Would't thou the Greeks their lawful prey fhould

yeild,

The due reward of many a well fought field?

The fpoils of cities raz'd, and warriors flain,

We share with justice, as with toil we gain :
But to refume whate'er thy av'rice craves,
(That trick of tyrants) may be borne by flaves.
Yet if our chief for plunder only fight,

160

The fpoils of Ilion fhall thy lofs requite,

Whene'er, by Jove's decree, our conquering pow'rs 165
Shall humble to the duft her lofty tow'rs.

Then thus the king. Shall I my prize refign
With tame content, and thou poffest of thine ?
Great as thou art, and like a God in fight,
Think not to rob me of a foldier's right.
At thy demand fhall I restore the maid ?
First let the just equivalent be paid;
Such as a king might afk; and let it be
A treasure worthy her, and worthy me.
Or grant me this, or with a monarch's claim
This hand fhall feize fome other captive dame.

170

175

felf-consciousness of his worth; whofe high ftrain of honour will not fuffer him to betray his friends, or fight against them, even when he thinks they have affronted him; but whose inexorable refentment will not let him hearken to any terms of accomodation,

Ver. 172. Firft let the juft equivalent.] The reasoning in point of right between Achilles and Agamemnon feems to be this. Achilles pleads that Agamemnon could not seize upon any other man's captive without a new diftribution, it being an invasion of private property. On the other hand, as Agamemnon's power was limited, how came it that all the Grecian captains would fubmit to an illegal and arbitrary action? I think the legal pretence for his feizing Brifeis must have been founded upon that law, whereby the commander in chief had the power of taking what part of the prey. he pleafed for his own ufe: and he being obliged to restore what he had taken, it seemed but just that he should ha.ca fecond choice.

The

The mighty Ajax fhall his prize refign,
Ulyffes' fpoils, or ev'a thy own be mine.
The man who fuffers, loudly may complain;
And rage he may, but he shall rage in vain.
But this when time requires-It now remains
We launch a bark to plow the watry plains,
And waft the facrifice to Chryfa's fhores,

With chofen pilots, and with lab'ring oars.
Soon fhall the fair the fable ship afcend,
And fome deputed prince the charge attend;
This Creta's king, or Ajax fhall fulfill,
Or wife Ulyffes fee perform'd our will;
Or, if our royal pleasure fhall ordain,
Achilles' felf conduct her o'er the main;
Let fierce Achilles, dreaful in his rage,
The God propitiate, and the peft affuage.
At this, Pelides frowning ftern, reply'd:
tyrant arm'd with infolence and pride!
Inglorious flave to in'treft, ever join'd
With fraud, unworthy of a royal mind!
What gen'rous Greek, obedient to thy word,
Shall form an ambush, or fhall lift the fword?
What cause have I to war at thy decree?

Th' diftant Trojans never injur'd me:

To Phthia's realms no hoftile troops they led,
Safe in her vales my warlike courfers fed;
Far hence removed, the hoarfe-refounding main,
And walls of rocks, fecure my native reign,

180

185

190

195

200

Whofe fruitful foil luxuriant harvests grace,

205

Rich in her fruits, and in her martial race,
Hither we fail'd, a voluntary throng,
T'avenge a private, not a public wrong:
What else to Troy, th' affembled nations draws,
But thine, ungrateful, and thy brother's caufe? 210
Is this the pay our blood and toils deserve,
Difgrace'd and injur'd by the man we ferve?

And

And dar'ft thou threat to fnatch my prize away,

Due to the deeds of many a dreadful day?

A prize as small, O tyrant! match'd with thine, 215
As thy own actions if compar'd to mine.
Thine in each conqueft is the wealthy prey,
Tho' mine the sweat and danger of the day.
Some trivial prefent to my fhips I bear,
Or barren praises pay the wounds of war.
But know, proud monarch, I'm thy flave no more;
My fleet fhall waft me to Theffalia's fhore.
Left by Achilles on the Trojan plain,

220

What spoils, what conquests shall Atrides gain?
To this the king: Fly, mighty warrior! fly, 225
Thy aid we need not, and thy threats defy.

Ver. 213. And dar'ft thou threat to fnatch my prize away,
Due to the deeds of many a dreadful day?]

There

The anger of these two princes was equally upon the account of women, but yet it is obfervable that they are conducted with a different air. Agamemnon appears as a lover, Achilles as a war rior: the one speaks of Chryfeis as a beauty whom he valued equal to his wife, and whose merit was too confiderable to be easily refigned; the other treats Brifeis as a flave, whom he is concerned to preserve in point of honour, and as a teftimony of his glory. Hence it is, that we never hear him mention her but as his spoil, the reward of war, the gift the Grecians gave him, or the like expreffions and accordingly he yeilds her up, not in grief for a miftrefs whom he loses, but in fullennefs for an injury that is done him. This obfervation is madam Dacier's, and will often appear just as we proceed farther, Nothing is finer than the moral fhown us in this quarrel, of the blindness and partiality of mankind to their own faults: the Grecians made a war to recover a woman that was ravished, and are in danger to fail in the attempt by a dispute about another. Agamemnon while he is re. venging a rape, commits one; and Achilles while he is in the ut most fury himself, reproaches Agamemnon for his passionate temper.

Ver. 225. Fly, mighty warrior!] Achilles having threatened to leave them in the former fpeech, and spoken of his warlike actions; the poet here puts an artful piece of spite in the mouth of Aga

memnon,

There want not chiefs in fuch a cause to fight,
And Jove himself shall guard a monarch's right.
Of all the kings (the Gods diftinguish'd care)
To pow'r fuperiour none fuch hatred bear:
Strife and debate thy restless foul employ,
And wars and horrors are thy favage joy.

230

If thou haft ftrength, 'twas heaven that strength be

ftow'd,

For know, vain man! thy valour is from God.
Hafte, launch thy veffels, fly with fpeed away,
Rule thy own realms with arbitrary sway:

I heed thee not, but prize at equal rate

235

Thy short liv'd friendship, and thy groundless hate.
Go, threat thy earth-born Myrmydons; but here
'Tis mine to threaten, prince, and thine to fear. 240
Know, if the God the beauteous dame demand,
My bark fhall waft her to her native land;
But then prepare, imperious prince! prepare,
Fierce as thou art, to yeild thy captive fair:
Ev'n in thy tent I'll feize the blooming prize,
Thy lov'd Brifeis with the radiant eyes.

245

Hence fhalt thou prove my might, and curse the hour,
Thou ftood'st a rival of imperial pow'r ;

And hence to all our hosts it shall be known,
That kings are fubject to the Gods alone.

250

Achilles heard, with grief and rage oppreft, His heart fwell'd high, and labour'd in his breast. Distracting thoughts by turns his bofom rul'd, Now fir'd by wrath, and now by reafon cool'd: That prompts his hand to draw the deadly fword, 255 Force thro' the Greeks, and pierce their haughty lord: This whifpers foft, his vengeance to controul, And calm the rifing tempeft of his foul.

memnon, making him opprobriously brand his retreat as a flight, and leffen the appearance of his courage, by calling it the love of contention and flaughter.

VOL. I..

G

Achilles