For thus I speak, and what I speak shall stand;
What power foe'er provokes our lifted hand,
On this our hill no more fhall hold his place;
Cut off, and exil'd, from th' æthereal race.
< Juno and Pallas, grieving, hear the doom,
But feaft their fouls on Ilion's woes to come.
Though fecret anger swell'd Minerva's breast,
The prudent Goddess yet her wrath represt :
But Juno, impotent of rage, replies:
What haft thou faid, Oh tyrant of the skies !
Strength and omnipotence invest thy throne;
'Tis thine to punish; ours to grieve alone.
For Greece we grieve, abandon'd by her fate,
To drink the dregs of thy unmeafur'd hate:
From fields forbidden we submifs refrain,
With arms unaiding see our Argives flain;
Yet grant our counfels still their breasts may move,
Left all should perish in the rage of Jove.
The Goddefs thus. And thus the God replies:
Who fwells the clouds, and blackens all the fkies: 585
The morning fun, awak'd by loud alarms,
Shall fee th' Almighty Thunderer in arms.
What heaps of Argives then shall load the plains,
Those radiant eyes fhall view, and view in vain.
Nor fhall great Hector cease the rage of fight,
The navy flaming, and thy Greeks in flight,
Ev'n till the day, when certain fates ordain
That stern Achilles (his Patroclus flain)
Shall rife in vengeance, and lay waste the plain.
For fuch is fate, nor canft thou turn its course
With all thy rage, with all thy rebel force.
Fly, if thou wilt, to earth's remotest bound,
Where on her utmost verge the feas refound
Where curs'd läpetus and Saturn dwell,
Faft by the brink, within the fteams of hell;
No fun e'er gilds the gloomy horrours there;
No chearful gales refresh the lazy air;
There arm once more the bold Titanian band';
And arm in vain; for what I will, fhall ftand.
Now deep in ocean funk the lamp of light,
And drew behind the cloudy veil of night:
The conquering Trojans mourn his beams decay'd;
The Greeks, rejoicing, bless the friendly shade.
The victors keep the field; and Hector calls A martial council near the navy walls : Thefe to Scamander's bank apart he led, Where, thinly scatter'd, lay the heaps of dead. Th' affembled chiefs, defcending on the ground, Attend his order, and their prince furround. A maffy fpear he bore of mighty ftrength, Of full ten cubits was the lance's length; The point was brafs, refulgent to behold, Fix'd to the wood with circling rings of gold: The noble Hector on this lance reclin'd, And, bending forward, thus reveal'd his mind; Ye valiant Trojans, with attention hear! Ye Dardan bands, and generous aids, give ear! This day, we hop'd, would wrap in conquering flame Greece with her ships, and crown our toils with fame. But darkness now, to fave the cowards, falls, And guards them trembling in their wooden walls.
Obey the Night, and use her peaceful hours
Our steeds to forage, and refresh our powers.
Straight from the town be sheep and oxen sought,
And ftrengthening bread, and generous wine, be
Wide o'er the field, high blazing to the sky,
Let numerous fires the absent sun fupply,
The flaming piles with plenteous fuel raise,
Till the bright morn her purple beam displays ;
Left, in the filence and the fhades of night,
Greece on her fable fhips attempt her flight..
Not unmolested let the wretches gain
Their lofty decks, or fafely cleave the main
Some hoftile wound let every dart bestow,
Some lafting token of the Phrygian fae;
Wounds, that long hence may ask their fpoufes' care,
And warn their children from a Trojan war.
Now through the circuit of our Ilion wall,
Let facred heralds found the folemn call;
To bid the fires with hoary honours crown'd,
And beardless youths, our battlements furround.
Firm be the guard, while diftant lie our powers,
And let the matrons hang with lights the towers :
Left, under covert of the midnight shade,
Th' infidious foe the naked town invade.
Suffice, to-night, these orders to obey ;
A nobler charge fhall rouze the dawning day.
The Gods, I truft, fhall give to Hector's hand,
From these detefted foes to free the land,
Who plow'd, with fates averfe, the watery way; 655 For Trojan vultures a predeftin'd prey.
Our common safety must be now the care;
But foon as morning paints the fields of air,
Sheath'd in bright arms let every troop engage,
And the fir'd fleet behold the battle rage.
Then, then shall Hector and Tydides prove,
Whose fates are heavieft in the fcales of Jove:
To-morrow's light (oh hafte the glorious morn!)
Shall fee his bloody fpoils in triumph borne ;
With this keen javelin shall his breast be gor'd,
And proftrate heroes bleed around their lord.
Certain as this, oh! might my days endure,
From age inglorious, and black death fecure;
So might my life and glory know no bound,
Like Pallas worship'd, like the fun renown'd!
As the next dawn, the last they fhall enjoy,
Shall crush the Greeks, and end the woes of Troy.
The leader spoke. From all his hoft around
Shouts of applaufe along the fhores refound.
Each from the yoke the smoking steeds unty'd,
And fix'd their headstalls to his chariot-fide.
Fat fheep and oxen from the town are led,
With generous wine, and all-fuftaining bread.
Full hecatombs lay burning on the shore;
The winds to heaven the curling vapours bore.
Ungrateful offering to th' immortal powers!
Whose wrath hung heavy o'er the Trojan towers;
Nor Priam nor his fons obtain'd their grace;
Proud Troy they hated, and her guilty race.
The troops exulting fat in order round,
And beaming fires illumin'd all the ground;
Agamemnon, after the laft day's defeat, proposes to the Greeks to quit the fiege, and return to their country. Diomed oppofes this; and Neftor feconds him, praifing his wifdom and refolution: he orders the guard to be ftrengthened, and a council fummoned to deliberate what measures are to be followed in this emergency. Agamemnon pursues this advice and Neftor farther prevails upon him to fend ambaffadors to Achilles, in order to move him to a reconciliation. Ulyffes and Ajax are made choice of, who are accompanied by old Phoenix. They make, each of them, very moving and preffing fpeeches; but are rejected, with roughness, by Achilles, who notwithstanding retains Phoenix in his tent. The ambassadors return unfaccessfully to the camp; and the troops betake themselves to fleep.
This book, and the next following, take up the fpace of one night, which is the twenty-seventh from the beginning of the poem. The fcene lies on the fea. thore, the ftation of the Grecian ships.
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