Th' affembly feated, rifing o'er the reft, Achilles thus the king of men addrest.

Why leave we not the fatal Trojan fhore, And measure back the feas we croft before?

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The plague destroying whom the fword would fpare,
'Tis time to fave the few remains of war.
But let fome prophet, or fome facred sage,
Explore the cause of great Apollo's rage ;
Or learn the wasteful vengeance to remove,
By myftic dreams, for dreams defcend from Jove.
If broken vows this heavy curfe have laid,
Let altars fmoke, and hecatombs be paid.
So heav'n aton'd fhall dying Greece restore,
And Phoebus dart his burning fhafts no more.

He faid, and fat: when Chalcas thus reply'd:
Chalcas the wife, the Grecian priest and guide,
That facred feer, whofe comprehenfive view
The past, the prefent, and the future knew:
Uprifing flow, the venerable fage

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Thus fpoke the prudence and the fears of age.
Belov'd of Jove, Achilles! would'st thou know

Why angry Phoebus bends his fatal bow?

Firft

Ver. 79. Why leave we not the fatal Trojan shore, etc.] The artifice of this fpeech according to Dionyfius of Halicarnaffus, is admirably carried on to open an accufation against Agamemnon, whom Achilles fufpects to be the caufe of all their miferies. He directs himself not to the affembly, but to Agamemnon; he names not only the plague, but the war too, as having exhausted them all, which was evidently due to his family. He leads the Augurs he would confult, by pointing at fomething lately done with refpe&t to Apollo. And while he continues within the guard of civil expreffion, scattering his infinuations, he encourages thofe who may have more knowledge to fpeak out boldly, by letting them fee there is a party made for their fafety; which has its effect immediately in the following fpeech of Chalcas, whofe demand of protection fhows upon whom the offence is to be placed.

Ver. 97. Belov'd of Jove, Achilles!] Thefe appellations of praise and honour, with which the heroes in Homer to frequent

ly

First give thy faith, and plight a prince's word
Of fure protection, by thy pow'r and sword.
For I must speak what wisdom would conceal,
And truths, invidious to the great, reveal.
Bold is the task, when fubjects grown too wife,
Inftruct a monarch where his error lies;
For tho' we deem the short-liv'd fury past,
'Tis fure, the mighty will revenge at last.

To whom Pelides. From thy inmost foul

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Speak what thou know'st, and speak without controu
Ev'n by that God I swear, who rules the day,
To whom thy hands the vows of Greece convey, 110
And whose bleft oracles thy lips declare;

Long as Achilles breathes this vital air,
No daring Greek of all the num'rous band,
Against his prieft fhall lift an impious hand:
Not ev'n the chief by whom our hofts are led,
The king of kings, fhall touch that facred head.

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ly falute each other, were agreeable to the ftyle of the ancient times, as appears from several of the like nature in the fcripture. Milton has not been wanting to give his poem this cast of antiquity, throughout which our firft parents almost always accoft each other with fome title, that expreffes a refpect to the dignity of hu

man nature.

Daughter of God and man, immortal Eve

Adam, earth's ballow'd mould of God infpir'd.

Offspring of heaven and earıb, and all earib's Lord, etc.

Ver. 115. Not ev'n the chief.] After Achilles had brought in Chalcas by his dark doubts concerning Agamemnon, Chalcas who perceived them, and was unwilling to be the firft that named the king, artfully demands a protection in such a manner, as confirms thofe doubts, and extorts from Achilles this warm and particular expreffion: "That he would protect him even against Agamenon," (who, as he says, is now the greatest man of Greece, to hint that at the expiration of the war he fhould be again reduced to be barely king of Mycena.) This place Plutarch takes notice of as the first in which Achilles fhews his contempt of foverign authority.

Encou

Encourage'd thus, the blameless man replies; Nor vows unpaid, nor flighted facrifice,

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But he, oar chief, provok'd the raging pest,
Apollo's vengeance for his injur'd prieft.
Nor will the God's awaken'd fury ceafe;
But plagues fhall spread, and fun'ral fires increase,
"Till the great king, without a ransom paid,
To her own Chryfa fend the black-ey'd maid.
Perhaps, with added facrifice and pray'r,
The priest may pardon, and the God may spare.
The prophet spoke; when with a gloomy frown
The monarch started from his fhining throne;
Black choler fill'd his breast that boil'd with ire,
And from his eye-balls flash'd the living fire.
Augur accurft! denouncing mischief still;
Prophet of plagues, for ever boding ill !

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Still muft that tongue fome wounding meffage bring,.

And ftill thy priestly pride provoke thy king?

For this are Phoebus' oracles explor'd,

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To teach the Greeks to murmur at their lord?
For this with falfhoods is my honour ftain'd
I's heav'n offended, and a prieft profan'd,
Because my prize, my beauteous maid I hold,
And heav'nly charms prefer to proffer'd gold?
A maid, unmatch'd in manners as in face,
Skill'd in each art, and crown'd with ev'ry grace.

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Ver. 131. Augur accurf.] This, and the two following lines, are in a manner repetitions of the fame thing thrice over. It is left to the reader to confider how far it may be allowed, or rather praised for a beauty, when we confider with Euftathius that it is a moft natural effect of anger to be full of words, and infitting on that which galls us. We may add, that these reiterated expreffions might be supposed to be thrown out one after another, as Agamemnon is ftruck in the confufion of his paffion, first by the remembrance of one prophecy, and then of another, which the fame man had uttered against him.

Not

Not half fo dear were Clytemnestra's charms,

When first her blooming beauties bleft my arms.
Yet if the Gods demand her, let her fail;
Ŏur cares are only for the public weal :
Let me be deem'd the hateful cause of all,
And fuffer, rather than my people fall.
The prize, the beauteous prize I will refign
So dearly valu'd, and fo justly mine.
But fince for common good I yeild the fair,
My private lofs let grateful Greece repair;
Nor unrewarded let your prince complain,
That he alone has fought and bled in vain.
Infatiate king (Achilles thus replies)
Fond of the pow'r, but fonder of the prize!

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150

155

Would't

Ver. 143. Not half fo dear were Clytæmneftra's charms.] Agamem non having heard the charge which Chalcas drew up against him in two particulars, that he had affronted the priest, and refused to restore his daughter; he offers one anfwer which gives foften ing colours to both, that he loved her as well as his queen Clytæmneftra, for her perfections. Thus he would feem to fatisfy the father by kindness to his daughter, to excuse himself before the Greeks for what is past, and to make a merit of yeilding her and facrificing his paffion for their fafety.

Ver. 155. Infariate King] Here, where this paffion of anger grows loud, it seems proper to prepare the reader, and prevent his mistake in the character of Achilles, which might fhock him in feveral particulars following. We should know that the poet rather ftudied nature than perfection, in the laying down his characters. He refolved to fing the confequences of anger; he confidered what virtues and vices would conduce most to bring his moral out of the fable; and artfully disposed them in his chief perfons after the manner in which we generally find them; making the fault which moft peculiarly attends any good quality, to refide with it. Thus he has placed pride with magnanimity in Agamemnon, and craft with prudence in Ulyffes, And thus we must take his Achilles, not as a mere heroic difpaffioned character, but as compounded of courage and anger; one who finds himself almoft invincible, and affumes an uncontrouled carriage upon the

felf

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 :

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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,

The spoils 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 poffeft 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 ?
Firft let the juft 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..

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felf-consciousness of his worth; whose 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 just 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 feemed but juft that he should have a fecond choice.

The