'Tis just resentment, and becomes the brave; By all the sacred prevalence of pray'r;
Disgrac'd, dishonour'd, like the vileft Nave! Ah, leave me not for Grecian dogs to tcar!
Return then, heroes! and our answer bear, The coinmon rites of sepulture bestow,
The glorious combat is no more my care ;

To soothe a father's and a mother's woe;
Not till, amidst yon sinking navy Nain,

Let their large gifts procure an urn at least, The blood of Greeks shall dye the sable main; And Hector's athes in his country reft. Not till the flames, by Hector's fury thrown, No, wretch accurft, relentless he replics, Consume your vessels, and approach my own;

(Flames, as he spoke, shot Aathing from his eyes) Juft there the impetuous homicide shall sand, Not those who gave me breath should bid inc fpare, There ccase his battle, and there feel our hand, Nor all the sacred prevalence of pray'r.

Could I myself the bloody banquet join!

No-to the dogs that carcase I resign. § 2.

Conference between Achilles and Hiftor, Should Troy, to bribe me, bring forth all her store, at the Time of that Engagement wbich proved And giving thousands, offer thousands more; fatal 10 tbe loft-mentioned Hero.

Should Dardan Priam, and his weeping dame, E NOUGH, O son of Peleus! Troy has view'd Drain their whole realın to buyone fun'ral Hame;

Her walls thrice circled, and her chief pursued. Their Hector on the pile they should not see, But now some god within inc biets me try Nor rob the vultures of one limb of thce. Thine or my fate ; I kill thee, or I die.

Then this the chief his dying accents drew : Yet on the verge of battle let us stay,

Thy rage, implacable! too well I know: And for a moment's space fuspend the day ; The furies that relentless breast have steel'd, Let Heaven's high pow'rs be call'd to arbitrate And curīt thee with a heart that cannot yield. The just conditions of this storn debate

Yet think, a day will come, when fate's decree, (Eternal witnesses of all below,

And angry gods, lhall wreak this wrong on thee; And faithful gardians of the treasur'd vow). Phæbus and Paris shall avenge my fate, To them I swear; if, victor in the strife, And stretch thee here before this Scæan gate. Jove by these hands thall ihed thy noble life, No vile dishonour shall thy corpse pursue ; Stript of its arms alone (the conqueror's due)

§ 4. Hiftor ard Ajax. Generosity of Courage in The rest to Greece uninjur'd I'll restore :

ibese Heroes. Dialogue between them. Now plight thy mutual oath, I ask no more.

HECTOR! approach my arm, and fingly know Talk not of oaths (the dreadful chief replies, What Aren'th thou hast, and what the GreWhile anger fath'd from his disdainful cyes)

cian foc. Derefted as thou art, and ought to be,

Achilles fhuns the fight; yet some there are, Nor oath nor pact Achilles plights with thee : Not void of soul, and not unikill'd in war: Such pacts as lambs and rapid wolves combine, Let him, unactive, on the sea-bcat shore Such leagues as men and furious lions join, Indulge his wrath, and aid our arms no more: To such I call the gods ! one constant state Whole troops of heroes Grecce has yet to boast; Of lasting rancour and eternai hate :

And sends thce one, a sample of her host; No thought but rage, and never-ceasing strife, Such as I am, I come to prove thy might; Till death extinguish rage, and thought, and life. No morebe sudden, and begin the fight. Rouse then thy forces this important hour, () son of Telamon, thy country's pride! Collect thy soul, and call forth all thy pow'r. (To Ajax thus the Trojan prince replied) No farther fubterfuge, no farther chance; Me, as a boy or woman, wouldlt thou fright, 'Tis Pallas, Pallas, gives thee to my lance. New to the field, and trembling at the fight? Each Grecian ghost by thee depriv'd of breath, Thou mect's a chief deserving of thy arms, Now hovers round, and calls thce to thy death. To combat born, and bred amidst alarms:

I know to thifi my ground, remount the car,

Turn, charge, and answer ev'ry call of war; § 3. Speeches of Achilles and Hector, after ibe To right, to left, the dext’rous lance I wield, lasi-mortioned Hero was mortally vounded.

And bear thick battle on my founding thield.
A?
T latt is Hctor stretch'd upon the plain, But open be our right, and bold each blow;

Who fear'd no vengeance for Patroclus lain : I steal no conquest from a noble foe.
Then, prince ! you should have fcar'd what now
Achilles absent was Achilles ftill.

§ 5. Ajax and Heflor exchange Presents after Yet a short space the great avenger stay'd,

ibeir bloody Encounter, and part in Friendship. Then low in duft thy strength and glory laid. BUT let us, on this memorable day, Peaceful he fleeps, with all our rites adorn'd, Exchange fome gift; that Greece and Troy For ever honour'd, and for ever mourn'd:

may lay, While, cast to all the rage of hostile pow'r, “ Not hate, but glory, made the chiefs contend; Thee birds thall mangle, and the dogs devour. " And each bravc foc was in his soul a friend."

Then Hector, fainting at th’approach of death: With that, a lword with stars of silver grac'd, By thy own foul! by thole who gave the breath! The baldric Audded, and the thuath enchas'd,

He

you feel

He gave the Greck. The gen’rous Greck be- § 9. Diomed's Reproach of Agamemnon.

ftow'd A radiant belt that rich with purple glow'd.

WHEN kings advise us to renounce our famc,

First let him speak who first has suffer'd thame,
If I oppose thee, prince, thy wrath withhold,

The laws of council bid my tongue be bold.
$ 6. Character of Agamemnon. Thou first, and thou alone, in fields of fight,
TH
HE king of kings, majestically tall,

Durst brand my courage, and defame my mnight:
Tow’rs o’er his armics, and outshines them all: Nor from a friend th’unkind reproach appear d;
Like some proud bull that round the pastures leads The Grecks stood witneís, all the

army

heard. His subject herds, the monarch of the meads. The gods, O chief! from whom our honours Great as the gods th’exalted chief was seen,

fpring,
His frungth like Neptune, and like Mars his mien; The gods have made thee but by halves a king;
Jove o'er his eyes celestial glories spread, They gave thee fceptres, and a wide command,
And dawning conquest play d around his head. They gave dominion o’er the feas and land,

The noblefi pow'r that might the world contoul

They gave thee not-a brave and virtuous fulla § 7. Agamemnon's Speech to Meneluus, zuben be Is this a gen’ral's voice, that would suggest was about to spare the Life of a young Trojun.

Fears like his own to cv'ry Grecian breaft?

Confiding in our want of worth he stands,
IMPOTENT of mind !
O
Shallthele,fallthcle Atrides mercy find: Go, tlou inglorious ! from th'embattled plain ;

And, if we fly, 'tis what our king commands. Well hast thou known proud Troy's perfidious Ships thou haft store, and nearest to the main. land,

A nobler care the Grecians shall employ,
And well her natives merit at thy hand!

To coinbat, conquer, and extirpatc Troy,
Not one of all the race, nor sex, nor age,
Small fave a Trojan from our boundlcis rage :
Ilion ihall perith whole, and bury all;
Her babes, her infants at the breast, shall fall. § 10. Neftor's Aproval of Diomed's infolent

Rebuke.

0 TRULY great! in whom the gods have join'd § 8. Speccb of U![es 10 Agami nmou, wohen ibo Such strength of body with such force of mind; larter proposeit io quit the Pbrzian Coast; in In conduct, as in courage, you excel;

Still first to act what you advile so well. whicb Agamemnon is accused of Gowridice.

Those wholcfome counsels which thy wisdom
sage Ulysses thus replies, Teves :

moves,
While anger tath d from his disdainful applauding Greece with common voice approves.
What shameful words, unkingly as thou art, Kings thou canst blame ; a bold, but prudent
Fall from that trembling tongue, and tim'rous

youth;
heart!

And blame eren kings with praise, because with
O were thy fway the curse of meaner pow'rs,

truth.
And thou the shape of any host but ours !
A host by Jove endued with martial might, Curs'd is the man, and void of law and right,
And taught to conquer, or to fall in light :

Unworthy property, unworthy light,
Advent'rous combats and bold wars to wage, Unfit for public rule, or private care ;
Employ'd our youth, and yet employs our age. That wreich, that monster, who delights in war :
And wilt thou thus defert the Trojan plain ? Whofe lust is inurder, and whole horrid joy
And have whole streams of blood been spilt in To tear his country, 2nd his kind destroy!

vain ?
In such base sentence if thou couch thy fear,
Speak it in whilpers, lest a Greck should hear.
Lives there a man so dead to fame, who dares § 11. Character of Tivifiors; bis Speech 10 foco
To think such mcanncís, or the thought declares ?

Dillinfions in the aimy; and Ulysis's Repy.
And comes it even from him whole fovereign sway THERSITES only clamour'd in the throng,
The banded legions of all Greece obey ?

Loquacious, loud, and turbulent of tongue;
Is this a gen'ral's voice, that calls to fight Aw'd by no thame, by no respect contrould,
While war hangs doubtful, while its soldiers fight in fcandal buty, in reproaches bold;
What more could Troy? What yet their fate With wirty malice studious to defame;
denies

Scorn all his joy, and laughter all his aim. Thou gav'it the foe: all Greece becomes their But chief he gloried, with licentious ftyle, prize.

To lath the great, and monarchs to revile. No more the troops (our hoisted fails in viev,

His figure such as might his soul proclaim: Themselves abandon'd) hall the fight pursue; One eye was blinking, and one leg was lame: Thy thips first flying with despair Thall Ice, His mountain-shoulders half his breast o'erspread; And owe deftruction to a prince like thee, Thin hairs beftrew'd his long mis-Shapen head. 4

Spleen

THE

}

}

Spleen to mankind his envious heart poffefs’d, Trembling he fate; and, fhrunk in abje&t fcars,
And much he hated all, but most the best. From his vile visage wip'd the scalding tears.
Ulyties or Achilles still his theme;

While to his neighbour cachexprefs'd his thoughts
But royal scandal his delight fupreme.

Ye gods! what wonders has Ulysses wrought!
Long had he liv'd the scorn of ev'ry Greek, What fruits his conduct and his courage yield!
Vex'd when he spoke,yet itill they heard him speak. Great in the councii, glorious in the field.
Sharp was his voice; which, in the thrilleft tone, Gen'rous he rises in the crown's defence,
Thus with injurious taunts attack'd the throne : To curb the faclious tongue of infolence.

Amidit the glories of to bright a reign, Such just examples on offenders shown,
What moves the great Atrides to complain? Sedition filence, and affert the throne.
'Tis thine whate'er the warrior's breatt inflaines,
The golden spoil, and thine the lovciy dames.
With all the wealth our wars and blood beftow,

$ 12.

Helen's Lamientation over Heitor's dead
Thy tents are crowded, and thy chutis o'crtlow.

Body.
Thus at full cale, in heaps of riches rollid,
What grieves the monarch? Is it thirt of gold : | A dearest friend! in whom the gods had join'd
Say, thall we march with our unconquer'd pow'rs, Now twice ten years, unhappy years ! are o'er

The mildest inanuers with the bravest mind;
(The Grecks and I) to Ilion's hostile tow'rs,
And bring the race of royal baliards here,

Since Paris brought me to the Trojan fhore; For Troy to ransom at a price too dcar?

(O had I perish d e'cr that forın divine But tafer plunder thy own host supplies;

Scduc'd this foft, this cały heart of mine!) Say, wouldpt thou seize fome valiant leader's prize: Yet was it ne'er my fate, from thee to find Or, if thy heart to gen'rous love be led,

A deed ungentle, or a word unkind :

When others curs'd the auth’rets of their woe,
Some captive fair, to bless thy kingly bed?
Whate'cr our master crares, Tubmit we must,

Thy pity check d my sorrows in their flow :
Plagued with his pride, or punith'd for his luft.

If some proud brother eyed me with disdain,
O women of Achaia! men no more!

Or fcornful filter with her sweeping train,
Hence let us Ay, and let him watic his store

Thy gentle accents foftcn'd all my pain.
In love and pleasures on the Phrygian thore.

For thee I meurn; and mourn myself in thee,
We may be wanted on fome buíy day,

The wretched source of all this mifery!
ll'hen Hector comes; so

great
Achilles

may :
From him he forc'd the prize we jointly gave,
From him the perce, the fearless, and the brave:

& 13. Retreat of Ajrx. And durit be, as he ought, refent that wrong,

JAX he fhurs, thro' all the dire debate,
This mighty tyrant were ou tyrant long.

And fears that arm whose force he felt folate.
Fierce from his seat, at this, Ulyfies springs, But parrial Jore, tspousing Hector's part,
In gen 'rous vengeance of the king of kings; Shot heaven-bred horror thro’the Grecian's heart;
With indignation iparkling in liis eyes,

Confus'd, urneri'd in Hector's presence grown,
He views the wretch, and sternly thus replies: Amaz'd he food, with terrors not his own.

Peace, faétious monster, born to vex the state, O'er his broad back his moony shield he threw,
With wrangling talents, form'd for foul debate : And glaring round, by tardy steps withdrew,
Curb that impetuous tongue; nor rathly vain, Thus the grim lion his retreat maintains,
And fingly mad, asperse the fov'reign reign. Beset with watchful dogs, and shouting swains';
Have we not known thee, slave! of all our host, Repuls'd by numbers from the nightly stalls,
The man who acts the icaft, upbraids the most? Tho'rage impels liim, and tho' hunger calls,
Think not the Grecks to thameful fight to bring, Long stands the show'ung darts, and millile fires;
Nor let those lips profane the name of king. Then fourly flow th’indignant beast retires.
For our return we trust the heavenly pow'rs; So turn’d stern Ajax, by whole hosts repeil'd,
Be that their care, to fight like men be ours. While his swoln heart at every step rebellid.
But grant the host with wealth the gen'ral load ; As the flow bcast with heavy strengthi endued,
Except detraction, what hast thou očítow'd ? In fome wild field by troops of boys pursued,
Suppote fome hero lhould his fpoils refign, Tho'round the sides a wooden tempest rain,
Art thou that hero, could thosc fpoils be thine ? Crops the tall harvest, and lays waste the plain;
Gods ! let me perith on this hateful fhore, Thick on his fides the hollow blows retound,
And let thefe eyes behold my son no more ; The patient animal maintains his ground,
If, on thy next offence, this hand forbear Scarce from the field with all their efforts chas'd,
To strip those arms thou ill deserv'st to wear, And stirs but lowly when he stirs at laft.
Expel the council where our princes inect, On Ajax thus a weight of Trojans hung,
And send thce scourg'd and howling thro' the The strokes redoubled on his buckler rung;
fcct.

Confiding now in bulky strength he stands,
He said, and cow'ring as the dastard bends, Now turns, and backward bears the yielding
The weighty Iceptre on his back descends :

bands :
On the round bunch the bloody tumors rise; Now stiff recedes, yet hardly seems to Ay,
The tcars spring starting from luis haggard eyes :

And threats his followers with retorted cye.

Fixd

Fix'd as the bar betwecn two warring pow'rs, o Thou whose glory fills th’ ethereal throne,
While hilling darts defcend in iron show'rs : And all ye deathless pow'rs, protect my fon!
In his broad buckler many a weapon stood,

Grant him, like me, to purchase just renown, Its surface britled with a quiv'ring wood; To guard the Trojans, to defend the crown ; And many a jav'lin guiltlers on the plain Against his country's foe the war to wage, Marks the dry duft, and thirits for blood in vain. And rise the Hector of the future age !

So when, triumphant from fuccessful toils,

Of heroes flain he bears the reeking spoils, § 14. Hektor and Andromache's parting, before Whole hosts may hail him with deserv'd acclaim, be engages.

And say, This chief transcends his father's fame;

While, pleas'd amidst the general thouts of Troy, HECTOR, this heard, return'd without delay; Swift through the town he trod his former His mother's conscious heart o'erflows with joy.

He spoke; and, fondly gazing on her charms, way, Through streets of palaces, and walks of state,

Restor'd the pleasing burden to her arms : And met the mourner at the Scæan gate.

Soft on her fragrant breast the babe the laid, With haste to meet him sprung the joyful fair,

Huth'd to repofc, and with a smile survey'd. His blameless wife, Aëtion's wealthy heir;

The troubled pleasure foon chattis'd by fear,

She mingled with the smile a tender tear.
The nurte stood near, in whose embraces prest
His only hope hung smiling at her breatt,
Whom cach soft charm and early grace adorn,

-The glorious chief resumes
Fair as the new-born star that gilds the morn.

His tow'ry helmet, black with thading plumes;

His princess parts with a prophetic figh, Silent the warrior linil'd, and pleas'd refign'd

Unwilling parts, and oft reverts her eye, To tender passions all his mighty mind :

That stream'd at every look; then, moving flow, His beauteous princess cast a mournful look,

Sought her own palace, and indulgd her woc. Hung on his hand, and then dejected fpoke; Her bofom labour'd with a boding high, And the big tear stood tiembling in her eye : Too daring prince ! ah, whither doit thou run?

§ 15. Priam's Interview with Achilles.

and son And think it thou not, how wretched we shall be, UNSEEN by these, the king " his entry made;

And, prostrate now before Achilles laid, A widow I, a helpless orphan he !

Sudden (a venerable right!) appears; For sure such courage length of life denies, Embrac'd his knees, and baih'd his hands in And thou must fall thy virtue's facrifice.

tears; Greece in her single heroes strore in vain; Those direful hands' his kisses press'd, embrued Now hosts oppose thce, and thou must be sain ! Even with the best, the dearest of his blood ! O grant me, gods ! ere Hector mcets his doom, As when a wretch'(who conscious of his crime, AII I can ask of Heaven, an early tomb ! Pursued for murder, dies his native clime) So shall my days in one sad tenor run,

Just gains some frontier, breathless, pale, amaz'd, And end with sorrows, as they first begun. All gaze, all wonder; thus Achilles gaz'd : No parent now remains my grief to thare, Thus food th'attendants, stupid with furprize; No father's aid, no mother's tender care. All mute, yet seem to question with their eyes :

Each look d on other, none the filence broke; Yet, while my Hector still survives, I see Till thus at latt the kingly suppliant spoke : My father, mother, brethren, all in thce.

Ah think, thou favour'd of the pow'rs divine ! Alas! my parents, brothers, kindred, all, Think of thy father's age, and pity mine! Once more will perith, if my Hector fall. In me that father's rev'rend image trace, Thy wife, thy infant, in thy danger hare: Thole silver hairs, that venerable face : O prove a husband's and a father's care ! His trembling limbs, his helpless perfon, fee! Let others in the field their arms employ, In all my cqual, but in misery! But stay my Hector here, and guard his Troy. Yet now, perhaps, fome turn of human fate

Expels him helpless from his peaceful state; Th'illuftrious chief of Troy Think, from some pow'rful foe thou seeft him ily, Stretch'd his fond arms to clasp the lovely boy. And beg protection with a feeble cry. The babe clung crying to his nurse's breast, Yet still one comfort from his foul may rise ; Scard at the dazzling helm, and nodding crest. He hears his son still lives to glad his eyes : With secret pleature each fond parent finil'd, And hearing, ftill may hope a better day And Hector hatted to relieve his child,

May send him thee, to chale that foe away, The glitt'ring terrors from his brows unbound, No comfort to my gricfs, no hopes remain ; And plac'd the beaming helmet on the ground; The best, the bravest, of my fons are Nain! Then kiis’d the child, and, lifting high in air, Yet, what a race ere Greece to Ilion came, Thus to the gods prcfurr'd a fariier's pray’r. The pledge of many a lov'd and loving dame :

Thou too,

}

Nineteen one mother be re-dead, all are dead ! An only son ! and he, alas ! ordain'd
How oft, alas ! has wre ched Priam blod! To fall untimely in a foreign land !
Still one was left, their lots to recompense ; See him, in Troy, the picus carc decline
His father's hope, his country's last defence. Of liis weak age, to live the curse of thine!
Him too thy rage has llain! bencath thy stecl

old man, haft happier duys beheld; Unhappy in his country's cause he fell !

In riches once, in children once excell'd; For him thro' hoftile' camps I bend my way, Extended Phrygia own'd thy ample reign, For him thus proftrate at thy feet I lay ; And all fair Lesbos' blissful seats contain, Large gifts proportion'd to thy wrath I bear; And all wide Hellespont's unmcalu'd main. Oh hear the wretched, and the gods revere !

But since the god luis hand has pleas'd to turn, Think of thy father, and this face behold! And fill thy measure from his bitter urn, See him in me, as helpless and as old,

What sees the sun, but hapless herces' falls ? Tho' not so wretched ! there he yields to me, War, and the blood of man, surround thy walls! The first of men in sov'reign misery;

What must be, must be. Bear thy lot, nor shed Thus forc'd to kneel, thus grov'ling to embrace These unavailing sorrows o'er the dead; The scourge and ruin of my realm and race;

'Thou canst not call him from the Stygian shore; Suppliane my children's murd'rer to implore, But thou, alas ! mayft live to suffer more! And kiss those hands yet reeking with their gore ! To whom the king:0 favour'd of the skies!

These words soft pity in the chief inspire, Here let me grow to earth! since Hector lies Touch'd with the dear remembrance of his fire. On the bare beach, depriv'd of obsequies. Then with his hand (as prostrate ftill he lay) O give me Hector! to my cycs restore The old man's cheek he gently turn'd away. His corpte, and take the gifts: I ask no more. Now each by turns indulge the guth of woe; Thou, as thou mays, thele boundless stores enjoy; And now the mingled tides together flow : Safe mayst thou fail, and turn thy wrath from Troy; This low on earth, that gently bending o'er, So fhall thy pity and forbearance give A father one, and one a fon deplore :

A weak old man to see the light and live! But great Achilles diff'rent pailions rend,

Move me no more (Achilles thus replies, And now his fire he mourns, and now his friend. While kindling anger sparkled in liis eyes) Th' infectious foftness thiro' the heroes ran; Nor fuck by tears my steady foul to bend; One universal solemn show'r began :

To yield thy Hector I myself intend : They bore as heroes, but they felt as man. For know, from Jove my goddess-mother came

Satiate at length with unavailing wous, (Old Ocean's daughter, filver-footed daine), From the high throne divine Achiiles rose; Nor com’it thou bur by Heaven; nor com'it alone, The rev'rend monarch by the hand he rais'd; Some god impels with courage not thy own : On his white board and form majestic gaz’d, No human hand the wcighty gates unbarr’d, Not unrelenting : then serene began

Nor couid the boldest of our youths have dar'd Will words to soothe the miserable man. To pass our out-works, or clude the guard.

Alas! what weightof anguish haft thou known! Ceale; left, neglectful of high Jove's coinmand, Unhappy prince' thus guardless and alone I thew thce, king! thou tread it on hoftile land; To pass thro' foes, and thus undaunted face Release my knees, thy suppliant arts give o'er, The man whose fury has destroy'd thy race ! And shake the purpote of my soul no inore. Heaven sure has arm’d thee with a heart of steel, The fire obey'd him, treinbiing, and o'craw'd, A strength proportion’d to the woes you feel. Achilles, like a lion, ruth'd abroad : Rise then; let reason mitigate our care :

Antoincdon and Alcimus aitend, To mourn avails not; man is born to bear. W'hom most he honour'd, since he lost his friend; Such is, alas ! the gods fevere decree :

These to unyoke the mules and horses went, They, only they are blest, and only free. And led the hoary herald to the tent; Two urns by Jove's high throne have ever stood, Next heap'd on high the num'rous presents bear The source of evil onc, and one of good; (Great Hector's ransom) from the polish'd car. From thence the cup of mortal man he fills, Two splendid mantles, and a carpet spread, Bleflings to these, to those distributes ills; They leave, to cover and in wrap the.dead; To most he mingles both : the wretch decreed Then call the handmaids, with affistant toil, To taste the bad unmix’d, is curst indeed : To wash the body, and anoint with oil; Pursued by wrongs, hy mcagre famine driven, Apart from Priam, left th’unhappy fire, He wanders out-cast both of carth and heaven. Provok'd to paflion, once more roule to ire The happiest tafte not happiness sincere, The stern Pelides; and nor facred age But find the cordial draught is dath'd with care. Nor Jove's cornmand hould check the rising rage. Who more than Pelcus thone in wealth and This donc, the garments o'erthe corple they iprcad; pow'r?:

Achilles lifts it to the fun'ral bed : Wha: stars concurring bless’d his natal hour ! Then, while the body on the car they laid, A realm, a goddess, to his wishes given, He groans, and calls on lov'd Patroclus' thade : Grac'd by the gods with all the gifts of Heaven! If, in that gloom which never light nust One evil yet o’ertakes his latest day,

know, No race succeeding to impcrial sway;

The deeds of mortals touch the ghosts below:

O friend!

n