160

There, on the fpot which great Achilles fhow'd, |
They eas'd their fhoulders, and difpos'd the load;
Circling around the place, where times to come 156
Shall view Patroclus' and Achilles' tomb.
The hero bids his martial troops appear
High on their cars, in all the pomp of war;
Each in refulgent arms his limbs attires,
All mount their chariots, combatants and fquires.
The chariots firft proceed, a fhining train;
Then clouds of foot that fmoke along the plain;
Next these a melancholy band appear,
Amidft, lay dead Patroclus on the bier :
O'er all the corpse their scatter'd locks they throw;
Achilles next, oppreft with mighty woe,
Supporting with his hands the hero's head,
Bends o'er th' extended body of the dead,
Patroclus decent on th' appointed ground
They place, and heap the fylvan pile around,
But great Achilles ftands apart in prayer,
And from his head divides the yellow hair;
Thofe curling locks which from his youth he
vow'd,

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All hail, Patroclus! let thy vengeful ghoft 220
Hear, and exult, on Pluto's dreary coaft.
Behold, Achilles' promife fully paid,
Twelve Trojan heroes offer'd to thy fhade;
But heavier fates on Hector's corpfe attend,
Sav'd from the flames for hungry dogs to rend. 225
So fpake he threatening: but the Gods made
vain

His threat, and guard inviolate the flain;
Celestial Venus hover'd o'er his head,

And rofeate unguents, heavenly fragrance'! shed :
She watch'd him all the night, and all the day, 230
And drove the blood-hounds from their deftin'd
prey.

Nor facred Phoebus lefs employ'd his care;
He pour'd around a veil of gather'd air,
And kept the nerves undry'd, the flesh entire,
Against the folar beam and Sirian fire,

Nor yet the pile where dead Patroclus lies,
Smokes, nor as yet the fullen flames arife;
But faft befide, Achilles ftood in prayer,
lavok'd the Gods, whofe fpirit moves the air,
And victims promis'd, and libations caft,
To gende Zephyr and the Boreal blast:
He call'dth' aërial Powers, along the skies
To breathe and whisper to the fires to rife.
The winged Iris heard the hero's call,
And inftant haften'd to their airy hall,
Where, in old Zephyrs open courts on high,
Sat all the bluftering brethren of the sky.
She fhone amidst them, on her painted bow;
The rocky pavement glitter'd with the show.

So vow'd my father, but he vow'd in vain ;
No more Achilles fees his native plain :
In that vain hope these hairs no longer grow,
Patroclus bears them to the fhades below.

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245

250

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195

The various Goddess to partake the rites:
Not fo (the dame reply'd) I hafte to go
To facred Ocean, and the,floods below:
Ev'n now our folemn hecatombs attend,
And Heaven is feafting on the world's green end,.
With righteous Ethiops (uncorrupted train !)
Far on th' extremeft limits of the main.
But Peleus' fon intreats, with facrifice,
The Western Spirit, and the North, to rife;
Let on Patroclus' pile your blast be driven,
And bear the blazing honours high to heaven.

[255

360

Thus o'er Patroclus while the hero pray'd, On his cold hard the facred lock he laid, Once more afresh the Grecian forrows flow: And now the fun had fet upon their woe, But to the king of men thus fpoke the chief: Enough, Atrides! give the troops relief: Permit the mourning legions to retire, And let the chiefs alone attend the pyre; The pious care be ours, the dead to burnHe faid; the people to their fhips return; While thofe deputed to inter the flain Heap with a rifing pyramid the plain. A hundred foot in length, a hundred wide, The growing structure spreads on every fide; High on the top the manly corpfe they lay, And well-fed fheep and fable oxen flay; Achilles cover'd with their fat the dead, And the pil'd victims round the body spread; Then jars of honey, and of fragrant oil, Sufpends around, low-bending o'er the pile. Four fprightly courfers, with a deadly groan, 210 Pour forth their lives, and on the pyre are thrown. Of nine large dogs, domeftic at his board, Fall two, felected to attend their lord, Inen lait of all, and horrible to tell, Sad incrifice! twelve Trojan captives fell, Op chalk che rage of fire victorious preys, Involves and joins them in one common blaze. No car'd with the bloody sites, he stands on high, And calls the ipirit with a dreadful cry :

205

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215

more.

275

Then funk the blaze, the pile no longer burn'd,
And to their caves the whiftling winds return'd;285
Acrofs the Thracian feas their course they bore;
The ruffled feas beneath their paffage roar.

295

Then parting from the pile he ceas'd to weep, And funk to quiet in th' embrace of fleep, Exhaufted with his grief: mean while the crowd Of thronging Grecians round Achilles ftood; 291 The tumult wak'd him: from his eyes he fhook Unwilling flumber, and the chiefs befpoke: Ye kings and princes of th' Achaian name! Firft let us quench the yet-remaining flame With fable wine; then (as the rites direct) The hero's bones with careful view felect: (Apart, and easy to be known, they lie Amidft the heap, and obvious to the eye: The reft around the margin will be feen Promifcuous, fteeds and immolated men). Thefe, wrapt in double cawls of fat, prepare; And in the golden vafe difpofe with care; There let them reft, with decent honour laid, Till I fhall follow to th' infernal fhade. Mean time ered the tomb with pious hands, A common ftructure on the humble fands; Hereafter Greece fome nobler work may raise, And late pofterity record our praise.

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The Grecks obey; where yet the embers glow, Wide o'er the pile the fable wine they throw, And deep fubfides the afhy heap below. Next, the white bones his fad companions place, With tears collected in the golden vase. The facred relicks to the tent they bore; The urn a veil of linen cover'd o'er. That done, they bid the fepulchre afpire, And caft the deep foundations round the pyre, High in the midft they heap the fwelling bed Of rifing earth, memorial of the dead.

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320

The fwarming populace the chief detains, And leads amidit a wide extent of plains; There plac'd them round: then from the fhips proceeds

325

A train of oxen, mules, and ftately steeds, Vafes and tripods (for the funeral games) Refplendent brafs, and more refplendent dames. First food the prizes to reward the force Of rapid racers in the dufty courfe: A woman for the firft, in beauty's bloom, Skill'd in the needle, and the labouring loom; 330 And a large vafe, where two bright handles.rife, Of twenty measures its capacious fize. The fecond victor claims à mare unbroke, Big with a mule, unknowing of the yoke: The third, a charger yet untouch'd by flame; 335 Four ample meafures held the fhining frame; Two golden talents for the fourth were plac'd; An ample double bowl contents the last. Thefe in fair order rang'd upon the plain, The hero, rifing, thus addreft the train : Behold the prizes, valiant Greeks! decreed To brave the rulers of the racing fteed; Prizes which none befide ourself could gain, Should our immortal courfers take the plain (A race unrivall'd, which from Ocean's God Peleus receiv'd, and on his fon bestow'd.) But this no time our vigour to display: Nor fuit with them the games of this fad day :

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345

Fir'd at his werd, the rival racers rife; But far the frit Eumelus hopes the prize, Fam'd through Pieria for the fleetest breed, And skill'd to manage the high-bounding fteed, With equal ardour bold Tydides fwell'd, The feeds of Tros beneath his yoke compell'd 360 (Which late obey'd the Dardan chief's command, When fearce a God redeem'd him from his hand). Then Menelaus his Podargus brings,

[370

And the fam'd courfer of the king of kings;
Whom rich Echepolus (more rich than brave) 365
To 'fcape the wars, to Agamemnon gave,
(the her name) at home to end his days,
Base wealth preferring to eternal praise.
Next him Antilochus demands the course,
With beating heart, and cheers his Pylian horfe.
Experienc'd Neftor gives his fon the reins,
Directs his judgment, and his heat restrains;
Nor idly warns the hoary fire, nor hears
The prudent fon with unattending ears:

My fon! though youthful ardour fire thy
breaft,
[bleft. 375
The Gods have lov'd thee, and with arts have
Neptune and Jove on thee conferr'd the skill,
Swift round the goal to turn the flying wheel.
To guide thy conduct, little precept needs;
But flow, and past their vigour, are my steeds. 380
Fear not thy rivals, though for fwiftness known;
Compare thofe rivals' judgment, and thy own:
It is not strength, but art, obtains the prize,
And to be fwift is lefs than to be wife.. [385
'Tis more by art, than force of numerous ftrokes,
The dextrous woodman fhapes the stubborn oaks;
By art the pilot, through the boiling deep
And howling tempeft, fteers the fearlefs fhip;
And 'tis the artist wins the glorious course,
Not those who truft in chariots and in horfe. 390
In vain; unfkilful, to the goal they strive,
And thort or wide, th' ungovern'd courfer drive:
While with fure fkill, though with inferior iteeds,
The knowing racer to his end proceeds;
Fix'd on the goal, his eye fore-runs the course, 395
And now contracts or now extends the rein,
His hand unerring fteers the steady horse,
Obferving ftill the foremost on the plain.
Mark then the goal, 'tis eafy to be found;
Yon aged trunk, a cubit from the ground;
Or hardy fir, unperifh'd with the rains:
Of fome once-ftately oak the laft remains,
Inclos'd with ftones, confpicuous from afar;
And round, a circle for the wheeling car
(Some tomb, perhaps, of old, the dead to grace;
Or then, as now, the limit of a race);
Bear clofe to this, and warily proceed,
A little bending to the left-hand fteed:

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[405

But urge the right, and give him all the reins:[41 While thy ftrict hand his fellow's head reftrains, The wheel's round naves appear to brush the goal. And turns him fhort; till, doubling as they roll, Yet (not to break the car, or lame the horfe) Clear of the ftony heap direct the course:

Y 24

555

Perchance the reins forfook the driver's hand,
And, turn'd too fhort, he tumbled on the ftrand,
Shot from the chariot; while his courfers itray 550
With frantic fury from the deftin'd way.
Rife then fome other, and inform my fight
(For thefe dim eyes, perhaps, difcern not right)
Yet fure he feems (to judge by shape and air)
The great Ætolian chief, renown'd in war.
Old man! (Oileus rafhly thus replies)
Thy tongue too haftily confers the prize;
Of thofe who view the courfe, not sharpest ey'd,
Nor youngeft, yet the readieft to decide.
Eumelus' fteeds high-bounding in the chace, 560
Still, as at first, unrivall'd lead the race;
I well difcern him as he shakes the rein,
And hear his fhouts victorious o'er the plain.
Thus he. Idomeneus, incens'd, rejoin'd:
Barbarous of words! and arrogant of mind! 565
Contentious prince, of all the Greeks befide
The laft in merit, as the first in pride:
To vile reproach what answer can we make?
A goblet or a tripod let us ftake,

And be the king the judge. The most unwife 570
Will learn their rafhnefs, when they pay the prize.
He faid: and Ajax, by mad patlion borne,
Stern had reply'd; fierce fcorn enhancing scorn
To fell extremes: but Thetis' godlike fon
Awful amidst them rofe, and thus begun :
Forbear, ye chiefs! reproachful to contend
Much would you blame, fhould others thus of-
fend :

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590

The Greeks confent with loud applauding cries; And then Eumelus had received the prize, But youthful Neftor, jealous of his fame, Th' award oppofes, and afferts his claim. Think not (he cries) I tamely will refign, O Peleus' fon! the mare fo juftly mine. What if the Gods, the fkilful to confound, Have thrown the horfe and horfeman to the ground?

And lo! th'approaching steeds your contest end.
No fooner had he spoke, but, thundering near,
Drives through a fiream of duft the charioteer. 580
High o'er his head the circling lafh he wields;
His bounding horfes fcarcely touch the fields:
His car amidst the duky whirlwind roll'd,
Bright with the mingled blaze of tin and gold,[585
Refulgent through the cloud; no eye could find
The track his flying wheels had left behind :
And the fierce courfers urg'd their rapid pace
So fwift, it feem'd a flight, and not a race.
Now victor at the goal Tydides stands,
Quits his bright car, and springs upon the fands;
From the hot steeds the fweaty torrents stream;
The well-ply'd whip is hung athwart the beam:
With joy brave Sthenelus receives the prize,
The tripod-vafe, and dame with radiant eyes;
Thefe to the fhips his train triumphant leads, 595
The chief himself unyokes the panting steeds.
Young Neftor follows (who by art, not force,
O'er-paft Atrides) fecond in the course,
Behind, Atrides urg'd the race, more near
Than to the courfer in his swift career
The following car, juft touching with his heel
And brushing with his tail the whirling wheel;
Such and fo narrow now the space between
The rivals, late fo diftant on the green;
So foon fwift the her loft ground regain'd, 605
One length, one moment had the race obtain'd.
Merion pursued, at greater diftance still,
With tardier courfers, and inferior skill.
Laft came Admetus! thy unhappy fon:
Slow dragg'd the fteeds his batter'd chariot on :
Achilles faw, and pitying thus begun :

600

[610)

Behold! the man whofe matchlefs art furpast The fons of Greece the ableft, yet the last !

Perhaps he fought not Heaven by facrifice, 625
And vows omitted forfeited the prize.
If yet diftinction to thy friend to show,
And please a foul defirous to bestow)
Sonie gift muft grace Eumelus; view thy ftore [63
Of beauteous handmaids, steeds, and shining ore;
An ample prefent let him thence receive,
And Greece fhall praife thy generous thirst to give.
But this my prize I never fhall forego;
This, who but touches, warriors! is my foe. [635

Thus fpake the youth; nor did his words offend; Pleas'd with the well-turn'd flattery of a friend, Achilles fmil'd: the gift propos'd (he cry'd) Antilochus! we fhall ourfelf provide. With plates of brafs the corfelet cover'd o'er (The fame renown'd Afteropæus wore) 640 Whofe glittering margins rais'd with filver fhine, (No vulgar gift) Eumelus, fhall be thine.

650

655

He faid: Automedon at his command The corfelet brought, and gave it to his hand. Diftinguifh'd by his friend, his bofom glows 645 With generous joy: then Menelaüs rofe; The herald plac'd the fceptre in his hands, And ftill'd the clamour of the shouting bands, Not without caufe incens'd at Neftor's fon, And inly grieving, thus the king begun : The praife of wifdom, in thy youth obtain'd An act fo rash, Antilochus, has ftain'd. Robb'd of my glory and my just reward, To you, O Grecians! be my wrong declar'd: So not a leader fhall our conduct blame, Or judge me envious of a rival's fame. But fhall not we ourselves the truth maintain?¡ What needs appealing in a fact fo plain? What Greek fhall blame me, if I bid thee rise, And vindicate by oath th' ill-gotten prize,? 66 Rife if thou dar'ft, before thy chariot itand, The driving fcourge high-lifted in thy hand; And touch thy fteeds, and fwear, thy whole inWas but to conquer, not to circumvent. [tent Swear by that God whofe liquid arms furround The globe, and whofe dread earthquakes heave the ground. 666 The prudent chief with calm attention heard; Then mildly thus: Excufe, if youth have err'd; Superior as thou art, forgive th' offence, Nor I thy equal, or in years, or fenfe. Thou know'it the errors of unripen'd age, Weak are its counfels, headlong is its rage. The prize I quit, if thou thy wrath refign; The mare, or aught thou afk'ft, be freely thine: Ere I become (from thy dear friendship torn) 675 Hateful to thee, and to the Gods forfworn.

So fpoke Antilochus: and at the word The mare contefted to the king restor’d.

670