long ;

Apollo liftens, and approves the fong.

620

680

The Greeks, reftor'd, the grateful notes pro- Go, left the haughty partner of my fway
With jealous eyes thy clofe access survey;
But part in peace, fecure thy prayer is sped:
Witness the facred honours of our head,
The nod that ratifies the will divine
The faithful, fix'd, irrevocable fign,
This feals thy fuit, and this fulfills thy vows-
He poke, and awful bends his fable brows;
Shakes his ambrofial curls, and gives the nod ;
The ftamp of fate, and fanction of the God: 685
High heaven with trembling the dread fignal
took,

'Twas night; the chiefs befide their veffel lie, Till rofy morn had purpled o'er the sky: Then launch, and hoift the mast: indulgent gales, Supply'd by Phobus, fill the fwelling fails; 625 The milk-white canvas bellying as they blow, The parted ocean foams and roars below: Above the bounding billows fwift they flew, Till now the Grecian camp appear'd in view. " Far on the beach they haul their bark to land 630 (The crooked keel divides the yellow fand); Then part, where stretch'd along the winding bay

635

The ships and tents in mingled profpects lay.
But raging ftill, amidst his navy fate
The ftern Achilles, fted faft in his hate;
Nor mix'd in combat, nor in council join'd;
But wafting cares lay heavy on his mind :
In his black thoughts revenge and flaughter roll,
And scenes of blood rife dreadful in his foul.
Twelve days were past, and now the dawning
light

640
The Gods had fummon'd to th' Olympian height:
Jove firft afcending from the watery bowers,
Leads the long order of æthereal powers.
When like the morning mift in early day,

And all Olympus to the centre fhook.

690

Swift to the feas profound the Goddess flies,
Jove to his ftarry manfion in the skies.
The fhining fynod of th' immortals wait
The coming God, and from their thrones of state
Arifing filent, wrapt in holy fear,
Before the majefty of heaven appear.
Trembling they stand, while Jove affumes the
throne,

All, but the God's imperious queen alone: 695
Late had the view'd the filver-footed dame,
And all her paffions kindled into flame..
Sav, artful manager of heaven (fhe cries)
Who now partakes the fecrets of the skies?
Thy Juno knows not the decrees of fate,
In vain the partner of imperial state.
What favourite Goddess then thofe cares divides,

700

Rofe from the flood the daughter of the fea; 645 Which Jove in prudence from his confort hides?

And to the feats divine her flight addrest.
There, far apart, and high above the rest,
The Thunderer fat; where old Olympus fhrouds
His hundred heads in heaven, and props the
clouds.

Suppliant the Goddess stood: one hand the plac'd

650

655

Beneath his beard, and one his knee embrac'd:
If e'er, O Father of the Gods! the faid,
My words could please thee, or my actions aid;
Some marks of honour on my fon bestow,
And pay in glory what in life you owe.
Fame is at least by heavenly promife due
To life so short, and now difhonour'd too.
Avenge this wrong, oh ever juft and wife!
Let Greece be humbled, and the Trojans rife ;
Till the proud kind, and all the Achaian race,

660

Shall heap with honour him they now difgrace.
Thus Thetis fpoke, but Jove in filence held
The facred councils of his breaft conceal'd.
Not fo repuls'd, the Goddess closer prest,
Still graip'd his knees, and urg'd the dear re-
queft:

665

O fire of Gods and men! thy fuppliant hear;
Refufe, or grant; for what has Jove to fear?
Or, oh declare, of all the powers above,
Is wretched Thetis leaft the care of Jove?
She faid, and fighing thus the God replies, 670
Who rolls the thunder o'er the vaulted skies?
What haft thou afk'd? Ah why should Jove en-
gage

In foreign contefts, and domeftic rage,
The Gods complaints, and Juno's fierce alarms,
While I, too partial, aid the Trojan arms?

675

To this the Thunderer; Seek not thou to find
The facred counfels of Almighty mind:
Involv'd in dark nefs lies the great decree,
Nor can the depths of fate be pierc'd by thee.
What fits thy knowledge, thou the firft fhalt
know

705

716

720

Thy boundless will, for me, remains in force,
And all thy counfels take the deftin'd courfe.
But 'tis for Greece I fear: for late was feon
In clofe confult the Silver-footed Queen.
Jove to his Thetis nothing could deny,
Nor was the fignal vain that thook the sky.
What fatal favour has the Goddess won,
To grace her fierce, inexorable fon?
Perhaps in Grecian blood to drench the plain,
And glut his vengeance with my people flain. 725
Then hus the God: Oh reftlefs fate of pride,
That ftrives to learn what heaven refolves to hide
Vain is the fearch, prefumptuous and abhorr'd,
Anxious to thee, and odious to thy lord.
Let this fuffice; th' immutable decree
No force can fhake: what is, that ought to be.
Goddefs, fubmit, nor dare our will with tand,
But dread the power of this avenging hand;
Th' united strength of all the Gods above
In vain refifts th' omnipotence of Jove.

730

235

The Thunderer fpoke, nor durft the Queen | Once in your caufe I felt his matchless might, reply:

A reverend horror filenc'd all the fkv.

740

The feast disturb'd, with forrow Vican faw
His mother menac'd, and the Gods in awe;
Peace at his heart, and pleafure his defign,
Thus interpos'd the Architect Divine :
The wretched quarrels of the mortal state
Are far unworthy, Gods! of your debate :
Let men their days in fenfelefs ftrife employ,
We, in eternal peace and constant joy.
Thou Goddefs-mother, with our fire comply,
Nor break the facred union of the fky;
Left, rouz'd to rage, he thake the bleft abodes,
Launch the red lightening, and dethrone the
Gods.

745

760

Hurl'd headlong downward from th' etherial height;

Toft all the day in rapid circles round;

Nor, till the fun defcended, touch'd the ground:

Breathless I fell, in giddy motions loft;

The Sinthians rais'd me on the Lemnian coaft. 765 He faid, and to her hands the goblet heav'd, Which with a fmile, the white-arm'd queen receiv'd.

Then to the rest he fill'd; and in his turn,

Each to his lips apply'd the nectar'd urn.
Vulcan with aukward grace his office plies, 770
And unextinguifh'd laughter fhakes the skies.
Thus the bleft Gods the genial day prolong,
In feafts ambrofial, and celeftial fong.
Apollo tun'd the lyre; the Mufes round
With voice alternate aid the filver found.
Mean time the radiant fun, to mortal fight
Defcending iwift, roll'd down the rapid light.
Then to their ftarry domes the Gods depart,
The shining monuments of Vulcan's art :
Jove on his couch reclin'd his awful head,
And Juno flumber'd on the golden bed,

775

780

The Trial of the Army, and Catalogue of the Forces.

JUPITER, in pursuance of the request of Thetis, fends a deceitful vifion to Agamemnon, perfuading him to lead the army to battle; in order to make the Grecks fenfible of their want of Achilles. The general, who is deluded with the hopes of taking Troy without his affiftance, but fears the army was difcouraged by bis abfence and the late plague, as well as by the length of time, contrives to make trial of their difpofition by a fratagem. He first communicates his defign to the princes in council, that he would propofe a return to the foldiers, and that they should put a stop to them if the propofal was embraced. Then he affembles the whole hoft, and upon moving for a return to Greece, they unanimously agree to it, and run to prepare the hips. They are detained by the management of Ulyffes, who chastifes

23

the infolence of Therfites. The affembly is recalled, feveral speeches made on the occafion, and at length the advice of Neftor followed, which was, to make a general mufier of the troops, and to divide them into their feveral nations, before they proceeded to battle. This gives occafion to the poet to enumerate all the forces of the Greeks and Trojans, and in a large catalogue.

The time employed in this book confifts not entirely of one day. The fcene lies in the Grecian camp and upon the fea-fhore; toward the end it removes to Troy.

OW

Now pleafing fleep had feal'd each inortal | Eager he rifes, and in fancy hears

eye,

The voice celeftial murmuring in his ears.
First on his limbs a flender veit he drew,
Around him next the regal mantle threw ;
Th' embroider'd fandals on his feet were tied ;

For now no more the Gods with fate contend, 15 In his black fhip the Pylian prince he found; 65

20

At Juno's fuit the heavenly factions end.
Deftruction hangs o'er yon devoted wall,
And nodding Ilion waits th' impending fall.
Swift as the word the vain illufion fled,
Defcends, and hovers o'er Atrides' head;
Cloath'd in the gure of the Pylian fage,
Renown'd for wifdom, and rever'd for age;
Around his temples fpreads his golden wing,
And thus the flattering dream deceives the king:
Can't thou, with all a monarch's cares op-
preft,

25

30

Oh, Atreus fon! can'ft thou indulge thy reft?
Ill fits a chief who mighty nations guides,
Directs in council, and in war prefides,
To whom its fafety a whole people owes,
To wafte long nights in indolent repofe.
Monarch, awake! 'tis Jove's command I bear;
Thou, and thy glory, claim his heavenly care.
In just array draw forth th' embattled train,
Lead all thy Grecians to the dusty plain;
Ev'n now, O king! 'tis given thee to destroy 35
The lofty towers of wide-extended Troy.
For now no more the Gods with fate contend,
At Juno's fuit the heavenly factions end.
De truction hangs o'er yon devoted wall,
And nodding flion waits th' impending fall.
Awake, but waking this advice approve,
And trust the vifion that defcends from Jove.
The phantom faid; then vanifh'd from his fight,
Refolves to air, and mixes with the night.
A thousand schemes the monarch's mind employ:

40

There calls a fenate of the Peers around;
Th' affembly plac'd, the king of men expreft
The counfels labouring in his artful breaft:
Friends and confederates! with attentive ear
Receive my words, and credit what you hear. 70
Late as flumber'd in the fhades of night,
A dream divine appear'd before my fight,
Whofe vifionary form like Neftor came,
The fame in habit, and in mien the fame.
The heavenly phantom hover'd o'er my head, 7
And, doft thou fleep, Oh, Atreus' fon? (he
faid)

Ill fits a chief who mighty nations guides,
Directs in council, and in war prefides,
To whom its fafety a whole people owes ;
To wafte long nights in indolent repofe.
Monarch, awake! 'tis Jove's command I bear,
Thou and thy glory claim his heavenly care.
In juft array draw forth th' embattled train,
And lead the Grecians to the dusty plain;
Ev'n now, O king! 'tis given thee to destroy 85
The lofty towers of wide-extended Troy.
For now no more the Gods with fate contend;
At Juno's fuit the heavenly factions end.
Deftruction hangs o'er yon devoted wall,
And nodding Ilion waits th' impending fall,
This hear obfervant, and the Gods obey!
The vifion fpoke, and past in air away.
Now, valiant chiefs! fince Heaven itself alarms;
Unite, and roufe the fons of Greece to arms.
But firft, with caution try what yet they dare, 95
Worn with nine years of unfuccessful war!
To move the troops to measure back the main
Be mine; and your's the province to detain.

90

100

He fpoke, and fat; when Neftor rifing faid, (Neftor, whom Pylos' fandy realms obey'd) Princes of Greece, your faithful ears incline; Nor doubt the vision of the power divine;