The third Battle, and the Acts of Agamemnon.

Agamemnon, having armed himself, leads the Grecians to battle: Hector prepares the Trojans to receive them; while Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, give the fignals of war. Agamemnon bears all before him; and Hector is commanded by Jupiter (who sends Iris for that purpofe) to decline the engagement, till the king fhall be wounded and retire from the field. He then makes a great flaughter of the enemy; Ulysfes and Diomed put a stop to him for a time; but the latter being wounded by Paris, is obliged to defert Kis companion, who is encompaffed by the Trojans, wounded, and in the utmost danger, till Menelaüs and Ajax rescue him. Hector comes against Ajax ; but that hero alone opposes multitudes, and rallies the Greeks. In the mean time Machaon, in the other wing of the army, is pierc'd with an arrow by Paris, and carried from the fight in Neftor's chariot. Achilles (who overlooked the action from his ship) fent Patroclus to enquire which of the Greeks was wounded in that manner? Neftor entertains him in his tent with an account of the accidents of the day, and a long recital of fome former wars which he remeinbered, tending to put Patroclus upon perfuading Achilles to fight for his countrymen, or at least permit Him to do it, clad in Achilles's armour. Patroclus in his return meets Eurypylus also wounded, and affifts him in that diftrefs.

This book opens with the eight and twentieth day of the poem; and the fame day, with its various ac tions and adventures, is extended through the twelfth thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, fixteenth, feven

th, and part of the eighteenth books. The scene the field, near the monument of Ilus.

THE

ILI A D.

ВООК XI.

THE faffron morn, with early blushes spread,
Now rofe refulgent from Tithonius' bed;
With new-born day to gladden mortal fight,
And gild the courts of heaven with facred light:
When baleful Eris, fent by Jove's command,
The torch of discord blazing în her hand,
Through the red skies her bloody fign extends,
And, wrapt in tempefts, o'er the fleet defcends,
High on Ulyffes' bark, her horrid stand

She took, and thunder'd through the seas and land. re
Ev'n Ajax and Achilles heard the found,

Whose ships, remote, the guarded navy bound.
Thence the black Fury through the Grecian throng
With horror founds the loud Orthian fong:
The navy shakes, and at the dire alarms

15

Each bofom boils, each warriour starts to arms.
No more they figh, inglorious to return,
But breathe revenge, and for the combat burn.

The king of men his hardy hoft infpires
With loud command, with great example fires;
Himself first rofe, himself before the rest
His mighty limbs in radiant armour drest.

20

And

And firft he cas'd his manly legs around
In fhining greaves, with filver buckles bound:
The beaming cuirass next adorn'd his breast,
The fame which once king Cinyras poffeft:
(The fame of Greece and her assembled host
Had reach'd that monarch on the Cyprian coaft;
'Twas then, the friendship of the clief to gain,
This glorious gift he fent, nor fent in vain.)
Ten rows of azure steel the work infold,
Twice ten of tin, and twelve of ductile gold;
Three glittering dragons to the gorget rife,
Whofe imitated fcales, against the skies
Reflected various light, and arching bow'd,
Like colour'd rainbows o'er a fhowery cloud
(Jove's wondrous bow, of three celestial dyes,
Plac'd as a fign to man amid the skies.)
A radiant baldrick, o'er his shoulder ty'd,
Sufta'n'd the sword that glitter'd at his fide :
Gold was the hilt, a filver fheath encas'd
The fhining blade, and golden hangers grac'd.
His buckler's mighty orb was next display'd,
That round the warriour caft a dreadful fhade
Ten zones of brafs its ample brim furround,
And twice ten bosses the bright convex crown'd:.
Tremendous Gorgon frown'd upon its field,
And circling terrors fill'd th' expreffive fhield:
Within its concave hung a filver thong,

'Till in three heads th' embroider'd monster ends.

Laft,

1

Laft, o'er his brows his fourfold helm he plac'd,
With nodding horfe-hair formidably grac'd;
And in his hands two steely javelins wields,
That blaze to heaven, and lighten all the fields.
That inftant Juno and the martial Maid

In happy thunders promis'd Greece their aid;
High o'er the chief they clash'd their arms in air,
And, leaning from the clouds, expect the war.
Close to the limits of the trench and mound,

The fiery courfers to their chariots bound

The fquires reftrain'd: the foot, with thofe who wield
The lighter arms, rush forward to the field.

To fecond thefe, in close array combin'd,

65

The fquadrons spread their fable wings behind.

Now shouts and tumults wake the tardy fun,

As with the light the warriour's toils begun.

Ev'n Jove, whofe thunder fpoke his wrath, diftill'd
Red drops of blood o'er all the fatal field ;
The woes of men unwilling to furvey,

70

And all the flaughters that must stain the day.

Near Ilus' tomb, in order rang'd around,
The Trojan lines poffefs'd the rifing ground:

There wife Polydamas and Hector stood;

75%

Aneas, honour'd as a guardian God;
Bold Polybus, Agenor the divine,
The brother warriours of Antenor's line;
With youthful Acamas, whofe beauteous face
And fair proportion match'd th' etherial race;.
Great Hector, cover'd with his spacious shield,
Plies all the troops, and orders all the field..
Y. 20.

80

Ας

As the red ftar now fhows his fanguine fires
Through the dark clouds, and now in night retires;
Thus through the ranks appear'd the god-like man,
Plung'd in the rear, or blazing in the van ;
While ftreamy sparkles, reftlefs as he flies,
Flash from his arms as lightning from the fkies.
As fweating reapers in fome wealthy field,

,85

Rang'd in two bands, their crooked weapons wield, go
Bear down the furrows, till their labours meet;

Thick falls the heapy harvest at their feet:
So Greece and Troy the field of war divide,
And falling ranks are strow'd on every side.
None stoop'd a thought to base inglorious flight;
But horfe to horse, and man to man, they fight.
Not rabid wolves more fierce conteft their prey;
Each wounds, each bleeds, but nore resign the day.
Difcord with joy the scene of death descries,
And drinks large flaughter at her fanguine eyes :
Discord alone, of all th' immortal train,
Swells the red horrours of this direful plain :
The Gods in peace their golden manfions fill,
Rang'd in bright order on th' Olympian hill;
But general murmurs told their griefs above,
And each accus'd the partial will of Jove.
Meanwhile apart, fuperior, and alone,
Th' eternal monarch on his awful throne,
Wrapt in the blaze of boundless glory fate;
And, fix'd, fulfill'd the juft decrees of fate.
On earth he turn'd his all-confidering eyes,
And mark'd the fpot where Ilion's towers arife;

95

100

105

110

The