There Strife, there Fortitude, ne'er known to | His radiant arms preserved from hostile spoil,

yield, There merciless Pursuit, that wastes the field, And Jove's dire omen nameless horrors spread, Th' appalling monster, the Gorgonian headThen brac'd her casque, all gold, whose fourconed height

And laid him decent on the funeral pile.
Then raised a mountain, where his bones were
burn'd,

The mountain nymphs the rural tomb adorn'd,
Jove's sylvan daughters bade the elms bestow
A barren shade, and in his honour grow.

Spreads, o'er an hundred hosts, o'ershadowing By the same arm my seven brave brothers fell;

night.

Thus, in her terror mail'd, the goddess leapt
In her bright car, whence flame-wing'd light-
nings swept,

And grasp'd the spear, which, when her fury
burns,

Proud tyrants humbles and whole hosts o'er

turns.

Book VI.

THE RACE OF MAN.

LIKE leaves on trees the Race of Man is found;
Now green in youth, now withering on the
ground:

Another race the following spring supplies;
They fall successive, and successive rise:

So generations in their course decay,

In one sad day beheld the gates of hell:
While the fat herds and snowy flocks they fed,
Amid their fields the hapless heroes bled!
My mother lived to bear the victor's bands,
The queen of Hippoplacia's sylvan lands:
Redeem'd too late, she scarce beheld again
Her pleasing empire, and her native plain,
When ah! opprest by life-consuming woe,
She fell a victim to Diana's bow.

"Yet, while my Hector still survives, I see
My father, mother, brethren, all in thee:
Alas! my parents, brothers, kindred, all
Once more will perish, if my Hector fall.
Thy wife, thy infant, in thy danger share:
Oh prove a husband's and a father's care!
That quarter most the skilful Greeks annoy,
Where yon wild fig-trees join the walls of Troy :
Thou, from this tower, defend th' important post;
There Agamemnon points his dreadful host,

So flourish these, when those have pass'd away. That pass Tydides, Ajax, strive to gain,

GLAUCUS.

From Hippolochus I came,

The honour'd author of my birth and name;
By his decree I sought the Trojan town,
By his instructions learn to win renown,
To stand the first in worth as in command,
And add new honours to my native land,
Before mine eyes my mighty sires to place,
And emulate the glories of our race.*

THE PARTING OF HECTOR AND ANDROMACHE.

"Too daring prince! ah, whither dost thou run?
Ah, too forgetful of thy wife and son!
And think'st thou not how wretched we shall be,
A widow I, an helpless orphan he?
For sure such courage length of life denies,
And thou must fall, thy virtue's sacrifice.
Greece in her single heroes strove in vain;
Now hosts oppose thee, and thou must be slain!
Oh, grant me, gods! ere Hector meets his doom,
All I can ask of heaven, an early tomb!
So shall my days in one sad tenor run,
And end with sorrows as they first begun.
No parent now remains my grief to share,
No father's aid, no mother's tender care.
The fierce Achilles wrapp'd our walls in fire,
Laid Thebe waste, and slew my warlike sire!
His fate compassion in the victor bred.
Stern as he was, he yet revered the dead,

* Ιππόλοχος δέ μ ̓ ἔτικτε, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ φημὶ γενέθαι·
Πέμπε δέ μ ̓ ἐσ Τρόιην, καὶ μοι μάλα πόλλ ̓ ἐπέτελλεν,
Αἱὲν ἀριστεύειν, καὶ ὑπείροχον ἔμμεναι άλλων
Μηδὲ γένος Πατέρων αἰσχυνέμεν· οἱ μέγ ̓ ἄριστοι
Ἐντ ̓ Εφύρῃ ἐγενόντο καὶ ἐν Λυκίῃ εὐρείη
Ταύτης του γενεής τε καὶ αίματος εὔχομαι εἶναι.

And there the vengeful Spartan fires his train.
Thrice our bold foes the fierce attack have given,
Or led by hopes, or dictated from heav'n.
Let others in the field their arms employ,
But stay my Hector here, and guard his Troy."

The chief replied: "That post shall be my care,
Nor that alone, but all the works of war.
How would the sons of Troy, in arms renown'd,
And Troy's proud dames, whose garments sweep
the ground,

Attaint the lustre of my former name,
Should Hector basely quit the field of fame?
My early youth was bred to martial pains,
My soul impels me to th' embattled plains:
Let me be foremost to defend the throne,
And guard my father's glories, and my own.
Yet come it will, the day decreed by fates:
(How my heart trembles, while my tongue re-
lates :)

The day when thou, imperial Troy! must bend,
And see thy warriors fall, thy glories end.
And yet no dire presage so wounds my mind,
My mother's death, the ruin of my kind,
Not Priam's hoary head defil'd with gore,
Not all my brothers gasping on the shore,
As thine, Andromache! thy griefs I dread;
I see thee trembling, weeping, captive led!
In Argive looms our battles to design,
And woes, of which so large a part was thine!
To bear the victor's hard commands, or bring
The weight of waters from Hyperia's spring.
There, while you groan beneath the load of
life,

They cry, Behold the mighty Hector's wife!
Some haughty Greek, who lives thy tears to see,
Embitters all thy woes, by naming me.
The thoughts of glory past, and present shame,
A thousand griefs, shall waken at the name!

PHENIX'S ENDEAVOUR TO APPEASE ACHILLES. ACHILLES! bid thy mighty spirit down: Thou shouldst not be thus merciless; the gods, Although more honourable, and in power EMBASSY OF PHŒENIX, AJAX, AND ULYSSES TO THE And virtue thy superiors, are themselves

THROUGH the still night they march, and hear Offend them by transgression of their laws,

Prayers are Jove's daughters, wrinkled, lame,

slant-eyed,

"Cease," Hector sternly answer'd-"cease this word,

Some worthier frame-if this advis'dly said,
Thy reason wanders, by the gods betray'd.
Thou didst me-reckless of the powers above-
Forget the counsels ratified by Jove:
Thou bidst me birds obey-I scorn their flight,
I reck not whence they spring, nor where alight.
"If, on the right they seek the dawn of day,
Or, on the left, through darkness cleave their way.
Jove I obey, who, on th' Olympian throne
O'er mortals and immortals rules alone.
Watch thou the flight of birds-such omens thine:
One, far o'er all—to guard my country-mine."*

Which, though far distant, yet with constant pace, This warning voice, with scorn by Hector heard:
Follow offence. Offence, robust of limb,
And treading firm the ground, outstrips them all,
And over all the earth before them runs,
Hurtful to man. They following, heal the hurt;
Received respectfully when they approach,
They yield us aid, and listen when we pray.
But if we slight, and with obdurate heart
Resist them, to Saturnian Jove they cry
Against us; supplicating that offence
May cleave to us for vengeance of the wrong.
Thou, therefore, O Achilles! honour yield
To Jove's own daughters, vanquish'd as the brave
Have often been, by honour done to thee.

When on the Trojans' left, both hosts between,
Aloft an eagle soar'd, distinctly seen,
Whose talons a voluminous serpent grasp'd
That, bathed in gore, yet palpitating, gasp'd,
And, fiercely struggling, backward rear'd his
crest,

Coiled round the eagle's neck, and tore his breast.
The bird, in anguish of that piercing wound,
Mid the throng'd army cast him on the ground;
Spread her broad wings, and, floating on the wind,
Shriek'd as she flew, and left her prey behind :
While, where the serpent lay, with fear amaz'd,
On Jove's portentous sign the Trojans gaz'd.

Then spake Polydamas: "Full oft my word,
Though just, brave Hector, has thy blame incurr'd;

Yet both in war and council, still the aim,
That best becomes each citizen,-thy fame.
Hence will I freely speak: here, Hector, stay,
Nor lead against the fleet our arm'd array.
For sure to warn us is that omen sent,
And thus my mind expounds the dread event.
When on our battle's left, each host between,
The eagle and that snake, distinctly seen,
Which, yet alive, on earth she downward flung,
Nor to her aerie brought, to feast her young:
Thus we-if forc'd each gate, if prone each tow'r,
And Greece, dishearten'd, dread to front our

power

Ne'er from that fleet, in orderly array,
Shall back return on our triumphant way;
But, in her fleet's defence, by Græcia slain,
There many a Trojan son shall strew the plain.
Slight not my word-I speak as speaks the seer,
Whom gods have gifted, and mankind revere."

He spake and onward rush'd: Troy's dense

array

Pursued, loud clamouring, where he led the way:
From Ida's topmost brow the Thunderer, Jove,
O'er all the fleet thick dust in whirlwinds drove,
Quell'd in the Greeks the spirit of the brave,
And added fame to Troy and Hector gave.

SARPEDON.

THUS godlike Hector and his troops contend
To force the ramparts, and the gates to rend;
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,
And bears aloft his ample shield in air;
Within whose orb, the thick bull-hides were
roll'd,

Ponderous with brass, and bound with ductile
gold:

And while two pointed javelins arm his hands,
Majestic 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 o'er the plain,
In sullen majesty, and stern disdain:

In vain loud mastiffs bay him from afar,
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 th' 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,
Where Xanthus' streams enrich the Lycian plain,
Our numerous herds that range the fruitful field,
And hills were vines their purple harvest yield,

* Εἷς οἰωνὸς ἄριστος ἀμύνεσθαί περι πάτρης, which Mr. Pope thus translates:

"Without a sign his sword the brave man draws, And asks no omen but his country's cause."

Our foaming bowls with purer nectar crown'd,
Our feasts enhanced with music's sprightly

sound!

Why on those shores are we with joy survey'd,
Admired as heroes, and as gods obey'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,

He moves a god, resistless in his course,
And seems a match for more than mortal force.
Then pouring after, through the gaping space,
A tide of Trojans flows, and fills the place:
The Greeks behold, they tremble, and they fly;
The shore is heap'd with dead, and tumult rends
the sky.

Book XIII.

NEPTUNE HASTENING TO THE RELIEF OF THE
GREEKS.

treads,

Rocks, mountains, forests, bow their conscious heads;

Such, they may cry, deserve the sovereign state, Down sweeps the god; and trembling, where he
Whom those that envy, dare not imitate!
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,
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!

DEEDS OF HECTOR.

O'er isle, o'er sea, at three vast strides he wends,
And, with the fourth, on Æga's shore descends,-
His goal;-where bright, nor built by mortal
hands,

Deep midst the waves, his ocean-palace stands;-
There, brazen-hoof'd, gold-man'd, to their fleet car
His steeds he yokes, and arms himself for war,
Grasps the bright scourge, and forth, in gold array,
Swift, through the onward billows, shoots his
way;

As when two scales are charged with doubt-Up from their caves the whales exulting spring,

ful loads,

From side to side the trembling balance nods
(While some laborious matron, just and poor,
With nice exactness weighs her woolly store,)
Till, poised aloft, the resting beam suspends
Each equal weight; nor this, nor that descends:
So stood the war, till Hector's matchless might
With fates prevailing, turn'd the scale of fight.
Fierce as a whirlwind up the wall he flies,
And fires his host with loud repeated cries:
Advance, ye Trojans! lend your valiant hands,
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.
A ponderous stone bold Hector heaved to throw,
Pointed above, and rough and gross below:
Not two strong men the enormous weight could
raise,

Such men as live in these degenerate days.
Yet this, as easy as a swain could bear
The snowy fleece, he toss'd, and shook in air:
For Jove upheld, and lighten'd of its load
The unwieldy rock, the labour of a god.
Thus arm'd, before the folded gates he came,
Of massy substance, and stupendous frame;
With iron bars and brazen hinges strong,
On lofty beams of solid timber hung:

Sport round his track, and hail their ocean-king;
Subsiding seas a leveller space supply,
And waves, disparting, leave his axle dry.*

ACHILLES SHOWING HIMSELF AT THE HEAD OF
THE ENTRENCHMENTS.

Forth marched the chief, and, distant from the
crowd,

Then, thundering through the planks with force- High on the rampart rais'd his voice aloud;

ful sway,
Drives the sharp rock; the solid beams give way,
The folds are shatter'd; from the crackling door
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 a living flame.

This description of the Sea-God has been quoted by Longinus as a specimen of the sublime; but how infinitely inferior is it (as Dr. Smith has truly observed) to a thousand passages in Scripture, descriptive of the divine presence. See the Book of Job and Psalms-particularly Psalm xviii. 7-10; and Ixxvii. 16-19, &c. See also, Milton's description of the Messiah, b. vi. 772 and 781.

With her own shout, Minerva swells the sound; | Diverse their counsel: these, to burn, decide,
Troy starts astonished, and the shores rebound.
As the loud trumpet's brazen mouth from far,
With shrilling clangour sounds the alarm of war,
Struck from the walls, the echoes float on high,
And the round bulwarks and thick towers reply,
So high his brazen voice the hero rear'd:
Hosts dropp'd their arms, and tremble as they Mars, Pallas, led their host: gold either god,

And those to seize, and all its wealth divide.
The town their summons scorn'd, resistance
dar'd,