Wrapt round in mifts he lies, and loft to thought; | A well-fed ox was for the fecond plac'd; His friends receive the bowl, too dearly bought.
The third bold game Achilles next demands, And calls the wrestlers to the level fands:
A mafly tripod for the victor lies,
Swell to each gripe, and bloody tumors rise.
Ner could Ulyffes, for his art renown'd,
O'erturn the ftrength of Ajax on the ground; 835
Nor could the ftrength of Ajax overthrow
The watchful caution of his artful foe.
While the long strife ev'n tir'd the lookers on,
Thus to Ulyffes spoke great Telamon:
Or let me lift thee, chief, or lift thou me;.
Prove we our force, and Jove the reft decree.
He faid; and, training, heav'd him off the
ground
With matchlefs ftrength; that time Ulyffes found
The ftrength t' evade, and where the nerves combine
His ankle ftruck: the giant fell fupine;
Ulyffes, following, on his bofom lies;
Shouts of applaufe run rattling through the skies.
Ajax to lift, Ulyffes next effays,
He barely stirr'd him, but he could not raise:
His knee lock'd faft, the foe's attempt deny'd; 850
And grappling clofe, they tumbled fide by fide.
Defil'd with honourable duft, they roll,
Still breathing ftrife, and unfubdued of foul:
Again they rage, again to combat rife;
When great Achilles thus divides the prize: 855
Your noble vigour, oh my friends, reftrain :
Nor weary out your generous ftrength in vain.
Ye both have won : let others who excel,
Now prove that prowess you have prov'd fo well.
The hero's words the willing chiefs obey,860
From their tir'd bodies wipe the dust away,
And, cloth'd anew, the following games furvey.
And now fucceed the gifts ordain'd to grace
The youths contending in the rapid race.
A filver urn that full fix measures held,
By none in weight or workmanship excell'd;
Sidonian artifts taught the frame to shine,
Elaborate, with artifice divine;
Whence Tyrian failors did the prize transport,
And gave to Thoas at the Lemnian port:
From him defcended, good Eunæus heir'd
The glorious gift; and, for Lycaon spar'd.
To brave Patroclus gave the rich reward.
Now, the fame hero's funeral rites to grace,
It ftands the prize of fwiftnefs in the race.
And half a talent must content the last. Achilles rifing then bespoke the trainWho hope the palm of swiftness to obtain, Stand forth, and bear these prizes from the plain. 880
The hero faid, and, ftarting from his place, Oïlean Ajax rifes to the race; Ulyffes next; and he whofe fpeed furpaft His youthful equals, Neftor's fon, the last. Rang'd in a line the ready racers ftand; Pelides points the barrier with his hand: All start at once; Oileus led the race; The next, Ulyffes, meafuring pace with pace; Behind him, diligently close, he sped, As clofely following as the running thread The fpindle follows, and difplays the charms Of the fair fpinfter's breast, and moving arms Graceful in motion thus his foe he plies, And treads each footflep ere the duft can rife: His glowing breath upon his fhoulders plays; 895 Th' admiring Greeks loud acclamations raise : To him they give their wishes, hearts, and eyes, And fend their fouls before him as he flies. Now three times turn'd in profpect of the goal, The panting chief to Pallas lifts his foul: Aflift, O Goddefs! (thus in thought he pray'd) And prefent at his thought defcends the Maid. Buoy'd by her heavenly force, he seems to fwim, And feels a pinion lifting every limb.
All fierce, and ready now the prize to gain, 905
Unhappy Ajax fumbles on the plain
(O'erturn'd by Pallas); where the flippery fhore
Was clogg'd with flimy dung, and mingled gore
(The felf-fame place, befide Patroclus' pyre, (910
Where late the flaughter'd victims fed the fire):
Befmear'd with filth, and blotted o'er with clay,
Obfcene to fight, the rueful racer lay;
The well-fed bull (the fecond prize) he shar'd,
And left the urn Ulyffes' rich reward.
Then, grafping by the horn the mighty beaft, 915
The baffled hero thus the Greeks addrest:
Accurfed fate! the conqueft I forego;
A mortal eye, a Goddefs was my foe;
She urg'd her favourite on the rapid way,
And Pallas, not Ulyffes, won the day.
Thus fourly wail'd he, fputtering dirt and gore; A burft of laughter echo'd through the fhore. Antilochus, more humourous than the rest, Takes the last prize, and takes it with a jeft: Why with our wifer elders should we strive? 925 The Gods ftill love them, and they always
Next thefe; a buckler, fpear, and helm, he
brings,
Caft on the plain, the brazen burthen rings :
Arms, which of late divine Sarpedon wore,
nd great Patroclus in fhort triumph bore.
Stand forth the bravest of our hoft! (he cries)945
Whoever dares déferve fo rich a prize,
Now grace the lift before our army's fight,
And, fheath'd in fteel, provoke his foe to fight.,
Who first the jointed armour fhall explore,
And ftain his rival's mail with iffuing gore;
The fword Afteropeus poffeft of old
(A Thracian blade, diftin& with ftuds of gold)
Shall pay the stroke, and grace the firiker's fide:
Thefe arms in common let the chiefs divide:
For each brave champion, when the combat ends,
A fumptuous banquet at our tent attends. 956
Fierce at the word, up-rofe great Tydeus' fon,
And the huge bulk of Ajax Telamon.
Clad in refulgent fteel, on either hand,
The dreadful chiefs amid the circle stand:
Lowering they meet, tremendous to the fight,
Each Argive bofom beats with fierce delight.
Oppos'd in arms not long they idly stood,
But thrice they clos'd, and thrice the charge
A furious pass the fpear of Ajax made [new'd.
Through the broad fhield, but at the corfelet
ftay'd:
966
So past them all the rapid circle flies:
His friends (while loud applauses shake the
skies)
With force conjoin'd heave off the weighty prize.
Those who in skilful archery contend,
He next invites the twanging bow to bend :
1006
And twice ten axes caft amidst the round
(Ten double-edg'd, and ten that fingly wound).
The maft, which late a first-rate galley bore, ICIO
The hero fixes in the fandy fhore;
To the tall top a milk-white dove they tie,
The trembling mark at which their arrows fly.
Whole weapon ftrikes yon fluttering bird, shall
Thefe two-edg'd axes, terrible in war:
The fingle, he, whofe thaft divides the cord.
He faid: experienc'd Merion took the word;
And fkilful Teucer: in the helm they threw
Their lots infcrib'd, and forth the latter flew.[1020
Swift from the fring the founding arrow flies,
But flies unbleft! No grateful facrifice,
No firstling lambs, unheedful! didft thou vow
To Phœbus, patron of the fhaft and bow.
For this, thy well-aim'd arrow, turn'd aside,[1025
re-Err'd from the dove, yet cut the cord that ty'd;
A-down the main-maft fell the parting ftring,
And the free bird to heaven difplays her wing:
Seas, fhores, and fkies, with loud applaufe refound,
And Merion eager meditates the wound:
He takes the bow, directs the shaft above,
And, following with his eye the foaring dove,
Implores the God to speed it through the skies,
With vows of firftling lambs, and grateful facrifice.
The dove, in airy circles as fhe wheels,
Amid the clouds, the piercing arrow feels:
Quite through and through the point its paffage
found,
And at his feet fell bloody to the ground.
The wounded bird, ere yet the breath'd her laft,
With flagging wings alighted on the mast;
A moment hung, and fpread her pinions there,1040
980 Then fudden dropt, and left her life in air.
From the pleas'd crowd new peals of thunder rife,
And to the fhips brave Merion bears the prize.
To close the funeral games Achilles laft
A maffy fpear amid the circle plac'd,
An ample charger of unfullied frame,
With flowers high-wrought, not blacken'd yet by
For these he bids the heroes prove their art,
Whofe dextrous fkill directs the flying dart.
Here too Great Merion hopes the noble prize; 1050
Nor here difdain'd the king of men to rife.
With joy Pelides faw the honour paid,
Rofe to the monarch, and refpectful faid:
Not thus the foe: his javelin aim'd above
The buckler's margin, at the neck he drove,
But Greece now trembling for her hero's life,
Bade fhare the honours, and furceafe the ftrife. 970
Yet ftill the victor's due Tydides gains,
With him the fword and ftudded belt remains.
Then hurl'd the hero thundering on the ground
A mafs of iron (an enormous round) [975
Whose weight and fize the circling Greeks admire,
Rude from the furnace, and but fhap'd by fire.
This mighty quoit Aëtion wont to rear,
And from his whirling arm dismiss in air :
The giant by Achilles flain, he ftow'd
Among his fpoils this memorable load.
For this, he bids thofe nervous artists vie,
That teach the disk to found along the sky.
Let him whofe might can hurl this bowl, arife;
Who fartheft hurls it, takes it as his prize:
If he be one, enrich'd with large domain
Of downs for flocks, and arable for grain,
Small flock of iron needs that man provide;
His hinds and fwains whole years shall be supply'd
From hence nor afk the neighbouring city's aid,
For ploughshares, wheels, and all the rural trade.
Stern Polypates ftept before the throng, 991
And great Leonteus, more than mortal strong;
Whofe force with rival forces to oppofe,
Up rofe great Ajax; up Epëus rofe.
Each stood in order: fira Epeus threw ;
High o'er the wondering crowds the whirling
Leontes next a little space furpast, [circle flew,
And third, the firength of godlike Ajax cast.
O'er both their marks it flew; till fiercely flung
From Polypœte's arm, the difcus's fung:
Far as a fwain his whirling fheephook throws,
That diftant falls among the grazing cows,
Thee first in virtue, as in power fupreme,
O king of nations! all thy Greeks proclaim; 1055
In every martial game thy worth attest,
And know thee both their greatest, and their best.
Take then the prize, but let brave Merion bear
This beamy javelin in thy brother's war.
Pleas'd from the hero's lips his praise to hear,
The king to Merion gives the brazen fpear: [1061
But, fet apart for facred use, commands
The glittering charger to Talthybius' hands.
THE ARGUMENT.
The Redemption of the body of Hector.
The Gols deliberate about the redemption of Hector's body. Jupiter fends Thetis to Achilles, to dispose him for the refuring it; ari Iris to Priam, to encourage him to go in perfun, and treat for it. The old Ling, notwithflanding the vemonfrances of bis queen, makes ready for the journey, to which be is encouraged by an omen from Jupiter. He fets forth in bis char, with a waggon loaded with presents, under the charge of Idaus, the Berald. Mercury difcends in the foape of a young man, and condes Lim to the pavilion of Achiles. Their converfation on the way. Priam finds Achilles at his table, cafts himself at his feet, and begs for the body of his fon; Achilles, moved with compassion, grants bis requeft, detains bin one night in his tent, and the next morning fends kim bome with the body. The Trojans run out to meit bìm. The lamentations of Andromache, Hecuba, and Helen; with the folemnities of the funeral.
The time of twelve days is employed in this book, while the body of Hector lies in the tent of Achilles : and as many more are spent in the truce allored får bis interment. The fcene is partly in Achilles' camp, and partly in Treg.
Nose their black thigs, and clear the crowded still grudge his body to the Trojans view?
ow from the finish'd games the Grecian band | And, can ye ftill his cold remains purfue?
Deny to confort, mother, fon, and fire
The laft fad honours of a funeral fire?
Is then the dire Achilles all your care?
3 That iron heart, inflexibly fevere;
A lion, not a man, who flaughter's wide
In strength of rage, and
impotence of pride;
Who haftes to murder with a favage joy,
Invades around, and breathes but to defroy,
10 Shame is not of his foul; nor understood,
The greatest evil and the greatest good.
Still for one lofs he rages unrefign'd.
Repugnant to the lot of all mankind;
To lofe a friend, a brother, or a fon,
Heaven dooms each mortal, and its will is done :.
15A while they forrow, then difmifs their care;
Fate gives the wound, and man is born to bear.
But this, infatiate, the commiffion given
By Fate exceeds, and tempts the wrath of Heaven;
Lo! how his rage difhoneft drags along
Hector's dead earth, infenfible of wrong!
Brave though he he, yet, by no reafon aw'd,
He violates the laws of man and God.
If equal honours by the partial Skies
Are doonid both heroes, (Juno thus replies)
If Thetis for muft no diftinction know,
Then hear, ye Gods! the Patron of the Bow,
But Hector only boasts a mortal claim,
His birth deriving from a mortal dame:
Achilles of your own atherial race
Springs from a Goddefs by a man's embrace
A goddess by ourself to Peleus given,
Alfretch'd at eafe the genial banquet fhare,
And pleafing lumbers quiet all their care.
Not fo Achilles: he to grief refign'd,
His friend's dear image prefent to his mind,
Takes his fad couch, more unobferv'd to weep;
Nor taftes the gifts of all-compofing fleep.
Retlefs he roll'd around his weary bed,
And all his foul on his Patroclus fed:
The form fo pleafing, and the heart so kind,
That youthful vigour, and that manly mind,
What toils they thar'd, what martial works they
wrought,
[fought;
What Feas they meafur'd, and what fields they
All paft before him in remembrance dear,
Thought follows thought, and tear fucceeds to tear.
And now fupine, now prone, the hero lay,
Now fhifts is fide, impatient for the day:
Then farting up, difconfolate he goes
Wide on the lonely beach to vent his woes.
There, as the folitary mourner raves,
The ruddy morning rifes o'er the waves;
Soon as it role, his farious steeds he join'd:
The chariot flies, and Hector trails behind.
And thrice, Patroclus? round thy monument
Was Hector dragg'd, then hurry'd to the tent.
There fleep at laft o'ercomes the hero's eyes;
While foul in duft th' unhonour'd carcafe lies,
But not deferted by the pitying Skies.
For Phoebus watch'd it with fuperior care,
Preferv'd from gaping wounds, and tainting air;
And ignominious as it fwept the field,
Spread o'er the facred corpfe his golden fhield.
All Heaven was mov'd, and Hermes will'd to go
By stealth to fnatch him from th' infulting foe: 35
But Neptune this, and Pallas this denies,
And the unrelenting Emprefs of the skies:
F'er fince that day implacable to Troy,
What time young Paris, fimple fhepherd boy,
Won by destructive luft (reward obfcene)
Their charms rejected for the Cyprian Queen.
But when the tenth celeftial morning broke;
To Heaven affembled, thus Apollo fpoke:
Unpitying Powers how oft each holy fane
A man divine, and chofen friend of Heaven).
To grace thofe nuptials from the bright abode 80
Your felves were prefent; where this minstrel-
Has Hector ting'd with blood of victims flain ! 45(The only honours men to Gods can pay);
VEL. VI,
Nor ever from our fmoking altar ceas'd
The pure libation, and the holy feast.
Howe'er by ftealth to fnatch the corpfe away,
We will not: Thetis guards it night and day.
But hafte, and fummon to our courts above
The azure Queen : let her perfuafion move
Her furious fon from Priam to receive
'The proffer'd ranfom, and the corpfe to leave.
He added not; and Iris from the skies,
Swift as a whirlwind on the message flies.
Meteorous the face of Ocean sweeps,
Refulgent gliding o'er the fable deeps,
Between where Samos wide his foreft fpreads,
And rocky Imbrus lifts its pointed heads.
Down plung'd the Maid (the parted waves re-
found);
His friends prepare the victim, and difpofe
Repaft unheeded, while he vents his woes; 160
The Goddess feats her by her pensive son,
She preft his hand, and tender thus begun :
How long, unhappy! fhall thy forrows flow;
And thy heart wafle with life-confuming woe:
Mindlefs of food, or love, whofe pleasing reign 163
Soothes weary life, and foftens human pain?
O fnatch the moments yet within thy power;
100 Not long to live, indulge the amorous hour!
Lo! Jove himself (for Jove's command I bear)
Forbids to tempt the wrath of Heaven too far. 170
No longer then (his fury if thou dread)
Detain the relicks of great Hector dead;
Nor vent on fenfeless earth thy vengeance vain ■
But yield to ransom, and restore the flain.
105 She plung'd, and inftant fhot the dark profound. As, bearing death in the fallacious bait, From the bent angle finks the leaden weight; So pafs'd the Goddess through the clofing wave, Where Thetis forrow'd in her facred cave: There, plac'd amidst her melancholy train (The blue-hair'd fifters of the facred main) Penfive fhe fat, revolving fates to come, And wept her godlike fon's approaching doom, Then thus the Goddess of the painted bow, 115 Arife! O Thetis, from thy feats below: Tis Jove that calls. And why (the dame replies) Calls Jove his Thetis to the hated skies, Sad object as I am for heavenly fight? Ah, may my forrows ever fhun the light! Howe'er, be Heaven's almighty Sire obey'dShe fpake, and veil'd her head in fable fhade, Which flowing long, her graceful person clad; And forth the pac'd, majeftically fad. Then through the world of waters they repair 125 (The way fair Iris led) to upper air. The deeps dividing, o'er the coaft they rise, And touch with momentary flight the fkies, There in the lightning's blaze the Sire they found, And all the Gods in fhining fynod round. 130 Thetis approach'd with anguish in her face (Minerva, rifing, gave the Mourner place;) Ev'n Juno fought her forrows to confole, And offer'd from her hand the nectar-bowl: She tafted, and refign'd it: then began The facred Sire of Gods and mortal man : Thou com'ft, fair Thetis, but with grief o'ercaft; Maternal forrows; long, ah long to last! Suffice, we know and we partake thy cares : But yield to Fate, and hear what Jove declares. 140 Nine days are paft, fince all the court above In Hector's cause have mov'd the ear of Jove; 'Twas voted, Hermes from his godlike foe By stealth should bear him, but we will'd not fo: We will, thy fon himself the corpse restore, And to his conquest add this glory more. 'Then hie thee to him, and our mandate bear; Tell him he tempts the wrath of Heaven too far: Nor let him more (our anger if he dread) Vent his mad vengeance on the facred dead: But yield to ranfom and the father's prayer. The mournful father, Iris fhall prepare, With gifts to fuc; and offer to his hands Whate er his honour asks, or heart demands. His word the filver-footed Queen attends, And from Olympus' fnowy tops defcends. Arriv'd, the heard the voice of loud lament,
choing groans that shook the lofty tent,
To whom Achilles: Be the ransom given, 175 And we fubmit, fince fuch the will of Heaven. While thus they commun'd, from th' Olympian bowers
Jove orders Iris to the Trojan towers:
Hafte, winged Goddess, to the facred town,
And urge her monarch to redeem his fon :
Alone, the Ilian ramparts let him leave,
And bear what ftern Achilles may receive :
Alone, for fo we will: no Trojan near;
Except, to place the dead with decent care,
Some aged herald, who, with gentle hand,
May the flow mules and funeral car command.
Nor let him death, nor let him danger dread,
Safe through the foe by our protection led:
Him Hermes to Achilles fhall convey,
Guard of his life, and partner of his way.
Fierce as he is, Achilles' felf shall spare
His age, nor touch one venerable hair,
Some thought there must be in a foul fo brave,
Some fenfe of duty, fome defire to fave.
Then down her bow the winged Iris drives, 195 And swift at Priam's mournful court arrives; Where the fad fons befide their father's throne Sate bath'd in tears, and answer'd groan with groan. And all amidst them lay the hoary fire,
(Sad scene of woe!) his face, his wrapt attire, 209
Conceal'd from fight; with frantic hands he spread
A fhower of afbes o'er his neck and head.
From room to room his penfive daughters roam;
Whofe fhrieks and clamours fill the vaulted dome;
Mindful of thofe, who, late their pride and joy, 205
Lie pale and breathless round the fields of Troy!
Before the king Jove's meffenger appears,
And thus, in whispers, greets his trembling ears:
Fear not, oh father, no ill news I bear; [210
From Jove I come, Jove makes thee ftill his care;
For Hector's fake thefe walls he bids thee leave,
And bear what stern Achilles may receive:
Alone, for fo he wills: no Trojan near,
Except, to place the dead with decent care,
Some aged herald, who, with gentle hand, 215
May the flow mules and funeral car command.
Nor fhalt thou, death, nor fhalt thou danger, dread,
Safe through the foe by his protection led:
Thee Hermes to Pelides fhall convey,
Guard of thy life, and partner of thy way. 219
Fierce as he is, Achilles' felf fhall spare
Thy age, nor touch one venerable hair;
Some thought there must be, in a foul fo brave,
Some fenfe of duty, fome defire to fave.
She fpoke, and vanifh'd. Priam bids prepare 226 His gentle mules, and harness to the car;
There, for the gifts, a polifh'd cafket lay;
His pious fons the king's command obey.
Then pafs'd the monarch to his bridal-room,
Where cedar-beams the lofty roofs perfume,
And where the treasures of his empire lay;
Then call'd his queen, and thus began to say:
Unhappy confort of a king diftreft!
Partake the troubles of thy husband's breast;
I saw defcend the meffenger of Jove,
Who bids me try Achilles' mind to move;
Forfake thefe ramparts, and with gifts obtain
The corpfe of Hector, at yon navy flain,
No, you must feel him too; yourselves must fall:
The fame ftern God to ruin gives you all;
Nor is great Heator loft by me alone;
Your fole defence, your guardian Power, is gone;
fee your blood the fields of Phrygia drown, 305
I fee the ruins of your fmoking town!
O fend me, Gods! ere that fad day fhall come,
A willing ghoft to Pluto's dreary dome!
He faid, and feebly drives his friends away:
Tell me thy thought: my heart impels to go [240
Through hoftile camps, and bears me to the foe.
The hoary monarch thus. Her piercing cries
Sad Hecuba renews, and then replies:
Ah! whither wanders thy diftemper'd mind?
And where the prudence now, that aw'd, man-The forrowing friends his frantic rage obey. 313
kind:
[known; Next on his fons his erring fury falls,
Through Phrygia once, and foreign regions Polites, Paris, Agathon, he calls;
Now all confus'd, distracted, overthrown? 246 His threats Deïphobus and Dius hear,
Singly to pafs through hofts of foes! to face Hippothoüs, Pammon, Helenus the feer,
(Oh heart of steel)! the murderer of thy race! And generous Antiphon; for yet thefe nine 315
To view that deathful eye, and wander o'er Surviv'd, fad relicks of his numerous line;
Those hands, yet red with Hector's noble gore!
Alas! my Lord! he knows not how to fpare, 251
And what his mercy, thy flain fons declare;
So brave! fo many fallen! To calm his rage,
Vain were thy dignity, and vain thy age.
No-pent in this fad palace, let us give
To grief, the wretched days we have to live.
Still, ftill for Hector let our forrows flow,
Born to his own and to his parents woe!
Doom'd, from the hour his luckless life begun,
To dogs, to vultures, and to Peleus' fon!
Oh! in his dearest blood might I allay
My rage, and these barbarities repay!
For ah! could Hector merit thus, whofe breath
Expir'd not meanly in unaЯtive death?
He pour'd his latest blood in manly fight,
And fell a hero in his country's right.
Seek not to stay me, nor my foul affright
With words of omen, like a bird of night
(Reply'd, unmov'd, the venerable man).
Content-By the fame hand let me expire!
Add to the flaughter'd fon the wretched fire!
One cold embrace at last may be allow'd,
And my laft tears flow mingled with his blood!
From forth his open'd stores, this faid, he drew
Twelve costly carpets of refulgent hue,
As many vefts, as many mantles told,
And twelve fair veils and garments ftiff with gold.
Two tripods next, and twice two chargers, shine,
With ten pure talents from the richest mine: 286
And laft a large well-labour'd bowl had place,
(The pledge of treaties once with friendly Thrace).
Seem'd all too mean the stores he could employ,
For one last look to buy him back to Troy: 290
Lo! the fad father, frantic with his pain,
Around him furious drives his menial train:
Inglorious fons, of an unhappy fire!
Why did not all in Hector's cause expire?
Wretch that I am my braveft offspring flain,
You, the difgrace of Priam's house remain! 320
Neftor the brave, renown'd in ranks of war,
With Troilus, dreadful on his rushing car,
And laft great Hector, more than man divine,
For fure he feem'd not of terrestrial line!
All thofe relentlefs Mars untimely flew,
And left me thefe, a foft and fervile crew,
Whose days the feast and wanton dance employ,
Gluttons and flatterers, the contempt of Troy!
Why teach ye not my rapid wheels to run,
Aud fpeed my journey to redeem my son?
The fons their father's wretched age revere,
Forgive his anger, and produce the car,
High on the feat the cabinet they bind:
The new-made car with folid beauty shin'd;
Box was the yoke, emboss'd with coftly pains, 335
And hung with ringlets to receive the reins;
Nine cubits long, the traces fwept the ground;
Thefe to the chariot's polifh'd pole they bound,
Then fixt a ring the running reins to guide,
And close beneath the gather'd-ends were ty'd.340
Next with the gifts (the price of Hector flain)
The fad attendants load the groaning wain:
Laft, to the yoke the well-match'd mules they
bring
(The gift of Myfia to the Trojan king).
But the fair horfes, long his darling care,
Himself receiv'd, and harness'd to his car:
Griev'd as he was, he not this task deny'd:
The hoary herald help'd him, at his fide.
While careful these the gentle courfers join'd,
Sad Hecuba approach'd with anxious mind; 350
A golden bowl that foam'd with fragrant wine,
(Libation destin'd to the Power divine)
Held in her right, before the steeds the stands,
And thus configns it to the monarch's hands:
Take this, and pour to Jove; that, fafe from
harms,
His grace reftore thee to our roof and arms.
Since, victor of thy fears, and flighting mine,
Heaven, or thy foul, inspire this bold design:
|