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His fhoulder-blade receives the fatal wound;
The groaning warrior pants upon the ground. 345
His troops, that fee their country's glory slain,
Fly diverse, scatter'd o'er the distant plain.
Patroclus' arm forbids the fpreading fires,
And from the half-burn'd fhip proud Troy retires:
Clear'd from the fmoke the joyful navy lies:
In heaps on heaps the foe tumultuous flies;'
Triumphant Greece her rescued decks afcends,
And loud acclaim the ftarry region rends
So, when thick clouds inwrap the mountain's head.
Q'er heaven's expanfe like one black cieling fpread,

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Sudden the Thunderer, with a flashing ray, [day:
Burfts through the darknefs, and lets down the
The hills fhine out, the rocks in profpects rife,
And fireams, and vales, and forests, ftrike the eyes;
The fmiling feene wide opens to the fight, 360
And all th' unmeafur'd æther flames with light.
But Troy repuls'd, and scatter'd o'er the plains,
Forc'd from the navy, yet the fight maintains.
Now every Greek fome hoftile hero flew,
But ftill the foremost bold Patroclus flew ;
As Arielycus had turn'd him round,
Sharp in his thigh he felt the piercing wound;
The brazen pointed fpear, with vigour thrown.
The thigh transfix'd, and broke the brittle bone;
Headlong he fell. Next, Thoas, was thy chance, 370
Thy breaft, unarm'd, receiv'd the Spartan lance.
Phylides' dart (as Amphiclus drew nigh)
His blow prevented, and tranfpierc'd his thigh,
Tore all the brawn, and rent the nerves away;
In darkness and in death the warrior lay.

In equal arms two fons of Neftor stand,
And two bold brothers of the Lycian band:
By great Antilochus, Atymnius dies,

Pierc'd in the flank, lamented youth! he lies.
Kind Maris, bleeding in his brother's wound,
Defends the breathlefs carcafe on the ground:
Furious he flies, his murderer to engage;
But godlike Thrafimed prevents his rage,
Between his arm and Thoulder aims a blow;
His arm falls fpouting on the duft below :
He finks, with endless darkness cover'd o'er;
And vents his foul, effus'd with gushing gore.
Slain by two brothers, thus two brothers bleed,
Sarpedon's friends, Amisodarus' seed;
Amifodarus, who, by Furies led,

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The bane of men, abhorr'd Chimæra bred;
Skill'd in the dart in vain, his fons expire,
And pay the forfeit of their guilty fire.
Stopp'd in the tumult, Cleobulus lies
Beneath Oileus' arm, a living prize;
A living prize not long the Trojan stood;
The thirsty falchion drank his recking blood:
Plung'd in his throat the fmoking weapon lies;
Black death, and fate unpitying, feal his eyes.
Amid the ranks, with mutual thirst of fame, 400
Lycon the brave, and fierce Peneleus, came;
In vain their javelins at each other flew,
Now met in arms, their eager fwords they drew.
On the plum'd creft of his Baotian foe,
The daring Lycen aim'd a noble blow;
The fword broke fhort; but his, Peneleus fped
Full on the juncture of the neck and head:
The head, divided by a stroke so just,
Hung by the fkin: the body funk to dust.

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But ftill at Hector godlike Ajax aim'd, Still pointed at his breast his javelin flam'd ; The Trojan chief, experienc'd in the field, O'er his broad fhoulders fpread the massy shield, Obferv'd the ftorm of darts the Grecians pour, 430 And on his buckler caught the ringing fhower. He fees for Greece the fcale of conquest rife, Yet ftops, and turns, and faves his lov'd allies.

As when the hand of Jove a tempeft forms, And rolls the clouds to blacken heaven with ftorms, 435

Dark o'er the fields th' afcending vapour flies,
And fhades the fun, and blots the golden skies:
So from the fhips, along the dufky plain,
Dire Flight and Terror drove the Trojan train.
Ev'n Hector fled; through heaps of difarray 440
The fiery courfers forc'd their lord away;
While far behind his Trojans fall confus'd;
Wedg'd in the trench, in one vaft carnage bruis'd:
Chariots on chariots roll; the clashing spokes
Shock; while the madding fteeds break fhort their
yokes:

445

In vain they labour up the steepy mound;
Their charioteers lie foaming on the ground.
Fierce on the rear, with fhouts, Patroclus flies;
Tumultuous clamour fills the fields and fkies;
Thick drifts of duft involye their rapid flight; 450
Clouds rife on clouds, and heaven is fnatch'd from

fight.

Th' affrighted feeds, their dying lords caft down,
Scour o'er the fields, and ftretch to reach the town.
Loud o'er the rout was heard the victor's cry, [455
Where the war bleeds, and where the thickest die,
Where horse, and arms, and chariots lie o'erthrown,
And bleeding heroes under axles groan.
No ftop, no check, the ftecds of Peleus knew;
From bank to bank th' immortal courfers flew,
High-bounding o'er the foffe: the whirling car 460
Smokes through the ranks, o'ertakes the flying war,
And thunders after Hector; Hector flies,
Patroclus fhakes his lance; but Fate denies.
Not with lefs noife, with lefs impetuous force,
Thetide of Trojans urge their defperate course, 465
Than when in Autumn Jove his fury pours,
And earth is loaden with inceffant fhowers
(When guilty mortals break th' eternal laws,
Or judges, brib'd, betray the righteous cause);
From their deep beds he bids the river rife, 470
And opens all the flood-gates of the skies:

Th' impetuous torrents from their hills obey, Whole fields are drown'd, and mountains fwept

away;

Loud roars the deluge till it meets the main ;
And trembling man fees all his labours vain. 475
And now the chief (the foremost troops repell'd
Back to the fhips his deftin'd progrefs held,
Bore down half Troy in his refiftless way,
And forc'd the routed ranks to ftand the day.
Between the space where filver Simoïs flows, 480
Where lay the fleets, and where the rampires
rofe,

All grim in duft and blood, Patroclus ftands,
And turns the flaughter on the conquering bands.
First Pronous died beneath his fiery dart,
Which pierc'd below the fhield his valiant heart. 485
Theftor was next; who faw the chief appear,
And fell the victim of his coward fear;
Shrunk-up he fat, with wild and haggard eye,
Nor ftood to combat, nor had force to fly;
Patroclus mark'd him as he hunn'd the war.
And with unmanly tremblings thook the car, 490
And dropp'd the flowing reins. Him 'twixt the
jaws

500

The javelin fticks, and from the chariot draws.
As on a rock that over hangs the main,
An angler, ftudious of the line and cane,
Some mighty fish draws panting to the shore; 495
Not with lefs ease the barbed javelin bore
The gaping daftard as the fpear was hook,
He fell, and life his heartlefs breast forfook.
Next on Eryalus he flies; a stone,
Large as a rock, was by his fury thrown:
Full on his crown the ponderous fragment flew,
And burft the helm, and cleft the head in two:
Prone to the ground the breathlefs warrior fell,
And death involv'd him with the fhades of hell.
Then low in duft Epaltes, Echius lie;
Ipheas, Evippus, Polymelus, die;
Amphoterus, and Erymas fucceed;
And laft Tlepolemus and Pyres bleed.
Where'er he moves, the growing laughters fpread
In heaps on heaps; a monument of dead.

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When now Sarpedon his brave friends beheld Grovelling in duft, and gasping on the fil', With this reproach his flying host he warms: Oh ftain to honour! oh difgrace to arms! Forfake, inglorious, the contended plain ; This hand, unaided, fhall the war sustain : The talk be mine, this hero's ftrength to try, Who mows whole troops, and makes an army fly. He fpake; and, fpeaking, leaps from off the car; Patroclus lights, and fternly waits the war. As when two vultures on the mountains height Stoop with refounding pinions to the fight; They cuff, they tear, they raise a screaming cry: The defart echoes, and the rocks reply: The warriors thus, oppos'd in arms, engage With equal clamours, and with equal rage. Jove view'd the combat; whose event foreseen, He thus befpoke his Sifter and his Queen: The hour draws on; the Definies ordain,

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And fend him fafe to Lycia, distant far
From all the dangers and the toils of war;
Or to his doom my braveft offspring yield,
And fatten with celeftia! blood the field?
Then thus the Goddels with the radiant eyes:
What words are these? O Sovereign ofth. Skics! 5 40
Short is the date preferib'd to mortal m

Shall Jove, for one, extend the narrow span,
Whofe bounds were fix'd before his race began
How many fons of Gods, foredoom'd to death,
Before proud Ulion must resign their breath! 545
Were thine exempt, debate would rise above,
And murmuring powers condemn their partial
Jove.

Give the bold chicf a glorious fate in fight;
And, when th' afcending foul has wing'd her
flight,

Let Slee and Death convey, by thy command, 550
The breathlefs body to his native land.
His friends and people, to his future praife,
A marble tomb and pyramid fhall raife,
And lafting honours to his afhes give;
His fame (tisail the dead can have) fhall live. 555
She faid; the Cloud-compeller, overcome,
Affents to faite, and ratifies the doom.
(till'd
Then, touch'd with grief, the weeping heavens dif-
A fhower of blood o'er all the fatal field:
The God, his eyes averting from the plain 560
Laments his fon, predeftin'd to be flain,

Far from the Lycian fhores, his happy native

reign.

Now met in arms, the combatants appear, Each heav'd the fhield, and pois'd the lifted fpear: From ftrong Patroclus' hand the javelin fled, 565 And pais'd the groin of valiant Thrafymed; The nerves unbrac'd, no more his bulk fuftain, He fails, and falling bites the bloody plain. Two founding darts the Lycian leader threw; The firit aloof with erring fury flew, The next tranfpiere'd Achilles' mortal fteed, The generous Pedafus of Theban breed; Fix'd in the shoulder's joint, he reel'd'around, Roll'd in the bloody duft, and paw'd the flippery

ground.

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'His fudden fall th' entangled harnefs broke; 575.
Each axle crackled, and the charist fhook:
When bold Automedon, to dilengage

The starting courfers, and reftrain their rage,
Divides the traces with his fword, and freed
Th' incumber'd chariot from the dying fteed :580
The rest nove on, obedient to the rein;
The car rolls flowly o'er the dully plain.

The towering chiefs to fiercer fights advance,
And first Sarpedon whirl'd his weighty lance, [585
Which o'er the warrior's fhoulder took its courie,
And spent in empty air its dying force.
Not fo Patroclus' never-erring dart :
Aim'd at his breaft, it pierc'd the mortal part,
Where the strong fibres bind the folid heart;
Then, as the mountain oak, or poplar tall,
Or pine, (fit maft for fome great admiral)
Nods to the axe, till with a groaning found

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My godlike fon fhall prefs the Phrygian plain: 530 It finks, and spreads its honours on the ground;,

1

Already on the verge of death he stands,
His life is ow'd to fierce Patroclus' hands.
What pallions in a parent's breaft debate!
Say, shall Isnatch him from impending fate,

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Thus fell the king; and, laid on earth fupine,
Before his chariot ftretch'd his form divine:
He grafp'd the duft difdain'd with ftreaming gore,
And, pale in death, lay groaning on the fhore.

So lies a bull beneath the lion's paws,
While the grim favage grinds with foamy jaws
The trembling limbs, and fucks the fmoking
blood;
600[the wood.
Deep groans, and hollow roars, re-bellow through
Then to the leader of the Lycian band
The dying chief addrefs'd his last command
Glaucus, be bold; thy tafk be firft to dare
The glorious dangers of deftructive war,
To lead my troops, to combat at their head,
In cite the living, and fupply the dead.
Tell them, I charg'd them with my latest breath
Not unreveng'd to bear Sarpedon's death.

:

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Thofe generous friends, who, from their country
far,
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Breathe their brave fouls out in another's war.
See! where in duft the great Sarpedon lies,
In action valiant, and in council wife,
Who guarded right, and kept his people free;
To all his Lycians loft, and loft to thee!
665
Stretch'd by Patroclus' arm on yonder plains,
O fave from hoftile rage his lov'd remains:
Ah let not Greece his conquer'd trophies boast,
Nor on his coft revenge her heroes loft.

He fpoke; each leader in his grief partook, 670
Troy, at the lofs, through all her legions shook.

What grief, what shame, must Glaucus undergo, 610 Transfix'd with deep regret, they view o'erthrown

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But o'er the dead the fierce Patroclus itands,
And, rouzing Ajax, rouz'd the listening bands:

Heroes, be men! be what you were before; 680
Or weigh the great occafion, and be more.
The chief who taught our lofty walls to yield,
Lies pale in death, extended on the field.
To guard his body, Troy in numbers flies;
'Tis half the glory to maintain our prize.
Hafte, ftrip his arms, the flaughter round him
And fend the living Lycians to the dead. [fpread,
The heroes kindle at his fierce command;

685

625 The martial fquadrons close on either hand:
Here Troy and Lycia charge with loud alarms, 690
Theffalia there, and Greece, oppofe their arms.
With horrid fhouts they circle round the flain;
The clath of armour rings o'er all the plain.
Great Jove, to fwell the horrors of the fight,
O'er the fierce armies pours pernicious night; 695
And round his fon confounds the warring hosts,
His fate ennobling with a crowd of ghosts.

And the foul iffued in the purple flood.
His flying steeds the Myrmidons detain,
Unguided now, their mighty master flain.
All-impotent of aid, transfix'd with grief,
Unhappy Glaucus heard the dying chief.
His painful arm, yet ufelefs with the smart
Inflicted late by Teacer's deadly dart,
Supported on his better hand he stay'd;
To Phoebus then, ('twas all he could) he pray'd
All-feeing monarch! whether Lycia's coaft,
Or facred Ilion, thy bright presence boast,
Powerful alike to cafe the wretch's fmart!
O hear me ! God of every healing art! 635
Lo! ftiff with clotted blood, and pierc'd with
pain,

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That thrills my arm, and fhoots thro' every vein,
I ftand, unable to fuftain the spear,
And figh, at diftance from the glorious war.
Low in the duft is great Sarpedon laid,
Nor Jove vouchfaf'd his hapless offspring aid.
But thou, O God of Health! thy fuccour lend,
To guard the reliques of my flaughtered friend.
For thou, though diftant, canst restore my might,|
To head my Lycians, and support the fight. 645
Apollo heard; and, fuppliant as he stood,
His heavenly hand reftrain'd the flux of blood :
He drew the dolours from the wounded part,
And breath'd a spirit in his rifing heart :
Renew'd by art divine, the hero ftands,
And owns th' affiftance of immortal hands.
Firft to the fight his native troops he warms,
Then loudly calls on Troy's vindictive arms;
With ample ftrides he stalks from place to place;
Now fires Agenor, now Polydamas;
Æneas next, and Hector, he accofts;
Inflaming thus the rage of all their hofts:
What thoughts, regardlefs chief
employ?

Oh too forgetful of the friends of Troy !

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Now Greece gives way, and great Epigeus falls;
Agacleus' fon, from Budium's lofty walls:
Who, chas'd for murder thence, a fuppliant came 700
To Peleus and the filver-footed dame;
Now fent to Troy, Achilles' arms to aid,
He pays due vengeance to his kinfman's fhade.
Soon as his lucklefs hand had touch'd the dead,
A inck's large fragment thunder'd on his head; 705
Harl'd by Hectorean force, it cleft in twain
His fhatter'd helm, and stretch'd him o'er the
flain,

Fierce to the van of fight Patroclus came;
And, like an eagle darting at his game,
Sprung on the Trojan and the Lycian band; 710
What grief thy heart, what fury urg'd thy hand,
Oh generous Greek! when with full vigour thrown
At Sthenelaüs flew the weighty ftone,
Which funk him to the dead: when Troy, too
[715

near

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thy breaft The only hope of Chalcon's trembling age:
Wide o'er the land was ftretch'd his large domain,
With stately seats, and riches, bleft in vain

Him, bold with youth, and eager to pursue The flying Lycians, Glaucus met, and flew; 725 Pierc'd through the bofom with a sudden wound, He fell, and, falling, made the fields refound. 'Th' Achaians forrow for their hero flain; With conquering fhouts the Trojans fhake the plain, [730

And crowd to spoil the dead: the Greeks oppose; An iron circle round the carcafe grows.

Then brave Laogonus refign'd his breath, Difpatch'd by Merion to the fhades of death: On Ida's holy hill he made abode,

This inftant fee his fhort-liv'd trophies won, And stretch him breathlefs on his flaughter'd fon;

795

Or yet, with many a foul's untimely flight, 799 Augment the fame and horror of the fight. To crown Achilles' valiant friend with praise At length he dooms; and, that his last of days Shall fet in glory, bids him drive the foe; Nor unattended fee the fhades below. Then Hector's mind he fills with dire dismay; He mounts his car, and calls his hosts away, Sunk with Troy's heavy fates, he fees decline 735 The fcales of Jove, and pants with awe divine. Then, or before, the hardy Lycians fled, And left their monarch with the common dead: Around, in heaps on heaps, a dreadful wall Of carnage rifes, as the heroes fall, shield,|(So Jove decreed!) at length the Greeks obtain 740 The prize contested, and defpoil the Blain. The radiant arms are by Patroclus borne, Patroclus' fhips the glorious fpoils adorn.

The priest of Jove, and honour'd like his God.
Between the jaw and ear the javelin went ;
The foul, exhaling, iffued at the vent.

His fpear Æneas at the, victor threw,
Who flooping forward from the death withdrew;
The lance hifs'd harmless o'er his covering

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And trembling ftruck and rooted in the field;
There yet scarce spent, it quivers on the plain,
Sent by the great Æneas' arm in vain.
Swift as thou art (the raging hero cries)
And skill'd in dancing to dispute the prize,
My fpear, the deftin'd paffage had it found,
Had fix'd thy active vigour to the ground.
Oh valiant leader of the Dardan hoft!
(Infulted Merion thus retorts the boast)
Strong as you are, 'tis mortal force you truft, 750
An arm as strong may ftretch thee in the duft.
And if to this my iance thy fate be given,
Vain are thy vaunts; fuccefs is ftill from Heaven:
This inftant fends thee down to Pluto's coaft;
Mine is the glory, his thy parting ghost.

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O friend (Mencetius' fon this anfwer gave)
With words to combat, ill befits the brave;
Not empty boasts the fons of Troy repel,
Your fwords muft plunge them to the fhades of
hell.

To fpeak, befeems the council; but to dare
In glorious action, is the task of war.

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This faid, Patroclus to the battle flies; Great Merion follows, and new fhouts arife: Shields, helmets rattle, as the warriors clofe; And thick and heavy found the storm of blows. 765 As thro' the fhrilling vale, or mountain ground, The labours of the woodman's axe refound; Blows following blows are heard re-echoing wide, While crackling forefts fall on every fide: Thus echo'd all the fields with loud alarms, So fell the warriors, and fo rung their arms. Now great Sarpedon on the fandy fhore, His heavenly form defac'd with duft and gore, And ftuck with darts by warring heroes shed, Lies undiftinguifh'd from the vulgar dead. His long-difputed corfe the chiefs enclose, On every fide the bufy combat grows; Thick as beneath fome fhepherd's thatch'd abode (The pails high-foaming with a milky flood) The buzzing flies, a perfevering train, Inceffant fwarm, and chas'd return again. Jove view'd the combat with a stern survey, And eyes that flash'd intolerable day, Fix'd on the field his fight, his breast debates The vengeance due, and meditates the fates: 785 Whether to urge their prompt effect, and call The force of Hector to Patroclus' fall,

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Then thus to Phoebus, in the realms above, Spoke from his throne the Cloud-compelling Jove: Defcend, my Phoebus! on the Phrygian plain, S10 And from the fight convey Sarpedon flain; Then bathe his body in the crystal flood: With duft dishonour'd, and deform'd with blood: O'er all his limbs celeftial odours shed, And with celeftial robes adorn the dead. Thofe rites difcharg'd, his facred corfe bequeath To the foft arms of filent Sleep and Death. They to his friends the mournful charge ihall bear, His friends a tomb and pyramid fhall rear; What honours mortals after death receive, 820 Thofe unavailing honours we may give!

815

Apollo bows, and from mount Ida's height Swift to the field precipitates his flight; Thence from the war the breathless hero bore, Veil'd in a cloud, to filver Simoïs' fhore; 825 There bath'd his honourable wounds, and dreft His manly members in th' immortal veft; And with perfumes of fweet ambrofial dews, Reftores his freshness, and his form renewa. [830 Then Sleep and Death, two twins of winged race, Of matchless swiftnefs, but of filent pace, Receiv'd surpedon, at the God's command, And in a moment reach'd the Lycian land; The corfe amidit his weeping friends they laid, Where endless honours wait the facred fhade. 835

Mean while Patroclus pours along the plains, With foaming courfers, and with loofeu'd reins. Fierce on the Trojan and the Lycian crew, Ah blind to fate! thy headlong fury flew: Against what Fate and powerful Jove ordain, 840 Vain was thy friend's command, thy courage vain; For he, the God, whofe counfels uncontrol'd Difmay the mighty, and confound the bold; The God who gives, refumes, and orders ail, He urg'd thee on, and urg'd thee on to fall. 845 Who first, brave hero! by that arm was flain, Who laft, beneath thy vengeance, prefs'd the When Heaven itself thy fatal fury led, [plain; And call'd to fill the number of the dead? Adreftus firft; Autonoüs then fucceeds; Echeclus follows; next young Megas bleeds: Epiftor, Melanippus, bite the ground: The daughter, Elafus and Mulius crown'd:

850

Then funk Pylartes to eternal night;
The reft, difperfing, truft their fates to flight. 855
Now Troy had ftoop'd beneath his matchlefs

power,

But flaming Phoebus kept the facred tower.
Thrice at the battlements Patroclus ftrook,
His blazing ægis thrice Apollo fhook: [860
He try'd the fourth; when burfling from the cloud,
A more than mortal voice was heard aloud:
Patroclus! cease; this heaven-defended wall
Defies thy lance; not fated yet to fall;
Thy friend, thy greater far, it fhall withstand:
Troy fhall not ftoop ev'n to Achilles' hand. 865
So spoke the God who darts celestial fires;

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870

Stern Hector faftens on the warrior's head,
And by the foot Patroclus drags the dead.
While all around, confufion, rage, and fright, 920
Mix the contending hofts in mortal fight.
So, pent by hills, the wild winds roar aloud
In the deep bofom of fome gloomy wood;
Leaves, arms, and trees, aloft in air are blown,
The broad oaks crackle, and the Sylvans groan; 925
This way and that the rattling thicket bends,
And the whole foreft in one crash defcends.
Not with lefs noife, with lefs tumultuous rage,
In dreadful fhock the mingled hofts engage.
Darts fhower'd on darts, now round the carcafe
ring;
930

Now flights of arrows bounding from the string:
Stones follow ftones; fome clatter on the fields,
Some, hard and heavy, shake the founding fhields.
But where the rifing whirlwind clouds the
plains,

Sunk in foft duft the mighty chief remains, 935
And, ftretch'd in death, forgets the guiding
reins!

Now, flaming from the zenith, Sol had driven His fervid orb through half the vault of heaven; While on each hoft with equal tempest fell

The fhowering darts, and numbers funk to hell. 940 But when his evening wheels o'erhung the main, 880 Glad conquest rested on the Grecian train.

The Greek obeys him, and with awe retires:
While Hector, checking at the Scran gates
His panting courfers, in his breaft debates,
Or in the field his forces to employ,
Or draw the troops within the walls of Troy.
Thus while he thought, befide him Phœbus stood,
In Afius' fhape, who reign'd by Sangar's flood;
(Thy brother, Hecuba! from Dymas fprung,
A valiant warrior, haughty, bold, and young.) 875
Thus he accofts him: What a fhameful fight!
Gods! is it Hector that forbears the fight?
Were thine my vigour, this fuccessful spear
Should foon convince thee of fo falfe a fear.
Turn then, ah turn thee to the field of fame,
And in Patroclus' blood efface thy fhame.
Perhaps Apollo fhall thy arms fucceed,
And Heaven ordains him by thy lance to bleed.
So fpoke th' infpiring God; then took his flight,
And plung'd amidst the tumult of the fight. 885
He bids Cebrion drive the rapid car;
The lath refounds, the courfers rush to war:
The God the Grecians' finking fouls depreft,
And pour'd swift fpirits through each Trojan breaft.
Patroclus lights, impatient for the fight; 890
A fpear his left, a flone employs his right:
With all his nerves he drives it at the foe;
Pointed above, and rough and grofs below:
The falling ruin crufh'd Cebrion's head,
The lawlefs offspring of king Priam's bed;
His front, brows, eyes, one undiftinguifh'd wound:
The burling balls drop fightlefs to the ground.
The charioteer, while yet he held the rein,
Struck from the car, falls headlong on the plain.
To the dark fhades the foul unwilling glides; 900
While the proud victor thus his fall derides:
Good heavens! what active feats yon artift
fhows!

What skilful divers are our Phrygian foes!
Mark with what eafe they fink into the fand!
Pity! that all their practice is by land!

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Then, from amidst the tumult and alarms,
They draw the conquer'd corfe, and radiant arms.
Then rafh Patroclus with new fury glows, 945
And, breathing flaughter, pours amid the foes.
Thrice on the prefs, like Mars himself, he flew,
And thrice three heroes at each onfet flew.
There ends thy glory! there the Fates untwine
The laft, black remnant of fo bright a line; 950
Apollo dreadful stops the middle way;
Death calls, and Heaven allows no longer day!
For lo! the God, in dufky clouds enthrin'd,
Approaching dealt a ftaggering blow behind.
The weighty fhock his neck and fhoulders feel; 955
His eyes flash fparkles, his ftunn'd fenfes reel
In giddy darkness: far to distance flung,
His bounding helmet on the champain rung.
Achilles' plume is ftain'd with duft and gore, [960
That plume, which never stoop'd to earth before;
Long us'd, untouch'd, in fighting fields to fhine,
And shade the temples of the man divine.
Jove dooms it now on Hector's helm to nod;
Not long-for Fate purfues him, and the God.

His fpear in fhivers falls: his ample shield 965
Drops from his arm; his baldrick ftrows the field:
The corfelet his aftonifh'd breaft forfakes:
Loofe is each joint: each nerve with horror fhakes.
Stupid he ftares, and all-affiftless stands :
Such is the force of more than mortal hands! 970

A Dardan youth there was, well known to fame, From Panthus fprung, Euphorbus was his name; Fam'd for the manage of the foaming horfe, Skill'd in the dart, and matchlefs in the courfe: Full twenty knights he tumbled from the car, 975 While yet he learn'd his rudiments of war. His venturous fpear first drew the hero's gore; He ftruck, he wounded, but he durft no more; Nor, though difarm'd, Patroclus' fury ftood;; Butfwift withdrew the long-protended wood, 980 Andturn'd him short, and herded in thecrowd.,

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