Now god-like Hector, to whofe matchless might

Jove gave the glory of the deftin'd fight, Squadrons on iquadrons drives, and fills the

fields

260 With clofe-rang'd chariots, and with thicken'd fhields.

Where the deep trench in length extended lay,
Compacted troops ftand wedg'd in firm array,
A dreadful front! they fhase the brands, and
theat

With long-deftroying flames the hoftile fleet. 265
The king of men, by Juno's felf infpir'd,
Toil'd through the tents, and all his army fir'd.
Swif as he mov'd he lifted in his hand
His purple robe, bright enfigu of command.
High on the midmoft bark the king appear'd;
270

275

There, from Ulyffes' deck his voice was heard:
To Ajax and Achilles reach'd the found,
Whofe diftant ships the guarded navy bound.
Oh Argives! fhame of human race; he cri'd,
(The hollow veffels to his voice reply'd)
Where now are all your glorious boasts of yore,
Your hafty triumphs on the Lemnian fhore?
Each fearless hero dares an hundred foes,
While the feat lasts, and while the goblet flows;
But who to meet one martial man is found, 280
When the fight rages, and the Games furround?
O mighty Jove! oh fire of the diftrefs'd?
Was ever king like me, like me opprefs'd?
With power immenfe, with justice arm'd in vain;
My glory ravish'd, and my people flain!

285 To thee my yows were breath'd from every thore ;

What altar fmok'd not with our victims' gore?
With fat of bulls I fed the conftant flame,
And aik'd deftruction to the Trojan name.
Now, gracious God! far humbler our demand!

290 Give thefe at leaft t' escape from Hector's hand, And fave the relicks of the Grecian land!

Thus pray'd the king; and Heaven's great Fa-
ther heard

His vows, in bitterness of foul preferr'd;
The wrath appeas'd, by happy figns declares, 295
And gives the people to their monarch's prayers.
His eagle, faced bird of Heaven! he fent,
A fawn his talons trufs'd (divine portent!)
High o'er the wondering hofts he foar'd above,
Who paid their vows to Panomphæan Jove; 300
Then let the prey before his altar fall,

The Greeks behield, and tranfport feiz'd on all:
Encourag'd by the fign, the troops revive,
And fierce on Troy with double fury drive.
Tydides first of all the Grecian force,

395

D'er the broad ditch impell'd his foaming horfe,
Pierc'd the deep ranks, their strongest battle tore,
And dy'd his javelin red with Trojan gore.
Young Agelaus (Phradmon was his fire)
With flying courfers fhun'd his dreadful ire: 310
Struck through the back, the Phrygian fel. op-
preft;

The dart drove on, and iffued at his breaft;
Headlong he quits the car; his arms refound:
His ponderous buckler thunders on the ground:

Secure behind the Telamonian shield
The fiful archer wide furvey'd the field,
With every fhaft fome hostile victim flew,
Then clofe beneath the feven-fold orb withdrew:
The confcious infant fo, when fear alarms, 325
Retires for fafety to the mother's arnis.
Thus Ajax guards his brother in the field,
Moves as he moves, and turns the shining shield.
Who first by Teucer's mortal arrows bled?
Orfilochus; then fell Ormenus dead:
The god-like Lycophon next prefs'd the plain,
With Chromius, Dator, Opheleftes flain:
Bold Hamopäon breathlefs funk to ground;
The bloody pile great Menalippus crown'd.

330

Heaps fell on heaps, fad trophies of his art, 335
A Trojan ghost attended every dart.
Great Agamemnon views with joyful eye
The ranks grow thinner as his arrows fly:
Oh youth for ever dear! (the monarch cry'd)
Thus, always thus, thy early worth be try'd; 340
Thy brave example shall retrieve our host,
Thy country's faviour, and thy father's boast!
Sprung from an alien's bed thy fine to grace,
The vigorous offspring of a stol'n embrace,
Proud of his boy, he own'd the generous flame,
345

And the brave fon repays his cares with fame.
Now hear a monarch's vow: If Heaven's high
Powers

415

As the bold hound, that gives the lion chace,
With beating bofom, and with eager pace,
Hangs on his haunch, or faftens on his heels,
Guards as he turns, and circles as he wheels: 410
Thus oft the Grecians turn'd, but ftill they flew;
Thus following Hector still the hindmost flew.
When fiying they had pafs'd the trench profound,
And many a chief lay gaping on the ground;
Before the fhips a desperate ftand they made,
And fired the troops, and call'd the Gods to aid.
Fierce on his rattling chariot Hector came;
His eyes like Gorgon fhot a fanguine flame
That wither'd all their hoft: like Mars he stood;
Dire as the monster, dreadful as the God!
Their ftrong diftrefs the wife of Jove furvey'd;
Then penfive thus, to War's triumphant Maid:
Oh daughter of that God, whofe arm can wield
Th' avenging bolt, and fhake the fable fhield!
Now, in this moment of her lait despair,
Shall wretched Greece no more confefs our care,
Condemn'd to fuffer the full force of fate,
And drain the dregs of Heaven's relentless hate?
Gods! fhall one raging hand thus level all?
What numbers fell! what numbers yet fhall fall
430

420

425

What power divine shall Hector's wrath afsuage? Su fwells the daughter, and fill grows the rage!

440

So fpake th' imperial Regent of the skies.
To whom the Goddefs with the azure eyes.
Long fince had Hector ftain'd thefe fields with gore,
Stretch'd by fome Argive on his native thore;
But He above, the Sire of Heaven, withilands,
Mocks our attempts, and flights our juft demands.
The ftubborn God, inflexible and hard,
Forgets my service and deferv'd reward:
Sav'd I, for this, his favourite * fon diftrefs'd.
By stern Euriftheus with long labours prefs'd?
He begz'd, with tears he begg'd, in deep difmay;
I fhot from heaven, and gave his arm the day.
Oh had my wifdom known this dire event,
When to grim Pluto's gloomy gates he went;
The triple dog had never felt his chain,
Nor Styx been crofs'd, nor hell explor'd in vain.
Averfe to me of all his heaven of Gods,
At Thetis' fuit the partial Thunderer nods.
To grace her gloomy, fierce, refenting fon,
My hopes are fruftrate, and my Greeks undone.
Some future day, perhaps, he may be mov'd
To call his blue-ey'd Maid his heft belov'd,
Hafte, launch thy chariot, thro' yon ranks to ride;

Myfelf will arm, and thunder at thy fide.
Then, Goddefs! fay, fhall Hector glory then,
(That terrour of the Greeks, that Man of men)
When Juno's felf, and Pallas fhall appear,
All dreadful in the crimson walks of war!
What mighty Trojan then, on yonder shore,
Expiring, pale, and terrible no more,

445

450

455

460

Swift as the wind, the various colour'd Maid From Ida's top hier golden wings difplay'd; To great Olympus' fhining gates the flies, There meets the chariot rushing down the fkies, 505 Restrains their progrefs from the bright abodes, And fpeaks the mandate of the Sire of Gods.

510

515

What frenzy, Goddeffes! what rage can move Celestial minds to tempt the wrath of Jove? Defift, obedient to his high command; This is his word: and know, his word fhall stand. His lightning your rebellion fhall confound, And curl you headlong, flaming to the ground: Your horses crush'd beneath the wheels fhall lie, Your car in fragments scatter'd o'er the sky: Yourfelves condemn'd ten rolling years to weep The wounds imprefs'd by burning thunder deep. So fhall Minerva learn to fear his ire, Nor dare to combat her's and nature's Sire. For Juno, headstrong and imperious ftill, She claims fome title to tranfgrefs his will. But thee what defperate infolence has driven, To lift thy lance against the King of heaven? Then, mounting on the pinions of the wind, She flew; and Juno thus her rage refign'd:

500

525

O daughter of that God, whofe arm can wield Th' avenging bolt, and shake the dreadful fhield! No more let beings of fuperior birth Contend with Jove for this low race of earth: Triumphant now, now miferably flain, They breathe or perish as the Fates ordain. But Jove's high counfels full effect shall find; And, ever constant, ever rule mankind.

530

She fpoke, and backward turn'd her fteeds of light,

Adorn'd with manes of gold, and heavenly bright.
The hours unloos'd them, panting as they stood,
And heap'd their mangers with ambrofial food.
There ty'd, they reft in high celeftial stalls;
The chariot propt against the chrystal walls.
The penfive Goddeffe, abafh'd, control'd,
Mix with the Gods, and fill their feats of gold.

540

And now the Thunderer meditates his flight From Ida's fummits to th' Olympian height, Swifter than thought the wheels inftinctive fly, Flame through the vast of air, and reach the sky.

'Tw's Neptune's charge his courfers to unbrace, And fix the car on its immortal bafe;

545

There stood the chariot, beaming forth its rays,
Till with a fnowy veil he fcreen'd the blaze.
He, whofe all-confcious eyes the world behold,
550

Th' eternal Thunderer fat thron'd in gold;
High heaven the footstool of his feet he makes,
And wide beneath him all Olympus fhakes.
Trembling afar th' offending Powers appear'd,
Confus'd and filent, for his frown they fear'd. 555
He faw their foul, and thus his word imparts:
Pallas and Juno! fay, why heave your hearts?
Socn was your battle o'er: proud Troy retir'd
Before your face, and in your wrath expir'd.
But know, whoc'er almighty power withstand! 560
Unmatch'd our force, unconquer'd is our hand:
Who fhall the Sovereign of the skies controul?
Not all the Gods that crown the starry pole.
Your hearts fhall tremble, if our arms we take,
And each immortal nerve with horror thake. 565
For thus I fpoke, and what I fpeak shall stand;
What power foe'er provokes our lifted hand,
On this our hill no more fhall hold his place;
Cut off, and exil'd, from th' æthereal race.

575

Juno and Pallas, grieving, hear the doom, 570 But feaft their fouls on Ilion's woes to come. Though fecret anger fwell'd Minerva's breaft, The prudent Goddefs yet her wrath represt: But Juno, impotent of rage, replies : What haft thou faid, Oh tyrant of the skies! Strength and omnipotence inveft thy throne; 'Tis thine to punish; ours to grieve alone. For Greece we grieve, abandon'd by her fate, To drink the dregs of thy unmeasur'd hate : From fields forbidden we fubmifs refrain, With arms una'ding fee our Argives flain; Yet grant our counfels ftill their breasts may

move,

Left all should perish in the rage of Jove.

580

The Goddefs thus. And thus the God replies Who fwells the clouds, and blackens all the fkies:

585

}

The morning fun, awak'd by loud alarms,
Shall fee th' Almighty Thunderer in arms.
What heaps of Argives then shall load the plain,
Those radiant eyes fhall view, and view in vain.
Nor shall great Hector ceafe the rage of fight, 590
The navy flaming, and thy Greeks in flight,
Ev'n till the day, when certain fates ordain
That ftern Achilles (his Patroclus flain)
Shall rife in vengeance, and lay wafte the plain.
For fuch is fate, nor canft thou turn its course 595
With all thy rage, with all thy rebel force.
Fly, if thou wilt, to earth's remotest bound,
Where on the utmoft verge the feas refound;
Where curs'd läpetus and Saturn dwell,
Faft by the brink, within the fteams of hell;
No fun e'er gilds the gloomy horrours there;
No chearful gales refresh the lazy air;
There arm once more the bold Titanian band;
And arm in vain; for what I will shall stand.

600

Now deep in ocean funk the lamp of light, 615 And.drew behind the cloudy veil of night: The conquering Trojans mourn his beams decay'd;

The Greeks, rejoicing, bless the friendly fhade.

610

660

The victors keep the field; and Hector calls A martial council near the navy walls: Thefe to Scamander's banks apart he led, Where, thinly fcatter'd, lay the heaps of dead, Th' adfemb.ed chiefs, defcending on the ground, Attend his order, and their prince furround. A maily fpear he bore of mighty strength, Of fullten cub ts was the lance's length; The point was brafs, refulgent to behold, Fix' to the wood with circling rings of gold: The noble Hector on this lance reclin'd, And, bending forward, thus reveal'd his mind:

620

Ye valiant Trojans, with attention hear! Ye Dardan bands, and generous aids, give ear! This day, we hop'd, would wrap in conquering flame

Greece with her fhips, and crown our toils with fame.

But darkness now, to fave the cowards, falls, 625
And guards them trembling in their wooden walis.
Obey the Night, and use her peaceful hours
Our steeds to forage, and refreth our powers.
Straight from the town be fheep and oxen fought,
And strengthening bread, and generous wine be
brought.

630

635

Wide o'er the field, high blazing to the sky,
Let numerous fires the abfent fun fupply,
The flaming piles with plenteous fuel raife,
Till the bright morn her purple beam difplays;
Left, in the filence and the fhades of night,
Greece on her fable fhips attempt her flight.
Not unmolested let the wretches gain
Their lofty decks, or fafely cleave the main;
Some hoftile wound let every dart bestow,
Some lafting token of the Phrygian foe;
Wounds, that long hence may ask their spouses'

care,

640

645

And warn their children from a Trojan war.
Now through the circuit of our Ilion wall,
Let facred heralds found the folemn call;
To bid the fires with hoary honours crown'd,
And beardless youths, our battlements surround.
Firm be the guard, while difiant lie our powers,
And let the matrons hang with lights the towers:
Left, under cover of the midnight shade,
Th' infidious foe the naked town invade.
Suffice, to-night, thefe orders to obey;
A nobler charge fhall rouze the dawning day.
The Gods, I truft, fhall give to Hector's hand,
From thefe detefted foes to free the land,
Who plow'd, with fates averfe, the watery

For Trojan vultures a predeftin'd prey.
Our common fafety must be now the care;
But foon as morning paints the fields of air,

650

way;

655

655

And proftrate heroes bleed around their lord.
Certain as this, oh! might my days endure,
From age inglorious, and black death focure;
So might my life and glory know no bound,
Like Pallas worfhipp'd, like the fun renown'd!
670

As the next dawn, the laft they shall enjoy,
Shall crush the Greeks, and end the woes of Troy.
The leader fpoke. From all his hot around
Shouts of applaufe along the fhores refound.
Each from the yoke the fmoking steeds unty'd,
675

And fix'd their headftalls to his chariot fide.
Fat theep and oxen from the town are led,
With generous wine, and all-fuitaining bread.
Full hecatombs lay burning on the fhore;
The winds to heaven the curling vapours bore.
680

685

Ungrateful offering to th' immortal powers!
Whofe wrath hung heavy o'er the Trojan towers;
Nor Priam nor his fons obtain'd their grace;
Proud Troy they hated, and her guilty race.
The troops exulting fat in order round,
And beaming fires illumin'd all the ground;
As when the moon, refulgent lamp of night!
O'er heaven's clear azure spreads her facred light,
When not a breath difturbs the deep ferene,
And not a cloud o'ercafts the folemn fcene; 690
Around her throne the vivid planets roll,
And ftars unnumber'd gild the glowing pole;
O'er the dark trees a yellower vendure shed,
And tip with filver every mountain's head;
Then thine the vales, the rocks in profpect rife,
A flood of glory burits from all the skies:
The confcious fwains, rejoicing in the fight,
Eye the lue vault, and bleis the afeful light:
So many flames before proud Ilion blaze,
And lighten glimmering Xanthus with their rays:
The long reflections of the diftant fires
Gleam on the walls, and tremble on the fpires.
A thoufand piles the dusky horrours gild,
And hoot a fhady luftre o'er the field.
Full fifty guards each flaming pile attend,
Whofe umber'd arms, by fits, thick flathes fend;
705
Loud neigh the courfers o'er their heaps of corn;
And ardent warriours wait the rifing morn.

695.

700