To fave their fleet, the laft efforts they try,
And ftones and darts in mingled tempeits fly.
As when sharp Boreas blows abroad, and brings
175

The dreary winter on his frozen wings;
Beneath the low-hung clouds the fheets of snow
Defcend, and whiten all the fields below:
So faft the darts on either army pour,

So down the rampires rolls the rocky fhower; 180

Heavy and thick refound the batter'd shields,
And the deaf echo rattles round the fields.
With fhame repuls'd, with grief and fury
driven,

185

The frantic Afius thus accufes Heaven:
In Powers immortal who fhall now believe
Can thofe too flatter, and can Jove deceive?
What man could doubt but Troy's victorious
power

Should humble Greece, and this her fatal hour?
But like when wafps from hollow crannies drive
To guard the entrance of their common hive,
190

Darkening the rock, while with unwearied wings

They ftrike th' affailants, and infix their stings;
A race determin'd, that to death contend:
So fierce the Greeks their laft retreats defend.
Gods! shall two warriours only guard their gates,

Repel an army, and defraud the Fates?

195

Thefe empty accents mingled with the wind; Nor mov'd great Jove's unalterable mind; To god-like Hector, and his matchlefs might Was ow'd the glory of the deftin'd fight. Like deeds of arms through all the forts were tri'd,

200

And all the gates fuftain'd an equal tide; Through the long walls the ftony fhowers were heard,

The blaze of flames, the flash of armis, appear'd.

205

The spirit of a God my breast inspire,
To raife each act to life, and fing with fire!
While Greece unconquer'd kept alive the war,
Secure of death, confiding in despair ;
And all her guardian Gods, in deep difmay,
With unaflifting arms deplor'd the day.

210

Ev'n yet the dauntless Lapithæ maintain

The dreadful país, and round them heap the flain.

First Damafus, by Polypœtes' steel

Pierc'd through his helmet's brazen vizor, fell; The weapon drank the mingled brains and gore; 215

The warriour finks, tremendous now no more!
Next Ormenus and Pylon yield their breath,
Nor lefs Leonteus ftrows the field with death:
First through the belt Hippomachus he gor'd,
Then fudden wav'd his unrefifted fword;
Antiphates, as through the ranks he broke,
The faulchion ftruck, and fate purfued the
ftroke;

Jämenus, Oreftes, Menon, bled;

And round him rofe a monument of dead. Meantime, the braveft of the Trojan crew,

225

230

Bold Hector and Polydamas pursue ;
Fierce with impatience on the works to fall,
And wrap in rolling flames the fleet and wall.
Thefe on the farther bank now stood and gaz'd,
By Heaven alarm'd, by prodigies amaz'd:
A fignal omen stopp'd the paffing hoft,
Their martial fury in their wonder loft.
Jove's bird on founding pinions beat the skies;
A bleeding ferpent, of enormous fize,
His talons trufs'd; alive, and curling round, 235
He flung the bird, whofe throat receiv'd the
wound:

Mad with the fmart, he drops the fatal prey,
In airy circle wings, his painful way,
Floats on the winds, and rends the heavens with
cries:

240

Amidst the hoft the falling ferpent lies.
They, pale with terrour, mark its fpires unroll'd,
And Jove's portent with beating hearts behold.
Then firft Polydamas the filence broke,
Long weigh'd the fignal, and to Hector spoke:

How oft, my brother, thy reproach I bear, 245
For words well-meant, and fentiments fincere!
True to thofe counfels which Ijudge the beft,
I tell the faithful dictates of my breaft.
To fpeak his thoughts, is every freeman's right,
In peace and war, in council and in fight;
And all I move, deferring to thy fway,
But tends to raise that power which I obey.
Then hear my words, nor may my words be

vain;

250

255

Seek not, this day, the Grecian fhips to gain;
For fure, to warn us Jove his omen fent,
And thus my mind explains its clear event.
The victor eagle, whofe finifter flight
Retards our hoft, and fills our hearts with fright,
Difmifs'd his conqueft in the middle skies,
Allow'd to feize, but not poffefs the prize;
260
Thus though we gird with fires the Grecian
flect,

Though thefe proud bulwarks tumble at our feet,
Toils unforeseen, and fiercer, are decreed;
More woes fhall follow, and more heroes bleed.
So bodes my foul, and bids me thus advife; 265
For thus a ikilful feer would read the skies.

270

To him then Hector with difdain return'd: (Fierce as he spoke, his eyes with fury burn'd) Are these the faithful counfels of thy tongue? Thy will is partial, not thy reafon wrong: Or, if the purpose of thy heart thou vent, Sure Heaven refumes the litt e fenfe it lent. What coward counfels would thy madness move, Against the word, the will reveal'd of Jove? The leading fign, th' irrevocable nod, And happy thunders of the favouring God, These shall I flight? and guide my wavering

mind

275

By wandering birds, that flit with every wind?
Ye vagrants of the fky! your wings extend,
Or where the funs arife, or where defcend; 280
To right, to left, unheeded take your way,
While I the dictates of high Heaven obey.
Without a fign his fword the brave man draws,
And asks no omen but his country's cause.
But why shouldst thou fufpect the war's fuccefs?

285

None fears it more, as none promotes it lefs:
Though all our chiefs amid yon fhips expire,
Truft thy own cowardife t'efcape their fire.
Troy and her fons may find a general grave,
But thou canft live, for thou canst be a flave. 290
Yet fhould the fears that wary mind fuggefts
Spread their cold poifon through our foldiers'
breafts,

300

My javelin can revenge fo base a part,
And free the foul that quivers in thy heart.
Furious he spoke, and, rufhing to the wall, 295
Calls on his hoft; his hoft obey the call;
With ardour follow where their leader flies:
Redoubling clamours thunder in the skies.
Jove breathes a whirlwind from the hills of Ide,
And drifts of duft the clouded navy hide :
He fills the Greeks with terrour and difmay,
And gives great Hector the predeftin'd day.
Strong in themselves, but ftronger in their aid,
Clofe to the works their rigid fiege they laid.
In vain the mounds and maffy beams defend, 305
While these they undermine, and those they rend;
Upheave the piles that prop the folid wall;
And heaps on heaps the fmoky ruins fall.
Greece on her rampart stands the fierce alarms;
The clouded bulwarks blaze with waving arms,

So Jove once more may drive their routed train, And Troy lie trembling in her walls again.

Their ardour kindles all the Grecian powers; And now the ftones defcend in heavier showers. 330

As when high Jove his sharp artillery forms,
And opes his cloudy magazine of storms;
In winter's bleak, uncomfortable reign,
A fnowy inundation hides the plain;

He ftills the winds, and bids the skies to fleep; 335
Then pours the filent tempest, thick and deep:
And first the mountain-tops are cover'd o'er,
Then the green fields, and then the fandy shore ;
Bent with the weight the nodding woods are
seen,

And one bright waste hides all the works of men: 349

The circling feas alone, absorbing all,
Drink the diffolving fleeces as they fall.
So from each fide increas'd the stony rain,
And the white ruin rifes o'er the plain.
Thus god-like Hector and his troops contend

345

To force the ramparts, and the gates to rend; Nor Troy could conquer, nor the Greeks would yield,

Till great Sarpedon tower'd amid the field;
For mighty Jove infpir'd with martial flame
His matchlefs fon, and urg'd him on to fame. 350
In arms he shines, confpicuous from afar,
And hears aloft his ample shield in air;
Within whofe orb the thick bull-hides were roll'd,
Ponderous with brafs, and bound with ductile
gold:

And, while two pointed javelins arm his hands,
355
Majestic moves along, and leads his Lycian bands.
So, prefs'd with hunger, from the mountain's

brow

360

Defcends a lion on the flocks below;
So ftalks the lordly favage o'er the plain,
In fullen majefty, and ftern difdain:
In vain loud maftiffs bay him from afar,
And shepherds gall him with an iron war;
Regardless, furious, he purfues his way;
He foams, he roars, he rends the panting prey.
Refolv'd alike, divine Sarpedon glows 365
With generous rage that drives him on the foes.
He views the towers, and meditates their fall,
To fure deftruction dooms th' afpiring wall;
Then, cafting on his friend an ardent look,
Fir'd with the thirst of glory, thus he spoke: 370
Why boaft we, Glaucus! our extended reign,
Where Xanthus' streams enrich the Lycian plain,
Our numerous herds that range the fruitful field,
And hills where vines their purple harvest yield,
Our foaming bowls with purer nectar crown'd,
375
Our feasts enhanc'd with mufick's sprightly
found?

Why on thofe fhores are we with joy furvey'd,
Admir'd as heroes, and as Gods obey'd;
Unless great acts fuperior merit prove,
And vindicate the bounteous Pow'rs above? 380
'Tis ours, the dignity they give to grace;
The first in valour, as the firft in place:

Then, rais'd with hope, and fir'd with glory's charms,

His fainting fquadrons to new fury warms:

500

O where, ye Lycians! is the ftrength you boast?
Your former fame and ancient virtue loft!
The breach lies open, but your chief in vain
Attempts alone the guarded pafs to gain;
Unite, and foon that hoftile fleet fhall fall;
The force of powerful union conquers all

This juft rebuke inflam'd the Lycian crew, 505
They join, they thicken, and th' affault renew:
Unnov'd th' embodied Greeks their fury dare,
And fix'd fupport the weight of all the war;
Nor could the Greeks repel the Lycian powers,
Nor the bold Lycians force the Grecian towers.

510

As, on the confines of adjoining grounds,
Two ftubborn fwains with blows difpute their
bounds;

They tug, thy fweat, but neither gain or yield,
One foot, one inch, of the contended field:

Thus obftinate to death they fight, they fall; 515
Nor thefe can keep, nor thofe can win, the wall.
Their manly breafts are pierc'd with many a
wound,

Loud ftrokes are heard, and rattling arms refound,
The copious flaughter covers all the shore,
And the high ramparts drop with human gore.

520

As when two fcales are charg'd with doubtful loads,

From fide to fide the trembling balance nods
(While fome laborious matron, just and poor,
With nice exactnefs weighs her woolly store)
Till, pois'd aloft, the resting beam suipends 25
Each equal weight, nor this, nor that, descends:
So ftood the war, till Hector's matchlefs might
With Fates prevailing, turn'd the fcale of fight.

530

Fierce as a whirlwind up the walls he flies,
And fires his hoft with loud repeated cries:
Advance, ye Trojans! lend your valiant hands,
Hatte to the fleet, and tois the blazing brands!
They hear, they run; and, gathering at his call,
Raife fcaling-engines, and afcend the wall:
Around the works a wood of glittering fpears 535
Shoots up, and all the rifing hoft appears.

A ponderous ftone bold Hector heav'd to throw,
Pointed above, and rough and grofs below:
Not two ftrong men th' enormous weight could
raife,

540

Such men as live in thefe degenerate days;
Yet this, as eafy as a fwain could bear
The fnowy fleece, he tofs'd, and thook in air:
For Jove upheld, and lighten'd of its load
Th' unwieldy rock, the labour of a God.
Thus arm'd, before the folded gates he came, 545
Of mafly fubftance, and stupendous frame;
With iron bars and brazen hinges strong,
On lofty beams of folid timber hung:
Then, thundering through the planks with force-
ful fway,
Drives the tharp rock; the folid beams give way;