RHESU S.

Nec procul hinc Rhesi niveis tentoria velis Agnoscit lachrymans, primo quæ prodita somno. Tydides multâ vastabat cæde cruentus; Ardentesq; avertit equos in castra, priusquam

Pabula gustassent Trojæ Xanthumque bibissent,

VIRGIL.

PERSONS OF THE DRAMA.

CHORUS OF TROJAN CENTINELS.

HECTOR.

ENEAS.

DOLON.

A SHEPHERD.

RHESUS.

ULYSSES.

DIOMEDE.

PARIS.

MINERVA.

THE MUSE.

THE CHARIOTEER OF RHESUS.

SCENE-BEFORE HECTOR'S TENT AT THE GATES OF

TROY.

RHESU S. (1)

LET

CHORUS.

some swift Centinel to Hector's tent

Go and enquire if any messenger

Be yet arriv'd, who recent tidings bears

From those, who during the fourth nightly watch
Are by the host' deputed. On your arm
Sustain your head, unfold those louring eye-lids,
And from your lowly couch of wither'd leaves,
O Hector, rise, for it is time to listen.

HECTOR.

Who comes? art thou a friend? pronounce the watch word.

Who are ye, that by night approach my bed?
Speak out.

CHORUS.

We guard the camp.

4

(1) The Prologue to Rhesus is wanting; but the following part of it, taken by Isaac Vossius from a Florentine manuscript, is quoted with some corrections by Valkenaer in his Diatribè in Euripidis perditorum Dramatum reliquas, p. 90, 4to. Lug. Bat. 1767, usually bound up with his edition of Hippolytus. These lines are evidently spoken by Juno: O Pallas, daughter of imperial Jove,

I come until this hour hath envious Fate
With-held our succours from the Grecian host.
For now,
in battle worsted, are they harrass'd
By Hector's forceful spear. No grief hath sat
More heavy on my soul, since Paris judg'd
The charms of Venus to transcend both mine
And yours, Minerva, whom of all the gods
I hold most dear! nor will this sorrow cease,
Unless o'erthrown and utterly destroy'd
The walls of faithless Priam I behold.
VOL. 11.

R

HECTOR.

With this tumultuous haste?

I am.

Why com'st thou hither

Hast thou discover'd in the camp

This night some treachery?

CHORUS.

None.

HECTOR.

Why then deserting

The post where thou art station'd, dost thou rouse
The troops, unless thou thro' this midnight gloom
Bring some important tidings? know'st thou not
That near the Argive host we under arms

Take our repose.

CHORUS.

Prepare your brave allies:

Go to their chambers, bid thein wield the spear,
Rouse them from slumber, and dispatch your friends
To your own troop; caparison the steeds.

Who bears the swift alarm to (2) Pantheus' son?
Who to (3) Europa's offspring, Lycia's chief?

(2) We meet with three sons of Pantheus in Homer: Polydamas, who is mentioned in several battles, and is chiefly known by his conference with Hector in the 12th book of the Iliad; Hyperenor, killed by Menelaus in the 14th, where he is called on haw, as bearing a considerable command in the army (of whom Barnes takes no notice), and Euphorbus, who wounds Patroclus in the 16th, and in attempting to revenge the death of his Brother Hyperenor, falls by the hand of Menelaus in single combat in the 17th: but it is impossible to ascertain which of them Euripides here means.

(3) Sarpedon, whom the classical writers unanimously speak of as the son of Jupiter: but though Herodotus, Strabo, and Apollodorus, accord with Euripides in calling Europa, the daughter of Agenor, his mother, he was, according to Homer, the offspring of Laodamia, whose two parents were Bellerophon, and a daughter of Iobates, king of Lycia: their son Hippolochus was the father of Glaucus, who, according to the

Where are the Priests who should inspect the victims?
Who leads the light-arm'd squadron to the field?
And where are Phrygia's archers? let each bow
Be strung.

HECTOR.

Thy tidings are in part alarming,

In part thou giv'st us courage, tho' thou speak
Nought plainly. By the terrifying scourge
Of Pan hast thou been smitten, that thou leav'st
Thy station to alarm the host? Explain
These clamorous sounds. What tidings shall I say
Thou bring'st? thy words are many, but their drift
I comprehend not.

CHORUS.

All night long, O Hector,
The Grecian camp hath kindled fires, the torches
Amid their fleet are blazing, and the host
Tumultuous rush to Agamemnon's tent,
At midnight calling on the king t' assemble
A council: for the sailors never yet
Were thus alarm'd. But I, because I fear
What may ensue, these tidings hither bring,
Lest you should charge me with a breach of duty.

HECTOR.

Full seasonably thou com❜st, altho' thou speak
Words fraught with terror: for these dastards hope
They in their barks shall from this shore escape
Ere I discover them: their kindled fires
Prove this suspicion. Thou, O partial Jove,
Hast robb'd me of my triumph, like the prey
Torn from the lion, ere I have destroy'd

circumstantial account given of those two heroes in the 6th book of the Iliad, possessed, jointly with Sarpedon, Lycia, the hereditary throne of their common Grandmother: but, according to Herodotus and Strabo, Sarpedon obtained the sovereignty of that country by conquest, and not by inheritance.