, divine Sarpedon glows 365
With generous rage that drives him on the foes.
He views the towers, and meditates their fall,
To fure deftruction dooms th' afpiring wall;
Then, cafting on his friend an ardent look,
Fir'd with the thirst of glory, thus he spoke: 370

Why boaft we, Glaucus! our extended reign, Where Xanthus ftreams enrich the Lycian plain, Our numerous herds that range the fruitful field, And hills where vines their purple harveft yield, Our foaming bowls with purer nectar crown'd, 375 Our feafts enhanc'd with mufick's fprightly found?

Why on those shores are we with joy furvey'd,
Admir'd as heroes, and as Gods obey'd;
Unless great acts fuperior merit prove,
And vindicate the bounteous Pow'rs above? 380
'Tis ours, the dignity they give to grace;
The first in valour, as the first in place:

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