545

Patroclus while he liv'd, their rage could tame,
But now Patroclus is an empty name!
To thee I yield the feat, to thee refign
The ruling charge: the task of fight be mine.
He faid. Alcimedon, with active heat,
Snatches the reins, and vaults into the feat.
His friend defcends. The chief of Troy defery'd,
And cail'd Æneas, fighting near his fide: 550
Lo, to my fight, beyond our hope, restor'd
Achilles' car,
deferted of its lord!

The glorious fteeds our ready arms invite,
Scarce their weak drivers guide them through the
fight:

555

So looks the lion o'er a mangled bear,
All grim with rage, and horrible with gore.
High on the chariot at one bound he fprung,
And o'er his feat the bloody trophies hung. 610

And now Minerva, from the realms of air,
Defcends impetuous, and renews the war;
For, pleas'd at length the Grecian arms to aid.
The Lord of Thunders fent the blue-ey'd Maid,
As when high Jove, denouncing future woe, 615
O'er the dark clouds extends his purple bow.
(In fign of tempefts from the troubled air,
Or from the rage of man, deftructive war)
The drooping cattle dread th' impending skies,
And from his half-till'd field the labourer fet;
In fuch a form the Goddefs round her drew 630
A livid cloud, and to the battle flew.
Affuming Phoenix' fhape, on earth fhe falls,
And in his well-known voice to Sparta calls:
And lies Achilles' friend, belov'd by all,
A prey to dogs beneath the Trojan wall?
What fhame to Greece, for future times to tell,
To thee the greatest, in whose cause he fell !
O chief, oh father! (Atreus' fon replies)
5650 full of days! by long experience wife!
What more defires my foul, than here, unmov'd,
To guard the body of the man I lov'd?
Ah would Minerva fend me strength to rear
This weary'd arm, and ward the storm of war !
But Hector, like the rage of fire, we dread, 635
And Jove's own glories blaze around his head

Can fuch opponents ftand, when we afail?
Unite thy force, my friend, and we prevail.
The fon of Venus to the council yields!
Then o'er their backs they spread their folid fhields:
With brafs refulgent the broad furface fhin'd, [560 |
And thick bull-hides the fpacious concave lin'd.
Then Chromius follows, Aretus fucceeds;
Each hopes the conqueft of the lofty steeds:
In vain, brave youths, with glorious hopes ye burn,
In vain advance, not fated to return,

Unmov'd, Automedon attends the fight,
Implores th' Eternal, and colle&s his might.
Then turning to his friend, with dauntless mind:
Oh keep the foaming courfers close behind!
Full on my shoulders let their nostrils blow,
For hard the fight, determin'd is the foe; 570
"Tis Hector comes; and when he feeks the prize,
War knows no mean: he wins it, or he dies.
Then through the field he fends his voice aloud,
nd calls th' Ajaces from the warring crowd,
With great Atrides. Hither turn he faid)
Turn, where distress demands immediate aid;
The dead, encircled by his friends, forego,
And fave the living from a fiercer foe.
Unhelp'd we ftand, unequal to engage
The force of Hector, and Æneas' rage:
Yet, mighty as they are, my force to prove
Is only mine: th' event belongs to Jove.

575

580

He fpoke, and high the founding javelin flung,
Which pafs'd the shield of Aretus the young;
It pierc'd his belt, embofs'd with curious art, 585
Then in the lower belly ftuck the dart.
As when a ponderous axe, descending full,
Cleaves the broad forehead of fome brawny bull;
Struck 'twixt the horns, he fprings with many a
bound,

595

Then tumbling rolla enormous on the ground: 590
Thus fell the youth, the air his foul receiv'd,
And the spear trembled as his entrails heav'd.
Now at Automedon the Trojan foe
Difcharg'd his lance; the meditated blow,
Stooping, he fhunn'd; the javelin idly fled,
And hifs'd innoxious o'er the hero's head:
Deep-rooted in the ground, the forceful spear
In long vibration fpent its fury there.
With clafhing falchions now the chiefs had clos'd,
But each brave Ajax heard, and interpos'd;
Nor longer Hector with his Trojans flood,
But left their flain companion in his blood;
His arms Automedon divests, and cries,
Accept, Patroclus, this mean facrifice!

600

Thus have I footh'd my grie s, and thus have · paid,

Poor as it is, fome offering to thy fhade!

605

625

630

645

Pleas'd to be firft of all the Powers addreft,
She breathes new vigour in her hero's breast,
And fills with keen revenge, with fell defpight,
Defire of blood, and rage, and luft of fight. 640
So burns the vengeful hornet (foul all o'er !)
Repuls'd in vain, and thirsty still of gore
(Bold fon of air and heat!) on angry wings
Untam'd, untir'd, he turns, attacks, and ftings.
Fir'd with like ardor fierce Atrides flew,
And fent his foul with every lance he threw.
There stood a Trojan, not unknown to fame,
Fëtion's fon, and Podes was his name,
With riches honour'd, and with courage bleft,
By Hector lov'd, his comrade, and his guest; 650
Through his broad belt the spear a paffage found,
And ponderous as he falls, his arms refound.
Sudden at Hector's fide Apollo food,
Like Phænops, Afius' fon, appear a the God
(Alius the great, who held his wealthy reign 655
In fair Abydos, by the rolling main)

Oh prince (he cried) oh foremost once in

fame!

What Grecian now fhall tremble at thy name?
Doft thou at length to Menelaus yield,

A chief once thought no terror of the field; 660
Yet fingly, now, the long-difputed prize
He bears victorious, while our army flies!
By the fame arm illuftrious Podes bled;
The friend of Hector, unreveng'd, is dead! [663
This heard, o'er Hector spreads a cloud of woe,
Rage lifts his larice, and drives him on the foe.
But now th' Eternal fhook his fable fhield,
That fhaded lde and all the fubje& field,
Beneath its ample verge. A rolling cloud [670
Involv'd the mount; the thunder roar`d aloud;
Th' affrighted hills from their foundations nod,
And blaze beneath the lightnings of the God.

685

And raz'd his shoulder with a shorten'd spear :
By Hector wounded, Lejtus quits the plain,
Perc'd through the wrift; and, raging with
the pain,
680
Grafps his once formidable lance in vain.
As Hector follow'd, Idomen addreft
The flaming javelin to his manly breaft;
The brittle point before his corfelet yields;
Exulting Troy with clamour fills the fields;
High on his chariot as the Cretan stood,
The fon of Priam hurl'd the miffive wood;
But, erring from its air, th' impetuous spear
Struck to the dust the 'fquire and charioteer
Of martial Merion: Coranus his name, 690
Who left fair Ly&tus for the fields of fame.
On foot bold Merion fought; and now, laid low,
Had grac'd the triumphs of his Trojan foe;
But the brave 'fquire the ready courfers brought,
And with his life his master's fafety bought. 695
Between his cheek and ear the weapon went,
The teeth it fhatter'd and the tongue it rent.
Prone from the feat he tumbles to the plain;
His dying hand forgets the falling rein:
This Merion reaches, bending from the car,
And urges to defert the hopeless war;
Idomeneus confents; the lash applies;
And the swift chariot to the navy flies.

740

Let him to great Achilles' ear convey
The fatal news- -Atrides haftes away.
So turns the lion from the pightly fold,
Though high in courage, and with hunger bold,
Long gall'd by herdsmen, and long vex'd by
hounds:

Stiff with fatigue, and fretted fore with wounds;
The darts fly round him from an hundred hands,
And the red terrors of the blazing brands: 74$
Till late, reluctant, at the dawn of day
Sour he departs, and quits the untafted prey,
So mov'd'Atrides from his dangerous place
With weary limbs, but with unwilling pace;
The foe, he fear'd, might yet Patroclus gain, 750
And much admonish'd, much adjur'd, his train:

O guard thefe relicks, to your charge confign'd,
And bear the merits of the dead in mind;
How fkill'd he was in each obliging art;
The mildeft manners and the gentleit heart: 755
He was, alas! but fate decreed his end;
In death a hero, as in life a friend!

So parts the chief; from rank to rank he flew,
And round on all fides fent his piercing view..
As the bold bird, endued with fharpeft eye 760
Of all that wing the mid aërial sky,
The facred eagle, from his walks above
Looks down, and fees the diftant thicket move;
Then stoops, and, foufing on the quivering hare,
Snatches his life amid the clouds of air.

700 Not with lefs quickness, his exerted fight

[10
dart,

Alas! who fees not Jove's almighty hand
Transfers the glory to the Trojan band?
Whether the weak or ftrong discharge the
He guides each arrow to a Grecian heart:
Not fo our fpears: inceffant though they rain,
He fuffers every lance to fall in vain.
Deferted of the God, yet let us try [715
What human strength and prudence can supply;
If yet this honour'd corpfe, in triumph borne,
May glad the fleets that hope not our return,
Who trembled yet, fcarce rescued from their
fates,

720

And ftill hear Hector thundering at their gates.
Some hero too must be dispatch'd, to bear
The mournful meffage to Pelides' ear;
For fure he knows not, diftant on the fhore,
His friend, his lov'd Patroclus, is no more.
But fuch a chief I fpy not through the host:
The men, the steeds, the armies, all are loft 725
In genral darkness-Lord of earth and air!
Oh King! oh Father! hear my humble grayer:
Difpel this cloud, the light of heaven restore;
Give me to fee, and Ajax afks no more:
If Greece muft perish, we thy will obey,
But let us perish in the face of day!

730

With tears the hero fpoke, and at his prayer
The God relenting, clear'd the clouded air;
Forth burst the fun with all-enlightening ray,
The blaze of armour flash'd against the day. 735
Now, now, Atrides! caft around thy fight;
If yet Antilochus furvives the fight,

765

Pafs'd this, and that way, thro' the ranks of fight:
Till on the left the chief he fought, he found,
Cheering his men, and spreading deaths around.

2

To him the king: Belov'd of Jove! draw near,
For fadder tidings never touch'd thy ear; [770
Thy eyes have witnefs'd, what a fatal turn!
Now Ilion triumphs, and th' Achaians mourn
This is not all: Patroclus, on the shore
Now pale and dead, fhall fuccour Greece no

Fly to the fleet, this inftant, fy, and tell
The fad Achilles, how his lov'd-one fell:
He too may hafte the naked corpfe to gain;
The arms are Hector's, who defpoil'd the flain.

The youthful warrior heard with filent woe,
From his fair eyes the tears began to flow; [780
Big with the mighty grief, he ftrove to say
What forrow dictates, but no word found way.
Tobrave Laodocus his arms he flung, (785
Who near him wheeling, drove his steeds along;
Then ran, the mournful message to impart,
With tearful eyes, and with dejected heart.

1

795

Swift fled the youth: nor Menelaüs ftands,'
(Thgh fore distrest) to aid the Pylian bands;
But as bold Thrafymede thofe troops fultain;
Himself returns to his Patroclus flain, 1799
Gone is Antilochus (the hero faid)
But hope not, warriors, for Achilles' aid:
Though fierce his rage, unbounded be his woc,
Unarm'd he fights not with the Trojan foe.
'Tis in our hands alone our hopes remain;
'Tis our own vigor must the dead regain,
And fave ourselves, while with impetuous hate
Troy pours along, and this way rolls our fate.
'Tis well (faid Ajax); be it then thy care,
With Merion's aid, the weighty corpfe to rear;
Myfelf and my bold brother will fuftain
The fhock of Hector and his charging train:

810

Nor fear we armies, fighting fide by fide;
What Troy can dare, we have already try'd, 805
Have try'd it, and have ftood. The hero faid;
High from the ground the warriors heave the
A general clamour rifes at the fight: [dead.
Loud fhout the Trojans, and renew the fight.
Not fiercer rush along the gloomy wood,
With rage infatiate and with thirft of blood,
Voracious hounds, that many a length before
Their furious hunters drive the wounded boar;
But, if the favage turns his glaring eye,
They howl aloof, and round the foreft fly.
Thus on retreating Greece the Trojans pour,
Wave their thick faulchions, and their javelins

fhower:

815

But, Ajax turning, to their fears they yield,
All pale they tremble, and forfake the field.
While thus aloft the hero's corpfe they bear, 820
Behind them rages all the ftorm of war;
Confufion, tumult, horror, o'er the throng
Of men, steeds, chariots, urg'd the rout along :
Lefs fierce the winds with rifing flanies confpire,
To whelm fome city under waves of fire;
Now fink in gloomy clouds the proud abodes;
Now crack the blazing temples of the Gods;
The rumbling torrent through the ruin rolls,
And heets of fmoke mount heavy to the poles.

825

The heroes fweat beneath their honour'd load:
As when two mules, along the rugged road, 831
From the steep mountain with exerted ftrength
Drag fome vait beam, or mat's unwieldy length;
Inly they groan, big drops of sweat diftil,
Th enormous timber lumbering down the hill:
So thefe--Behind, the bulk of Ajax ftands, 835
And breaks the torrent of the rushing bands.
Thus, when a river fwell'd with fudden rains
Spreads his broad waters o'er the level plains,
Some interpong hill the stream divides, 840
And breaks its force, and turns the winding
tides.

Still close they follow, close the rear engage;
Eneas ftorms, and Hector foams with rage;
While Greece a heavy, thick retreat maintains,
Wedg'd in one body, like a flight of cranes, 845
That fhrick inceffant while the falcon, hung
High on pois'd pinions, threats their callow young.
So from the Trojan chiefs the Grecians fly,
Such the wild terror, and the mingled cry:
Within, without the trench, and all the way, 859
Strow'd in bright heaps, their arms and armour

BOOK XVIII.

THE ARGUMENT.

The Grief of Achilles, and new Armour made bim by Vulcan.

The news of the death of Patroclus is brought to Achilles by Antilecbus. Thetis, bearing bis Lamentations, comes with all ber fea-nymphs to comfort him. The Speeches of the mother and fon on this occafion. Iris appears to Achilles by the command of Juno, and orders him to few bimfelf at the bead of the entrenchments The fight of him turns the fortune of the day, and the body of Patroclus is carried off by the Greeks. Trojans call a council, where Hector and Polydamas difagree in their opinions; but the advice of the former prevails, to remain encamped in the field. The grief of Achilles over the body of Patroclus.

The

Thetis goes to the palace of Vulcan, to obtain new arms for ber fon. The defcription of the wonderful works of Vulcan; and lafily, that noble one of the field of Achilles.

The latter part of the nine and twentieth day, and the night enfuing, take up this book. The scene is at Achilles's tent, on the fea-fbore, from whence it changes to the palace of Vulcan,

THU
AUS, like the rage of fit, this by turns.
HUS, like the rage of fire, the combat burns;
Mean while, where Hellefpont's broad waters
flow,

Stood Neflor's fon, the meffenger of woe:
There fat Achilles, fhaded by his fails,
On hoisted yards extended to the gales;
Penfive he fat; for all that Fate defign'd
Rofe in fad profpect to his boding mind.
Thus to his foul he faid: Ah! what constrains
The Greeks, late victors, now to quit the plains?
Is this the day, which heaven fo long ago
Ordain'd, to fink me with the weight of woe?
(So Thetis warn'd) when by a Trojan hand
The braveft of the Myrmidonian band

II

In vain I charg'd him foon to quit the plain,
And warn'd to fhun Hectorean force in vain !

20

Thus while he thinks, Antilochus appears,
And tells the melancholy tale with tears:
Sad tiding, fon of Peleus! thou must hear;
5 And wretched I, th' unwilling messenger!
Dead is Patroclus! For his corpfe they fight,
His naked corpfe; his arms are Hector's right..
A fudden horror fhot through all the chief, 25
And wrapt his fenfes in the cloud of grief;
Caft on the ground, with furious han 1.
fpread

The fcorching afhes o'er his graceful head;
His purple garments, and his golden hairs, [30
Thofe he deforms with duft, and these he tears;

Should lofe the light? Fulfill'd is that decree? 15 On the hard foil his groaning breaft he threw,

Fall'n is the warrior, and Patroclus he?

And roll'd and grovell'd, as to earth he grew.

40 Curs'd be that day, when all the powers above
Thy charms fubmitted to a mortal love:
Oh hadft thou ftill, a fifter of the main,
Purfued the pleasures of the watery reign;
And happier Peleus, lefs ambitious, led
Amortal beauty to his equal bed?
Ere the fad fruit of thy unhappy womb
Had caus'd fuch forrows paft, and woes to come.
For foon, alas! that wretched offspring flain, 115
New woes, new forrows, fhall create again.
50'I'is not in Fate th' alternate now to give ;
Patroclus dead, Achilles hates to live.
Let me revenge it on proud Hector's heart,
Let his laft fpirit smoke upon my dart;
On thefe conditions will I breathe: till then,
55 I blush to walk among the race of men.

60 Far lies Patroclus from his native plain!
He fell, and, falling, with'd my aid in vain.
Ah then, fince from this miserable day
I caft all hope of my return away;
Since, unreveng'd, a hundred ghofts demand
The fate of Hector from Achilles' hand:
Since here, for brutal courage far renown'd,
I live an idle burden to the ground

165 | That in my friend's defence, has Ajax spread,
While his ftrong lance around him heaps the dead;
The gallant chief defends Menuetius' fon,
And does, what his Achilles fhould have done.

Mean time, unweary'd with his heavenly way,
In ocean's waves, th' unwilling light of day [285
Quench'd his red orb, at Juno's high command,
And from their labour's eas'd th' Achaian band,
The frighted Trojans (panting from the war,
Their fteeds unhainefs'd from the weary car)
A fudden council call'd; each chief appear'd
In hafte, and standing; for to fit they fear'd. 290
'Twas now no feafon for prolong'd debate,
They faw Achilles, and in him their fate.
Silent they flood: Polydamas at la,
Skill'd to difcern the future by the past,

The fon of Panthus, thus exprefs'd his fears; 298 230 (The friend of Hector, and of equal years;