For sure to warn us Jove his omen sent,
And thus my mind explains its clear event.
The victor eagle, whose sinister flight
Retards our host, and fills our hearts with fright,
Dismiss'd his conquest in the middle skies,
Allow'd to seize, but not possess the prize;
Thus though we gird with fires the Grecian fleet,
Though these proud bulwarks tumble at our feet,
Toils unforeseen, and fiercer, are decreed;
More woes shall follow, and more heroes bleed.
So bodes my soul, and bids me thus advise :
For thus a skilful seer would read the skies.

255 Nor Troy could conquer, nor the Greeks would yield,
Till great Sarpedon tower'd amid the field;
For mighty Jove inspired with martial flame
His matchless son, and urged him on to fame.
In arms he shines, conspicuous from afar,
260 And bears aloft his ample shield in air ;

265

Within whose orb the thick bull-hides were roll'd,
Ponderons with brass, and bound with ductile gold;
And while two pointed javelins arm his hands,
Majestie moves along, and leads his Lycian bands.
So, press'd with hunger, from the mountain's brow
Descends a lion on the flocks below;
So stalks the lordly savage c'er the plain,
In sullen majesty, and stern disdain:
In vain loud mastiffs bay him from afar,
270 And shepherds gall him with an iron war;
Regardless, furious, he pursues his way;
He foams, he roars, he rends the panting prey
Resolved alike, divine Sarpedon glows
With generous rage that drives him on the foes.
He views the towers, and meditates their fall,
To sure destruction dooms the aspiring wall;
Then casting on his friend an ardent look,
Fired with the thirst of glory, thus he spoke :
Why boast we, Glaucus! our extended reign,
280 Where Xanthus' streams enrich the Lycian plain,
Our numerous herds that range the fruitful field
And hills where vines their purple harvest yield,
Our foaming bowls with purer nectar crown'd,
Our feasts enhanced with music's sprightly sound;

275

To him then Hector with disdain return'd,
(Fierce as he spoke, his eyes with fury burn'd):
Are these the faithful counsels of thy tongue?
Thy will is partial, not thy reason wrong:
Or, if the purpose of thy heart thou vent,
Sure heaven resumes the little sense it lent.
What coward counsels would thy madness move,
Against the word, the will reveal'd of Jove?
The leading sign, the irrevocable nod,
And happy thunders of the favouring god,
These shall I slight? and guide my wavering mind
By wandering birds, that fit with every wind?
Ye vagrants of the sky! your wings extend,
Or where the suns arise, or where descend
To right, to left, unheeded take your way,
While I the dictates of high heaven obey.
Without a sign his sword the brave man draws,
And asks no omen but his country's cause.
But why shouldst thou suspect the war's success?
None fears it more, as none promotes it less :
Though all our chiefs amid yon ships expire,
Trust thy own cowardice to escape their fire.
Troy and her sons may find a general grave,
But thou canst live, for thou canst be a slave.
Yet should the fears that wary mind suggests
Spread their cold poison through our soldiers' breasts,
My javelin can revenge so base a part,
And free the soul that quivers in thy heart.

Furious he spoke, and, rushing to the wall,
Calls on his host; his host obey the call;
With ardour follow where their leader flies:
Redoubling clamours thunder in the skies.
Jove breathes a whirlwind from the hills of Ide,
And drifts of dust the clouded navy hide:
He fills the Greeks with terror and dismay,
And gives great Hector the predestined day.
Strong in themselves, but stronger in his aid,
Close to the works their rigid siege they laid.
In vain the mounds and massy beams defend,
While these they undermine, and those they rend;
Upheave the piles that prop the solid wall;
And heaps on heaps the smoky ruins fall.
Greece on her rampart stands the fierce alarms;
The crowded bulwarks blaze with waving arms,
Shield touching shield, a long refulgent row ;
Whence hissing darts, incessant, rain below.
The bold Ajaces fly from tower to tower,
And rouse, with flame divine, the Grecian power.
The generous impulse every Greek obeys;
Threats urge the fearful; and the valiant, praise.
Fellows in arms! whose deeds are known to fame,
And you whose ardour hopes an equal name !
Since not alike endued with force or art;

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285 Why on those shores are we with joy survey'd,
Admired as heroes, and as gods bey'd;
Unless great acts superior merit prove,
And vindicate the bounteous powers above?
"Tis ours, the dignity they give to grace;
The first in valour, as the first in place:
That when with wondering eyes our martial bands
Behold our deeds transcending our commands,
Such, they may cry, deserve the sovereign state,
Whom those that envy, dare not imitate!

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385

295 Could all our care elude the gloomy grave,

Which claims no less the fearful than the brave,
For lust of fame I should not vainly dare
In fighting fields, nor urge thy soul to war:-
But since, alas! ignoble age must come,
300 Disease, and death's inexorable doom;
The life which others pay, let us bestow,
And give to fame what we to nature owe;
Brave though we fall, and honour'd if we live,
Or let us glory gain, or glory give!

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305

310 Threatening the fort, and blackening the field:
Around the walls he gazed, to view from far
What aid appear'd to avert the approaching war,
And saw where Teucer with the Ajaces stood,
Of fight insatiate, prodigal of blood.

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315

In vain he calls; the din of helms and shields
Rings to the skies, and echoes through the fields,
The brazen hinges fly, the walls resound,

Heaven trembles, roar the mountains, thunders all the

Urge those who stand; and those who faint, excite
Drown Hector's vaunts in loud exhorts of fight;
Conquest, not fafety, fill the thoughts of all;
Seek not your fleet, but sally from the wall;
So Jove once more may drive their routed train,
And Troy lie trembling in her walls again.
Their ardour kindles all the Grecian powers;
And now the stones descend in heavier showers.
As when high Jove his sharp artillery forms,
And opes his cloudy magazine of storms;
In winter's bleak, uncomfortable reign,
A snowy inundation hides the plain;
He stills the winds, and bids the skies to sleep;
Then pours the silent tempest thick and deep:
And first the mountain tops are cover'd o'er,
Then the green fields, and then the sandy shore;
Bent with the weight the nodding woods are seen,
And one bright waste hides all the works of men:
The circling seas alone absorbing all,
Drink the dissolving fleeces as they fall.
So from each side increased the stony rain,
And the white ruin rises o'er the plain.

Thus godlike Hector and his troops contend
To force the ramparts, and the gates to rend:

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Their strength united, best may help to bear
The bloody labours of the doubtful war:
Hither the Lycian princes bend their course,
The best and bravest of the hostile force.
But if too fiercely there the foes contend,
Let Telamon at least our towers defend,
And Teacer haste with his unerring bow,
To share the danger, and repel the foe.
Swift at the word, the herald speeds along
The lofty ramparts, through the martial throng,
And finds the heroes bathed in sweat and gore,
Opposed in combat on the dusty shore.
Ye valliant leaders of our warlike bands!
335 Your aid (said Thoös) Peteus' son demands.
Your strength, united, best may help to bear
The bloody labours of the doubtful war:
Thither the Lycian princes bend their course,
The best and bravest of the hostile force.
But if too fiercely here the foes contend,
At least let Telamon those towers defend,
And Teucer haste with his unerring bow,
To share the danger, and repel the foe.
Strait to the fort great Ajax turn'd his care,
345 And thus bespoke his brothers of the war:

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435

Fierce as a whirlwind up the walls he flies, And fires his host with loud repeated cries: Advance, yc Trojans ! lend your valiant hands, 440 Haste to the fleet, and toss the blazing brands They hear, they run; and gathering at his call Raise scaling engines, and ascend the wall: Around the works a wood of glittering spears Shoots up, and all the rising host appears.

Then, thundering through the planks with forceful sway, Drives the sharp rock; the solid beams give way, The folds are shatter'd; from the crackling door 460 Leap the resounding bars, the flying hinges roar Now rushing in, the furious chief appears, Gloomy as night! and shakes two shining spears: A dreadful gleam from his bright armour came, And from his eye-balls flash'd the living flame. 465 He moves a god, resistless in his course,

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520

WHEN now the Thunderer on the sea-beat coast Had fix'd great Hector and his conquering host; He left them to the Fates, in bloody fray To toil and struggle through the well-fought day. Then turn'd to Thracia from the field of fight Those eyes that shed insufferable light, To where the Mysians prove their martial force, And hardy Thracians tame the savage horse; 525 And where the far-famed Hippemolgian strays, Renown'd for justice and for length of days; Thrice happy race! that, innocent of blood, From milk, innoxious, seek their simple food:

Jove sees delighted; and avoids the scene
Of guilty Troy, of arms, and dying men:
No aid, he deems, to either host is given,
While his high law suspends the powers of heaven.
Meantime the monarch of the watery main
Observed the Thunderer, nor observed in vain.
In Samothracia, on a mountain's brow,
Whose waving woods o'erhung the deeps below,
He sate; and round him cast his azure eyes,
Where Ida's misty tops confusedly rise;
Below, fair Ilion's glittering spires were seen;
The crowded ships and sable seas between.
There, from the-crystal chambers of the main
Emerged, he sate, and mourn'd his Argives slain.
At Jove incensed, with grief and fury stung,
Prone down the rocky steep he rush'd along;
Fierce as he pass'd, the lofty mountains nod,
The forest shakes: earth trembled as he trod,
And felt the footsteps of the immortal god.
From realm to realm three ample strides he took,
And, at the fourth, the distant gæ shook.

Far in the bay his shining palace stands,
Eternal frame! not raised by mortal hands;
This having reach'd, his brass-hoof'd steeds he reins,
Fleet as the winds, and deck'd with golden manes.
Refulgent arms his mighty limbs infold,
Immortal arms of adamant and gold.

He mounts the car, the golden scourge applies,
He sits superior, and the chariot flies:

His whirling wheels the glassy surface sweep;
The enormous monsters rolling o'er the deep,
Gambol around him on the watery way;
And heavy whales in awkward measures play:
The sea subsiding spreads a level plain,
Exults, and owns the monarch of the main :
The parting waves before his coursers fly;
The wondering waters leave his axle dry.

Deep in the liquid regions lies a cave ;
Between where Tenedos the surges lave,
And rocky Imbrus breaks the rolling wave:
There the great ruler of the azure round
Stopp'd his swift chariot, and his steeds unbound,
Fed with ambrosial herbage from his hand,
And link'd their fetlocks with a golden band,
Infrangible, immortal: there they stay,
The father of the floods pursues his way;
Where, like a tempest darkening heaven around,
Or fiery deluge that devours the ground,
The impatient Trojans, in a gloomy throng,
Embattled roll'd, as Hector rush'd along:
To the loud tumult and the barbarous cry,
The heavens re-echo, and the shores reply;
They vow destruction to the Grecian name,
And in their hopes the fleets already flame.

But Neptune, rising from the seas profound,
The god whose earthquakes rock the solid ground,
Now wears a mortal form; like Calchas seen,
Such his loud voice, and such his manly mien ;
His shouts incessant every Greek inspire,
But most the Ajaces, adding fire to fire.

"Tis yours, O warriors, all our hopes to raise ;
Oh recollect your ancient worth and praise:
Tis yours to save us, if you cease to fear;
Flight, more than shameful, is destructive here.
On other works though Troy with fury fall,
And pour her armies o'er our batter'd wall;

Not Calchas this, the venerable seer;
Short as he turn'd, I saw the power appear:
15 I mark'd his parting, and the steps he trod;
His own bright evidence reveals a god.
E'en now some energy divine I share,
And seem to walk on wings, and tread in air!
With equal ardour (Telamon returns)

20 My soul is kindled, and my bosom burns:
New rising spirits all my force alarm,
Lift each impatient limb, and brace my arm.
This ready arm, unthinking, shakes the dart;
The blood pours back, and fortifies my heart;
25 Singly, methinks, yon towering chief Í meet,
And stretch the dreadful Hector at my feet.

35

Full of the god that urged their burning breast,
The heroes thus their mutual warmth express'd.
Neptune meanwhile the routed Greeks inspired,
30 Who, breathless, pale, with length of labours tired
Pant in the ships; while Troy to conquest calls,
And swarms victorious o'er their yielding walls:
Trembling before the impending storm they lie,
While tears of rage stand burning in their eye.
Greece sunk they thought, and this their fatal hour;
But breathe new courage as they feel the power.
Teucer and Leitus first his words excite;
Then stern Peneleus rises to the fight;
Thoas, Deïyprus, in arms renown'd,
And Merion next, the impulsive fury found;
Last Nestor's son the same bold ardour takes,
While thus the god the martial fire awakes:
Oh lasting infamy, oh dire disgrace
To chiefs of vigorous youth and manly race!
45 I trusted in the gods, and you, to see

40

Brave Greece victorious, and her navy free:
Ah no-the glorious combat you disclaim,
And one black day clouds all her former fame.
Heavens! what a prodigy these eyes survey,
50 Unseen, unthought, till this amazing day!
Fly we at length from Troy's oft-conquer'd banas?
And falls our fleet by such inglorious hands?
A rout undisciplined, a straggling train,
Not born to glories of the dusty plain:

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125

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135

140

55 Like frighted fawns, from hill to hill pursued,
A prey to every savage of the wood:
Shall these, so late who trembled at your name,
Invade your camps, involve your ships in flame?
A change so shameful, say, what cause has wrought?

145

60 The soldiers' baseness, or the general's fault?
Fools! will ye perish for your leader's vice;
The purchase infamy, and life the price?
'Tis not your cause, Achilles' injured fame:
Another's is the crime, but yours the shame.

150

65 Grant that our chief offend through rage or lust,
Must you be cowards if your king's unjust?
Prevent this evil, and your country save:
Small thought retrieves the spirits of the brave.
Think, and subdue! on dastards dead to fame
70 I waste no anger, for they feel no shame :

But you, the pride, the flower of all our host,
My heart weeps blood to see your glory lost!
Nor deem this day, this battle, all you lose ;
A day more black a fate more vile ensues.
75 Let each reflect, who prizes fame or breath,
On endless infamy, on instant death,
For lo! the fated time, the appointed shore;
Hark! the gates burst, the brazen barriers roar !

There Greece has strength: but this, this part o'er Impetuous Hector thunders at the wall;

thrown,

The hour, the spot, to conquer or to fall.

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85

Her strength were vain; I dread for you alone.
Here Hector rages like the force of fire,
Vaunts of his gods, and calls high Jove his sire.
If yet some heavenly power your breast excite,
Breathe in your hearts, and string your arms to fight,
Greece yet may live, her threaten'd fleet remain ;
And Hector's force, and Jove's own aid, be vain.
Then with his sceptre that the deep controls,
He touch'd the chiefs, and steel'd their manly souls:
Strength, not their own, the touch divine imparts,
Prompts their light limbs, and swells their daring
hearts.

Then as a falcon from the rocky height,
Het quarry seen, impetuous at the sight
Forth-springing instant, darts herself from high.
Shoots on the wing, and skims along the sky:
Such, and so swift, the power of ocean flew;
The wide horizon shut him from their view.
The inspiring god, Oïleus' active son
Perceived the first, and thus to Telamon:

Some god, my friend, some god in human form,
Favouring descends, and wills to stand the storm.

• Neptune.

90

These words the Grecians' fainting hearts inspire,
And listening armies catch the godlike fire.
Fix'd at his post was each bold Ajax found,
With well-ranged squadrons strongly circled round
So close their order, or disposed their fight,
As Pallas' self might view with fix'd delight;
Or had the god of war inclined his eyes,
The god of war had own'd a just surprise.
A chosen phalanx, firm, resolved as Fate,
Descending Hector and his battle wait.
An iron scene gleams dreadful o'er the fields,
Armour in armour lock'd, and shields in shields,
Spears lean on spears, on targets targets throng,
Helms stuck to helms, and man drove man along.
The floating plumes unnumber'd wave above,
As when an earthquake stirs the nodding grove ;
95 And, leveil'd at the skies with pointing rays,
Their brandish'd lances at each motion blaze.
Thus breathing death, in terrible array,
The close-compacted legions, urged their way:
Fierce they drove on, impatient to destroy;
100 Troy charged the first, and Hector first of Troy
As from some mountain's craggy foreheap torn,
A rock's round fragment flies, with fury borne

155

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165

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175

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195

(Which from the stubborn stone a torrent rends),
Precipitate the ponderous mass descends:
From steep to steep the rolling ruin bounds;
At every shock the crackling wood resounds:
Still gathering force, it smokes; and urged amain,
Whirls, leaps, and thunders down, impetuous to the
plain :

There stops-So Hector. Their whole force he proved,
Resistless when he raged, and, when he stopp'd, un-
moved.
200

On him the war is bent, the darts are shed,
And all their falchions wave around his head :
Repulsed he stands, nor froin his stand retires;
But with repeated shouts his army fires.
Trojans be firm; this arm shall make your way
Through yon square body, and that black array.
Stand, and my spear shall rout their scattering power,
Strong as they seem, embattled like a tower.
For he that Juno's heavenly bosom warms,
The first of gods, this day inspires our arms.

He said, and roused the soul in every breast:
Urged with desire of fame, beyond the rest,
Forth march'd Deiphobus; but marching held,
Before his wary steps, his ample shield.
Bold Merion aim'd a stroke (nor aim'd it wide)
The glittering javelin pierced the tough bull-hide;
But pierced not through: unfaithful to his hand,
The point broke short, and sparkled in the sand.
The Trojan warrior, touch'd with timely fear,
On the raised orb to distance bore the spear:
The Greek retreating mourn'd his frustrate blow,
And cursed the treacherous lance that spared a foe;
Then to the ships with surly speed he went,
To seek a surer javelin in his tent.

Meanwhile with rising rage the battle glows,
The tumult thickens, and the clamour grows.
By Teucer's arm the warlike Imbrius bleeds,
The son of Mentor, rich in generous steeds,
Ere yet to Troy the sons of Greece were led,
In fair Pedæus' verdant pastures bred,
The youth had dwelt; remote from war's alarms,
And blest in bright Medesicaste's arms:
(This nymph, the fruit of Priam's ravish'd joy,
Allied the warrior to the house of Troy),
To Troy, when glory call'd his arms he came,
And match'd the bravest of her chiefs in fame:
With Priam's sons, a guardian of the throne,
He lived, beloved and honour'd as his own.
Him Teucer pierced between the throat and ear:
He groans beneath the Telamonian spear.
As from some far-seen mountain's airy crown,
Subdued by steel, a tall ash tumbles down,
And soils its verdant tresses on the ground:
So falls the youth; his arms the fall resound.
Then Teucer rushing to despoil the dead,
From Hector's hand a shining javelin fled:
He saw, and shunn'd the death; the forceful dart
Sung on, and pierced Amphimachus's heart,
Cteatus' son, of Neptune's forceful line;
Vain was his courage, and his race divine!
Prostrate he fals; his clanging arms resound,
And his broad buckler thunders on the ground.
To seize his beamy helm the victor flies,
And just had fasten'd on the dazzling prize,
When Ajax' manly arm a javelin flung:
Full on the shield's round boss the weapon rung;
He felt the shock, nor more was doom'd to feel
Secure in mail, and sheath'd in shining steel.
Repulsed he yields; the victor Greeks obtain
The spoils contested, and bear off the slain.
Between the leaders of the Athenian line
(Stichius the brave, Menestheus the divine),
Deplored Amphimachus, sad object! lies;
Imbrius remains the fierce Ajaces' prize.
As two grim lions bear across the lawn,
Snatch'd from devouring hounds, a slaughter'd fawn,
In their fell jaws high-lifting through the wood,
And sprinkling all the shrubs with drops of blood;
So these the chief: great Ajax from the dead
Strips his bright arms, Oileus lops his head :
Toss'd like a ball, and whirl'd in air away,
At Hector's feet the gory visage lay.

The god of ocean, fired with stern disdain,
And pierced with sorrow for his grandson* slain,
Inspires the Grecian hearts, confirms their hands,
And breathes destruction to the Trojan bands.
Swift as a whirlwind rushing to the fleet,

He finds the lance-famed Idomen of Crete;

Amphimachus.

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280

His pensive brow the generous care express'd
With which a wounded soldier touch'd his breast,
Whom in the chance of war a javelin tore,
And his sad comrades from the battle bore
Him to the surgeons of the camp he sent;
That office paid, he issued from his tent,
Fierce for the fight: to him the god begun,
In Thoas' voice, Andræmon's valiant son,
Who ruled where Calydon's white rocks arise,
And Pleuron's chalky cliffs emblaze the skies.
Where's now the imperious vaunt, the daring boast.
Of Greece victorious, and proud Ilion lost?

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205

To whom the king: On Greece no blame be thrown,
Arms are her trade, and war is all her own.
Her hardy heroes from the well-fought plains
Nor fear withholds, nor shameful sloth detains.
"Tis heaven, alas! and Jove's all-powerful doom,
That far, far distant from our native home
Wills us to fall, inglorious! Oh my friend!

295

215

210 Once foremost in the fight, still prone to lend
Or arms, or counsels; now perform thy best,
And what thou canst not singly, urge the rest.
Thus he; and thus the god, whose force can make
The solid globe's eternal basis shake:
Ah! never may he see his native land,
But feed the vultures on this hateful strand,
Who seeks ignobly in his ships to stay,
Nor dares to combat on this signal day!
For this, behold! in borrid arms I shine,
And urge thy soul to rival acts with mine;
Together let us battle on the plain;
Two, not the worst; nor e'en this succour vain:
Not vain the weakest, if their force unite;
But ours, the bravest have confess'd in fight.
This said, he rushes where the combat burns ;
Swift to his tent the Cretan king returns.
From thence, two javelins glittering in his hand,
And clad in arms that lighten'd all the strand,
Fierce on the foe the impetuous hero drove;
230 Like lightning bursting from the arm of Jove,
Which to pale man the wrath of heaven declares,
Or terrifies the offending world with wars;
In streamy sparkles, kindling all the skies,
From pole to pole the trail of glory flies.

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235 Thus his bright armour o'er the dazzled throng
Gleam'd dreadful, as the monarch flash'd along.
Him, near his tent, Meriones attends;
Whom thus he questions: Ever best of friends!
O say, in every art of battle skill'd,

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240 What holds thy courage from so brave a field?
On some important message art thou bound,
Or bleeds my friend by some unhappy wound?
Inglorious here, my soul abhors to stay,
And glows with prospects of the approaching day.

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330

O prince! (Meriones replies) whose care
Leads forth the embattled sons of Crete to war;
This speaks my grief: this headless lance I wield; 335
The rest lies rooted in a Trojan shield.

To whom the Cretan: Enter, and receive

250 The wanted weapons; those my tent can give ;
Spears I have store (and Trojan lances all)
That shed a lustre round the illumined wall.
Though I, disdainful of the distant war,
Nor trust the dart, nor aim the uncertain spear
255 Yet hand to hand I fight, and spoil the slain;

But those my ship contains; whence distant far,
I fight conspicuous in the van of war,
What need I more? if any Greek there be
Who knows not Merion, I appeal to thee.
To this, Idomeneus: The fields of fight
Have proved thy valour, and unconquer'd might;
And where some ambush for the foes design'd,
E'en there, thy courage would not lag behind.
In that sharp service, singled from the rest,
The fear of each, our valour, stands confess'd.
No force, no firmness, the pale coward shews;
He shifts his place, his colour comes and goes:;
A dropping sweat creeps cold on every part,
Against his bosom beats his quivering heart;
275 Terror and death in his wild eye-balls stare;

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355

aught disturb the tenor of his breast,
"Tis but the wish to strike before the rest.

In such assays thy blameless worth is known,
And every art of dangerous war thy own.
By chance of fight whatever wound you bore,
Those wounds were glorious all, and all before;
Such as may teach, 'twas still thy brave delight
To oppose thy bosom where the foremost fight.
But why, like infants, cold to honour's charms,
Stand we to talk, when glory calls to arms?
Go-from my conquer'd spears the choicest take,
And to their owners send them nobly back.

Swift as the word bold Merion snatch'd a spear,
And breathing slaughter follow'd to the war.
So Mars armipotent invades the plain
(The wide destroyer of the race of man):
Terror, his best-loved son, attends his course,
Arm'd with stern boldness, and enormous force;
The pride of haughty warriors to confound,
And lay the strength of tyrants on the ground:
From Thrace they fly, call'd to the dire alarms
Of warring Phlegyians, and Ephyrian arms,
Invoked by both, relentless they dispose
To these glad conquest, murderous rout to those.
So march'd the leaders of the Cretan train,
And their bright arms shot horror o'er the plain.
Then first spake Merion: Shall we join the right,
Or combat in the centre of the fight?
Or to the left our wanted succour lend?
Hazard and fame all parts alike attend.

Not in the centre (Idomen replied):
Our ablest chieftains the main battle guide;
Each godlike Ajax makes that post his care,
And gallant Teucer deals destruction there:
Skill'd, or with shafts to gall the distant field,
Or bear close battle on the sounding shield.
These can the rage of haughty Hector tame:
Safe in their arms, the navy fears no flame;
Till Jove himself descends, his bolts to shed,
And hurl the blazing ruin at our head.
Great must he be, of more than human birth,
Nor feed like mortals on the fruits of earth,
Him neither rocks can crush, nor steel can wound,
Whom Ajax fells not on the ensanguined ground.
In standing fight he mates Achilles' force,
Excell'd alone in swiftness in the course.
Then to the left our ready arms apply,
And live with glory, or with glory die.

400 Beneath the chin the point was seen to glide,
And glitter'd, extant, at the farther side.
As when the mountain oak, or poplar tall,
Or pine, fit mast for some great admiral,

500

Groans to the oft-heaved axe, with many a wound, 493
405 Then spreads a length of ruin o'er the ground;
So sunk proud Asius in that dreadful day,
And stretch'd before his much-loved coursers lay.
He grinds the dust distain'd with streaming gore,
And, fierce in death, lies foaming on the shore.
Deprived of motion, stiff with stupid fear,
Stands all aghast his trembling charioteer,
Nor shuns the foe, nor turns the steeds away,
But falls transfix'd, an unresisting prey:
Pierced by Antilochus, he pants beneath

410

415 The stately car, and labours out his breath.
Thus Asius' steeds (their mighty master gone)
Remain the prize of Nestor's youthful son.
Stabb'd at the sight, Deïphobus drew nigh,
And made, with force, the vengeful weapon fly.

505

510

420 The Cretan saw; and, stooping, caused to glance,
From his slope shield, the disappointed lance.
Beneath the spacious targe (a blazing round
'Thick with bull-hides and brazen orbits bound.
On his raised arm by two strong braces stay'd)
425 He lay collected in defensive shade;

515

430

O'er his safe head the javelin idly sung,
And on the tinkling verge more faintly rung.
E'en then, the spear the vigorous arm confess'd,
And pierced, obliquely, king Hypsener's breast:
Warm'd in his liver, to the ground it bore
The chief, his people's guardian now no more!
Not unattended (the proud Trojan cries)
Nor unrevenged, lamented Asius lies:

520

For thee though hell's black portals stand display'd, 525 435 This mate shall joy thy melancholy shade.

He said; and Merion to the appointed place,
Fierce as the god of battles, urged his pace,
Soon as the foe the shining chiefs beheld
Rush like a fiery torrent o'er the field,
The force embodied in a tide they pour;
The rising combat sounds along the shore.
As warring winds, in Sirius' sultry reign,
From different quarters sweep the sandy plain;
On every side the dusty whirlwinds rise,
And the dry fields are lifted to the skies:
Thus, by despair, hope, rage, together driven,
Met the black hosts, and, meeting, darken'd heaven.
All dreadful glared the iron face of war,
Bristled with upright spears, that flash'd afar;
Dire was the gleam of breast-plates, helms, and shields
And polish'd arms emblazed the flaming fields:
Tremendous scene! that general horror gave,
But touch'd with joy the bosoms of the brave.
Saturn's great sons in fierce contention vied,
And crowds of heroes in their anger died.
The sire of earth and heaven, by Thetis won
To crown with glory Peleus' godlike son,
Will'd not destruction to the Grecian powers,
But spared a while the destined Trojan towers:
While Neptune, rising from his azure main,
Warr'd on the king of heaven with stern disdain,
And breathed revenge, and fired the Grecian train.
Gods of one source, of one ethereal race,
Alike divine, and heaven their native place:
But Jove the greater; first-born of the skies,
And more than men, or gods, supremely wise.
For this, of Jove's superior might afraid,
Neptune in human form conceal'd his aid.
These powers infold the Greek and Trojan train
In War and Discord's adamantine chain,
Indissolubly strong; the fatal tie

Is stretch'd on both, and close-compell'd they die.
Dreadful in arms, and grown in combats grey,
The bold Idomeneus controls the day.
First by his hand Othryoneus was slain,
Swell'd with false hopes, with mad ambition vain !
Call'd by the voice of war to martial fame,
From high Cabesus' distant walls he came;

Heart-piercing anguish, at the haughty boast,
Touch'd every Greek, but Nestor's sons the most.
Grieved at he was, his pious arms attend,

And his broad buckler shields his slaughter'd friend; 530

440 Till sad Mecistheus and Alastor bore
His honour'd body to the tented shore.

Nor yet from fight Idomeneus withdraws;
Resolved to perish in his country's cause,

445

Or find some foe, whom heaven and he shall doom 535
To wail his fate in death's eternal gloom.
He sees Alcathoüs in the front aspire;

450 Who charm'd her parent's and her husband's heart,
With beauty, sense, and every work of art:
He once, of Ilion's youth, the loveliest boy,
The fairest she of all the fair of Troy.
By Neptune now the hapless hero dies,

545

455 Who covers with a cloud those beauteous eyes,
And fetters every limb: yet bent to meet
His fate he stands; nor shuns the lance of Crete.
Fix'd as some column, or deep-rooted oak
(While the winds sleep), his breast received the stroke.
460 Before the ponderous stroke his corselet yields,
Long-used to ward the death in fighting fields.

551

I