Methinks the noise of trampling steeds I hear,
Thickening this way, and gathering on my ear;
Perhaps fome horses of the Trojan breed
(So may, ye Gods! my pious hopes fucceed)
The great Tydides and Ulyffes bear,
Return'd triumphant with this prize of war.
Yet much I fear (ah may that fear be vain!).
The chiefs out-number'd by the Trojan train;
Perhaps, ev'n now pursued, they seek the shore;
Or, oh! perhaps those heroes are no more.

630.

635

Scarce had he spoke, when lo! the chiefs appear,
And spring to earth; the Greeks difmifs their fear:
With words of friendship and extended hands
They greet the kings; and Neftor first demands:

Say thou, whofe praifes all our hoft proclaim, 640 Thou living glory of the Grecian name!

Say, whence these courfers? by what chance bestow'd?:
The spoil of foes, or present of a God?
Not thofe fair steeds so radiant and fo gay,
That draw the burning chariot of the day.
Old as I am, to age I fcorn to yield,

And daily mingle in the martial field ; ̧
But fure till now no courfers ftruck my fight
Like these, confpicuous through the ranks of fight.
Some God, I deem, conferr'd the glorious prize,

Bleft as ye are, and favourites of the skies;

The care of him who bids the thunder roar,

645

650:

And her, whofe fury bathes the world with gore,,
Father! not fo (fage Ithacus rejoin'd)

The gifts of Heaven are of à nobler kind.

* Minerva.

655

Of

Of Thracian lineage are the fteeds ye view,
Whose hostile king the brave Tydides flew ;
Sleeping he dy'd, with all his guards around,
And twelve befide lay gafping on the ground.
These other spoils from conquer'd Dolon came,
A wretch, whofe fwiftnefs was his only fame,
By Hector fent our forces to explore,

He now lies headless on the sandy shore.

Then o'er the trench the bounding courfers flew ;
The joyful Greeks with loud acclaim pursue.
Straight to Tydides' high pavilion borne,
The matchless steeds his ample stall adorn :
The neighing courfers their new fellows greet,
And the full racks are heap'd with
generous wheat.
But Dolon's armour, to his fhips convey'd,

High on the painted ftern Ulyffes laid,

-A trophy deftin'd to the blue-ey'd Maid.

660

665

670

Now from nocturnal sweat, and ianguine ftain,

675

They cleanse their bodies in the neighbouring main :
Then in the polish'd bath, refresh'd from toil,
Their joints they fupple with diffolving oil,

In due repaft indulge the genial hour,
And first to Pallas the libations pour:

They fit, rejoicing in her aid divine,

And the crown'd goblet foams with floods of wine. 680

THE

THE

ELEVENTH BOOK

OF THE

ILIA D.

The third Battle, and the Acts of Agamemnon.

Agamemnon, having armed himself, leads the Grecians to battle: Hector prepares the Trojans to receive them; while Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, give the fignals of war. Agamemnon bears all before him; and Hector is commanded by Jupiter (who fends Iris for that purpose) to decline the engagement, till the king shall be wounded and retire from the field. He then makes a great flaughter of the enemy; Ulyffes and Diomed put a stop to him for a time; but the latter being wounded by Paris, is obliged to defert his companion, who is encompaffed by the Trojans, wounded, and in the utmost danger, till Menelaüs and Ajax rescue him. Hector comes against Ajax; but that hero alone oppofes multitudes, and rallies the Greeks. In the mean time Machaon, in the other wing of the army, is pierc'd with an arrow by Paris, and carried from the fight in Neftor's chariot. Achilles (who overlooked the action from his fhip) fent Patroclus to enquire which of the Greeks was wounded in that manner? Neftor entertains him in his tent with an account of the accidents of the day, and a long recital of fome former wars which he remembered, tending to put Patroclus upon perfuading Achilles to fight for his countrymen, or at least permit Him to do it, clad in Achilles's armour. Patroclus in his return meets Eurypylus also wounded, and affifts him in that distress.

This book opens with the eight and twentieth day of the poem; and the fame day, with its various actions and adventures, is extended through the twelfth thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, fixteenth, feventeenth, and part of the eighteenth books. The fcene lies in the field, near the monument of Ilus.