Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB
[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

moons imprison'à roarli in vam, Lomaltes neid to: coam:

Berisha, had not Hermes care
Froaning godtɔ upper air.
selt nas bore her weight of pain,
rtner of the heavenly reign;

mix'd the deadly dart.
mus, her immortal neart.
sin Alcide power contess'd,
Entrance in his iron breast;
are for a cure ne fied,
mammons of the dead;
#kne: heavenly batm around,
power; Banc., and cles'd the wound.
10 star the blest abodes,
ZIYERƏ 3: 12” blood of gods !

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small]
[ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors]
[merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

proper cares

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

To case be wise and see the diference of the gods and thee; between the powers that shine Cs, and divide,

a wretch of humble birth, viet 1 me in the dust of Farth." Su spør tac and who darts celestial fires; 50 115 125 for and some steps retires. Thin Pheous bore the chief of Venus' race "Tara Buch tane, and to his holy place; AHL and Phoebe heal'd the wound,

1er arm'd him, and with glory crown'd. Tsune, the patron of the silver bow

1 palatim rais'd, the same in shape and show

With great Eneas; such the form he bore,
And such in fight the radiant arms he wore.
Around the spectre bloody wars are wag'd,
And Greece and Troy with clashing shields engag'd.
Meantime on Ilion's tower Apollo stood.
And, calling Mars, thus urg'd the raging God.
"Stern power of arms, by whom the mighty fall;
Who bath'st in blood, and shak'st th' embattled
Rise in thy wrath! to Hell's abhorr'd abodes [wall,
Dispatch yon Greek, and vindicate the gods.
First rosy Venus felt his brutal rage;

[sire,

Me next he charg'd, and dares all Heaven engage:
The wretch would brave high Heaven's immortal
His triple thunder, and his bolts of fire."
The god of battle issues on the plain,
Stirs all the ranks, and fires the Trojan train;
In form like Acamas, the Thracian guide,
Enrag'd, to Troy's retiring chiefs he cry'd:
"How long, ye sons of Priam! will ye fly,
And unreveng'd see Priam's people die ?
Still unresisted shall the foe destroy,
And stretch the slaughter to the gates of Troy?
Lo brave Eneas sinks beneath his wound,
Not god-like Hector more in arms renown'd:
Haste all, and take the generous warrior's part,"
He said; new courage swell'd each hero's heart.
Sarpedon first his ardent soul express'd.
And, turn'd to Hector, these bold words express'd:
Say, chief, is all thy ancient valour lost?
Where are thy threats, and where thy glorious
boast,

That propt alone by Priam's race should stand
Troy's sacred walls, nor need a foreign hand?
Now, now thy country calls her wanted friends,
And the proud vaunt in just derision ends,
Remote they stand, while alien troops engage,
Like trembling hounds before the lion's rage.
Far distant hence I held my wide command,
Where foaming Xanthus laves the Lycian land,
With ample wealth (the wish of mortals) blest,
A beauteous wife, and infant at her breast;
With those I left whatever dear could be;
Greece, if she conquers, nothing wins from me :
Yet first in fight my Lycian bands I cheer,
And long to meet this mighty man ye fear;
While Hector idle stands, nor bids the brave
Their wives, their infants, and their altars save.
Haste, warrior, haste! preserve thy threaten'd
Or one vast burst of all-involving fate
Full o'er your towers shall fall, and sweep away
Sons, sires, and wives, an undistinguish'd prey.
Rouse all thy Trojans, urge thy aids to fight;
These claim thy thoughts by day, thy watch by
night:

[state;

With force incessant the brave Greeks oppose;
Such cares thy friends deserve, and such thy foes."
Stung to the heart the generous Hector hears,
But just reproof with decent silence bears,
From his proud car the prince impetuous springs,
On earth he leaps; his brazen armour rings.
Two shining spears are brandish'd in his hands;
Thus arm'd, he animates his drooping bands,
Revives their ardour, turns their steps from flight,
And wakes anew the dying flames of fight.
They turn, the stand, the Greeks their fury dare,
Condense their powers, and wait the growing war.
As when, on Ceres' sacred floor, the swain
Spreads the wide fan to clear the golden grain,
And the light chaff, before the breezes borne,
Ascends in clouds from off the heapy corn;

The gray dust, rising with collected winds,
Drives o'er the barn, and whitens all the hinds:
So white with dust the Grecian host appears,
From trampling steeds, and thundering charioteers;
The dusky clouds from labour'd earth arise,
And roll in smoking volumes to the skies.
Mars hovers o'er them with his sable shield,
And adds new honours to the darken'd field,
Pleas'd with his charge, and ardent to fulfil,
In Troy's defence, Apollo's heavenly will:
Soon as from fight the blue-ey'd maid retires,
Each Trojan bosom with new warmth he fires.
And now the god, from forth his sacred fane,
Produc'd Eneas to the shouting train;
Alive, unharm'd, with all his peers around,
Erect he stood, and vigorous from his wound:
Inquiries none they made; the dreadful day
No pause of words admits, no dull delay;
Fierce discord storms, Apollo loud exclaims,
Fame calls, Mars thunders, and the field's in
Stern Diomed with either Ajax stood, [flames.
And great Ulysses, bath'd in hostile blood.
Embodied close, the labouring Grecian train
The fiercest shock of charging hosts sustain.
Unmov'd and silent, the whole war they wait,
Serenely dreadful, and as fix'd as fate.
So when th' embattled clouds in dark array,
Along the skies their gloomy lines display;
When now the north his boisterous rage has spent,
And peaceful sleeps the liquid element:
The low-hung vapours motionless and still
Rest on the summits of the shaded hill;
Till the mass scatters as the winds arise,
Dispers'd and broken through the ruffled skies.

Nor was the general wanting to his train,
From troop to troop he toils through all the plain.
"Ye Greeks, be men! the charge of battle bear;
Your brave associates and yourselves revere !
Let glorious acts more glorious acts inspire,
And catch from breast to breast the noble fire!
On valour's side the odds of combat lie,
The brave live glorious, or lamented die;
The wretch who trembles in the field of fame,
Meets death, and worse than death, eternal shame."
These words he seconds with his flying lance,
To meet whose point was strong Deicoon's chance,
Eneas' friend, and in his native place
Honour'd and lov'd like Priam's royal race:
Long had he fought the foremost in the field,
But now the monarch's lance transpiere'd his shield:
His shield too weak the furious dart to stay,
Through his broad belt the weapon forc'd its way:
The grizzly wound dismiss'd his soul to Hell,
His arms around him rattled as he fell.

The fierce Æneas, brandishing his blade, In dust Orsilochus and Chrethon laid, Whose sire Diocleus, wealthy, brave, and great, In well-built Phere held his lofty seat: Sprung from Alpheus, plenteous stream! that yields Increase of harvests to the Pyliau fields. He got Orsilochus, Diöcleus he, And these descended in the third degree, Too early expert in the martial toil, In sable ships they left their native soil, T' avenge Atrides: now untimely slain, They fell with glory on the Phrygian plain. So two young mountain lions, nurs'd with blood, In deep recesses of the gloomy wood, Rush fearless to the plains, and uncontrol'd Depopulate the stalls, and waste the fold;

Meanwhile (his conquest ravish'd from his eyes) | Full thirteen moons imprison'd roar'd in vain;

The razing chief in chase of Venus flies:
No goddess she commission'd to the field,
Like Pallas dreadful with her sable shield,
Or fierce Bellona thundering at the wall,
While flames ascend, and mighty ruins fall;
I knew soft combats suit the tender dame,
New to the field, and still a foe to fame.

rough breaking ranks his furious course he bends,
And at the goddess his broad lance extends;
Through her bright veil the daring weapon drove,
Th' ambrosial veil, which all the graces wove ;
Her snowy hand the razing steel profan'd,
An the transparent skin with crimson stain'd.
From the clear vein a stream immortal flow'd,
Such stream as issues from a wounded God:
Pure emanation! uncorrupted flood;

[ocr errors]

Unlike our gross, diseas'd, terrestrial blood :
(For not the bread of man their life sustains,
Nor wine's inflaming juice supplies their veins.)
With tender shrieks the goddess fill'd the place,
And dropp'd her offspring from her weak embrace.
Hi Phoebus took: he casts a cloud around
The fainting chief, and wards the mortal wound.
Then, with a voice that shook the vaulted skies,
The king insults the goddess as she flies.
"Ill with Jove's daughter bloody fights agree,
The field of combat is no scene for thee:
Go, let thy own soft sex employ thy care,
Go, lull the coward, or delude the fair.
Taught by this stroke, renounce the war's alarms,
And learn to tremble at the name of arms.'
Tydides thus. The goddess seiz'd with dread,
Confus'd, distracted, from the conflict fled,
To aid her, swift the winged Iris flew,
Wrapt in a mist above the warring crew.
The queen of love with faded charms she found,
Pale was her cheek, and livid look'd the wound.
To Mars, who sat remote, they bent their way,
Far on the left, with clouds involv'd he lay ;
Beside him stood his lance, distain'd with gore,
Aud, rein'd with gold, his foaming steeds before.
Low at his knee, she begg'd, with streaming eyes,
Her brother's car, to mount the distant skies,
And shew'd the wound by fierce Tydides given,
A mortal man who dares encounter Heaven.
Stern Mars attentive hears the queen complain,
And to her hand commits the golden rein;
She mounts the seat, oppress'd with silent woe,
Driven by the goddess of the painted bow.
The lash resounds, the rapid chariot flies,
And in a moment scales the lofty skies:

Otus and Ephialtes held the chain:
Perhaps had perish'd; had not Hermes' care
Restor❜d the groaning god to upper air.
Great Juno's self has bore her weight of pain,
Th' imperial partner of the heavenly reign;
Amphitryon's son infix'd the deadly dart,
And fill'd with anguish her immortal heart.
Ev'n Hell's grim king Alcides' power confess'd,
The shaft found entrance in his iron breast;
To Jove's high palace for a cure he fled,
Pierc'd in his own dominions of the dead;
Where Pæon, sprinkling heavenly balm around,
Assuag'd the glowing pangs, and clos'd the wound.
Rash, impious man! to stain the blest abodes,
And drench his arrows in the blood of gods!

"But thou (though Pallas urg'd thy frantic deed')
Whose spear ill-fated makes a goddess bleed,
Know thou, whoe'er with heavenly power contends,
Short is his date, and soon his glory ends;
From fields of death when late he shall retire,
No infant on his knees shall call him sire.
Strong as thou art, some god may yet be found,
To stretch thee pale and gasping on the ground;
Thy distant wife, Ægiale the fair,

Starting from sleep with a distracted air,
Shall rouse thy slaves, and her lost lord deplore,
The brave, the great, the glorious, now no more!"
This said, she wip'd from Venus' wounded palm
The sacred ichor, and infus'd the balm.
Juno and Pallas with a smile survey'd,
And thus to Jove began the blue-ey'd maid;
"Permit thy daughter, gracious Jove! to tell
How this mischance the Cyprian queen befell.
As late she try'd with passion to inflame
The tender bosom of a Grecian dame,
Allur'd the fair with moving thoughts of joy,
To quit her country for some youth of Troy;
The clasping zone, with golden buckles bound,
Raz'd her soft hand with this lamented wound."
The sire of gods and men superior smil'd,
And, calling Venus, thus addrest his child:
"Not these, O daughter, are thy proper cares!
Thee milder arts befit, and softer wars:
Sweet smiles are thine, and kind endearing charms,
To Mars and Pallas leave the deeds of arms."

Thus they in Heaven: while on the plain below
The fierce Tydides charg'd his Dardan foe,
Flush'd with celestial blood pursu'd his way,
And fearless dar'd the threatening god of day;
Already in his hopes he saw him kill'd,
Though screen'd behind Apollo's mighty shield.

There stopp'd the car, and there the coursers stood, Thrice rushing furious, at the chief he strook;
Fed by fair Iris with ambrosial food.

Before her mother, love's bright queen appears,
O'erwhelm'd with anguish, and dissolv'd in tears;
She rais'd her in her arms, beheld her bleed,
And ask'd, what god had wrought this guilty deed?
Then she: "This insult from no god I found,
An impious mortal gave the daring wound!
Behold the deed of haughty Diomed!
"Twas in the son's defence the mother bled.
The war with Troy no more the Grecians wage,
But with the gods (th' immortal gods) engage."

Dione then: "Thy wrongs with patience bear,
And share those griefs inferior powers must share:
Unnumber'd woes mankind from us sustain,
And men with woes afflict the gods again.
The nighty Mars in mortal fetters bound,
And lodg'd in brazen dungeons under ground,

His blazing buckler thrice Apollo shook :
He try'd the fourth: when, breaking from the cloud,
A more than mortal voice' was heard aloud:

"O son of Tydeus, cease! be wise and see
How vast the difference of the gods and thee;
Distance immense! between the powers that shine
Above, eternal, deathless, and divine,
And mortal man! a wretch of humble birth,
A short-liv'd reptile in the dust of Earth."

So spoke the god who darts celestial fires;
He dreads his fury, and some steps retires.
Then Phoebus bore the chief of Venus' race
To Troy's high fane, and to his holy place;
Latona there and Phoebe heal'd the wound,
With vigour arm'd him, and with glory crown'd.
This done, the patron of the silver bow

A phantom rais'd, the same in shape and show

1

With great Eneas; such the form he bore,
And such in fight the radiant arms he wore.
Around the spectre bloody wars are wag'd,
And Greece and Troy with clashing shields engag'd.
Meantime on Ilion's tower Apollo stood.
And, calling Mars, thus urg'd the raging God.
"Stern power of arms, by whom the mighty fall;
Who bath'st in blood, and shak'st th' embattled
Rise in thy wrath! to Hell's abhorr'd abodes [wall,
Dispatch yon Greek, and vindicate the gods.
First rosy Venus felt his brutal rage;

Me next he charg'd, and dares all Heaven engage:
The wretch would brave high Heaven's immortal
His triple thunder, and his bolts of fire."

The god of battle issues on the plain,
Stirs all the ranks, and fires the Trojan train;
In form like Acamas, the Thracian guide,
Enrag'd, to Troy's retiring chiefs he cry'd:

[sire,

"How long, ye sons of Priam! will ye fly,
And unreveng'd see Priam's people die ?
Still unresisted shall the foe destroy,
And stretch the slaughter to the gates of Troy?
Lo brave Eneas sinks beneath his wound,
Not god-like Hector more in arms renown'd:
Haste all, and take the generous warrior's part,"
He said; new courage swell'd each hero's heart.
Sarpedon first his ardent soul express'd.
And, turn'd to Hector, these bold words express'd:
Say, chief, is all thy ancient valour lost?
Where are thy threats, and where thy glorious
boast,

That propt alone by Priam's race should stand
Troy's sacred walls, nor need a foreign hand?
Now, now thy country calls her wanted friends,
And the proud vaunt in just derision ends,
Remote they stand, while alien troops engage,
Like trembling hounds before the lion's rage.
Far distant hence I held my wide command,
Where foaming Xanthus laves the Lycian land,
With ample wealth (the wish of mortals) blest,
A beauteous wife, and infant at her breast;
With those I left whatever dear could be;
Greece, if she conquers, nothing wins from me:
Yet first in fight my Lycian bands I cheer,
And long to meet this mighty man ye fear;
While Hector idle stands, nor bids the brave
Their wives, their infants, and their altars save.
Haste, warrior, haste! preserve thy threaten'd
Or one vast burst of all-involving fate

[state;

Full o'er your towers shall fail, and sweep away
Sons, sires, and wives, an undistinguish'd prey.
Rouse all thy Trojans, urge thy aids to fight;
These claim thy thoughts by day, thy watch by
night:

With force incessant the brave Greeks oppose;
Such cares thy friends deserve, and such thy foes."
Stung to the heart the generous Hector hears,
But just reproof with decent silence bears,
From his proud car the prince impetuous springs,
On earth he leaps; his brazen armour rings.
Two shiuing spears are brandish'd in his hands;
Thus arm'd, he animates his drooping bands,
Revives their ardour, turns their steps from flight,
And wakes anew the dying flames of fight.
They turn, the stand, the Greeks their fury dare,
Condense their powers, and wait the growing war.
As when, on Ceres' sacred floor, the swain
Spreads the wide fan to clear the golden grain,
And the light chaff, before the breezes borne,
Ascends in clouds from off the heapy corn;

The gray dust, rising with collected winds,
Drives o'er the barn, and whitens all the hinds:
So white with dust the Grecian host appears,
From trampling steeds, and thundering charioteers;
The dusky clouds from labour'd earth arise,
And roll in smoking volumes to the skies.
Mars hovers o'er them with his sable shield,
And adds new honours to the darken'd field,
Pleas'd with his charge, and ardent to fulfil,
In Troy's defence, Apollo's heavenly will:
Soon as from fight the blue-ey'd maid retires,
Each Trojan bosom with new warmth he fires.
And now the god, from forth his sacred fane,
Produc'd Eneas to the shouting train;
Alive, unharm'd, with all his peers around,
Erect he stood, and vigorous from his wound:
Inquiries none they made; the dreadful day
No pause of words admits, no dull delay;
Fierce discord storms, Apollo loud exclaims,
Fame calls, Mars thunders, and the field's in
Stern Diomed with either Ajax stood, [flames.
And great Ulysses, bath'd in hostile blood.
Embodied close, the labouring Grecian train
The fiercest shock of charging hosts sustain.
Unmov'd and silent, the whole war they wait,
Serenely dreadful, and as fix'd as fate.
So when th' embattled clouds in dark array,
Along the skies their gloomy lines display;
When now the north his boisterous rage has spent,
And peaceful sleeps the liquid element :
The low-hung vapours motionless and still
Rest on the summits of the shaded hill;
Till the mass scatters as the winds arise,
Dispers'd and broken through the ruffled skies.
Nor was the general wanting to his train,
From troop to troop he toils through all the plain.
"Ye Greeks, be men! the charge of battle bear;
Your brave associates and yourselves revere !
Let glorious acts more glorious acts inspire,
And catch from breast to breast the noble fire!
On valour's side the odds of combat lie,
The brave live glorious, or lamented die;
The wretch who trembles in the field of fame,
Meets death, and worse than death, eternal shame."
These words he seconds with his flying lance,
To meet whose point was strong Deicoon's chance,
Eneas' friend, and in his native place
Honour'd and lov'd like Priam's royal race:
Long had he fought the foremost in the field,
But now the monarch's lande transpiere'd his shield:
His shield too weak the furious dart to stay,
Through his broad belt the weapon fore'd its way:
The grizzly wound dismiss'd his soul to Hell,
His arms around him rattled as he fell.

The fierce Æneas, brandishing his blade,
In dust Orsilochus and Chrethon laid,
Whose sire Diocleus, wealthy, brave, and great,
In well-built Phere held his lofty seat:
Sprung from Alpheus, plenteous stream! that yields
Increase of harvests to the Pylian fields.
He got Orsilochus, Diöcleus he,
And these descended in the third degree,
Too early expert in the martial toil,
In sable ships they left their native soil,
T'avenge Atrides: now untimely slain,
They fell with glory on the Phrygian plain.
So two young mountain lions, nurs'd with blood,
In deep recesses of the gloomy wood,
Rush fearless to the plains, and uncontrol'd
Depopulate the stalls, and waste the fold;

Till pierc'd at distance from their native den,
O'erpower'd they fall beneath the force of men.
Prostrate on earth their beauteous bodies lay,
Like mountain firs as tall and straight as they,
Great Menelaus views with pitying eyes,
Lifts his bright lance, and at the victor flies;
Mars urg'd him on; yet, ruthless in his hate,
The gods but urg'd him to provoke his fate.
He thus advancing, Nestor's valiant son
Shakes for his danger, and neglects his own;
Struck with the thought, should Helen's lord be
slain,

And all his country's glorious labours vain.
Already met the threatening heroes stand;
The spears already tremble in their hand :
In rush'd Antilochus, his aid to bring,
And fall or conquer by the Spartan king.
These seen, the Dardan backward turn'd his course,
Brave as he was, and shunn'd unequal force,
The breathless bodies to the Greeks they drew,
Then mix'd in combat, and their toils renew.
First Pylæmenes, great in battle bled,
Who sheath'd in brass the Paphlagonians led.
Atrides mark'd him where sublime he stood;
Fix'd in his throat, the javelin drank his blood.
The faithful Mydon, as he turn'd from fight
His flying courser, sunk to endless night:
A broken rock by Nestor's son was thrown;
His bended arm receiv'd the falling stone.
From his numb'd hands the ivory-studded reins,
Dropt in the dust, are trail'd along the plains:
Meanwhile his temples feel a deadly wound:
He groans in death, and ponderous sinks to ground;
Deep drove his helmet in the sands, and there
The head stood fix'd, the quivering legs in air,
Till trampled flat beneath the courser's feet:
The youthful victor mounts his empty seat,
And bears the prize in triumph to the fleet.

Great Hector saw, and raging at the view,
Pours on the Greeks; the Trojan troops pursue:
He fires his host with animating cries,
And brings along the furies of the skies.
Mars, stern destroyer! and Bellona dread,
Flame in the front, and thunder at their head:
This swells the tumult and the rage of fight;
That shakes a spear that casts a dreadful light,
Where Hector march'd, the god of battles shin'd,
Now storm'd before him, and now rag'd behind.
Tydides paus'd amidst his full career;
Then first the hero's manly breast knew fear.
As when some simple swain his cot forsakes,
And wide through fens an unknown journey takes;
If chance a swelling brook his passage stay,
And foam impervious cross the wanderer's way,
Confus'd he stops, a length of country past,
Eyes the rough waves, and, tir'd, returns at last.
Amaz'd no less the great Tydides stands :
He stay'd, and, turning, thus address'd his bands:
"No wonder, Greeks! that all to Hector yield,
Secure of favouring gods, he takes the field:
His strokes they second, and avert our spears:
Behold where Mars in mortal arms appears!
Retire then, warriors, but sedate and slow!
Retire, but with your faces to the foe.
Trust not too much your unavailing might;
'Tis not with Troy, but with the gods ye fight."
Now near the Greeks the black battalions drew;
And first two leaders valiant Hector slew:
His force Anchialus and Mnesthes found,
In every art of glorious war renown'd;

In the same car the chiefs to combat ride,
And fought united, and united died.
Struck at the sight, the mighty Ajax glows
With thirst of vengeance, and assaults the foes.
His massy spear with matchless fury sent,
Through Amphius' belt and heavy belly went:
Amphius Apasus' happy soil possess'd,

With herds abounding, and with treasure bless'd;
But fate resistless froin his country led
The chief, to perish at his people's head.
Shook with his fall his brazen armour rung,
And fierce, to seize it, conquering Ajax sprung;
Around his head an iron tempest rain'd;
A wood of spears his ample shield sustain'd;
Beneath one foot the yet-warm corpse he prest,
And drew his javelin from the bleeding breast:
He could no more; the showering darts deny'd
To spoil his glittering arms and plumy pride.
Now foes on foes came pouring on the field,*
With bristling lances, and compacted shields;
Till, in the steely circle straiten'd round,
Forc'd he gives way, and sternly quits the ground.
While thus they strive, Tlepolemus the great,
Urg'd by the force of unresisted fate,
Burns with desire Sarpedon's strength to prove ;
Alcides' offspring meets the son of Jove.
Sheath'd in bright arms each adverse chief came on,
Jove's great descendant, and his greater son.
Prepar'd for combat ere the lance he toss'd,
The daring Rhodian vents his haughty boast:

"What brings this Lycian counsellor so far,
To tremble at our arms, not mix in war?
Know thy vain self; nor let their flattery move,
Who style thee son of cloud-compelling Jove.
How far unlike those chiefs of race divine,
How vast the difference of their deeds and thine!
Jove got such heroes as my sire, whose soul
No fear could daunt, nor Earth nor Hell control.
Troy felt his arm, and yon proud ramparts stand
Rais'd on the ruins of his vengeful hand:
With six small ships, and but a slender train,
He left the town a wide-deserted plain.
But what art thou? who deedless look'st around,
While unreveng'd thy Lycians bite the ground:
Small aid to Troy thy feeble force can be ;
But, wert thou greater, thou must yield to me.
Pierc'd by my spear, to endless darkness go!
I make this present to the shades below."

The son of Hercules, the Rhodian guide, Thus haughty spoke. The Lycian king reply'd : "Thy sire, O prince! o'erturn'd the Trojan state, Whose perjur'd monarch well deserv'd his fate; Those heavenly steeds the hero sought so far, False he detain'd, the just reward of war. Nor so content, the generous chief defy'd, With base reproaches and unmanły pride. But you, unworthy the high race you boast, Shall raise my glory when thy own is lost: Now meet thy fate, and, by Sarpedon slain, Add one more ghost to Pluto's gloomy reign."

He said: both javelins at an instant flew ; Both struck; both wounded; but Sarpedon's slew: Full in the boaster's neck the weapon stood. Transfix'd his throat, and drank the vital blood; The soul disdainful secks the caves of night, And his seal'd eyes for ever lose the light.

Yet not in vain, Tlepolemus, was thrown Thy angry lance; which, piercing to the bone Sarpedon's thigh, had robb'd the chief of breath; But Jove was present, and forbade the death.

« ZurückWeiter »