Next thirty galleys cleave the liquid plain, Of thofe Calydna's fea-girt ifles contain; With them the youth of Nyfyrus repair, Cafus the ftrong, and Crapathus the fair; Cos, where Eurypylus poffeft the sway, Till great Alcides made the realms obey : Thefe Antiphus and bold Phidippus bring, Sprung from the God by Theffalus the king.
There groan'd the chief in agonizing pain, 880 Whom Greece at length fhall wifh, nor wish in vain.
His forces Medon led from Lemnos' fhore, 825 Oileus' fon, whom beauteous Rhena bore. Th' Oechalian race, in those high towers contain'd,
Now, Mufe, recount Pelafgic Argos' powers, From Alos, Alope, and Trechin's towers; From Phthia's fpacious vales; and Hella, bleft With female beauty far beyond the rest. Full fifty fhips beneath Achilles' care, Th' Achaians, Myrmidons, Hellenians bear; Theffalians all, though various in their name;
The fame their nation, and their chief the fame.
But now, inglorious, ftretch'd along the inore,
They hear the brazen voice of war no more;
No more the foe they face in dire array;
Close in his fleet the angry leader lay;
Since fair Brifeïs from his arms was torn,
The nobleft fpoil from fack'd Lyrneffus borne,
Then, when the chief the Theban walls o'er-
throw,
And the bold fons of great Evenus flew.
There mourn'd Achilles, plung'd in depth of
care,
But foon to rife in flaughter, blood, and war.
To these the youth of Phylacè fucceed,
Itona, famous for her fleecy breed,
And graffy Pteleon deck'd with cheerful greens,
The bowers of Ceres, and the fylvan fcenes, 850
Sweet Pyrrhafus, with blooming flowrets crown'd,
And Antron's watery dens, and cavern'd ground.
Thefe own'd as chief Protefilas the brave,
Who now lay filent in the gloomy grave:
The first who boldly touch'd the Trojan fhore,
And dy'd a Phrygian lance with Grecian gore;
There lies, far diftant from his native plain;
Unfinish'd, his proud palaces remain,
And his fad confort beats her breast in vain.
His troops in forty fhips Podarces led,
1phiclus' fon, and brother to the dead;
Nor he unworthy to command the hoft;
Yet ftill they mourn'd their ancient leader loft.
The men who Glaphyra's fair foil partake,
Where hills encircle Boebe's lowly lake.
Where Phare hears the neighbouring waters
fall,
Or proud fölcus lifts her airy wall,
Where once Eurytus in proud triumph reign'd, 885
Or where her humbler turrets Tricca rears,
Or where Ithome, rough with rocks, appears ;
In thirty fail the sparkling waves divide,
Which Podalirius and Machaon guide.
To these his skill their * Parent-God imparts,
Where cold Dodona lifts her holy trees;
Or where the pleasing Titarefius glides
And into Peneus rolls his easy tides;
Yet o'er the filver furface pure they flow,
The facred stream unmix'd with ftreams below,
Sacred and awful! From the dark abodes
Styx pours them forth, the dreadful oath of
Gods!
Laft under Prothous the Magnesians ftood, Prothous the swift, of old Tenthredron's blood; Who dwell where Pelion, crown'd with piny boughs,
Obfcures the glade, and nods his fhaggy brows; Orwhere through flowery Tempè Peneus ftray'd,
(The region ftretch'd beneath his mighty shade) In forty fable barks they ftemm'd the main ; Such were the chiefs, and fuch the Grecian train. Say next, O Mufe! of all Achaia breeds, Who bravest fought, or rein'd the nobleft steeds!
Eumelus' mares are foremost in the chace,
As eagles fleet, and of Pheretian race :
Bred where Pieria's faithful fountains flow,
And train'd by him who bears the filver bow.
Fierce in the fight their noftrils breath'd a flame,
930 Their height, their colour, and their age the fame ;
(His was the strength that mortal might exceeds,
And his, th' unrivall'd race of heavenly steeds).
But Thetis' fon now fhines in arms no more;
His troops, neglected on the fandy fhore,
In empty air their sportive javelins throw,
Or whirl the disk, or bend an idle bow:
Unftain'd with blood his cover'd chariots stand;
Th' Immortal courfers graze along the strand;
But the brave chiefs th' inglorious life deplor'd,
And wandering o'er the camp, requir'd their
lord.
945
Now like a deluge, covering all around,
The shining armies fwept along the ground:
Swift as a flood of fire, when ftorms arife,
Floats the wide field, and blazes to the skies.
Earth groan'd beneath them; as when angry
Jove
Hurls down the forky lightning from above,
On Arime when he the thunder throws,
And fires Typhæus with redoubled blows,
Where Typhon, prest beneath the burning load,
Still feels the fury of th' avenging God.
But various Iris, Jove's commands to bear,
Speeds on the wings of winds through liquid air;
In Priam's porch the Trojan chiefs the found,
The old confulting, and the youths around.
Polites' fhape, the monarch's fon, fhe chofe, 960
Who from Æfetes' tomb obferv'd the foes,
High on the mound; from whence in profpect❘
lay
The fields, the tents, the navy, and the bay.
In this diffembled form, the haftes to bring
Th' unwelcome meffage to the Phrygian king :
Divine Æneas brings the Dardan race, Anchifes' fon by Venus' ftol'n embrace, Born in the fhades of Ida's fecret grove, (A mortal mixing with the Queen of Love) 995 Archilochus and Acamas divide
The warriour's toils, and combat by his fide.
Who fair Zeleia's wealthy vallies till,
Faft by the foot of Ida's facred hill;
Or drink, fepus, of thy fabie flood:
Were led by Pandarus, of royal blood.
To whom his art Apollo deign'd to show,
Grac'd with the prefent of his fhafts and bow.
From rich Apæfus' and Adrestia's towers,
High Teree's fummits, and Pityea's bowers;
1005
From these the congregated troops obey
Young Amphius' and Adraftus' equal fway:
Old Merops' fons; whom, skill'd in fates to come,
The fire forewarn'd, and prophefy'd their doom;
Fate urg'd them on! the fire forewarn'd in vain,
They rush'd to war, and perifh'd on the plain.
From Practius' ftream, Percote's pafture lands,
| And Sestos and Abydos' neighbouring frands,
From great Arifba's walls and Selle's coaft,
Afius Hyrtacides conducts his host:
High on his car he shakes the flowing reins,
His fiery courfers thunder o'er the plains.
The fierce Pelafgi next, in war renown'd,
March from Lariffa's ever-fertile ground:
In equal arms their brother leaders fhine
Hippothous bold, and Pyleus the divine.
Next Acamus and Pyrous lead their hofts, In dread array, from Thracia's wintry coafts; Round the bleak realms where Hellefpontes roars,
And Boreas beats the hoarse-resounding shores.
Where Erythinus' rifing clifts are seen,
Thy groves of box, Cytorus! ever green;
And where gyalus and Cromna lie,
And lofty Sefamus invades the sky ;
And where Parthenius, roll'd through banks of
flowers,
Reflects her bordering palaces and bowers,
Here march'd in arms the Halizonian band, Whom Odius and Epiftrophus command, From thofe far regions where the fun refines The ripening filver in Alybean mines.
There mighty Chromis led the Myfian train, And augur Eunomus, infpir'd in vain, For ftern Achilles lopt his facred head, Roll'd down Scamander with the vulgar dead.
THE Armies being ready to engage, a fingle combat is agreed upon between Menelaus and Paris (by the intervention of Hector) for the determination of the war. Iris is fent to call Helena to behold the fight. She leads her to the walls of Troy, where Priam fat with his counsellors, obferving the Grecian leaders on the plain below, to whom Helen gives an account of the chief of them. The kings on either part take the folemn oath for the conditions of the combat. The duel enfues; wherein Paris being overcome, he is fnatched away in a cloud by Venus, and transported to his apartment. She then calls Helen from the walls, and brings the lovers together. Agamemnon, on the part of the Grecians, demands the restoration of Helen, and the performance of the articles.
The three and twentieth day ftill continues throughout this book. The Scene is fometimes in the Fields before Troy, and fometimes in Troy itself.
HUS by their leader's care each martial band
Moves into ranks, and ftretches o'er the land.
With fhouts the Trojans rufhing from afar,
Proclaim'd their motions, and provok'd the war;
So when inclement winters vex the plain
With piercing frofts, or thick-defcending rain,
To warmer feas, the Cranes embody'd fly,
With noife, and order, through the mid-way
ky;
With heart elated, and with joyful eyes:
So joys a lion, if the branching deer,
Or mountain goat, his bulky prize, appear;
Eager he feizes and devours the flain,
Preft by bold youths and baying dogs in vain. 40
Thus fond of vengeance, with a furious bound,
In clanging arms he leaps upon the ground
From his high chariot: him, approaching near,
The beauteous champion views with marks of
fear;
Smit with a conscious fenfe, retires behind, 45
And fhuns the fate he well deferves to find.
As when some shepherd, from the rustling trees
Shot forth to view, a fcaly ferpent fees;
Trembling and pale, he starts with wild affright,
And all confus'd precipitates his flight:
So from the king the fhining warriour flies,
And plung'd amid the thickest Trojans lies.
As God-like Hector fees the prince retreat,
He thus upbraids him with a generous heat:
Unhappy Paris! but to women brave!
So fairly form'd, and only to deceive!
Oh, hadst thou died when first thou faw'ft the
light,
When Greece beheld thy painted canvass flow, And crowds ftood wondering at the paffing fhow ;
Say, was it thus, with fuch a baffled mien,
You met th' approaches of the Spartan queen, 70
Thus from her realm convey'd the beauteous
prize,
And both her warlike lords outfhin'd in Helen's eyes?
This deed, thy foes de'ight, thy own difgrace,
Thy father's grief, and ruin of thy race;
This deed recalls thee to the proffer'd fight; 75
Or haft thou injur'd whom thon dar'ft not right?
Soon to thy coft the field would make thee know
Thou keep'ft the confort of a braver foe.
Thy graceful form inftilling foft defire,
Thy curling trefles, and thy filver lyre,
Beauty and youth; in vain to these you truft,
When youth and beauty fhall be laid in duft :
Troy yet may wake, and one avenging blow
Crush the dire author of his country's woe.
Their ftones and arrows in a mingled fhower. Then thus the monarch great Atrides cri'd;
Or died at least before the nuptial rite!
A better fate than vainly thus to boast,
And fly, the fcandal of the Trojan host.
Gods how the fcornful Greeks exult to fee
Their fears of danger undeceiv'd in thee!
Thy figure promis'd with a martial air,
But ill thy foul fupplies a form fo fair.
In former days, in all thy gallant pride
When thy tall fhips triumphant ftemm'd the
tide,
VOL. VI.
A world engages in the toils of fight.
To me the labour of the field defign;
Me Paris injur'd; all the war be mine.
Fall he that muft, beneath his rival's arms;
And live the reft, fecure of future harms
Two lambs, devoted by your country's rite,
To Earth a fable, to the Sun a white,
Prepare, ye Trojans! while a third we bring
Select to Jove, th' inviolable king.
Let reverend Priam in the truce engage,
And add the fanction of confiderate age;
His fons are faithlefs, headlong in debate,
And youth itself an empty wavering state:
Cool age advances venerably wife,
Turns on all hands its deep-difcerning eyes; 150
Sees what befel, and what may yet befall,
Concludes from both, and beft provides for all.
The nations hear, with rifing hopes poffeft,
And peaceful profpects dawn in every breast.
Within the lines they drew their steeds around,
And from their chariots iffued on the ground:
Next all, unbuckling the rich mail they wore,
Lay'd their bright arms along the fable fhore,
On either fide the meeting hosts are seen,
With lances fix'd, and clofe the space between.
160
Two heralds now, difpatch'd to Troy, invite
The Phrygian monarch to the peaceful rite;
Talthybius haftens to the fleet, to bring
The lamb for Jove, th' inviolable king.
Meantime, to beauteous Helen, from the skies
The various Goddefs of the rain-bow flies
(Like fair Laodicè in form and face,
The loveliest nymph of Priam's royal race).
Her in the palace, at her loom the found;
The golden web her own fad story crown'd.
The Trojan wars the weav'd (herself the prize)
And the dire triumph of her fatal eyes.
To whom the Goddefs of the painted bow;
Approach and view the wondrous fcenes below!
Each hardy Greek, and valiant Trojan knight,
So dreadful late, and furious for the fight,
Now reft their spears, or lean upon their fhields;
Ceas'd is the war, and filent all the fields.
Paris alone and Sparta's king advance,
In fingle fight to tofs the beamy lance;
Each met in arms, the fate of combat tries,
Thy love the motive, and thy charms the prize.
This faid, the many colour'd maid infpires
Her husband's love, and wakes her former fires;
Her country, parents, all that once were dear,
185
Rufh to her thoughts, and force a tender tear.
O'er her fair face a fnowy veil fhe threw,
And, foftly fighing, from the loom withdrew :
Her handmaids Clymenè and Athra wait
Her filent footsteps to the Scæan gate.
There fat the feniors of the Trojan race. (Old Priam's chiefs, and most in Priam's grace) The king the firft; Thymates at his fide; Lampus and Clytius, long in council try'd; Panthus, and Hicetäon, once the ftrong; And next, the wifeft of the reverend throng, Antenor grave, and fage Ucalegon, Lean'd on the walls, and bafk'd before the fun. Chiefs, who no more in bloody fights engage, But wife through time, and narrative with age,
In fummer-days like grafhoppers rejoice,
A bloodless race, that send a feeble voice.
Thefe, when the Spartan queen approach'd the
tower,
In fecret own'd refiftless beauty's power:
They cried, No wonder fuch celestial charms 205
For nine long years have fet the world in arms;
What winning graces! what majestic mien !
She moves a Goddefs, and the looks a Queen!
Yet Fence, oh Heaven! convey that fatal face,
And from deftruction fave the Trojan race.
The good old Priam welcom'd her, and cried,
Approach, my child, and grace thy father's fide.
See on the plain thy Grecian fpoufe appears,
The friends and kindred of thy former years.
No crime of thine our prefent fufferings draws,
215
Not thou, but Heaven's difpofing will, the cause;
The Gods thefe armies and this force employ,
The hoftile Gods confpire the fate of Troy.
But lift thy eyes, and fay, what Greek is he
(Far as from hence thefe aged orbs can fee) 220
Around whofe brow fuch martial graces shine,
So tall, fo awful, and almost divine!
Though fome of larger ftature tread the green,
None match his grandeur and exalted mien :
He feems a monarch, and his country's pride,
Thus ceas'd the king; and thus the fair replied:
Before thy prefence, father, I appear
With confcious fhame and reverential fear.
Ah! had I died, ere to thefe walls I fled,
Falfe to my country and my nuptial bed;
My brothers, friends, and daughter left behind,
Falfe to them all, to Paris only kind?
For this I mourn, till grief or dire disease
Shall wafte the form, whofe crime it was to please.
The king of kings, Atrides, you survey,
Great in the war, and great in arts of sway:
|