Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

He drops the corpfe of Simoïfius flain,
And finks a breathlefs carcass on the plain.
This faw Ulyffes, and with grief enrag'd

Strode where the foremost of the foes engag'd;
Arm'd with his fpear, he meditates the wound,
In act to throw; but, cautious, look'd around.
Struck at his fight the Trojans backward drew,
And trembling heard the javelin as it flew.
A chief stood nigh, who from Abydos came,
Old Priam's fon, Democoön was his name;
The weapon enter'd close above his ear,

563

570

575

585

Cold through his temples glides the whizzing fpear;
With piercing fhrieks the youth resigns his breath,
His eye-balls darken with the shades of death;
Ponderous he falls; his clanging arms refound;
And his broad buckler rings against the ground. 580
Seiz'd with affright the boldest foes appear;
Ev'n godlike Hector feems himself to fear;
Slow he gave way, the reft tumultuous fled;
The Greeks with fhouts prefs on, and spoil the dead:
But Phoebus now from Ilion's towering height
Shines forth reveal'd, and animates the fight.
Trojans, be bold, and force with force oppose;
Your foaming steeds urge headlong on the foes!
Nor are their bodies rocks, nor ribb'd with steel;
Your weapons enter, and your ftrokes they feel.
Have ye forgot what seem'd your dread before?
The great, the fierce Achilles fights no more.
Apollo thus from Ilion's lofty towers
Array'd in terrors, rouz'd the Trojan powers:

590

While War's fierce Goddess fires the Grecian foe, 595
And shouts and thunders in the fields below.
Then great Diores fell, by doom divine,
In vain his valour, and illuftrious line.
A broken rock the force of Pirus threw

605

}

(Who from cold Ænus led the Thracian crew); 600
Full on his ankle dropt the ponderous stone,
Burft the strong nerves, and crafh'd the folid bone.
Supine he tumbles on the crimson fands,
Before his helpless friends and native bands,
And fpreads for aid his unavailing hands.
The foe ruth'd furious as he pants for breath,
And through his navel drove the pointed death:
His gufhing entrails fmok'd upon the ground,
And the warm life came ifluing from the wound.
His lance bold Thoas at the conqueror fent,
Deep in his breaft above the pap it went,
Amid the lungs was fix'd the winged wood,
And quivering in his heaving bofom stood:
Till from the dying chief, approaching near,

610

Th' Ætolian warriour tugg'd his weighty fpear: 615
Then fudden way'd his flaming faulchion round,
And gafh'd his belly with a ghastly wound,
The corpfe now breathlefs on the bloody plain,
To fpoil his arms the victor ftrove in vain ;
The Thracian bands against the victor preft;
A grove of lances glitter'd at his breast.
Stern Thoas, glaring with revengeful eyes,,
In fullen fury flowly quits the prize..
L. 2.

620

Thus,

Thus fell two heroes; one the pride of Thrace,
And one the leader of the Epian race:

Death's fable fhade at once o'ercaft their eyes,
In duft the vanquish'd, and the victor lies.
With copious flaughter all the fields are red,
And heap'd with growing mountains of the dead.
Had fome brave chief this martial scene beheld,
By Pallas guarded through the dreadful field;
Might darts be bid to turn their points away,
And fwords around him innocently play;
The war's whole art with wonder had he feen,
And counted heroes where he counted men.

So fought each hoft with thirst of glory fir'd,
And crouds on crouds triumphantly expir'd.

625

635

THE

THE

FIFTH

BOOK

OF THE

I LI A D.

ARGUMENT.

The Acts of Diomed.

DIOMED, affifted by Pallas, performs wonders in this day's battle. Pandarus wounds him with an arrow, but the Goddess cures him, enables him to difcern Gods from mortals, and prohibits him from contending with any of the former, excepting Venus. Æneas joins Pandarus to oppofe him: Pandarus is killed, and Æneas in great danger, but for the affiftance of Venus; who, as the is removing her fon from the fight, is wounded on the hand by Diomed. Apollo feconds her in his refcue, and at length carries off Æneas to Troy, where he is healed in the temple of Pergamus. Mars rallies the Trojans, and affifts Hector to make a stand. In the mean time Æneas is reftored to the field, and they overthrow feveral of the Greeks; among the reft Tlepolemus is flain by Sarpedon. Juno and Minerva defcend to refift Mars; the latter incites Diomed to go against that God; he wounds him, and fends him groaning to heaven.

The first battle continues through this book. The fcene is the fame as in the former.

« ZurückWeiter »