The Power of Ocean firft: Forbear thy fear,
O fon of Peleus! Lo, thy Gods appear!
Behold from Jove defcending to thy aid
Propitious Neptune, and the blue-ey'd Maid.
Stay, and the furious flood fhall cease to rave:
'Tis not thy fate to glut his angry wave.
But thou, the counfel Heaven fuggests, attend!
Nor breathe from combat, nor thy fword fufpend,
Till Troy receive her flying fons, till all
Her routed fquadrons pant behind their wall:
Hector alone hall ftand his fatal chance,
And Hector's blood shall smoke upon thy lance.
Thine is the glory doom'd. Thus (pake the Gods:
Then fwift afcended to the bright abodes.
Stung with new ardour, thus by Heaven impell'd,
He fprings impetuous, and invades the field:
O'er all th' expanded plain the waters spread;
Heap'd on the bounding billows dance the dead,
Floating 'midft fcatter'd arms; while cafques of
gold

And turn'd-up bucklers glitter'd as they roll'd.
High o'er the furging tide, by leaps and bounds,
He wades and mounts; the parted wave rejounds.
Not a whole river stops the hero's course,
While Pallas fills him with immortal force.
With equal rage, indignant Xanthus roars,
And lifts his billows, and o'erwhelms his fhores.
Then thus to Simoïs: Hafte, my brother flood!
And check this mortal, that controls a God:
Our bravefl heroes elfe fhall quit the fight,
And Ilion tumble from her towery height.
Call then thy fubject freams, and bid them roar,
From all thy fountains fwell thy watery store,
With broken rocks, and with a load of dead,
Charge the black furge, and pour it on his head.
Mark how refiftlefs through the floods he goes,
And boldly bids the warring Gods be foes!
But nor that force, nor form divine to fight,
Shall aught avail him, if our rage unite:
Whelm'd under our dark gulfs thofe arms fhall
That blaze fo dreadful in each Trojan eye; [lie,
And deep beneath a fandy mountain hurl'd,
Immers'd remain this terror of the world.
Such ponderous ruin fhall confound the place,
No Greek fhall e'er his perish'd relicks grace,
No hand his bones fhall gather, or inhume;
Thefe his cold rites, and this his watery tomb.

He faid; and on the chief defcends amain, Increas'd with gore, and fwelling with the flain. Then murmuring from his beds, he boils, he

raves,

And a foam whitens on the purple waves:
At every step, before Achilles flood
The crimson furge, and delug'd him with blood.
Fear touch'd the Queen of Heaven: she saw dif-
may'd;

She call'd aloud, and fummon'd Vulcan's aid.
Rife to the war! th' infulting flood requires
Thy waiteful arm: affemble all thy fires!
While to their aid, by our command enjoin'd,
Rush the fwift eastern and the western wind.
Thefe from old Ocean at my word fhall blow,
Pour the red torrent on the watery foe,
Corpfes and arms to one bright ruin turn,
And hifling rivers to their bottoms burn.
Go, mighty in thy rage! display thy power,
Drink the whole flood, the crackling trees devour,

Scorch all the banks! and (till our voice reclaim) Exert th' unwearied furies of the flame!

The Power ignipotent her word obeys: Wide o'er the plain he pours the boundless blaze; At once confumes the dead, and dries the fail, And the fhrunk waters in their channel boil. As when autumnal Boreas fweeps the sky, And inftant blows the water'd gardens dry: So look'd the field, fo whiten'd was the ground, While Vulcan breath'd the fiery blast around. Swift on the fedgy reeds the ruin preys; Along the margin winds the running blaze: The trees in flaming rows to ashes turn, The flowery lotos and the tamarisk burn, Broad elm, and cyprefs rifing in a spire; The watery willows hifs before the fire. Now glow the waves, the fishes pant for breath The eels lie twifting in the pangs of death: Now flounce aloft, now dive, the fcaly fry, Or, gasping, turn their bellies to the sky. At length the river rear'd his languid head, And thus, fhort-panting, to the God he faid:

Oh, Vulcan! oh! what power refifts th I faint, I fink, unequal to the fight- [might I yield-Let Ilion fall, if Fate decree; Ah, bend no more thy fiery arms on me!

He ceas'd; wide conflagration blazing round; The bubbling waters yield a hilling found. As when the flames beneath a caldron rife, To melt the fat of fome rich facrifice, Amid the fierce embrace of circling fires The waters foam, the heavy smoke aspires: So boils th' imprifon'd flood, forbid to flow, And, chok'd with vapours, feels his bottom glow, To Juno then, imperial Queen of Air, The burning river fends his earnest prayer:

Ah, why, Saturnia! muft thy fon engage Me, only me, with all his wasteful rage? On other Gods his dreadful arm employ, For mightier Gods affert the cause of Troy. Submifive I defift, if thou command; But, ah withdraw this all-deftroying hand. Hear then my folemn oath, to yield to Fate Unaided Ilion, and her deftin'd ftate, Till Greece fhall gird her with destructive flame, And in one ruin fink the Trojan name.

His warm entreaty touch'd Saturnia's ear: She bade th' Ignipotent his rage forbear, Recall the flame, nor in a mortal caufe Infeft a God: th' obedient flame withdraws: Again, the branching streams begin to spread, And foft re-murmur in their wonted bed.

While thefe by Juno's will the ftrife refign, The warring Gods in fierce contention join: Re-kindling rage each heavenly breaft alarms; With horrid clangor shock'd th' ætherial arms: Heaven in loud thunder bids the trumpet found; And wide beneath them groans the rending ground.

Jove, as his fport, the dreadful scene defcries, And views contending Gods with careleís eyes. The Power of Battles lifts his brazen fpear, And firft affaults the radiant Queen of War:

What mov'd thy madness thus to difunite Etherial minds, and mix all Heaven in fight? What wonder this, when in thy frantic mood Thou drov'ft a mortal to infult a God?

Ts and Tydides javelin bore,
A bath'd it in celeftia! gore.

de, and imote the load refounding field,
hea Jove's thunder on its dreadful field;
antine regis of her fire,

ers the glancing bolt and forked fire.
Lard the Goddess in her mighty hand
the limit of the neighbouring land,
'd from eldest times; black, craggy,
the heavenly homicide the caft. [vait :
ying he fills, a mass of monftrous fize;
had acres covers as he lies.

trike his itubborn nerves unbound;
of the fields his ringing arms refound :
dame her conqueft views with fmiles,
nag, thus the prograte God reviles:

not yet, infriate fury! known
inerva's force tranfcends thy own?
ou rebellious dar'ft withstand,
lly thus by Pailas' hand;
y broken faith with just disgrace,
ad to Troy's perfidious race.

poke, and turn'd her eyes away,
Yang round, diffus'd celeftial day,
-Tran daughter, ftoeping on the land,
woanded God her tender hand:
nies, fcarcely breathes with pain,

her fair arm, fortakes the plain.
*ght Empress of the heavens furvey'd,
thus to War's victorious Maid:
aid on Mars's fide is feen!
'ad Loves' unconquerable Queen!
that infolence, in open view,
et Pallas, if the dares, purfue.
ading heard, the pair o'ertook,
plyn her breaft the wanton (trook:
g, fell (her ipirits fled);
agrther lay the lovers fpread;
beroes, be the fate of all
**) who guard the Trojan wall !
fuch let the Phrygians be,
Dias Venus is to me;
thet ftone thall Troy be mov'd---
de; and Jo with a fimile approv'd.

mx in more than mortal fight, of Oren dares the God of Light: - bath feiz'd us, when the fields around adicting powers, and heaven returns ta: found?

minious, we with fhame retire, perterm'd, to our Olympian Sire? pe thy arm for first the war to wage, y greatness, or fuperior age: To 1ou art to prop the Trojan throne of my wrongs, and of thy own) the race of proud Laomedon!

rgot how, at the monarch's prayer, the length'd labours of a year? all rais d (for fuch were Jove's comBands)

proud bulwarks grew beneath my hands: it was to feed the bellowing droves ** Ida's vales and pendent groves. om the circling seasons in their train hack the grateful day that crown'd our ace ftern the fraudful king defy'd [pain, Godhead, and the prize deny'd:

Mad as he was, he threaten'd fervile bands,
And doom'd us exiles far in barbarous lands,
incens'd, we heavenward fled with fwifteft wing,
And deftin'd vengeance on the perjur'd king.
Dolt thou, for this, afford proud ion grace,
And not, like us, infelt the faithleís race;
Like us, their prefent, future fons destroy,
And from its deep foundations heave their Troy?
Apollo thus: To combat for mankind,
Ill fuits the wifdom of celestial mind:
For what is man? Calamitous by birth,
They owe their life and nourishment to earth;
Like yearly leaves, that, now with beauty crown'd,
Smile on the fun; now wither on the ground.
To their own hands commit the frantic fcene,
Nor mix immortals in a caufe fo mean.

Then turns his face, far-beaming heavenly fires,
And from the fenior Power fubmifs retires:
Him, thus retreating, Artemis upbraids,
The quiver'd huntress of the fylvan fhades:

And is it thus the youthrui Phoebus flies, And yields to Ocean's hoary Sire the prize? How vain that martial pomp and dreadful show Of pointed arrows, and the filver bow! Now boaft no more, in yon celestial bower, Thy force can match the great earth-shaking

Power.

Silent, he heard the Queen of Woods upbraid : Not to Saturnia bore the vaunting maid; But furious thus: What infolence has driven Thy pride to face the Majefty of Heaven? What though, by Jove the female plague defign'd, Fierce to the feeble race of woman-kind, The wretched matron feels thy piercing dart; Thy fex's tyrant, with a tyger's heart? What though, tremendous in the wood and chafe, Thy certain arrows pierce the favage race? How dares thy rafhnefs on the Powers divine Employ thofe arms, or match thy force with mine? Learn hence, no more unequal war to wage--She faid, and feiz'd her wrifts with eager rage; Thefe in her left hand lock'd, her right unty'd The bow, the quiver, and its plumy pride. About her temples flies the bufy bow: Now here, now there, the winds her from the blow! The fcatterring arrows, rattling from the cafe, Drop round, and idly mark the dufty place. Swift from the field the baffled huntress flies, And fcarce retains the torrent in her eyes: So, when the falcon wings her way above, To the cleft cavern speeds the gentle dove, (Not rated yet to die) there fafe retreats, Yet still her heart against the marble beats.

d

The Sire fuperior fimil'd; and bade her show What heavenly hand had caus'd his daughter's Abath'd, the names his own Imperialipoufe; [woe? And the pale crefcent fades upon her brows

Thus they above: while swiftly gliding down, Apollo enters Ilion's facred town:

The Guardian God now trembled for her wall,
And fear'd the Greeks, tho' Fate forbade her fall.
Back to Olympus, from the war's alarms,
Return the fhining bands of Gods in arms;
Some proud in triumph, fome with rage on fire;
And take their thrones around th' ætherial Sire,
Thro' blood, thro' death, Achilles ftill proceeds,
O'er flaughter'd heroes, and o'er rolling steeds.
As when avenging flames, with fury driven
On guilty towns, exert the wrath of Heaven;
The pale inhabitants, fome fall, fome fly;
And the red vapours purple all the sky:
So rag'd Achilles; death and dire difmay;
And toils, and terrors, fill'd the dreadful day.
High on a turret hoary Priam ftands,
And marks the wafte of his deftructive hands;
Views, from his arm, the Trojans' fcatter'd flight,
And the near hero rifing on his fight!
No step, no check, no aid! With feeble pace,
And fettied forrow on his aged face.
Faft as he could, he fighing quits the walls;
And thus, defcending, on the guards he calls:
You, to whole care our city-gates belong,
Set wide your portals to the flying throng:
For lo! he comes, with unrefifted sway;
He comes, and defolation marks his way!
But when within the walls our troops take breath,
Lock faft the brazen bars, and shut out death.
Thus charg'd the reverend monarch: wide were
flung

The opening folds; the founding hinges rung,
Phoebus ruth'd forth, the flying bands to meet;
Struck flaughter back, and cover'd the retreat.
On heaps the Trojans crowd to gain the gate,
And, gladfome, fee their laft efcape from Fate.
Thither, all parch'd with thirst, a heartless train,
Hoary with duft, they beat the hollow plain :
And gafping, panting, fainting, labour on
With heavier ftrides, that lengthen'd tow'rd the
Enrag'd Achilles follows with his fpear;
Wild with revenge, infatiable of war.

[town.

Then had the Greeks eternal praise acquir'd, And Troy inglorious to her walls retir'd; But the, the God who darts ætherial flame, Shot down to fave her, and redeem her fame. To young Agenor force divine he gave (Antenor's offspring, haughty, bold, and brave); In aid of him, befide the beech he fate, And, wrapt in clouds, reftrain'd the hand of Fate. When now the generous youth Achilles fpies, Thick beats his heart, the troubled motions rise. (So, ere a ftorm, the waters heave and roll); He ftops, and questions thus his mighty foul: What! fhall I fly this terror of the plain? Like others fly, and be like others flain? Vain hope to fhun him by the felf-fame road, Yon line of flaughter'd Trojans lately trod. No: with the common heap I fcorn to fall--What if they pafs'd me to the Trojan wall, While I decline to yonder path, that leads To Ida's forefis and furrounding fhades? † Apollo.

So may I reach, conceal'd, the cooling flood,
From my tir'd body wash the dirt and blood,
As foon as night her dusky veil extends,
Return in fafety to my Trojan friends.
What if--. But wherefore all this vain debate?
Stand I to doubt, within the reach of Fate?
Ev'n now perhaps, ere yet I turn the wall,
The fierce Achilles fees me, and I fall:
Such is his fwiftnefs 'tis in vain to fly,
And fuch his valour, that who stands muft die
Howe'er 'tis better, fighting for the state,
Here, and in public view, to meet my fate.
Yet fure he too is mortal! he may feel
(Like all the fons of earth) the force of ftet;
One only foul informs that dreadful frame;
And Jove's fole favour gives him all his fame.

He faid, and food collected in his might. And all his beating bofom claim'd the fight. So from fome deep-grown wood a panther ftat Rous'd from his thicket by a storm of darts: Untaught to fear or fly, he hears the founds Of fhouting hunters, and of clamorous hounds Tho' ftruck, tho' wounded scarce perceives pain;

And the barb'd javelin ftings his breaft in vai
On their whole war, untam'd the favage flies;
And tears his hunter, or beneath him dies.
Not lefs refolv'd, Antenor's valiant heir
Confronts Achilles, and awaits the war,
Difdainful of retreat: high-held before,
His fhield, (a broad circumference) he bore;
Then, graceful, as he stood in act to throw
The lifted javelin, thus bespoke the foe:

How proud Achilles glories in his fame' And hopes this day to fink the Trojan name Beneath her ruins! Know, that hope is vain; A thoufand woes, a thousand toils, remain. Parents and children our juft arms employ, And ftrong, and many, are the fons of Troy, Great as thou art, ev'n thou may'ft ftain with g Thefe Phrygian fields, and prefs a foreign thor

He faid: with matchlefs force the javelin fl Smote on his knee; the hollow cuishes rung Beneath the pointed fteel; but fafe from hart He stands impaffive in the ætherial arms. Then, fiercely rushing on the daring for, His lifted arm prepares the fatal blow: But, jealous of his fame, Apollo fhrouds The godlike Trojan in a veil of clouds. Safe from purfuit, and shut from mortal view Difmifs'd with fame the favour'd youth withd Mean while the God, to cover their efcape, Affumes Agenor's habit, voice and fhape, Flies from the furious chief in this difguife; The furious chief ftill follows where he flies. Now o'er the fields they stretch with length

ftrides,

Now urge the course where fwift Scama
The God, now distant scarce a ftride before,
Tempts his purfuit, and wheels about the ho
While all the flying troops their speed employ
And pour on heaps into the walls of Troy:
No ftop, no ftay; no thought to ask, or tell,
'Who fcap'd by flight, or who by battle fell.
Twas tumult all, and violence of flight;
And fudden joy confus'd, and mix'd affright:
Pale Troy against Achilles fhuts her gate;
And nations breathe, deliver'd from their fate

My heroes flain, my bridal bed o'erturn'd,
My daughters ravish'd, and my city burn'd;
My bleeding infants dath'd again't the floor;
These I have yet to fee, perhaps yet more!
Perhaps ev'n I, referv'd by angry Fate
The last fad relick of my ruin'd ftate
(Dire pomp of fovereign wretchedness! must fall,
And ftain the pavement of my regal hall;
Where famifh'd dogs, late guardians of my door,
Shall lick their mangled mafter's fpatter'd gore.
Yet for my fons I thank you, Gods ! 'twas well;
Well have they perish'd; for in fight they fell.
Who dies in youth and vigour, dies the best,
Struck through with wounds, all honeft, on the
breaft.

But when the Fates, in fulness of their rage,
Spurn the hoar head of unrefifting age,
In duft the reverend lineaments deform,
And pour to dogs the life-blood fcarcely warm;
This, this is mifery! the laft, the worst,
That man can feel; man, fated to be curft!

He faid; and, acting what no words could say,
Rent from his head the filver locks away.
With him the mournful mother bears a part;
Yet all their forrows turn not Hector's heart:
The zone unbrac'd, her bofom she display'd;
And thus, faft-falling the falt tears, she said:
Have mercy on me, O my fon! revere
The words of age; attend a parent's prayer!
If ever thee in thefe fond arms I preft,
Or ftill'd thy infant clamours at this breaft;
Ah, do not thus our helpless years forego,
But, by our walls fecur'd, repel the foe,
Against his rage if fingly thou proceed,
Shouldft thou (but Heaven avert it!) fhouldft
thou bleed,

Nor muft thy corpfe lie honour'd on the bier, Nor spouse, nor mother, grace thee with a tear; Far from our pious rites, those dear remains Muft feaft the vultures on the naked plains.

So they; while down their cheeks the torrents
roll:

But fix'd remains the purpofe of his fou!;
Refolv'd he stands; and with a fiery glance
Expects the hero's terrible advance.

So, roll'd up in his den, the fwelling fnake
Beholds the traveller approach the brake;
When, fed with noxious herbs, his turgid veins
Have gather'd half the poifons of the plains;
He burns, he ftiffens with collected ire,
And his red eye-balls glare with living fire.
Beneath a turret, on his fhield reclin'd,
He ftood; and question'd thus his mighty mind:
Where lies my way? To enter in the wall?
Honour and fhame th' ungenerous thought recall?
Shall proud Polydamus before the gate
Proclaim, his councils are obey'd too late;
Which timely follow'd but the former night,
What numbers had been fav'd by Hector's flight!
That wife advice rejected with disdain,
I feel my folly in my people flain.
Methinks my fuffering country's voice 1 hear,
But most, her worthlefs fons infult my ear;
On my rafh courage charge the chance of war,
And blame thofe virtues which they cannot share.
No-..if I e'er return, return I must
Glorious, my country's terror laid in duft:

Or, if I perish, let her see me fall
In field at least, and fighting for her wall.
And yet, fuppose these measures I forege,
Approach unarm'd, and parley with the foe,
The warrior-fhield, the helm, and lance,
down,

And treat on terms of peace to fave the towa
The wife withheld, the treasure ill-detain'd,
(Cause of the war, and grievance of the land}
With honourable juftice to restore;
And add half ilion's yet remainining ftore,
Which Troy fhall, fworn, produce; that in

Greece

May fhare our wealth, and leave our w
But why this thought? Unarm'd if I should
What hope of mercy from this vengeful f
But woman-like to fall, and fall without a
blow?

We greet not here as man converfing man,
Met at an oak, or journeying o'er a plain;
No feafon now for calm familiar talk,
Like youths and maidens in an evening walk.
War is our business; but to whom is gives
To die or triumph, that determine Heaven'

Thus pondering, like a God the Greek drew:
His dreadful plumage nodded from on high;
The Pelian javelin, in his better hand,
Shot trembling rays, that glitter'd o'er the lat
And on his breaft the beamy fplendors fhore
Like Jove's own lightning, or the rifing fun:
As Hector fees, unufual terrors rife,
Struck by fome God, he fears, recedes, and flies:
He leaves the gates, he leaves the walls beha
Achilles follows like the winged wind.
Thus at the panting dove a falcon flies
(The fwifteft racer of the liquid fkies)
Juft when he holds, or thinks he holds, his prey,
Obliquely wheeling through th' aerial way,
With open beak and fhrilling cries he fprings,
And aims his claws, and fhoots upon his wings
No lefs fore-right the rapid chafe they held,
One urg'd by fury, one by fear impell'd;
Now circling round the walls their course mainte
Where the high watch-tower overlooks the plu
Now where the fig-trees fpread their umbra
broad

(A wider compafs) smoke along the road.
Next by Scamander's double fource they bound
Where two fam'd fountains burft the parted grou
This hot through fcorching clefts is seen to tie
With exhalations fteaming to the fkies;
That the green banks in fummer's heat o'erfow
Like crystal clear, and cold as winter (nows.
Each gushing fount a marble cistern fills,
Whofe polifh'd bed receives the falling rills;
Where Trojan dames (ere yet alarm'd by Greet
Wash'd their fair garments in the days of peac
By these they pafs'd, one chafing, one in flight
(The mighty fled, purfued by ftronger might).
Swift was the courfe; no vulgar prize they p
No vulgar victim must reward the day
(Such as in races crown the fpeedy ftrife).
The prize contended was great Hector's life.

As when fome hero's funerals are decreed, In grateful honour of the mighty dead; Where high rewards the vigorous youth inflame (Some golden tripod or fome lovely dame);