The Power of Ocean fira: Forbear thy fear,
O fon of Peleus! Lo, thy Gods appear!
Behold from Jove defcending to thy aid
Propitious Neptune, and the blue-ey'd Maid. 335
Stay, and the furious flood fhall cease to rave:
'Tis not thy fate to glut his angry wave.
But thou, the counfel Heaven suggests, attend!
Nor breathe from combat, nor thy sword tufpend,
Till Troy receive her flying fons, till all 340
Her routed fquadrons pant behind their wall;
Hector alone thail stand his fatal chance,
And Hector's blood shall smoke upon thy lance.
Thine is the glory doom'd. Thus fpake the Gods:
Then fwift afcended to the bright abodes. 345
Stung with new ardour, thus by Heaven impell'd,
He fprings impetuous, and invades the field;
O'er all th'expanded plain the waters spread;
Heap'd on the bounding billows dance the dead,
Floating 'midt scatter'd arms; while cafques of
gold

355

360

And turn'd-up bucklers glitter'd as they roll'd.
High o'er the furging tide, by leaps and bounds,
He wades and mounts; the parted wave refounds.
Not a whole river ftops the hero's course,
While Pallas fills him with immortal force.
With equal rage, indignant Xanthus roars,
And lifts his billows, and o'erwhelms his thores.
Then thus to Simoïs: Hafle, my brother flood!
And check this mortal, that controls a God:
Our braveft heroes elfe shali quit the fight,
And lion tumble from her towery height.
Call then thy fubject freams, and bid them roar,
From all thy fountains (well thy watery fore,
With broken rocks, and with a load of dead,
Charge the black turge, and pour it on his head. 365
Mark how refiflefs through the floods he goes,
And boldly bids the warring Gods he does!
But nor that force, nor forni divine to fight,
Shall aught avail him, if our rage unite:
Whelm'd under our dark gulfs thofe arms fhall be,
That blaze to dreadful in each Trojan eye;
And deep beneath a fandy mountain hurl'd,
Immers'd remain this terror of the world.
Such ponderous ruin thali confound the place,
No Greek hall e'er his perifh'd relicks grace,
No hand his bones fhall gather, or inhume;
Thefe his cold rites, and this his watery tomb.
He faid; and on the chief defcends amain,
Increas'd with gore, and fweiling with the flain.
Then murmuring from his beds, he buils, he

raves,

And a foam whitens on the purple waves: At every step, before Achilles flood

371

375

380

The crimfon furge, and delug'd him with blood. Fear touch'd the Queen of Heaven: the faw difmay'd;

She call'd aloud, and summon'd Vulcan's aid. 385
Rife to the war! th' infulting flood requires
Thy wafteful arm; affemble all thy fires!
While to their aid, by our command enjoin'd,
Roth the fwift eaftern and the weftern wind.
Thefe from old Ocean at my word'shall blow. 390
Pour the red torrent on the watery foe,
Corpfes and arms to one bright ruin turn,
And hilling rivers to their bottoms burn.
Go, mighty in thy rage! difplay thy power, [400
Drink il. whole flood, the crackling trees devour.

Scorch all the banks! and (till our voice reclaim Exert th' unwearied furies of the flame!

The Power ignipotent her word obey's:
Wide o'er the plain he pours the boundless blaze;
At once confumes the dead, and dries the foil, 405
And the fhrunk waters in their channel boil.
As when autumnal Boreas fweeps the fky,
And instant blows the water'd gardens dry:
So look'd the field, fo whiten'd was the ground,
While Vulcan breath'd the fiery blaft around. 410
Swift on the fedgy reeds the ruin preys;
Along the margin winds the running blaze:
The trees in flaming rows to afhes turn,
The flowery lotos and the tamarilk burn,',
Broad elm, and cyprefs riling in a spire ;
The watery willows ifs before the fire-
Now glow the waves, the filhes pant for breath,
The eels lie twifting in the pangs of death:
Now flounce aloft, now dire, the fealy fry,
Or, galping, turn their bellies to the fky.
At length the river tear`d his languid head,
And thus, short-panting, to the God he faith:
Oh, Vulcan! oh! what power refifts thy right?
I faint, I fink, unequal to the fight-

I yield-Let Ilion fall, if Fate decree;
Ah, bend no more thy fiery arms on nre!

426

425

Ah, why, Saturnia! must thy fou engage Me, only me, with all his wafteful rage On other Golls his dreadful arm employ, For mightier Gods affert the cause of Troy. 440 Submiffive I defift, if thou command; But, ah! withdraw this all-deftroying hand. Hear then my folemn oath, to yield to Fate Unaided Ilion, and her deftin'd flate, Till Greece fhall gird her with deftructive flame, And in one ruin fink the Trojan name.

(445

His warm entreaty touch'd Saturnia's ear: She bade th' Ignipotent his rage forbear, Recall the flame, nor in a mortal caufe Infeft a God: th' obedient flame withdraws: 450 Again, the branching streams begin to spread, And foft re-murmur in their wonted bed.

While thefe by Juno's will the ftrife refign, The warring Gods in fierce contection join: Re-kindling rage each heavenly breaft alarms; 455 With horrid clangor fhock'd th' ætherial arms: Heaven in loud thunder bids the trampet found; And wide beneath them groans the rending

ground.

Jove, as his fport, the dreadful scene defcries, [460
And views contending Gods with careless eyes.
The Power of Battles lifts his brazen spear,
And firft affaults the radiant Queen of War:

What mov'd thy madness thus to difuaite Atherial minds, and mix all Heaven in fight? What wonder this, when in thy frantic noud 45 Thou drov'ft a mortal to infult a God?

Thy impious hand Tydides' javelin bore,
And madly bath'd it in celeftial gore.

He spoke, and fanore the loud-refounding fhield, Which bears Jove's thunder on its dreadful field; The adamantine ægis of her fire, 471

That turns the glancing bolt and forked fire.
Then heav'd the Geddels in her mighty hand
Aftone the limit of the neighbouring land,
There fix'4 from eldest times; black, craggy, vaft.
This at the heavenly homicide the cat. 476
Thundering he falls, a mass of monstrous size;
And feven broad acres covers as he lies.
The tanning Broke his stubborn nerves unbound;
Loud o'er the fields his ringing arans refound: 480
The foornful dame her conqueft views with fmiles,
And, glorying, thus the proftrate God reviles:

486

490

Faft thou not yet, infatiate fury! known How far Minerva's force tranfcends thy own? Juno, whom thou rebellious dar'it withstand, Correds thy fully thus by Pallas' hand; Thus meets thy broken faith with just difgrace, And partial aid to Troy's perfidious race. The Goddess fpoke, and turg'd her eyes away, Thit, beaming round, diffus' celeftial day, Jove Cyprian daughter, ftooping on the land, Laut to the wounded God her tender hand: Slowly he rifes, fcarcely breathes with pain, And, propt on her fair arm, forfakes the plain. This the bright Emprefs of the heavens furvey'd. And, fcofing thus, to War's victorious Maid: 496|| to! what an aid on Mars's fide is feen! The Smiles and Love's unconquerable Queen! Mark with what infolerice, in open view, She moves: let Pallas, if the dares, purfue. Minerva fmiling heard, the pair ofertook, And flightly on her breast the wanton ftrook: She, unrefifting, fell (her fpirits fled); On earth together lay the lovers fpread; And like thefe heroes, be the fate of all (Minerva cries) who guard the Trojan wall? To Grecian Gods fuch let the Phrygians be, So dread, fo fierce, as Venus is to me; Then from the lowest ftone fhall Troy be mov'dThus fhe; and Juno with a fmile approv'd. 510

500

505

Mean time, to mix in more than mortal fight, The God of Ocean dares the God of Light: What doth hath feiz'd us, when the fields around King with conflicting powers, and heaven returns the found?

515

Chall, ignominious, we with fhame retire,
No deed perform'd, to our Olympian Sire!
Come, prove thy arm for firft the war to wage,
Suits not my greatnefs, or fuperior age:
Rah as thou art to prop the Trojan throne
Forgetful of my wrongs, and of thy own) 520
And guard the race of proud Laomedon!
Halt thou forgot how, at the monarch's prayer,
We had the lengthen'd labours of a year?
Troy's wall I rais'd (for fuch were Jove's com-
mands)
1525
And yon proud bulwarks grew beneath my hands:
Thy talk it was to feed the bellowing droves
Along fair Ida's vales and pendent groves.
But when the circling feafons in their train
Brought back the grateful day that crown'd our
With menace ftern the fraudful king defy'd [pain,
Our latent Godhead, and the prize deny d:
VOL. VI.

531

Mad as he was, he threaten'd fervile bands,
And doom'd us exiles far in barbarous lands,
Incens'd, we heavenward fled with fwifteft wing,
And deftin'd vengeance on the perjur'd king. 535
Doft thou, for this, afford proud Ilion grace,
And not, like us, infeft the faithlefs race;
Like us, their prefent, future fons deftroy,
And from its deep foundations heave their Troy?
Apollo thus: To combat for mankind, 549
fuits the wisdom of celeftial mind:
For what is man? Calamitous by birth,
They owe their life and nourishment to earth;
Like yearly leaves, that, now with beauty crown'd,
Smile on the fun; now wither on the ground. 545
To their own hands conimit the frantic scene,
Nor mix immortals in a cause so mean.

Silent, he heard the Queen of Woods upbraids Not fo Saturnia bore the vaunting maid; But furious thus: What infolence has driven 569 Thy pride to face the Majefty of Heaven? What though, by Jove the female plaque defign'd, Fierce to the feeble race of woman-kind, The wretched matron feels thy piercing dart; Thy fex's tyrant, with a tyger's heart? 565 What though, tremendous in the wood and chase, Thy certain arrows pierce the favage race? How dares thy rafbnefs on the Powers divine Employ thofe arms, or match thy force with mine? Learn hence, no more unequal war to wage-570 She faid, and feiz'd her wrists with eager rage; Thefe in her left hand lock'd, her right unty'd The bow, the quiver, and its plumy pride. About her temples flies the bufy bow: [575 Now here, now there, the winds her from the blow; The fcattering arrows, rattling from the cafe, Drop round, and idly mark the desty place. Swift from the field the baffled huntress Aies, And fearce retains the torrent in her eyes; So, when the falcon wings her way above, To the cleft cavern speeds the gentle dose, (Not fated yet to die) there fufe retreats, Yet ftill her heart against the marble beats.

$80

(585

To her Latona hafles with tender care, Whom Hermes viewing, thus declines the war; How fhall I face the dame, who gives delight To him whofe thunders blacken heaven with night? Go, matchless Goddefs! triumph in the kies, And boat my conqueft, while I yield the prize.

He fpoke; and paft: Latona, ftooping low, 590
Collects the fcatter'd fhafts, and fallen bow,
That, glittering on the dust, lay here and there;
Difhonour'd relicks of Diana's war.

Then fwift purfued her to the blest abode, [595
Where all-confus'a the fought the Sovereign God;
Weeping the grafp'd his knees: th'ambrofial vei
Shook with her fighs, and panted on har picall.
X

The Sire fuperior fmil'd; and bade her how What heavenly hand had caus'd his daughter's woe? Abafh'd, the names his own Imperial fpoufe; And the pale crefcent fades upon her brows, 601 Thus they above; while fwiftly gliding down, Apollo enters Ilion's facred town:

The Guardian God now trembled for her wall,

606

615

And fear'd the Greeks, tho' Fate forbade her fall
Back to Olympus, from the war's alarmis,
Return the fhining bands of Gods in arms;
Some proud in triumph, fome with rage on fire;
And take their thrones around th' ætherial Sire,
Thro' blood, thro' death,Achilles still proceeds, 610
O'er flaughter'd heroes, and o'er rolling fteeds.
As when avenging flames, with fury driv'n
On guilty towns, exert the wrath of Heaven;
The pale inhabitants, fome fall, fome fly;
And the red vapours purple all the sky:
So rag'd Achilles; death and dire difmay;
And toils, and terrors, fill'd the dreadful day.
High on a turret hoary Priam ftands,.
And marks the wafte of his deftructive hands ;
Views, from his arm, the Trojan's fcatter'd flight,
And the near hero rifing on his fight!
No step, no check, no aid! With feeble pace,
And fettled forrow on his aged face,
Faft as he could, he fighing quits the walls;
And thus, defcending, on the guards he calls: 625
You, to whofe care our city-gates belong,
Set wide your portals to the flying throng:
For lo! he comes with unrefitted fway;
He comes, and defolation marks his way!
But when within the walls our troops take breath,
Lock faft the brazen bars, and fhut out death.
Thus charg'd the reverend monarch: wide were
flung

621

[630

The opening folds; the founding hinges rung,
Phoebus rufh'd forth, the flying bands to meet;
Struck flaughter back, and cover'd the retreat, 635
On heaps the Trojans crowd to gain the gate,
And, gladfome, fee their laft efcape from Fate.
Thither, all parch'd with thirst, a heartless train,
Hoary with duft, they beat the hollow plain :
And gafping, panting, fainting, labour on 640
With heavier frides, that lengthen'd tow'rd the
Enrag'd Achilles follows with his fpear; [town.
Wild with revenge, infatiable of war.

645

650

Then had the Greeks eternal praise acquir'd, And Troy inglorious to her walls retir'd; But the, the God who darts etherial flame, Shot down to fave her, and redeem her fame. To young Agenor force divine he gave (Antenor's offspring, haughty, bold, and brave); In aid of him, befide the beech he fate, And, wrapt in clouds, reftrain'd the hand of Fate. When now the generous youth Achilles fpics, Thick beats his heart, the troubled motions rise. (So, ere a ftorm, the waters heave and roll); He stops and questions thus his mighty foul: What! fhall I fly this terror of the plain? Like others fly, and be like others flain? Vain hope! to fhun him by the felf-fame road, Yon line of flaughter'd Trojans lately trod. No: with the common heap I fcorn to fall-660 What if they pals'd me to the Trojan wall, While I decline to yonder path, that leads To Ida's forests and surrounding shades? † Apollo.

655

670

So may I reach, conceal'd, the cooling flood,
From my tir'd body wash the dirt and blood, 665
As foon as night her dufky veil extends,
Return in fafety to my Trojan friends.
What if-But wherefore all this vain debate?
Stand I to doubt, within the reach of Fate?
Ev'n now perhaps, ere yet I turn the wall,
The fierce Achilles fees me, and I fall:
Such is his fwiftnefs 'tis in vain to fly,
And fuch his valour, that who ftands muft die.
Howe'er 'tis better, fighting for the state,
Here, and in public view, to meet my fate. 675
Yet fure he too is mortal! he may feel
(Like all the fons of earth) the force of fleel;
One only foul informs that dreadful frame;
And Jove's fole favour gives him all his fame.

He faid, and food collected in his might: 68e
And all his beating bofom claim'd the fight.
So from fome deep-grown wood a panther starts,
Rous'd from his thicket by a storm of darts:
Untaught to fear or fly, he hears the founds [685
Of shouting hunters, and of clamorous rounds:
Tho' ftruck, tho' wounded fcarce perceives the
pain;

And the barb'd javelin ftings his breast in vain : On their whole war, untam'd the favage flies; And tears his hunter, or beneath him dies. | Not less resolv'd, Antenor's valiant heir Confronts Achilles, and awaits the war, Difdainful of retreat: high-held before, His fhield, (a broad circumference) he bore; Then, graceful, as he stood in act to throw The lifted javelin, thus bespoke the foe:

695

How proud Achilles glories in his fame! And hopes this day to fink the Trojan name Beneath her ruins! Know, that hope is vain ; A thousand woes, a thousand toils, remain. Parents and children our just armis employ, And strong, and many, are the fons of Troy. Great as thou art, ev'n thou may'ft flain with gore Thefe Phrygian fields, and prefs a foreign fhore.

700

710

735

He faid with matchlefs force the javelin flung Smote on his knee; the hollow cuifhes rung 7 Beneath the pointed fteel; but fafe from harms He ftands impaffive in the etherial arms. Then, fiercely rufhing on the daring foe, His lifted arm prepares the fatal blow: But, jealous of his fame, Apollo shrouds The godlike Trojan in a veil of clouds. Safe from purfuit, and fhut from mortal view, Difmifs'd with fame the favour'd youth withdrew. Mean while the God, to cover their efcape, Affumes Agenor's habit, voice and shape, Flies from the furious chief in this disguife; The furious chief ftill follows where he flies. Now o'er the fields they stretch with lengthen'd ftrides, [glides: Now urge the courfe where fwift Scamander The God, now diftant fcarce a ftride before, 720 Tempts his purfuit, and wheels about the shore; While all the flying troops their speed employ, And pour on heaps into the walls of Troy: No ftop, no ftay; no thought to ask, or tell, Who feap'd by flight, or who by battle fell. 715 "Fwas tumult all, and violence of flight; And fudden joy confus'd, and mix'd affright: Pale Troy against Achilles fhuts her gate; And nations breathe, deliver'd from their fat

90

My heroes flain, my bridal bed o'erturn'd,
My daughters ravish'd, and my city burn'd:
My bleeding infants dafh'd against the floor;
These I have yet to fee, perhaps yet more!
Perhaps ev'n I, referv'd by angry Fate
'The laft fad relick of my ruin'd state
(Dire pomp of fovereign wretchedness! must fall,
And ftain the pavement of my regal hall; 95
Where famish'd dogs, late guardians of my door,
Shall lick their mangled mafter's fpatter'd gore.
Yet for my fons I thank you, Gods ! 'twas well;
Well have they perifh'd; for in fight they fell.
Who dies in youth and vigour, dies the best, 100
Struck through with wounds, all honeft, on the
breaft.

But when the Fates, in fulness of their rage,
Spurn the hoar head of unrefifting age,
In duft the reverend lineaments deform,
And pour to dogs the life-blood scarcely warm; 105
This, this is mifery! the laft, the worst,
That man can feel; man, fated to be curft!
He faid; and, acting what no words could fay,
Rent from his head the filver locks away.
With him the mournful mother bears a part;
Yet all their forrows turn not Hector's heart:
The zone unbrac'd, her bofom the difplay'd;
And thus, faft-falling the falt tears, the faid
Have mercy on me, a my fon! revere
The words of age; attend a parent's prayer!
If ever thee in these fond arms I preit,
Or ftill'd thy infant clamours at this breaft;
Ah, do not thus our helpless years forego,
But, by our walls fecur'd, repel the foc,
Against his rage if fingly thou proceed,
Should't thou (but Heaven avert it!) fhoald'
thou bleed,

115

120

And his red eye-balls glare with living fire. Beneath a turret, on his fhield reclin'd,

135

140

He stood; and queftion'd thus his mighty mind:
Where lies my way? To enter in the wall?
Honour and shame th' ungenerous thought recall?
Shall proud Polydamas before the gate
Proclaim, his councils are obey'd too late;
Which timely follow'd but the former night,
What numbers had been fav'd by Hector's flight!
That wife advice rejected with difdain,
I feel my folly in my people flain.
Methinks my fuffering country's voice I hear,
But most, her worthlefs fons infult my ear;
On my rash courage charge the chance of war,
And blame thofe virtues which they cannot share.
No-if I e'er return, return 1 muft
Glorious, my country's terror laid in duft:

145

160

And treat on terms of peace to fave the town :
The wife withheld, the treafure ill-decain'd,
(Caufe of the war, and grievance of the land)
With honourable justice to restore;
And add half lion's yet remaining store,
Which Troy fhall, fworn, produce; that injur'd
Greece
[peace ?
May fhare our wealth, and leave our walls in
But why this thought? Unarm'd if I fhould go,"
What hope of mercy from this vengeful foe, 165
But woman-like to fall, and fall without a
blow?

We greet not here as man converfing man,
Met at an oalt. or journeying o'er a plain;
No feafon now for calm familiar talk,
Like youths and maidens in an evening walk: 170
War is our bulinefs; but to whom is given
To die or triumph, that determine Heaven!"
Thus pondering, like a God the Greek drew nigh;
His dreadful plumage nodded from on high;
The Pelian javelin, ia his better hand,
Shot trembling rays, that glitter'd o'er the land;
And on his breaft the beamy splendor fhone
Like Jove's own lightning, or the rifing fun;
As Hector fees, unufual terrors rife,

175

Struck y fome God, he fears, recèdes, and flies: 180
He leaves the gates, he leaves the walls behind:
Achilles follows like the winged wind.
Thus at the panting dove a falcon flies
(The fwifrett racer of the liquid fkics)
Juft when he holds, or thinks he holds, his prey,185
Obliquely wheeling through th' aerial way,
With open beak and fhrilling cries he springs,
And aims his claws, and fhoots upon his wings,
No lefs fore-right the rapid chafe they held,
One urg'd by fury, one by fear impell'd;
Now circling round the walls their coure maintain,
Where the high watch-tower overlooks the plain
Now where the fig-trees fpread their umbrage

broad

199

200

(A wider compafs) fmoke along the road.
Next by Scamander's double fource they bound,195
Where two fam'd fountains burth the parted groun
This hot through fcorching clefts is feen to rife,
With exhalations fteaming to the kies;
That the green banks in fummer's heat o'erflows,
Like crystal clear, and cold as winter fnows.
Each gushing fount a marble ciftern fills,
Whole polish'd bed receives the falling rills;
Where Trojan dames (ere yet alarm'd by Greece)
Wafl'd their fair garments in the days of peace.
By thefe they pafs'd, one chafing, one in flight 205
(The mighty fled, pursued by stronger might).
Swift was the courfe; no vulgar prize they play,
No vulgar victim muft reward the day
Such as in races crown the speedy ftrife).
The prize contended was great Hector's life. 213
As when fome hero's funerals are decreed,
In grateful honour of the mighty dead;
Where high rewards the vigorous youth inflame
(Some golden tripod or fome lovely dame);