The Iliads of Homer

THE ILIADS OF HOMER

THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY

TO THE IMMORTAL MEMORY OF THE INCOMPARABLE HEROE, HENRY, PRINCE OF WALES.

Thy tomb, arms, statue, all things fit to fall
At foot of Death, and worship funeral,
Form hath bestow’d; for form is nought too dear.
Thy solid virtues yet, eterniz’d here,
My blood and wasted spirits have only found
Commanded cost, and broke so rich a ground,
Not to inter, but make thee ever spring,
As arms, tombs, statues, ev’ry earthy thing,
Shall fade aid vanish into fume before.
What lasts thrives least; yet wealth of soul is poor,
And so ’tis kept. Not thy thrice-sacred will,
Sign’d with thy death, moves any to fulfil
Thy just bequests to me. Thou dead, then I
Live dead, for giving thee eternity.

Ad Famam.

To all times future this time’s mark extend,
Homer no patron found, nor Chapman friend.
        Ignotus nimis omnibus,
        Sat notus moritur sibi.

TO THE HIGH BORN PRINCE OF MEN,
HENRY, THRICE ROYAL INHERITOR TO THE UNITED KINGDOMS OF GREAT BRITAIN, ETC.

Since perfect happiness, by Princes sought,
Is not with birth born, nor exchequers bought,
Nor follows in great trains, nor is possest
With any outward state, but makes him blest
That governs inward, and beholdeth there
All his affections stand about him bare,
That by his pow’r can send to Tower and death
All traitorous passions, marshalling beneath
His justice his mere will, and in his mind
Holds such a sceptre as can keep confin’d
His whole life’s actions in the royal bounds
Of virtue and religion, and their grounds
Takes in to sow his honours, his delights,
And cómplete empire; you should learn these rights,
Great Prince of men, by princely precedents,
Which here, in all kinds, my true zeal presents
To furnish your youth’s groundwork and first state,
And let you see one godlike man create
All sorts of worthiest men, to be contriv’d
In your worth only, giving him reviv’d
For whose life Alexander would have giv’n
One of his kingdoms; who (as sent from heav’n,
And thinking well that so divine a creature
Would never more enrich the race of nature)
Kept as his crown his works, and thought them still
His angels, in all pow’r to rule his will;
And would affirm that Homer’s poesy
Did more advance his Asian victory,
Than all his armies. O! ’tis wond’rous much,
Though nothing priz’d, that the right virtuous touch
Of a well-written soul to virtue moves;
Nor have we souls to purpose, if their loves
Of fitting objects be not so inflam’d.
How much then were this kingdom’s main soul maim’d,
To want this great inflamer of all pow’rs
That move in human souls! All realms but yours
Are honour’d with him, and hold blest that state
That have his works to read and contemplate:
In which humanity to her height is rais’d,
Which all the world, yet none enough, hath prais’d;
Seas, earth, and heav’n, he did in verse comprise,
Out-sung the Muses, and did equalize
Their king Apollo; being so far from cause
Of Princes’ light thoughts, that their gravest laws
May find stuff to be fashion’d by his lines.
Through all the pomp of kingdoms still he shines,
And graceth all his gracers. Then let lie
Your lutes and viols, and more loftily
Make the heroics of your Homer sung,
To drums and trumpets set his angel’s tongue,
And, with the princely sport of hawks you use,
Behold the kingly flight of his high muse,
And see how, like the phœnix, she renews
Her age and starry feathers in your sun,
Thousands of years attending ev’ry one
Blowing the holy fire, and throwing in
Their seasons, kingdoms, nations, that have been
Subverted in them; laws, religions, all
Offer’d to change and greedy funeral;
Yet still your Homer, lasting, living, reigning,
And proves how firm truth builds in poet’s feigning.

A prince’s statue, or in marble carv’d,
Or steel, or gold, and shrin’d, to be preserv’d,
Aloft on pillars or pyramides,
Time into lowest ruins may depress;
But drawn with all his virtues in learn’d verse,
Fame shall resound them on oblivion’s hearse,
Till graves gasp with her blasts, and dead men rise.
No gold can follow where true Poesy flies.

Then let not this divinity in earth,
Dear Prince, be slighted as she were the birth
Of idle fancy, since she works so high;
Nor let her poor disposer, Learning, lie
Still bed-rid. Both which being in men defac’d,
In men with them is God’s bright image ras’d;
For as the Sun and Moon are figures giv’n
Of his refulgent Deity in heav’n,
So Learning, and, her light’ner, Poesy,
In earth present His fiery Majesty.
Nor are kings like Him, since their diadems
Thunder and lighten and project brave beams,
But since they His clear virtues emulate,
In truth and justice imaging His state,
In bounty and humanity since they shine,
Than which is nothing like Him more divine;
Not fire, not light, the sun’s admiréd course,
The rise nor set of stars, nor all their force
In us and all this cope beneath the sky,
Nor great existence, term’d His treasury;
Since not for being greatest He is blest,
But being just, and in all virtues best.

What sets His justice and His truth best forth,
Best Prince, then use best, which is Poesy’s worth;
For, as great princes, well inform’d and deck’d
With gracious virtue, give more sure effect
To her persuasions, pleasures, real worth,
Than all th’ inferior subjects she sets forth;
Since there she shines at full, hath birth, wealth, state,
Pow’r, fortune, honour, fit to elevate
Her heav’nly merits, and so fit they are,
Since she was made for them, and they for her;
So Truth, with Poesy grac’d, is fairer far,
More proper, moving, chaste, and regular,
Than when she runs away with untruss’d Prose;
Proportion, that doth orderly dispose
Her virtuous treasure, and is queen of graces;
In Poesy decking her with choicest phrases,
Figures and numbers; when loose Prose puts on
Plain letter-habits makes her trot upon
Dull earthly business, she being mere divine;
Holds her to homely cates and harsh hedge-wine,
That should drink Poesy’s nectar; ev’ry way
One made for other, as the sun and day,
Princes and virtues. And, as in spring,
The pliant water mov’d with anything
Let fall into it, puts her motion out
In perfect circles, that move round about
The gentle fountain, one another raising;
So Truth and Poesy work; so Poesy, blazing
All subjects fall’n in her exhaustless fount,
Works most exactly, makes a true account
Of all things to her high discharges giv’n,
Till all be circular and round as heav’n.

And lastly, great Prince, mark and pardon me:—
As in a flourishing and ripe fruit-tree,
Nature hath made the bark to save the bole,
The bole the sap, the sap to deck the whole
With leaves and branches, they to bear and shield
The useful fruit, the fruit itself to yield
Guard to the kernel, and for that all those,
Since out of that again the whole tree grows;
So in our tree of man, whose nervy root
Springs in his top, from thence ev’n to his foot
There runs a mutual aid through all his parts,
All join’d in one to serve his queen of arts,[1]
In which doth Poesy like the kernel lie
Obscur’d, though her Promethean faculty
Can create men and make ev’n death to live,
For which she should live honour’d, kings should give
Comfort and help to her that she might still
Hold up their spirits in virtue, make the will
That governs in them to the pow’r conform’d,
The pow’r to justice, that the scandals, storm’d
Against the poor dame, clear’d by your fair grace,
Your grace may shine the clearer. Her low place,
Not showing her, the highest leaves obscure.
Who raise her raise themselves, and he sits sure
Whom her wing’d hand advanceth, since on it
Eternity doth, crowning virtue, sit.
All whose poor seed, like violets in their beds,
Now grow with bosom-hung and hidden heads;
For whom I must speak, though their fate convinces
Me worst of poets, to you best of princes.
        By the most humble and faithful implorer for all
             the graces to your highness eternized
                  by your divine Homer.
                            Geo. Chapman.

[1] Queen of arts—the soul.

TO THE SACRED FOUNTAIN OF PRINCES, SOLE EMPRESS OF BEAUTY AND VIRTUE, ANNE, QUEEN OF ENGLAND, ETC.

With whatsoever honour we adorn
  Your royal issue, we must gratulate you,
Imperial Sovereign; who of you is born
  Is you, one tree make both the bole and bow.
If it be honour then to join you both
  To such a pow’rful work as shall defend
Both from foul death and age’s ugly moth,
  This is an honour that shall never end.
They know not virtue then, that know not what
  The virtue of defending virtue is;
It comprehends the guard of all your State,
  And joins your greatness to as great a bliss.
Shield virtue and advance her then, great Queen,
  And make this book your glass to make it seen.
          Your Majesty’s in all subjection most
             humbly consecrate,
                GEO. CHAPMAN.

TO THE READER

Lest with foul hands you touch these holy rites,
  And with prejudicacies too profane,
Pass Homer in your other poets’ slights,
  Wash here. In this porch to his num’rous fane,
Hear ancient oracles speak, and tell you whom
  You have to censure. First then Silius hear,
Who thrice was consul in renowned Rome,
  Whose verse, saith Martial, nothing shall out-wear.

SILIUS ITALICUS, LIB. XIII. 777

He, in Elysium having cast his eye
  Upon the figure of a youth, whose hair,
With purple ribands braided curiously,
  Hung on his shoulders wond’rous bright and fair,
Said: “Virgin, what is he whose heav’nly face
  Shines past all others, as the morn the night;
Whom many marvelling souls, from place to place,
  Pursue and haunt with sounds of such delight;
Whose count’nance (were’t not in the Stygian shade)
  Would make me, questionless, believe he were
A very God?” The learned virgin made
  This answer: “If thou shouldst believe it here,
Thou shouldst not err. He well deserv’d to be
  Esteem’d a God; nor held his so-much breast
A little presence of the Deity,
  His verse compris’d earth, seas, stars, souls at rest;
In song the Muses he did equalize,
  In honour Phœbus. He was only soul,
Saw all things spher’d in nature, without eyes,
  And rais’d your Troy up to the starry pole.”
Glad Scipio, viewing well this prince of ghosts,
  Said: “O if Fates would give this poet leave
To sing the acts done by the Roman hosts,
  How much beyond would future times receive
The same facts made by any other known!
  O blest Æacides, to have the grace
That out of such a mouth thou shouldst be shown
  To wond’ring nations, as enrich’d the race
Of all times future with what he did know!
  Thy virtue with his verse shall ever grow.”

Now hear an Angel sing our poet’s fame,
Whom fate, for his divine song, gave that name.

ANGELUS POLITIANUS, IN NUTRICIA

More living than in old Demodocus,
  Fame glories to wax young in Homer’s verse.
And as when bright Hyperion holds to us
  His golden torch, we see the stars disperse,
And ev’ry way fly heav’n, the pallid moon
  Ev’n almost vanishing before his sight;
So, with the dazzling beams of Homer’s sun,
  All other ancient poets lose their light.
Whom when Apollo heard, out of his star,
  Singing the godlike act of honour’d men,
And equalling the actual rage of war,
  With only the divine strains of his pen,
He stood amaz’d and freely did confess
  Himself was equall’d in Mæonides.

Next hear the grave and learned Pliny use
His censure of our sacred poet’s muse.

Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. 7. cap. 29.
Turned into verse, that no prose may come near Homer.

Whom shall we choose the glory of all wits,
  Held through so many sorts of discipline
And such variety of works and spirits,
  But Grecian Homer, like whom none did shine
For form of work and matter? And because
  Our proud doom of him may stand justified
By noblest judgments, and receive applause
  In spite of envy and illiterate pride,
Great Macedon, amongst his matchless spoils
  Took from rich Persia, on his fortunes cast,
A casket finding, full of precious oils,
  Form’d all of gold, with wealthy stones enchas’d,
He took the oils out, and his nearest friends
  Ask’d in what better guard it might be us’d?
All giving their conceits to sev’ral ends,
  He answer’d: “His affections rather choos’d
An use quite opposite to all their kinds,
  And Homer’s books should with that guard be serv’d,
That the most precious work of all men’s minds
  In the most precious place might be preserv’d.
The Fount of Wit was Homer, Learning’s Sire,
  And gave antiquity her living fire.”

Volumes of like praise I could heap on this,
  Of men more ancient and more learn’d than these,
But since true virtue enough lovely is
  With her own beauties, all the suffrages
Of others I omit, and would more fain
  That Homer for himself should be belov’d,
Who ev’ry sort of love-worth did contain.
  Which how I have in my conversion prov’d
I must confess I hardly dare refer
  To reading judgments, since, so gen’rally,
Custom hath made ev’n th’ ablest agents err[2]
  In these translations; all so much apply
Their pains and cunnings word for word to render
  Their patient authors, when they may as well
Make fish with fowl, camels with whales, engender,
  Or their tongues’ speech in other mouths compell.
For, ev’n as diff’rent a production
  Ask Greek and English, since as they in sounds
And letters shun one form and unison;
  So have their sense and elegancy bounds
In their distinguish’d natures, and require
  Only a judgment to make both consent
In sense and elocution; and aspire,
  As well to reach the spirit that was spent
In his example, as with art to pierce
  His grammar, and etymology of words.
But as great clerks can write no English verse,[3]
  Because, alas, great clerks! English affords,
Say they, no height nor copy; a rude tongue,
  Since ’tis their native; but in Greek or Latin
Their writs are rare, for thence true Poesy sprung;
  Though them (truth knows) they have but skill to chat in,
Compar’d with that they might say in their own;
  Since thither th’ other’s full soul cannot make
The ample transmigration to be shown
  In nature-loving Poesy; so the brake
That those translators stick in, that affect
  Their word-for-word traductions (where they lose
The free grace of their natural dialect,
  And shame their authors with a forcéd gloss)
I laugh to see; and yet as much abhor[4]
  More license from the words than may express
Their full compression, and make clear the author;
  From whose truth, if you think my feet digress,
Because I use needful periphrases,
  Read Valla, Hessus, that in Latin prose,
And verse, convert him; read the Messines
  That into Tuscan turns him; and the gloss
Grave Salel makes in French, as he translates;
  Which, for th’ aforesaid reasons, all must do;
And see that my conversion much abates
  The license they take, and more shows him too,
Whose right not all those great learn’d men have done,
  In some main parts, that were his commentors.
But, as the illustration of the sun
  Should be attempted by the erring stars,
They fail’d to search his deep and treasurous heart;
  The cause was, since they wanted the fit key
Of Nature, in their downright strength of Art.[5]
  With Poesy to open Poesy:
Which, in my poem of the mysteries
  Reveal’d in Homer, I will clearly prove;
Till whose near birth, suspend your calumnies,
  And far-wide imputations of self-love.
’Tis further from me than the worst that reads,
  Professing me the worst of all that write;
Yet what, in following one that bravely leads,
  The worst may show, let this proof hold the light.
But grant it clear; yet hath detraction got
  My blind side in the form my verse puts on;
Much like a dung-hill mastiff, that dares not
  Assault the man he barks at, but the stone
He throws at him takes in his eager jaws,
  And spoils his teeth because they cannot spoil.
The long verse hath by proof receiv’d applause
  Beyond each other number; and the foil,
That squint-ey’d Envy takes, is censur’d plain;
  For this long poem asks this length of verse,
Which I myself ingenuously maintain
  Too long our shorter authors to rehearse.
And, for our tongue that still is so impair’d[6]
  By travelling linguists, I can prove it clear,
That no tongue hath the Muse’s utt’rance heir’d
  For verse, and that sweet music to the ear
Strook out of rhyme, so naturally as this;
  Our monosyllables so kindly fall,
And meet oppos’d in rhyme as they did kiss;
  French and Italian most immetrical,
Their many syllables in harsh collision
  Fall as they break their necks; their bastard rhymes
Saluting as they justled in transition,
  And set our teeth on edge; nor tunes, nor times
Kept in their falls; and, methinks, their long words
  Shew in short verse as in a narrow place
Two opposites should meet with two-hand swords
  Unwieldily, without or use or grace.
Thus having rid the rubs, and strow’d these flow’rs
  In our thrice-sacred Homer’s English way,
What rests to make him yet more worthy yours?
  To cite more praise of him were mere delay
To your glad searches for what those men found
  That gave his praise, past all, so high a place;
Whose virtues were so many, and so crown’d
  By all consents divine, that, not to grace
Or add increase to them, the world doth need
  Another Homer, but ev’n to rehearse
And number them, they did so much exceed.
  Men thought him not a man; but that his verse
Some mere celestial nature did adorn;
  And all may well conclude it could not be,
That for the place where any man was born,
  So long and mortally could disagree
So many nations as for Homer striv’d,
  Unless his spur in them had been divine.
Then end their strife and love him, thus receiv’d,
  As born in England; see him over-shine
All other-country poets; and trust this,
  That whosesoever Muse dares use her wing
When his Muse flies, she will be truss’d by his,
  And show as if a bernacle should spring
Beneath an eagle. In none since was seen
  A soul so full of heav’n as earth’s in him.
O! if our modern Poesy had been
  As lovely as the lady he did limn,
What barbarous worldling, grovelling after gain,
  Could use her lovely parts with such rude hate,
As now she suffers under ev’ry swain?
  Since then ’tis nought but her abuse and Fate,
That thus impairs her, what is this to her
  As she is real, or in natural right?
But since in true Religion men should err
  As much as Poesy, should the abuse excite
The like contempt of her divinity,
  And that her truth, and right saint-sacred merits,
In most lives breed but rev’rence formally,
  What wonder is’t if Poesy inherits
Much less observance, being but agent for her,
  And singer of her laws, that others say?
Forth then, ye moles, sons of the earth, abhor her,
  Keep still on in the dirty vulgar way,
Till dirt receive your souls, to which ye vow,
  And with your poison’d spirits bewitch our thrifts.
Ye cannot so despise us as we you;
  Not one of you above his mole-hill lifts
His earthy mind, but, as a sort of beasts,
  Kept by their guardians, never care to hear
Their manly voices, but when in their fists
  They breathe wild whistles, and the beasts’ rude ear
Hears their curs barking, then by heaps they fly
  Headlong together; so men, beastly giv’n,
The manly soul’s voice, sacred Poesy,
  Whose hymns the angels ever sing in heav’n,
Contemn and hear not; but when brutish noises,
  For gain, lust, honour, in litigious prose
Are bellow’d out, and crack the barbarous voices
  Of Turkish stentors, O, ye lean to those,
Like itching horse to blocks or high may-poles;
  And break nought but the wind of wealth, wealth, all
In all your documents; your asinine souls,
  Proud of their burthens, feel not how they gall.
But as an ass, that in a field of weeds
  Affects a thistle, and falls fiercely to it,
That pricks and galls him, yet he feeds, and bleeds,
  Forbears a while, and licks, but cannot woo it
To leave the sharpness; when, to wreak his smart,
  He beats it with his foot, then backward kicks,
Because the thistle gall’d his forward part;
  Nor leaves till all be eat, for all the pricks,
Then falls to others with as hot a strife,
  And in that honourable war doth waste
The tall heat of his stomach, and his life;
  So in this world of weeds you worldlings taste
Your most-lov’d dainties, with such war buy peace,
  Hunger for torment, virtue kick for vice,
Cares for your states do with your states increase,
  And though ye dream ye feast in Paradise,
Yet reason’s daylight shews ye at your meat
  Asses at thistles, bleeding as ye eat.

THE PREFACE TO THE READER

Of all books extant in all kinds, Homer is the first and best. No one before his, Josephus affirms; nor before him, saith Velleius Paterculus, was there any whom he imitated, nor after him any that could imitate him. And that Poesy may be no cause of detraction from all the eminence we give him, Spondanus (preferring it to all arts and sciences) unanswerably argues and proves; for to the glory of God, and the singing of his glories, no man dares deny, man was chiefly made. And what art performs this chief end of man with so much excitation and expression as Poesy; Moses, David, Solomon, Job, Esay, Jeremy, etc. chiefly using that to the end abovesaid? And since the excellence of it cannot be obtained by the labour and art of man, as all easily confess it, it must needs be acknowledged a Divine infusion. To prove which in a word, this distich, in my estimation, serves something nearly:

Great Poesy, blind Homer, makes all see
Thee capable of all arts, none of thee.

For out of him, according to our most grave and judicial Plutarch, are all Arts deduced, confirmed, or illustrated. It is not therefore the world’s vilifying of it that can make it vile; for so we might argue, and blaspheme the most incomparably sacred. It is not of the world indeed, but, like truth, hides itself from it. Nor is there any such reality of wisdom’s truth in all human excellence, as in Poets’ fictions. That most vulgar and foolish receipt of poetical licence being of all knowing men to be exploded, accepting it, as if Poets had a tale-telling privilege above others, no Artist being so strictly and inextricably confined to all the laws of learning, wisdom, and truth, as a Poet. For were not his fictions composed of the sinews and souls of all those, how could they defy fire, iron, and be combined with eternity? To all sciences therefore, I must still, with our learned and ingenious Spondanus, refer it, as having a perpetual commerce with the Divine Majesty, embracing and illustrating all His most holy precepts, and enjoying continual discourse with His thrice perfect and most comfortable Spirit. And as the contemplative life is most worthily and divinely preferred by Plato to the active, as much as the head to the foot, the eye to the hand, reason to sense, the soul to the body, the end itself to all things directed to the end, quiet to motion, and eternity to time; so much prefer I divine Poesy to all worldly wisdom. To the only shadow of whose worth, yet, I entitle not the bold rhymes of every apish and impudent braggart, though he dares assume anything; such I turn over to the weaving of cobwebs, and shall but chatter on molehills (far under the hill of the Muses) when their fortunatest self-love and ambition hath advanced them highest. Poesy is the flower of the Sun, and disdains to open to the eye of a candle. So kings hide their treasures and counsels from the vulgar, ne evilescant (saith our Spond.). We have example sacred enough, that true Poesy’s humility, poverty, and contempt, are badges of divinity, not vanity. Bray then, and bark against it, ye wolf-faced worldlings, that nothing but honours, riches, and magistracy, nescio quos turgidè spiratis (that I may use the words of our friend still) qui solas leges Justinianas crepatis; paragraphum unum aut alterum, pluris quàm vos ipsos facitis, etc. I (for my part) shall ever esteem it much more manly and sacred, in this harmless and pious study, to sit till I sink into my grave, than shine in your vainglorious bubbles and impieties; all your poor policies, wisdoms, and their trappings, at no more valuing than a musty nut. And much less I weigh the frontless detractions of some stupid ignorants, that, no more knowing me than their own beastly ends, and I ever (to my knowledge) blest from their sight, whisper behind me vilifyings of my translation, out of the French affirming them, when both in French, and all other languages but his own, our with-all-skill-enriched Poet is so poor and unpleasing that no man can discern from whence flowed his so generally given eminence and admiration. And therefore (by any reasonable creature’s conference of my slight comment and conversion) it will easily appear how I shun them, and whether the original be my rule or not. In which he shall easily see, I understand the understandings of all other interpreters and commentors in places of his most depth, importance, and rapture. In whose exposition and illustration, if I abhor from the sense that others wrest and wrack out of him, let my best detractor examine how the Greek word warrants me. For my other fresh fry, let them fry in their foolish galls, nothing so much weighed as the barkings of the puppies, or foisting hounds, too vile to think of our sacred Homer, or set their profane feet within their lives’ length of his thresholds. If I fail in something, let my full performance in other some restore me; haste spurring me on with other necessities. For as at my conclusion I protest, so here at my entrance, less than fifteen weeks was the time in which all the last twelve books were entirely new translated. No conference had with anyone living in all the novelties I presume I have found. Only some one or two places I have showed to my worthy and most learned friend, M. Harriots, for his censure how much mine own weighed; whose judgment and knowledge in all kinds, I know to be incomparable and bottomless, yea, to be admired as much, as his most blameless life, and the right sacred expense of his time, is to be honoured and reverenced. Which affirmation of his clear unmatchedness in all manner of learning I make in contempt of that nasty objection often thrust upon me,—that he that will judge must know more than he of whom he judgeth; for so a man should know neither God nor himself. Another right learned, honest, and entirely loved friend of mine, M. Robert Hews, I must needs put into my confess’d conference touching Homer, though very little more than that I had with M. Harriots. Which two, I protest, are all, and preferred to all. Nor charge I their authorities with, any allowance of my general labour, but only of those one or two places, which for instances of my innovation, and how it showed to them, I imparted. If any tax me for too much periphrasis or circumlocution in some places, let them read Laurentius Valla, and Eobanus Hessus, who either use such shortness as cometh nothing home to Homer, or, where they shun that fault, are ten parts more paraphrastical than I. As for example, one place I will trouble you (if you please) to confer with the original, and one interpreter for all. It is in the end of the third book, and is Helen’s speech to Venus fetching her to Paris from seeing his cowardly combat with Menelaus; part of which speech I will here cite:

Οὕνεκα δὴ νυ̑ν δι̑ον ᾽Αλέξανδρον Μενέλαος
Νικήσας, &c.

For avoiding the common reader’s trouble here, I must refer the more Greekish to the rest of the speech in Homer, whose translation ad verbum by Spondanus I will here cite, and then pray you to confer it with that which followeth of Valla.

Quoniam verò nunc Alexandrum Menelaus
Postquam vicit, vult odiosam me domum abducere,
Propterea verò nunc dolum (seu dolos) cogitans advenisti?
Sede apud ipsum vadens, deorum abnega vias,
Neque unquam tuis pedibus revertaris in cœlum,
Sed semper circa eum ærumnas perfer, et ipsum serva
Donec te vel uxorem faciat, vel hic servam, etc.

Valla thus:

Quoniam victo Paride, Menelaus me miseram est reportaturus ad lares, ideo tu, ideo falsâ sub imagine venisti, ut me deciperes ob tuam nimiam in Paridem benevolentiam: eò dum illi ades, dum illi studes, dum pro illo satagis, dum illum observas atque custodis, deorum commercium reliquisti, nec ad eos reversura es ampliùs: adeò (quantum suspicor) aut uxor ejus efficieris, aut ancilla, &c.

Wherein note if there be any such thing as most of this in Homer; yet only to express, as he thinks, Homer’s conceit, for the more pleasure of the reader, he useth this overplus, dum illi ades, dum illi studes, dum pro illo satagis, dum ilium observas, atque custodis, deorum commercium reliquisti. Which (besides his superfluity) is utterly false. For where he saith reliquisti deorum commercium, Helen saith, θεω̑ν δ᾽ἀπόειπε κελεύθους, deorum auten abnega or abnue, vias, ἀπείπειν (vel ἀποείπειν as it is used poetically) signifying denegare or aonuere; and Helen (in contempt of her too much observing men) bids her renounce heaven, and come live with Paris till he make her his wife or servant; scoptically or scornfully speaking it; which both Valla, Eobanus, and all other interpreters (but these ad verbum) have utterly missed. And this one example I thought necessary to insert here, to show my detractors that they have no reason to vilify my circumlocution sometimes, when their most approved Grecians, Homer’s interpreters generally, hold him fit to be so converted. Yet how much I differ, and with what authority, let my impartial and judicial reader judge. Always conceiving how pedantical and absurd an affectation it is in the interpretation of any author (much more of Homer) to turn him word for word, when according to Horace and other best lawgivers to translators) it is the part of every knowing and judicial interpreter, not to follow the number and order of words, but the material things themselves, and sentences to weigh diligently, and to clothe and adorn them with words, and such a style and form of oration, as are most apt for the language in which they are converted. If I have not turned him ill any place falsely (as all other his interpreters have in many, and most of his chief places) if I have not left behind me any of his sentences, elegancy, height, intention, and invention, if in some few places (especially in my first edition, being done so long since, and following the common tract) I be something paraphrastical and faulty, is it justice in that poor fault (if they will needs have it so) to drown all the rest of my labour? But there is a certain envious windsucker, that hovers up and down, laboriously engrossing all the air with his luxurious ambition, and buzzing into every ear my detraction, affirming I turn Homer out of the Latin only, etc. that sets all his associates, and the whole rabble of my maligners on their wings with him, to bear about my impair, and poison my reputation. One that, as he thinks, whatsoever he gives to others, he takes from himself; so whatsoever he takes from others, he adds to himself. One that in this kind of robbery doth like Mercury, that stole good and supplied it with counterfeit bad still. One like the two gluttons, Philoxenus and Gnatho, that would still empty their noses in the dishes they loved, that no man might eat but themselves. For so this castrill, with too hot a liver, and lust after his own glory, and to devour all himself, discourageth all appetites to the fame of another. I have stricken, single him as you can. Nor note I this, to cast any rubs or plashes out of the particular way of mine own estimation with the world; for I resolve this with the wilfully obscure:

Sine honore vivam, nulloque numero ero.

Without men’s honours I will live, and make
No number in the manless course they take.

But, to discourage (if it might be) the general detraction of industrious and well-meaning virtue, I know I cannot too much diminish and deject myself; yet that passing little that I am, God only knows, to Whose ever-implored respect and comfort I only submit me. If any further edition of these my silly endeavours shall chance, I will mend what is amiss (God assisting me) and amplify my harsh Comment to Homer’s far more right, and mine own earnest and ingenious love of him. Notwithstanding, I know, the curious and envious will never sit down satisfied. A man may go over and over, till he come over and over, and his pains be only his recompense, every man is so loaded with his particular head, and nothing in all respects perfect, but what is perceived by few. Homer himself hath met with my fortune, in many maligners; and therefore may my poor self put up without motion. And so little I will respect malignity, and so much encourage myself with mine own known strength, and what I find within me of comfort and confirmance (examining myself throughout with a far more jealous and severe eye than my greatest enemy, imitating this:

Judex ipse sui totum se explorat ad unguem, &c.)

that after these Iliads, I will (God lending me life and any meanest means) with more labour than I have lost here, and all unchecked alacrity, dive through his Odysseys. Nor can I forget here (but with all hearty gratitude remember) my most ancient, learned, and right noble friend, M. Richard Stapilton, first most desertful mover in the frame of our Homer. For which (and much other most ingenious and utterly undeserved desert) God make me amply his requiter; and be his honourable family’s speedy and full restorer. In the mean space, I entreat my impartial and judicial Reader, that all things to the quick he will not pare, but humanely and nobly pardon defects, and, if he find anything perfect, receive it unenvied.

OF HOMER

Of his country and time, the difference is so infinite amongst all writers, that there is no question, in my conjecture, of his antiquity beyond all. To which opinion, the nearest I will cite, Adam Cedrenus placeth him under David’s and Solomon’s rule; and the Destruction of Troy under Saul’s. And of one age with Solomon, Michael Glycas Siculus affirmeth him. Aristotle (in tertio de Poeticâ) affirms he was born in the isle of Io, begot of a Genius, one of them that used to dance with the Muses, and a virgin of that isle compressed by that Genius, who being quick with child (for shame of the deed) came into a place called Ægina, and there was taken of thieves, and brought to Smyrna, to Mæon king of the Lydians, who for her beauty married her. After which, she walking near the flood Meletes, on that shore being overtaken with the throes of her delivery, she brought forth Homer, and instantly died. The infant was received by Mæon, and brought up as his own till his death, which was not long after. And, according to this, when the Lydians in Smyrna were afflicted by the Æolians, and thought fit to leave the city, the captains by a herald willing all to go out that would, and follow them, Homer, being a little child, said he would also ὁμηρει̑ν (that is, sequi); and of that, for Melesigenes, which was his first name, he was called Homer. These Plutarch.

The varieties of other reports touching this I omit for length; and in place thereof think it not unfit to insert something of his praise and honour amongst the greatest of all ages; not that our most absolute of himself needs it, but that such authentical testimonies of his splendour and excellence may the better convince the malice of his maligners.

First, what kind of person Homer was, saith Spondanus, his statue teacheth, which Cedrenus describeth. The whole place we will describe that our relation may hold the better coherence, as Xylander converts it. “Then was the Octagonon at Constantinople consumed with fire; and the bath of Severus, that bore the name of Zeuxippus, in which there was much variety of spectacle, and splendour of arts; the works of all ages being conferred and preserved there, of marble, rocks, stones, and images of brass; to which this only wanted, that the souls of the persons they presented were not in them. Amongst these master-pieces and all-wit-exceeding workmanships stood Homer, as he was in his age, thoughtful and musing, his hands folded beneath his bosom, his beard untrimm’d and hanging down, the hair of his head in like sort thin on both sides before, his face with age and cares of the world, as these imagine, wrinkled and austere, his nose proportioned to his other parts, his eyes fixed or turned up to his eyebrows, like one blind, as it is reported he was.” (Not born blind, saith Vell. Paterculus, which he that imagines, saith he, is blind of all senses.) “Upon his under-coat he was attired with a loose robe, and at the base beneath his feet a brazen chain hung.” This was the statue of Homer, which in that conflagration perished. Another renowned statue of his, saith Lucian in his Encomion of Demosthenes, stood in the temple of Ptolemy, on the upper hand of his own statue. Cedrenus likewise remembereth a library in the palace of the king, at Constantinople, that contained a thousand a hundred and twenty books, amongst which there was the gut of a dragon of an hundred and twenty foot long, in which, in letters of gold, the Iliads and Odysseys of Homer were inscribed; which miracle, in Basiliscus the Emperor’s time, was consumed with fire.

For his respect amongst the most learned, Plato in Ione calleth him ἄριστον καὶ θειότατον τω̑ν ποιητω̑ν, Poeta rum omnium et præstantissimum et divinissimum; in Phædone, θει̑ον ποιητὴν, divinum Poetam; and in Theætetus, Socrates citing divers of the most wise and learned for confirmation of his there held opinion, as Protagoras, Heraclitus, Empedocles, Epicharmus, and Homer, who, saith Socrates, against such an army, being all led by such a captain as Homer, dares fight or resist, but he will be held ridiculous? This for Scaliger and all Homer’s envious and ignorant detractors. Why therefore Plato in another place banisheth him with all other poets out of his Commonwealth, dealing with them like a Politician indeed, use men, and then cast them off, though Homer he thinks fit to send out crowned and anointed, I see not, since he maketh still such honourable mention of him, and with his verses, as with precious gems, everywhere enchaceth his writings. So Aristotle continually celebrateth him. Nay, even amongst the barbarous, not only Homer’s name, but his poems have been recorded and reverenced. The Indians, saith Ælianus (Var. Hist. lib. xii. cap. 48) in their own tongue had Homer’s Poems translated and sung. Nor those Indians alone, but the kings of Persia. And amongst the Indians, of all the Greek poets, Homer being ever first in estimation; whensoever they used any divine duties according to the custom of their households and hospitalities, they invited ever Apollo and Homer. Lucian in his Encomion of Demosth. affirmeth all Poets celebrated Homer’s birthday, and sacrificed to him the first fruits of their verses. So Thersagoras answereth Lucian, he used to do himself. Alex. Paphius, saith Eustathius, delivers Homer as born of Egyptian parents, Dmasagoras being his father, and Æthra his mother, his nurse being a certain prophetess and the daughter of Oris, Isis’ priest, from whose breasts, oftentimes, honey flowed in the mouth of the infant. After which, in the night, he uttered nine several notes or voices of fowls, viz. of a swallow, a peacock, a dove, a crow, a partridge, a redshank, a stare, a blackbird, and a nightingale; and, being a little boy, was found playing in his bed with nine doves. Sibylla being at a feast of his parents was taken with sudden fury, and sung verses whose beginning was Δμασαγ όρα πολύνικε; polynice, signifying much victory, in which song also she called him μεγάκλεα, great in glory, and στεϕανίτην, signifying garland-seller, and commanded him to build a temple to the Pegridarij, that is, to the Muses. Herodotus affirms that Phæmius, teaching a public school at Smyrna, was his master; and Dionysius in his 56th Oration saith, Socrates was Homer’s scholar. In short, what he was, his works show most truly; to which, if you please, go on and examine him.

[2] Of Translation, and the natural difference of Dialects necessarily to be observed in it.

[3] Ironicè.

[4] The necessary nearness of Translation to the example.

[5] The power of Nature above Art in Poesy.

[6] Our English language above all others for Rhythmical Poesy.

THE FIRST BOOK OF HOMER’S ILIADS

THE ARGUMENT

Apollo’s priest to th’ Argive fleet doth bring
Gifts for his daughter, pris’ner to the king;
For which her tender’d freedom he entreats;
But, being dismiss’d with contumelious threats,
At Phœbus’ hands, by vengeful pray’r, he seeks
To have a plague inflicted on the Greeks.
Which had; Achilles doth a council cite,
Embold’ning Calchas, in the king’s despite;
To tell the truth why they were punish’d so.
From hence their fierce and deadly strife did grow.
For wrong in which Æacides so raves,
That goddess Thetis, from her throne of waves
Ascending heav’n, of Jove assistance won,
To plague the Greeks by absence of her son,
And make the general himself repent
To wrong so much his army’s ornament.
This found by Juno, she with Jove contends;
Till Vulcan, with heav’n’s cup, the quarrel ends.

ANOTHER ARGUMENT

Alpha the prayer of Chryses sings:
The army’s plague: the strife of kings.

Achilles’ baneful wrath resound, O Goddess, that impos’d
Infinite sorrows on the Greeks, and many brave souls los’d.
From breasts heroic; sent them far to that invisible cave
That no light comforts; and their limbs to dogs and vultures gave;
To all which Jove’s will gave effect; from whom first strife begun
Betwixt Atrides, king of men, and Thetis’ godlike son.
What god gave Eris their command, and op’d that fighting vein?
Jove’s and Latona’s son: who fir’d against the king of men,
For contumély shown his priest, infectious sickness sent
To plague the army, and to death by troops the soldiers went.
Occasion’d thus: Chryses, the priest, came to the fleet to buy,
For presents of unvalu’d price, his daughter’s liberty;
The golden sceptre and the crown of Phœbus in his hands
Proposing; and made suit to all, but most to the commands
Of both th’ Atrides, who most rul’d. “Great Atreus’ sons,” said he,
“And all ye well-greav’d Greeks, the gods, whose habitations be
In heav’nly houses, grace your pow’rs with Priam’s razéd town,
And grant ye happy conduct home! To win which wish’d renown
Of Jove, by honouring his son, far-shooting Phœbus, deign
For these fit presents to dissolve the ransomable chain
Of my lov’d daughter’s servitude.” The Greeks entirely gave
Glad acclamations, for sign that their desires would have
The grave priest reverenc’d, and his gifts of so much price embrac’d.
The Gen’ral yet bore no such mind, but viciously disgrac’d
With violent terms the priest, and said:—“Dotard! avoid our fleet,
Where ling’ring be not found by me; nor thy returning feet
Let ever visit us again; lest nor thy godhead’s crown,
Nor sceptre, save thee! Her thou seek’st I still will hold mine own,
Till age deflow’r her. In our court at Argos, far transferr’d
From her lov’d country, she shall ply her web, and see prepar’d[1]
With all fit ornaments my bed. Incense me then no more,
But, if thou wilt be safe, be gone.” This said, the sea-beat shore,
Obeying his high will, the priest trod off with haste and fear;
And, walking silent, till he left far off his enemies’ ear,
Phœbus, fair hair’d Latona’s son, he stirr’d up with a vow,
To this stern purpose: “Hear, thou God that bear’st the silver bow,
That Chrysa guard’st, rul’st Tenedos with strong hand, and the round
Of Cilia most divine dost walk! O Sminthëus! if crown’d
With thankful off’rings thy rich fane I ever saw, or fir’d
Fat thighs of oxen and of goats to thee, this grace desir’d
Vouchsafe to me: pains for my tears let these rude Greeks repay,
Forc’d with thy arrows.” Thus he pray’d, and Phœebus heard him pray,
And, vex’d at heart, down from the tops of steep heav’n stoop’d; his bow,
And quiver cover’d round, his hands did on his shoulders throw;
And of the angry Deity the arrows as he mov’d
Rattled about him. Like the night he rang’d the host, and rov’d
(Apart the fleet set) terribly; with his hard-loosing hand
His silver bow twang’d; and his shafts did first the mules command,
And swift hounds; then the Greeks themselves his deadly arrows shot.
The fires of death went never out; nine days his shafts flew hot
About the army; and the tenth, Achilles called a court
Of all the Greeks; heav’n’s white-arm’d Queen (who, ev’rywhere cut short,
Beholding her lov’d Greeks, by death) suggested it; and he
(All met in one) arose, and said: “Atrides, now I see
We must be wandering again, flight must be still our stay,
If flight can save us now, at once sickness and battle lay
Such strong hand on us. Let us ask some prophet, priest, or prove
Some dream-interpreter (for dreams are often sent from Jove)
Why Phœbus is so much incens’d; if unperformed vows
He blames in us, or hecatombs; and if these knees he bows
To death may yield his graves no more, but off’ring all supply
Of savours burnt from lambs and goats, avert his fervent eye,
And turn his temp’rate.” Thus, he sat; and then stood up to them
Calchas, surnam’d Thestorides, of augurs the supreme;
He knew things present, past, to come, and rul’d the equipage
Of th’ Argive fleet to Ilion, for his prophetic rage
Giv’n by Apollo; who, well-seen in th’ ill they felt, propos’d
This to Achilles: “Jove’s belov’d, would thy charge see disclos’d
The secret of Apollo’s wrath? then cov’nant and take oath
To my discov’ry, that, with words and pow’rful actions both,
Thy strength will guard the truth in me; because I well conceive
That he whose empire governs all, whom all the Grecians give
Confirm’d obedience, will be mov’d; and then you know the state
Of him that moves him. When a king hath once mark’d for his hate
A man inferior, though that day his wrath seems to digest
Th’ offence he takes, yet evermore he rakes up in his breast
Brands of quick anger, till revenge hath quench’d to his desire
The fire reservéd. Tell me, then, if, whatsoever ire
Suggests in hurt of me to him, thy valour will prevent?”
Achilles answer’d: “All thou know’st speak, and be confident;
For by Apollo, Jove’s belov’d, (to whom performing vows,
O Calchas, for the state of Greece, thy spirit prophetic shows
Skills that direct us) not a man of all these Grecians here,
I living, and enjoy’ng the light shot through this flow’ry sphere,
Shall touch thee with offensive hands; though Agamemnon be
The man in question, that doth boast the mightiest empery
Of all our army.” Then took heart the prophet unreprov’d,
And said: “They are not unpaid vows, nor hecatombs, that mov’d
The God against us; his offence is for his priest impair’d
By Agamemnon, that refus’d the present he preferr’d,
And kept his daughter. This is cause why heav’n’s Far-darter darts
These plagues amongst us; and this still will empty in our hearts
His deathful quiver, uncontain’d till to her lovéd sire
The black-eyed damsel be resign’d; no rédemptory hire
Took for her freedom,-not a gift, but all the ransom quit,
And she convey’d, with sacrifice, till her enfranchis’d feet
Tread Chrysa under; then the God, so pleas’d, perhaps we may
Move to remission.” Thus, he sate; and up, the great in sway,
Heroic Agamemnon rose, eagérly bearing all;
His mind’s seat overcast with fumes; an anger general
Fill’d all his faculties; his eyes sparkled like kindling fire,
Which sternly cast upon the priest, thus vented he his ire:
“Prophet of ill! for never good came from thee towards me
Not to a word’s worth; evermore thou took’st delight to be
Offensive in thy auguries, which thou continu’st still,
Now casting thy prophetic gall, and vouching all our ill,
Shot from Apollo, is impos’d since I refus’d the price
Of fair Chryseis’ liberty; which would in no worth rise
To my rate of herself, which moves my vows to have her home,
Past Clytemnestra loving her, that grac’d my nuptial room
With her virginity and flow’r. Nor ask her merits less
For person, disposition, wit, and skill in housewif’ries.
And yet, for all this, she shall go, if more conducible
That course be than her holding here. I rather wish the weal
Of my lov’d army than the death. Provide yet instantly
Supply for her, that I alone of all our royalty
Lose not my winnings. ’Tis not fit. Ye see all I lose mine
Forc’d by another, see as well some other may resign
His prise to me.” To this replied the swift-foot, god-like, son
Of Thetis, thus: “King of us all, in all ambition
Most covetous of all that breathe, why should the great-soul’d Greeks
Supply thy lost prise out of theirs? Nor what thy av’rice seeks
Our common treasury can find; so little it doth guard
Of what our ras’d towns yielded us; of all which most is shar’d,
And giv’n our soldiers; which again to take into our hands
Were ignominious and base. Now then, since God commands,
Part with thy most-lov’d prise to him; not any one of us
Exacts it of thee, yet we all, all loss thou suffer’st thus,
Will treble, quadruple, in gain, when Jupiter bestows
The sack of well-wall’d Troy on us; which by his word he owes.”
“Do not deceive yourself with wit,” he answer’d, “god-like man,
Though your good name may colour it; ’tis not your swift foot can
Outrun me here; nor shall the gloss, set on it with the God,
Persuade me to my wrong. Wouldst thou maintain in sure abode
Thine own prise, and slight me of mine? Resolve this: if our friends,
As fits in equity my worth, will right me with amends,
So rest it; otherwise, myself will enter personally
On thy prise, that of Ithacus, or Ajax, for supply;
Let him on whom I enter rage. But come, we’ll order these
Hereafter, and in other place. Now put to sacred seas
Our black sail; in it rowers put, in it fit sacrifice;
And to these I will make ascend my so much envied prise,
Bright-cheek’d Chryseis. For conduct of all which, we must choose
A chief out of our counsellors. Thy service we must use,
Idomenëus; Ajax, thine; or thine, wise Ithacus;
Or thine, thou terriblest of men, thou son of Peleüs,
Which fittest were, that thou might’st see these holy acts perform’d
For which thy cunning zeal so pleads; and he, whose bow thus storm’d
For our offences, may be calm’d.” Achilles, with a frown,
Thus answer’d: “O thou impudent! of no good but thine own
Ever respectful, but of that with all craft covetous,
With what heart can a man attempt a service dangerous,
Or at thy voice be spirited to fly upon a foe,
Thy mind thus wretched? For myself, I was not injur’d so
By any Trojan, that my pow’rs should bid them any blows;
In nothing bear they blame of me; Phthia, whose bosom flows
With corn and people, never felt impair of her increase
By their invasion; hills enow, and far-resounding seas,
Pour out their shades and deeps between; but thee, thou frontless man,
We follow, and thy triumphs make with bonfires of our bane;
Thine, and thy brother’s, vengeance sought, thou dog’s eyes, of  this Troy
By our expos’d lives; whose deserts thou neither dost employ
With honour nor with care. And now, thou threat’st to force from me
The fruit of my sweat, which the Greeks gave all; and though it be,
Compar’d with thy part, then snatch’d up, nothing; nor ever is
At any sack’d town; but of fight, the fetcher in of this,
My hands have most share; in whose toils when I have emptied me
Of all my forces, my amends in liberality,
Though it be little, I accept, and turn pleas’d to my tent;
And yet that little thou esteem’st too great a continent
In thy incontinent avarice. For Phthia therefore now
My course is; since ’tis better far, than here t’ endure that thou
Should’st still be ravishing my right, draw my whole treasure dry,
And add dishonour.” He replied: “If thy heart serve thee, fly;
Stay not for my cause; others here will aid and honour me;
If not, yet Jove I know is sure; that counsellor is he
That I depend on. As for thee, of all our Jove-kept kings
Thou still art most my enemy; strifes, battles, bloody things,
Make thy blood-feasts still. But if strength, that these moods build upon,
Flow in thy nerves, God gave thee it; and so ’tis not thine own,
But in his hands still. What then lifts thy pride in this so high?
Home with thy fleet, and Myrmidons; use there their empery;
Command not here. I weigh thee not, nor mean to magnify
Thy rough-hewn rages, but, instead, I thus far threaten thee:
Since Phœbus needs will force from me Chryseis, she shall go;
My ships and friends shall waft her home; but I will imitate so
His pleasure, that mine own shall take, in person, from thy tent
Bright-cheek’d Briseis; and so tell thy strength how eminent
My pow’r is, being compar’d with thine; all other making fear
To vaunt equality with me, or in this proud kind bear
Their beards against me.” Thetis’ son at this stood vex’d, his heart
Bristled his bosom, and two ways drew his discursive part;
If, from his thigh his sharp sword drawn, he should make room about
Atrides’ person, slaught’ring him, or sit his anger out,
And curb his spirit. While these thoughts striv’d in his blood and mind,
And he his sword drew, down from heav’n Athenia stoop’d, and shin’d
About his temples, being sent by th’ ivory-wristed Queen,
Saturnia, who out of her heart had ever loving been,
And careful for the good of both. She stood behind, and took
Achilles by the yellow curls, and only gave her look
To him appearance; not a man of all the rest could see.
He turning back his eye, amaze strook every faculty;
Yet straight he knew her by her eyes, so terrible they were,
Sparkling with ardour, and thus spake: “Thou seed of Jupiter,
Why com’st thou? To behold his pride, that boasts our empery?
Then witness with it my revenge, and see that insolence die
That lives to wrong me.” She replied: “I come from heav’n to see
Thy anger settled, if thy soul will use her sov’reignty
In fit reflection. I am sent from Juno, whose affects
Stand heartily inclin’d to both. Come, give us both respects,
And cease contention; draw no sword; use words, and such as may
Be bitter to his pride, but just; for, trust in what I say,
A time shall come, when, thrice the worth of that he forceth now,
He shall propose for recompense of these wrongs; therefore throw
Reins on thy passions, and serve us.” He answer’d “Though my heart
Burn in just anger, yet my soul must conquer th’ angry part,
And yield you conquest. Who subdues his earthly part for heav’n,
Heav’n to his pray’rs subdues his wish.” This said, her charge was given
Fit honour; in his silver hilt he held his able hand,
And forc’d his broad sword up; and up to heav’n did re-ascend
Minerva, who, in Jove’s high roof that bears the rough shield, took
Her place with other deities. She gone, again forsook
Patience his passion, and no more his silence could confine
His wrath, that this broad language gave: “Thou ever steep’d in wine,
Dog’s face, with heart but of a hart, that nor in th’ open eye
Of fight dar’st thrust into a prease, nor with our noblest lie
In secret ambush! These works seem too full of death for thee;
’Tis safer far in the open host to dare an injury
To any crosser of thy lust. Thou subject-eating king!
Base spirits thou govern’st, or this wrong had been the last foul thing
Thou ever author’dst; yet I vow, and by a great oath swear,
Ev’n by this sceptre, that, as this never again shall bear[2]
Green leaves or branches, nor increase with any growth his size,
Nor did since first it left the hills, and had his faculties
And ornaments bereft with iron; which now to other end
Judges of Greece bear, and their laws, receiv’d from Jove, defend;
(For which my oath to thee is great); so, whensoever need
Shall burn with thirst of me thy host, no pray’rs shall ever breed
Affection in me to their aid, though well-deserved woes
Afflict thee for them, when to death man-slaught’ring Hector throws
Whole troops of them, and thou torment’st thy vex’d mind with conceit
Of thy rude rage now, and his wrong that most deserv’d the right
Of all thy army.” Thus, he threw his sceptre ’gainst the ground,
With golden studs stuck, and took seat. Atrides’ breast was drown’d
In rising choler. Up to both sweet-spoken Nestor stood,
The cunning Pylian orator, whose tongue pour’d forth a flood
Of more-than-honey-sweet discourse; two ages were increas’d
Of divers-languag’d men, all born in his time and deceas’d,
In sacred Pylos, where he reign’d amongst the third-ag’d men
He, well-seen in the world, advis’d, and thus express’d it then:
“O Gods! Our Greek earth will be drown’d in just tears; rapeful Troy,
Her king, and all his sons, will make as just a mock, and joy,
Of these disjunctions; if of you, that all our host excel
In counsel and in skill of fight, they hear this. Come, repel
These young men’s passions. Y’ are not both, put both your years in one,
So old as I. I liv’d long since, and was companion
With men superior to you both, who yet would ever hear
My counsels with respect. My eyes yet never witness were,
Nor ever will be, of such men as then delighted them;
Pirithous, Exadius, and god-like Polypheme,
Cæneus, and Dryas prince of men, Ægean Theseüs,
A man like heav’n’s immortals form’d; all, all most vigorous,
Of all men that ev’n those days: bred; most vig’rous men, and fought
With beasts most vig’rous, mountain beasts, (for men in strength were nought
Match’d with their forces) fought with them, and bravely fought them down
Yet ev’n with these men I convers’d, being call’d to the renown
Of their societies, by their suits, from Pylos far, to fight
In th’ Apian kingdom; and I fought, to a degree of might
That help’d ev’n their mights, against such as no man now would  dare
To meet in conflict; yet ev’n these my counsels still would hear,
And with obedience crown my words. Give you such palm to them;
’Tis better than to wreath your wraths. Atrides, give not stream
To all thy pow’r, nor force his prise, but yield her still his own,
As all men else do. Nor do thou encounter with thy crown,
Great son of Peleus, since no king that ever Jove allow’d
Grace of a sceptre equals him. Suppose thy nerves endow’d
With strength superior, and thy birth a very goddess gave,
Yet he of force is mightier, since what his own nerves have
Is amplified with just command of many other. King of men,
Command thou then thyself; and I with my pray’rs will obtain
Grace of Achilles to subdue his fury; whose parts are
Worth our entreaty, being chief check to all our ill in war.”
“All this, good father,” said the king, “is comely and good right;
But this man breaks all such bounds; he affects, past all men, height;
All would in his pow’r hold, all make his subjects, give to all
His hot will for their temp’rate law; all which he never shall
Persuade at my hands. If the gods have giv’n him the great style
Of ablest soldier, made they that his licence to revile
Men with vile language?” Thetis’ son prevented him, and said:
“Fearful and vile I might be thought, if the exactions laid
By all means on me I should bear. Others command to this,
Thou shalt not me; or if thou dost, far my free spirit is
From serving thy command. Beside, this I affirm (afford
Impression of it in thy soul): will not use my sword
On thee or any for a wench, unjustly though thou tak’st
The thing thou gav’st; but all things else, that in my ship thou mak’st
Greedy survey of, do not touch without my leave; or do,—
Add that act’s wrong to this, that these may see that outrage too,—
And then comes my part; then be sure, thy blood upon my lance
Shall flow in vengeance.” These high terms these two at variance
Us’d to each other; left their seats; and after them arose
The whole court. To his tents and ships, with friends and soldiers, goes
Angry Achilles. Atreus’ son the swift ship launch’d, and put
Within it twenty chosen row’rs, within it likewise shut
The hecatomb t’ appease the God; then caus’d to come aboard
Fair-cheek’d Chryseis; for the chief, he in whom Pallas pour’d
Her store of counsels, Ithacus, aboard went last; and then
The moist ways of the sea they sail’d. And now the king of men
Bade all the host to sacrifice. They sacrific’d, and cast
The offal of all to the deeps; the angry God they grac’d
With perfect hecatombs; some bulls, some goats, along the shore
Of the unfruitful sea, inflam’d. To heav’n the thick fumes bore
Enwrapped savours. Thus, though all the politic king made shew
Respects to heav’n, yet he himself all that time did pursue
His own affections; the late jar, in which he thunder’d threats
Against Achilles, still he fed, and his affections’ heats
Thus vented to Talthybius, and grave Eurybates,
Heralds, and ministers of trust, to all his messages.
“Haste to Achilles’ tent; where take Briseis’ hand, and bring
Her beauties to us. If he fail to yield her, say your king
Will come himself, with multitudes that shall the horribler
Make both his presence, and your charge, that so he dares defer.”
This said, he sent them with a charge of hard condition.
They went unwillingly, and trod the fruitless sea’s shore; soon
They reach’d the navy and the tents, in which the quarter lay
Of all the Myrmidons, and found the chief Chief in their sway
Set at his black bark in his tent. Nor was Achilles glad
To see their presence; nor themselves in any glory had
Their message, but with rev’rence stocd, and fear’d th’ offended king,
Ask’d not the dame, nor spake a word. He yet, well knowing the thing
That caus’d their coming, grac’d them thus: “Heralds, ye men that bear
The messages of men and gods, y’ are welcome, come ye near.
I nothing blame you, but your king; ’tis he I know doth send
You for Briseis; she is his. Patroclus, honour’d friend,
Bring forth the damsel, and these men let lead her to their lord.
But, heralds, be you witnesses, before the most ador’d,
Before us mortals, and before your most ungentle king,
Of what I suffer, that, if war ever hereafter bring
My aid in question, to avert any severest bane
It brings on others, I am ’scus’d to keep mine aid in wane,
Since they mine honour. But your king, in tempting mischief, raves,
Nor sees at once by present things the future; how like waves
Ills follow ills; injustices being never so secure
In present times, but after-plagues ev’n then are seen as sure;
Which yet he sees not, and so soothes his present lust, which, check’d,
Would check plagues future; and he might, in succouring right, protect
Such as fight for his right at fleet. They still in safety fight,
That fight still justly.” This speech us’d, Patroclus did the rite
His friend commanded, and brought forth Briseis from her tent,
Gave her the heralds, and away to th’ Achive ships they went.
She sad, and scarce for grief could go. Her love all friends forsook,
And wept for anger. To the shore of th’ old sea he betook
Himself alone, and casting forth upon the purple sea
His wet eyes, and his hands to heav’n advancing, this sad plea
Made to his mother; “Mother! Since you brought me forth to breathe
So short a life, Olympius had good right to bequeath
My short life honour; yet that right he doth in no degree,
But lets Atrides do me shame, and force that prise from me
That all the Greeks gave.” This with tears he utter’d, and she heard,
Set with her old sire in his deeps, and instantly appear’d
Up from the grey sea like a cloud, sate by his side, and said:
“Why weeps my son? What grieves thee?
Speak, conceal not what hath laid
Such hard hand on thee, let both know.” He, sighing like a storm,
Replied: “Thou dost know. Why should I things known again inform?
We march’d to Thebes, the sacred town of king Eëtion,
Sack’d it, and brought to fleet the spoil, which every valiant son
Of Greece indifferently shar’d. Atrides had for share
Fair-cheek’d Chryseis. After which, his priest that shoots so far,
Chryses, the fair Chryseis’ sire, arriv’d at th’ Achive fleet,
With infinite ransom, to redeem the dear imprison’d feet
Of his fair daughter. In his hands he held Apollo’s crown,
And golden sceptre; making suit to ev’ry Grecian son,
But most the sons of Atreüs, the others’ orderers,
Yet they least heard him; all the rest receiv’d with rev’rend ears
The motion, both the priest and gifts gracing, and holding worth
His wish’d acceptance. Atreus’ son yet (vex’d) commanded forth
With rude terms Phœbus’ rev’rend priest; who, angry, made retreat,
And pray’d to Phœbus, in whose grace he standing passing great
Got his petitión. The God an ill shaft sent abroad
That tumbled down the Greeks in heaps. The host had no abode
That was not visited. We ask’d a prophet that well knew
The cause of all; and from his lips Apollo’s prophecies flew,
Telling his anger. First myself exhorted to appease
The anger’d God; which Atreus’ son did at the heart displease,
And up he stood, us’d threats, perform’d. The black-eyed Greeks sent home
Chryseis to her sire, and gave his God a hecatomb.
Then, for Briseis, to my tents Atrides’ heralds came,
And took her that the Greeks gave all. If then thy pow’rs can frame
Wreak for thy son, afford it. Scale Olympus, and implore
Jove (if by either word, or fact, thou ever didst restore
Joy to his griev’d heart) now to help. I oft have heard thee vaunt,
In court of Peleus, that alone thy hand was conversant
In rescue from a cruel spoil the black-cloud-gath’ring Jove,
Whom other Godheads would have bound (the Pow’r whose pace doth move
The round earth, heav’n’s great Queen, and Pallas); to whose bands
Thou cam’st with rescue, bringing up him with the hundred hands
To great Olympus, whom the Gods call Briarëus, men
Ægæon, who his sire surpass’d, and was as strong again,
And in that grace sat glad by Jove. Th’ immortals stood dismay’d
At his ascension, and gave free passage to his aid.
Of all this tell Jove; kneel to him, embrace his knee, and pray,
If Troy’s aid he will ever deign, that now their forces may
Beat home the Greeks to fleet and sea; embruing their retreat
In slaughter; their pains pay’ng the wreak of their proud sov’reign’s heat;
And that far-ruling king may know, from his poor soldier’s harms
His own harm falls; his own and all in mine, his best in arms.”
Her answer she pour’d out in tears: “O me, my son,” said she,
“Why brought I up thy being at all, that brought thee forth to be
Sad subject of so hard a fate? O would to heav’n, that since
Thy fate is little, and not long, thou might’st without offence
And tears perform it! But to live, thrall to so stern a fate
As grants thee least life, and that least so most unfortunate,
Grieves me t’ have giv’n thee any life. But what thou wishest now,
If Jove will grant, I’ll up and ask; Olympus crown’d with snow
I’ll climb; but sit thou fast at fleet, renounce all war, and feed
Thy heart with wrath, and hope of wreak; till which come, thou shalt need
A little patience. Jupiter went yesterday to feast
Amongst the blameless Æthiops, in th’ ocean’s deepen’d breast,
All Gods attending him; the twelfth, high heav’n again he sees,
And then his brass-paved court I’ll scale, cling to his pow’rful knees,
And doubt not but to win thy wish.” Thus, made she her remove,
And left wrath tyring on her son, for his enforcèd love.
Ulysses, with the hecatomb, arriv’d at Chrysa’s shore;
And when amidst the hav’n’s deep mouth, they came to use the oar,
They straight strook sail, then roll’d them up, and on the hatches threw;
The top-mast to the kelsine then, with halyards down they drew;
Then brought the ship to port with oars; then forked anchor cast;
And, ’gainst the violence of storm, for drifting made her fast.
All come ashore, they all expos’d the holy hecatomb
To angry Phœbus, and, with it, Chryseis welcom’d home;
Whom to her sire, wise Ithacus, that did at th’ altar stand,
For honour led, and, spoken thus, resign’d her to his hand:
“Chryses, the mighty king of men, great Agamemnon, sends
Thy lov’d seed by my hands to thine; and to thy God commends
A hecatomb, which my charge is to sacrifice, and seek
Our much-sigh-mix’d woe his recure, invok’d by ev’ry Greek.”
Thus he resign’d her, and her sire receiv’d her highly joy’d.
About the well-built altar, then, they orderly employ’d
The sacred off’ring, wash’d their hands, took salt cakes; and the priest,
With hands held up to heav’n, thus pray’d: “O thou that all things seest,
Fautour of Chrysa, whose fair hand doth guard fully dispose
Celestial Cilia, governing in all pow’r Tenedos,
O hear thy priest, and as thy hand, in free grace to my pray’rs,
Shot fervent plague-shafts through the Greeks, now hearten their affairs
With health renew’d, and quite remove th’ infection from their blood.”
He pray’d; and to his pray’rs again the God propitious stood.
All, after pray’r, cast on salt cakes, drew back, kill’d, flay’d the beeves,
Cut out and dubb’d with fat their thighs, fair dress’d with doubled leaves,
And on them all the sweetbreads’ prick’d, The priest, with small  sere wood,
Did sacrifice, pour’d on red wine; by whom the young men stood,
And turn’d, in five ranks, spits; on which (the legs enough) they eat
The inwards; then in giggots cut the other fit for meat,
And put to fire; which roasted well they drew. The labour done,
They serv’d the feast in, that fed all to satisfaction.
Desire of meat and wine thus quench’d, the youths crown’d cups of wine
Drunk off, and fill’d again to all. That day was held divine,
And spent in pæans to the Sun, who heard with pleaséd ear;
When whose bright chariot stoop’d to sea, and twilight hid the clear,
All soundly on their cables slept, ev’n till the night was worn.
And when the lady of the light, the rosy-finger’d Morn,
Rose from the hills, all fresh arose, and to the camp retir’d.
Apollo with a fore-right wind their swelling bark inspir’d.
The top-mast hoisted, milk-white sails on his round breast they put,
The mizens strooted with the gale, the ship her course did cut
So swiftly that the parted waves against her ribs did roar;
Which, coming to the camp, they drew aloft the sandy shore,
Where, laid on stocks, each soldier kept his quarter as before.
But Peleus’ son, swift-foot Achilles, at his swift ships sate,
Burning in wrath, nor ever came to councils of estate
That make men honour’d, never trod the fierce embattled field,
But kept close, and his lov’d heart pin’d, what fight and cries could yield
Thirsting at all parts to the host, And now, since first he told
His wrongs to Thetis, twelve fair morns their ensigns did unfold,
And then the ever-living gods mounted Olympus, Jove
First in ascension. Thetis then, remember’d well to move
Achilles’ motion, rose from sea, and, by the morn’s first light,
The great heav’n and Olympus climb’d; where, in supremest height
Of all that many-headed hill, she saw the far-seen son
Of Saturn, set from all the rest, in his free seat alone.
Before whom, on her own knees fall’n, the knees of Jupiter
Her left hand held, her right his chin, and thus she did prefer
Her son’s petition: “Father Jove! If ever I have stood
Aidful to thee in word or work, with this imploréd good,
Requite my aid, renown my son, since in so short a race
(Past others) thou confin’st his life. An insolent disgrace
Is done him by the king of men; he forc’d from him a prise
Won with his sword. But thou, O Jove, that art most strong, most wise,
Honour my son for my sake; add strength to the Trojans’ side
By his side’s weakness in his want; and see Troy amplified
In conquest, so much, and so long, till Greece may give again
The glory reft him, and the more illustrate the free reign
Of his wrong’d honour.” Jove at this sate silent; not a word
In long space pass’d him. Thetis still hung on his knee, implor’d
The second time his help, and said: “Grant, or deny my suit,
Be free in what thou dost; I know, thou canst not sit thus mute
For fear of any; speak, deny, that so I may be sure,
Of all heav’n’s Goddesses ’tis I, that only must endure
Dishonour by thee.” Jupiter, the great cloud-gath’rer, griev’d
With thought of what a world of griefs this suit ask’d, being achiev’d,
Swell’d, sigh’d, and answer’d: “Works of death thou urgest. O, at this
Juno will storm, and all my pow’rs inflame with contumelies.
Ever she wrangles, charging me in ear of all the Gods
That I am partial still, that I add the displeasing odds
Of my aid to the Ilians. Begone then, lest she see;
Leave thy request to my care; yet, that trust may hearten thee
With thy desire’s grant, and my pow’r to give it act approve
How vain her strife is, to thy pray’r my eminent head shall move;
Which is the great sign of my will with all th’ immortal states;
Irrevocable; never fails; never without the rates
Of all pow’rs else; when my head bows, all heads bow with it still
As their first mover; and gives pow’r to any work I will.”
He said; and his black eyebrows bent; above his deathless head
Th’ ambrosian curls flow’d; great heav’n shook: and both were severéd,
Their counsels broken. To the depth of Neptune’s kingdom div’d
Thetis from heav’n’s height; Jove arose; and all the Gods receiv’d
(All rising from their thrones) their Sire, attending to his court.
None sate when he rose, none delay’d the furnishing his port
Till he came near; all met with him, and brought him to his throne.
Nor sate great Juno ignorant, when she beheld alone
Old Nereus’ silver-footed seed with Jove, that she had brought
Counsels to heav’n; and straight her tongue had teeth in it, that wrought
This sharp invective: “Who was that (thou craftiest counsellor
Of all the Gods) that so apart some secret did implore?
Ever, apart from me, thou lov’st to counsel and decree
Things of more close trust than thou think’st are fit t’ impart to me.
Whatever thou determin’st, I must ever be denied
The knowledge of it by thy will.” To her speech thus replied
The Father both of men and Gods: “Have never hope to know
My whole intentions, though my wife; it fits not, nor would show
Well to thine own thoughts; but what fits thy woman’s ear to hear,
Woman, nor man, nor God, shall know before it grace thine ear.
Yet what, apart from men and Gods, I please to know, forbear
T’ examine, or inquire of that.” She with the cow’s fair eyes,
Respected Juno, this return’d: “Austere king of the skies,
What hast thou utter’d? When did I before this time inquire,
Or sift thy counsels? Passing close you are still. Your desire
Is serv’d with such care, that I fear you can scarce vouch the deed
That makes it public, being seduc’d by this old sea-god’s seed,
That could so early use her knees, embracing thine. I doubt,
The late act of thy bowéd head was for the working out
Of some boon she ask’d; that her son thy partial hand would please
With plaguing others.” “Wretch!” said he, “thy subtle jealousies
Are still exploring; my designs can never ’scape thine eye,
Which yet thou never canst prevent. Thy curiosity
Makes thee less car’d for at my hands, and horrible the end
Shall make thy humour. If it be what thy suspects intend,
What then? ’Tis my free will it should; to which let way be giv’n
With silence. Curb your tongue in time; lest all the Gods in heav’n
Too few be and too weak to help thy punish’d insolence,
When my inaccessible hands shall fall on thee.” The sense
Of this high threat’ning made her fear, and silent she sate down,
Humbling her great heart. All the Gods in court of Jove did frown
At this offence giv’n; amongst whom heav’n’s famous artizan,
Ephaistus, in his mother’s care, this comely speech began:
“Believe it, these words will breed wounds, beyond our pow’rs to bear,
If thus for mortals ye fall out. Ye make a tumult here
That spoils our banquet. Evermore worst matters put down best.
But, mother, though yourself be wise, yet let your son request
His wisdom audience. Give good terms to our lov’d father Jove,
For fear he take offence again, and our kind banquet prove
A wrathful battle. If he will, the heav’nly Light’ner can
Take you and toss you from your throne; his pow’r Olympian
Is so surpassing. Soften then with gentle speech his spleen,
And drink to him; I know his heart will quickly down again.”
This said, arising from his throne, in his lov’d mother’s hand
He put the double-handed cup, and said: “Come, do not stand
On these cross humours, suffer, bear, though your great bosom grieve,
And lest blows force you; all my aid not able to relieve
Your hard condition, though these eyes behold it, and this heart
Sorrow to think it. ’Tis a task too dang’rous to take part
Against Olympius. I myself the proof of this still feel.
When other Gods would fain have help’d, he took me by the heel,
And hurl’d me out of heav’n. All day I was in falling down;
At length in Lemnos I strook earth. The likewise-falling sun
And I, together, set; my life almost set too; yet there
The Sintii cheer’d and took me up.” This did to laughter cheer
White-wristed Juno, who now took the cup of him, and smil’d.
The sweet peace-making draught went round, and lame Ephaistus fill’d
Nectar to all the other Gods. A laughter never left
Shook all the blesséd deities, to see the lame so deft
At that cup service. All that day, ev’n till the sun went down,
They banqueted, and had such cheer as did their wishes crown.
Nor had they music less divine; Apollo there did touch
His most sweet harp, to which, with voice, the Muses pleas’d as much.
But when the sun’s fair light was set, each Godhead to his house
Address’d for sleep, where ev’ry one, with art most curious,
By heav’n’s great both-foot-halting God a sev’ral roof had built.
Ev’n he to sleep went, by whose hand heav’n is with lightning gilt,
High Jove, where he had us’d to rest when sweet sleep seiz’d his eyes;
By him the golden-thron’d Queen slept, the Queen of deities.

THE END OF THE FIRST BOOK.

[1] “See my bed made,” it may be Englished. The word is ἀντιόωσαν, which signifies contra stantem as standing of one side opposite to another on the other side; which yet others translate capessentem et adornantem; which since it shows best to a reader, I follow.

[2] This simile Virgil directly translates.

THE SECOND BOOK OF HOMER’S ILIADS

THE ARGUMENT

Jove calls a vision up from Somnus’ den
To bid Atrides muster up his men.
The King, to Greeks dissembling his desire,
Persuades them to their country to retire.
By Pallas’ will, Ulysses stays their flight:
And wise old Nestor heartens them to fight.
They take their meat; which done, to arms they go,
And march in good array against the foe.
So those of Troy; when Iris, from the sky,
Of Saturn’s son performs the embassy.

ANOTHER ARGUMENT

Beta the dream and synod cites;
And catalogues the naval knights.

The other Gods, and knights at arms, all night slept; only Jove
Sweet slumber seiz’d not; he discours’d how best he might approve
His vow made for Achilles’ grace, and make the Grecians find
His miss in much death. All ways cast, this counsel serv’d his mind
With most allowance; to despatch a harmful Dream to greet
The king of men, and gave this charge: “Go to the Achive fleet,
Pernicious Dream, and, being arriv’d in Agamemnon’s tent,
Deliver truly all this charge. Command him to convent
His whole host arm’d before these tow’rs; for now Troy’s broad-way’d town
He shall take in; the heav’n-hous’d Gods are now indiff’rent grown:
Juno’s request hath won them; Troy now under imminent ills
At all parts labours.” This charge heard, the Vision straight fulfils;
The ships reach’d, and Atrides’ tent, in which he found him laid,
Divine sleep pour’d about his pow’rs. He stood above his head
Like Nestor, grac’d of old men most, and this did intimate:
“Sleeps the wise Atreus’ tame-horse son? A councillor of state
Must not the whole night spend in sleep, to whom the people are
For guard committed, and whose life stands bound to so much care.
Now hear me, then, Jove’s messenger, who, though far off from thee,
Is near thee yet in ruth and care, and gives command by me
To arm thy whole host. Thy strong hand the broad-way’d town of Troy
Shall now take in; no more the Gods dissentiously employ
Their high-hous’d powers; Juno’s suit hath won them all to her;
And ill fates overhang these tow’rs, address’d by Jupiter.
Fix in thy mind this, nor forget to give it action, when
Sweet sleep shall leave thee.” Thus, he fled; and left the king of men
Repeating in discourse his dream, and dreaming still, awake,
Of pow’r, not ready yet for act. O fool, he thought to take
In that next day old Priam’s town; not knowing what affairs
Jove had in purpose, who prepar’d, by strong fight, sighs and cares
For Greeks and Trojans. The Dream gone, his voice still murmured
About the king’s ears; who sate up, put on him in his bed
His silken inner weed, fair, new; and then in haste arose,
Cast on his ample mantle, tied to his soft feet fair shoes,
His silver-hilted sword he hung about his shoulder, took
His father’s sceptre never stain’d, which then abroad he shook,
And went to fleet. And now great heav’n Goddess Aurora scal’d,
To Jove, and all Gods, bringing light; when Agamemnon call’d
His heralds, charging them aloud to call to instant court
The thick-hair’d Greeks. The heralds call’d; the Greeks made quick resort.
The Council chiefly he compos’d of old great-minded men,
At Nestor’s ships, the Pylian king. All there assembled then,
Thus Atreus’ son begun the court: “Hear, friends: A Dream divine,
Amidst the calm night in my sleep, did through my shut eyes shine,
Within my fantasy. His form did passing naturally
Resemble Nestor; such attire, a stature just as high.
He stood above my head, and words thus fashion’d did relate:
‘Sleeps the wise Atreus’ tame-horse son? A councillor of state
Must not the whole night spend in sleep, to whom the people are
For guard committed, and whose life stands bound to so much care.
Now hear me then, Jove’s messenger, who, though far off from thee,
Is near thee yet in love and care, and gives command by me
To arm thy whole host. Thy strong hand the broad-way’d town of Troy
Shall now take in; no more the Gods dissentiously employ
Their high-hous’d pow’rs; Saturnia’s suit hath won them all to her;
And ill fates over-hang these tow’rs, address’d by Jupiter.
Fix in thy mind this.’ This express’d, he took wing and away,
And sweet sleep left me. Let us then by all our means assay
To arm our army; I will first (as far as fits our right)
Try their addictions, and command with full-sail’d ships our flight;
Which if they yield to, oppose you.” He sate, and up arose
Nestor, of sandy Pylos king, who, willing to dispose
Their counsel to the public good, propos’d this to the state:
“Princes and Councillors of Greece, if any should relate
This vision but the king himself, it might be held a tale,
And move the rather our retreat; but since our General
Affirms he saw it, hold it true, and all our best means make
To arm our army.” This speech us’d, he first the Council brake;
The other sceptre-bearing States arose too, and obey’d
The people’s Rector. Being abroad, the earth was overlaid
With flockers to them, that came forth, as when of frequent bees
Swarms rise out of a hollow rock, repairing the degrees
Of their egression endlessly, with ever rising new
From forth their sweet nest; as their store, still as it faded, grew,
And never would cease sending forth her clusters to the spring,
They still crowd out so; this fleck here, that there, belabouring
The loaded flow’rs; so from the ships and tents the army’s store
Troop’d to these princes and the court, along th’ unmeasur’d shore;
Amongst whom, Jove’s ambassadress, Fame, in her virtue shin’d,
Exciting greediness to hear. The rabble, thus inclin’d,
Hurried together; uproar seiz’d the high court; earth did groan
Beneath the settling multitude; tumult was there alone.
Thrice-three vocif’rous heralds rose, to check the rout, and get
Ear to their Jove-kept governors; and instantly was set
That huge confusion; ev’ry man set fast, the clamour ceas’d.
Then stood divine Atrides up, and in his hand compress’d
His sceptre, th’ elaborate work of fi’ry Mulciber,
Who gave it to Saturnian Jove; Jove to his messenger;
His messenger, Argicides, to Pelops, skill’d in horse;
Pelops to Atreus, chief of men; he, dying, gave it course
To prince Thyestes, rich in herds; Thyestes to the hand
Of Agamemnon render’d it, and with it the command
Of many isles, and Argos all. On this he leaning, said:
“O friends, great sons of Danaus, servants of Mars, Jove laid
A heavy curse on me, to vow, and bind it with the bent
Of his high forehead; that, this Troy of all her people spent,
I should return; yet now to mock our hopes built on his vow,
And charge ingloriously my flight, when such an overthrow
Of brave friends I have authored. But to his mightiest will
We must submit us, that hath raz’d, and will be razing still,
Men’s footsteps from so many towns; because his pow’r is most,
He will destroy most. But how vile such and so great an host
Will show to future times, that, match’d with lesser numbers far,
We fly, not putting on the crown of our so-long-held war,
Of which there yet appears no end! Yet should our foes and we
Strike truce, and number both our pow’rs; Troy taking all that be
Her arm’d inhabitants, and we, in tens, should all sit down
At our truce banquet, ev’ry ten allow’d one of the town
To fill his feast-cup; many tens would their attendant want;
So much I must affirm our pow’r exceeds th’ inhabitant.
But their auxiliáry bands, those brandishers of spears,
From many cities drawn, are they that are our hinderers,
Not suff’ring well-rais’d Troy to fall. Nine years are ended now,
Since Jove our conquest vow’d; and now, our vessels rotten grow,
Our tackling falls; our wives, young sons, sit in their doors and long
For our arrival; yet the work, that should have wreak’d our wrong,
And made us welcome, lies unwrought. Come then, as I bid, all
Obey, and fly to our lov’d home; for now, nor ever, shall
Our utmost take-in broad-way’d Troy.” This said, the multitude
Was all for home; and all men else that what this would conclude
Had not discover’d. All the crowd was shov’d about the shore,
In sway, like rude and raging waves, rous’d with the fervent blore
Of th’ east and south winds, when they break from Jove’s clouds, and are borne
On rough backs of th’ Icarian seas: or like a field of corn
High grown, that Zephyr’s vehement gusts bring eas’ly underneath,
And make the stiff up-bristled ears do homage to his breath;
For ev’n so eas’ly, with the breath Atrides us’d, was sway’d
The violent multitude. To fleet with shouts, and disarray’d,
All rush’d; and, with a fog of dust, their rude feet dimm’d the day;
Each cried to other, “Cleanse our ships, come, launch, aboard, away.”
The clamour of the runners home reach’d heav’n; and then, past fate,
The Greeks had left Troy, had not then the Goddess of estate
Thus spoke to Pallas: “O foul shame, thou untam’d seed of Jove,
Shall thus the sea’s broad back be charg’d with these our friends’ remove,
Thus leaving Argive Helen here, thus Priam grac’d, thus Troy,
In whose fields, far from their lov’d own, for Helen’s sake, the joy
And life of so much Grecian birth is vanish’d? Take thy way
T’ our brass-arm’d people, speak them fair, let not a man obey
The charge now giv’n, nor launch one ship.” She said, and Pallas did
As she commanded; from the tops of heav’n’s steep hill she slid,
And straight the Greeks’ swift ships she reach’d; Ulysses (like to Jove
In gifts of counsel) she found out; who to that base remove
Stirr’d not a foot, nor touch’d a ship, but griev’d at heart to see
That fault in others. To him close the blue-eyed Deity
Made way, and said: “Thou wisest Greek, divine Laertes’ son,
Thus fly ye homewards to your ships? Shall all thus headlong run?
Glory to Priam thus ye leave, glory to all his friends,
If thus ye leave her here, for whom so many violent ends
Have clos’d your Greek eyes, and so far from their so loved home.
Go to these people, use no stay, with fair terms overcome
Their foul endeavour, not a man a flying sail let hoice.”
Thus spake she; and Ulysses knew ’twas Pallas by her voice,
Ran to the runners, cast from him his mantle, which his man
And herald, grave Eurybates, the Ithacensian
That follow’d him, took up. Himself to Agamemnon went,
His incorrupted sceptre took, his sceptre of descent,
And with it went about the fleet. What prince, or man of name,
He found flight-giv’n, he would restrain with words of gentlest blame:
“Good sir, it fits not you to fly, or fare as one afraid,
You should not only stay yourself, but see the people staid.
You know not clearly, though you heard the king’s words, yet his mind;
He only tries men’s spirits now, and, whom his trials find
Apt to this course, he will chastise, Nor you, nor I, heard all
He spake in council; nor durst press too near our General,
Lest we incens’d him to our hurt. The anger of a king
Is mighty; he is kept of Jove, and from Jove likewise spring
His honours, which, out of the love of wise Jove, he enjoys.”
Thus he the best sort us’d; the worst, whose spirits brake out in noise,
He cudgell’d with his sceptre, chid, and said: “Stay, wretch, be still,
And hear thy betters; thou art base, and both in pow’r and skill
Poor and unworthy, without name in council or in war.
We must not all be kings. The rule is most irregular,
Where many rule. One lord, one king, propose to thee; and he,
To whom wise Saturn’s son, hath giv’n both law and empery
To rule the public, is that king.” Thus ruling, he restrain’d
The host from flight; and then again the Council was maintain’d
With such a concourse, that the shore rung with the tumult made;
As when the far-resounding sea doth in its rage invade
His sandy confines, whose sides groan with his involvéd wave,
And make his own breast echo sighs. All sate, and audience gave.
Thersites only would speak all. A most disorder’d store
Of words he foolishly pour’d out, of which his mind held more
Than it could manage; any thing, with which he could procure
Laughter, he never could contain. He should have yet been sure
To touch no kings; t’ oppose their states becomes not jesters’ parts.
But he the filthiest fellow was of all that had deserts
In Troy’s brave siege; he was squint-ey’d, and lame of either foot;
So crook-back’d, that he had no breast; sharp-headed, where did shoot
(Here and there spers’d) thin mossy hair. He most of all envíed
Ulysses and Æacides, whom still his spleen would chide.
Nor could the sacred King himself avoid his saucy vein;
Against whom since he knew the Greeks did vehement hates sustain,
Being angry for Achilles’ wrong, he cried out, railing thus:
“Atrides, why complain’st thou now? What would’st thou more of us?
Thy tents are full of brass; and dames, the choice of all, are thine,
With whom we must present thee first, when any towns resign
To our invasion. Want’st thou then, besides all this, more gold
From Troy’s knights to redeem their sons, whom to be dearly sold
I or some other Greek must take? Or would’st thou yet again
Force from some other lord his prise, to soothe the lusts that reign
In thy encroaching appetite? It fits no prince to be
A prince of ill, and govern us, or lead our progeny
By rape to ruin. O base Greeks, deserving infamy,
And ills eternal! Greekish girls, not Greeks, ye are! Come, fly
Home with our ships; leave this man here to perish with his preys,
And try if we help’d him or not; he wrong’d a man that weighs
Far more than he himself in worth; he forc’d from Thetis’ son,
And keeps his prise still. Nor think I that mighty man hath won
The style of wrathful worthily; he’s soft, he’s too remiss;
Or else, Atrides, his had been thy last of injuries.”
Thus he the people’s Pastor chid; but straight stood up to him
Divine Ulysses, who, with looks exceeding grave and grim,
This bitter check gave: “Cease, vain fool, to vent thy railing vein
On kings thus, though it serve thee well; nor think thou canst restrain,
With that thy railing faculty, their wills in least degree;
For not a worse, of all this host, came with our King than thee,
To Troy’s great siege; then do not take into that mouth of thine
The names of kings, much less revile the dignities that shine
In their supreme states, wresting thus this motion for our home,
To soothe thy cowardice; since ourselves yet know not what will come
Of these designments, if it be our good to stay, or go.
Nor is it that thou stand’st on; thou revil’st our Gen’ral so,
Only because he hath so much, not giv’n by such as thou
But our heroës. Therefore this thy rude vein makes me vow
(Which shall be curiously observ’d) if ever I shall hear
This madness from thy mouth again, let not Ulysses bear
This head, nor be the father call’d of young Telemachus,
If to thy nakedness I take and strip thee not, and thus
Whip thee to fleet from council; send, with sharp stripes, weeping hence
This glory thou affect’st to rail.” This said, his insolence
He settled with his sceptre; strook his back and shoulders so
That bloody wales rose. He shrunk round; and from his eyes did flow
Moist tears, and, looking filthily, he sate, fear’d, smarted, dried
His blubber’d cheeks; and all the prease, though griev’d to be denied
Their wish’d retreat for home, yet laugh’d delightsomely, and spake
Either to other: “O ye Gods, how infinitely take
Ulysses’ virtues in our good! Author of counsels, great
In ord’ring armies, how most well this act became his heat,
To beat from council this rude fool! I think his saucy spirit,
Hereafter, will not let his tongue abuse the sov’reign merit,
Exempt from such base tongues as his.” Thus spake the people; then
The city-razer Ithacus stood up to speak again,
Holding his sceptre. Close to him gray-eyed Minerva stood,
And, like a herald, silence caus’d, that all the Achive brood
(From first to last) might hear and know the counsel; when, inclin’d
To all their good, Ulysses said: “Atrides, now I find
These men would render thee the shame of all men; nor would pay
Their own vows to thee, when they took their free and honour’d way
From Argos hither, that, till Troy were by their brave hands rac’d,
They would not turn home. Yet, like babes, and widows, now they haste
To that base refuge, ’Tis a spite to see men melted so
In womanish changes; though ’tis true, that if a man do go
Only a month to sea, and leave his wife far off, and he,
Tortur’d with winter’s storms, and toss’d with a tumultuous sea,
Grows heavy, and would home. Us then, to whom the thrice-three year
Hath fill’d his revoluble orb since our arrival here,
I blame not to wish home much more; yet all this time to stay,
Out of our judgments, for our end; and now to take our way
Without it, were absurd and vile. Sustain then, friends; abide
The time set to our object; try if Calchas prophesied
True of the time or not. We know, ye all can witness well,
(Whom these late death-conferring fates have fail’d to send to hell)
That when in Aulis, all our fleet, assembled with a freight
Of ills to Ilion and her friends, beneath the fair grown height
A platane bore, about a fount, whence crystal water flow’d,
And near our holy altar, we upon the Gods bestow’d
Accomplish’d hecatombs; and there appear’d a huge portent,
A dragon with a bloody scale, horrid to sight, and sent
To light by great Olympius; which, crawling from beneath
The altar, to the platane climb’d, and ruthless crash’d to death
A sparrow’s young, in number eight, that in a top-bough lay
Hid under leaves; the dam the ninth, that hover’d every way,
Mourning her lov’d birth, till at length, the serpent, watching her,
Her wing caught, and devour’d her too. This dragon, Jupiter,
That brought him forth, turn’d to a stone, and made a pow’rful mean
To stir our zeals up, that admir’d, when of a fact so clean
Of all ill as our sacrifice, so fearful an ostent
Should be the issue. Calchas, then, thus prophesied th’ event
‘Why are ye dumb-strook, fair-hair’d Greeks? Wise Jove is he hath shown
This strange ostent to us. ’Twas late, and passing lately done,
But that grace it foregoes to us, for suff’ring all the state
Of his appearance (being so slow) nor time shall end, nor fate.
As these eight sparrows, and the dam (that made the ninth) were eat
By this stern serpent; so nine years we are t’ endure the heat
Of rav’nous war, and, in the tenth, take-in this broad-way’d town.’
Thus he interpreted this sign; and all things have their crown
As he interpreted, till now. The rest, then, to succeed
Believe as certain. Stay we all, till, that most glorious deed
Of taking this rich town, our hands are honour’d with.” This said,
The Greeks gave an unmeasur’d shout; which back the ships repaid
With terrible echoes, in applause of that persuasion
Divine Ulysses us’d; which yet held no comparison
With Nestor’s next speech, which was this: “O shameful thing! Ye talk
Like children all, that know not war. In what air’s region walk
Our oaths, and cov’nants? Now, I see the fit respects of men
Are vanish’d quite; our right hands giv’n, our faiths, our counsels vain,
Our sacrifice with wine, all fled in that profanéd flame
We made to bind all; for thus still we vain persuasions frame,
And strive to work our end with words, not joining stratagemes
And hands together, though, thus long, the pow’r of our extremes
Hath urg’d us to them. Atreus’ son, firm as at first hour stand!
Make good thy purpose; talk no more in councils, but command
In active field. Let two or three, that by themselves advise,
Faint in their crowning; they are such as are not truly wise;
They will for Argos, ere they knew if that which Jove hath said
Be false or true. I tell them all, that high Jove bow’d his head,
As first we went aboard our fleet, for sign we should confer
These Trojans their due fate and death; almighty Jupiter
All that day darting forth his flames, in an unmeasur’d light,
On our right hand. Let therefore none once dream of coward flight,
Till (for his own) some wife of Troy he sleeps withal, the rape
Of Helen wreaking, and our sighs enforc’d for her escape.
If any yet dare dote on home, let his dishonour’d haste
His black and well-built bark but touch, that (as he first disgrac’d
His country’s spirit) fate, and death, may first his spirit let go.
But be thou wise, king, do not trust thyself, but others. Know
I will not use an abject word. See all thy men array’d
In tribes and nations, that tribes tribes, nations may nations, aid.
Which doing, thou shalt know what chiefs, what soldiers, play the men,
And what the cowards; for they all will fight in sev’ral then,
Easy for note. And then shalt thou, if thou destroy’st not Troy,
Know if the prophecy’s defect, or men thou dost employ
In their approv’d arts want in war, or lack of that brave heat
Fit for the vent’rous spirits of Greece, was cause to thy defeat.”
To this the king of men replied: “O father, all the sons
Of Greece thou conquer’st in the strife of consultations.
I would to Jove, Athenia, and Phœbus, I could make,
Of all, but ten such counsellors; then instantly would shake
King Priam’s city, by our hands laid hold on and laid waste.
But Jove hath order’d I should grieve, and to that end hath cast
My life into debates past end. Myself, and Thetis’ son,
Like girls, in words fought for a girl, and I th’ offence begun.
But if we ever talk as friends, Troy’s thus deferréd fall
Shall never vex us more one hour. Come then, to victuals all,
That strong Mars all may bring to field. Each man his lance’s steel
See sharpen’d well, his shield well lin’d, his horses meated well,
His chariot carefully made strong, that these affairs of death
We all day may hold fiercely out. No man must rest, or breath;
The bosoms of our targeteers must all be steeped in sweat;
The lancer’s arm must fall dissolv’d; our chariot-horse with heat
Must seem to melt. But if I find one soldier take the chace,
Or stir from fight, or fight not still fix’d in his enemy’s face,
Or hid a-ship-board, all the world, for force, nor price, shall save
His hated life, but fowls and dogs be his abhorréd grave.”
He said; and such a murmur rose, as on a lofty shore
The waves make, when the south wind comes, and tumbles them before
Against a rock, grown near the strand which diversely beset
Is never free, but, here and there, with varied uproars beat.
All rose then, rushing to the fleet, perfum’d their tents, and eat;
Each off’ring to th’ immortal gods, and praying to ’scape the heat
Of war and death. The king of men an ox of five years’ spring
T’ almighty Jove slew, call’d the peers; first Nestor; then the king
Idomenëus; after them th’ Ajaces; and the son
Of Tydeus; Ithacus the sixth, in counsel paragon
To Jove himself. All these he bade; but at-a-martial-cry
Good Menelaus, since he saw his brother busily
Employ’d at that time, would not stand on invitation,
But of himself came. All about the off’ring over-thrown
Stood round, took salt-cakes, and the king himself thus pray’d for all:
“O Jove, most great, most glorious, that, in that starry hall,
Sitt’st drawing dark clouds up to air, let not the sun go down,
Darkness supplying it, till my hands the palace and the town
Of Priam overthrow and burn; the arm, on Hector’s breast
Dividing, spoiling with my sword thousands, in interest
Of his bad quarrel, laid by him in dust, and eating earth.”
He pray’d; Jove heard him not, but made more plentiful the birth
Of his sad toils, yet took his gifts. Pray’rs past, cakes on they threw;
The ox then, to the altar drawn, they kill’d, and from him drew
His hide, then cut him up, his thighs; in two hewn, dubb’d with fat,
Prick’d on the sweetbreads, and with wood, leaveless, and kindled at
Apposéd fire, they burn the thighs; which done, the inwards, slit,
They broil’d on coals and eat; the rest, in giggots cut, they spit,
Roast cunningly, draw, sit, and feast; nought lack’d to leave allay’d
Each temp’rate appetite; which serv’d, Nestor began and said:
“Atrides, most grac’d king of men, now no more words allow,
Nor more defer the deed Jove vows. Let heralds summon now
The brazen-coated Greeks, and us range ev’rywhere the host,
To stir a strong war quickly up.” This speech no syllable lost;
The high-voic’d heralds instantly he, charg’d to call to arms
The curl’d-head Greeks; they call’d; the Greeks straight answer’d their alarms.
The Jove-kept kings, about the king all gather’d, with their aid
Rang’d all in tribes and nations. With them the gray-eyed Maid
Great Ægis (Jove’s bright shield) sustain’d, that can be never old,
Never corrupted, fring’d about with serpents forg’d of gold,
As many all suffic’d to make an hundred fringes, worth
An hundred oxen, ev’ry snake all sprawling, all set forth
With wondrous spirit. Through the host with this the Goddess ran,
In fury casting round her eyes, and furnish’d ev’ry man
With strength, exciting all to arms, and fight incessant. None
Now lik’d their lov’d homes like the wars. And as a fire upon
A huge wood, on the heights of hills, that far off hurls his light;
So the divine brass shin’d on these thus thrusting on for fight,
Their splendour through the air reach’d heav’n. And as about the flood
Caïster, in an Asian mead, flocks of the airy brood,
Cranes, geese, or long-neck’d swans, here, there, proud of their pinions fly,
And in their falls layout such throats, that with their spiritful cry
The meadow shrieks again; so here, these many-nation’d men
Flow’d over the Scamandrian field, from tents and ships; the din
Was dreadful that the feet of men and horse beat out of earth.
And in the flourishing mead they stood, thick as the odorous birth
Of flow’rs, or leaves bred in the spring; or thick as swarms of flies
Throng then to sheep-cotes, when each swarm his erring wing applies
To milk dew’d on the milk-maid’s pails; all eagerly dispos’d
To give to ruin th’ Ilians. And as in rude heaps clos’d,
Though huge goatherds are at their food, the goatherds eas’ly yet
Sort into sundry herds; so here the chiefs in battle set
Here tribes, here nations, ord’ring all. Amongst whom shin’d the king,
With eyes like lightning-loving Jove, his forehead answering,
In breast like Neptune, Mars in waist. And as a goodly bull
Most eminent of all a herd, most wrong, most masterful,
So Agamemnon, Jove that day made overheighten clear
That heav’n-bright army, and preferr’d to all th’ heroës there.
Now tell me, Muses, you that dwell in heav’nly roofs, (for you
Are Goddesses, are present here, are wise, and all things know,
We only trust the voice of fame, know nothing,) who they were
That here were captains of the Greeks, commanding princes here.
The multitude exceed my song, though fitted to my choice
Ten tongues were, harden’d palates ten, a breast of brass, a voice
Infract and trump-like; that great work, unless the seed of Jove,
The deathless Muses, undertake, maintains a pitch above
All mortal pow’rs. The princes then, and navy that did bring
Those so inenarrable troops, and all their soils, I sing.

THE CATALOGUE OF THE GRECIAN SHIPS AND CAPTAINS

Peneleus, and Leitus, all that Bœotia bred,
Arcesilaus, Clonius, and Prothoenor led;
Th’ inhabitants of Hyria, and stony Aulida,
Schæne, Scole, the hilly Eteon, and holy Thespia,
Of Græa, and great Mycalesse, that hath the ample plain,
Of Harma, and Ilesius, and all that did remain
In Eryth, and in Eleon, in Hylen, Peteona,
In fair Ocalea, and, the town well-builded, Medeona,
Copas, Eutresis, Thisbe, that for pigeons doth surpass,
Of Coroneia, Haliart, that hath such store of grass,
All those that in Platæa dwelt, that Glissa did possess,
And Hypothebs, whose well-built walls are rare and fellowless,
In rich Onchestus’ famous wood, to wat’ry Neptune vow’d,
And Arne, where the vine-trees are with vig’rous bunches bow’d,
With them that dwelt in Midea, and Nissa most divine,
All those whom utmost Anthedon did wealthily confine.
From all these coasts, in general, full fifty sail were sent;
And six score strong Bœotian youths in ev’ry burthen went.
But those who in Aspledon dwelt, and Minian Orchomen,
God Mars’s sons did lead (Ascalaphus and Ialmen)
Who in Azidon Actor’s house did of Astyoche come;
The bashful maid, as she went up into the higher room,
The War-god secretly compress’d. In safe conduct of these,
Did thirty hollow-bottom’d barks divide the wavy seas.
Brave Schedius and Epistrophus, the Phocian captains were,
(Naubolida-Iphitus’ sons) all proof ’gainst any fear;
With them the Cyparissians went, and bold Pythonians,
Men of religious Chrysa’s soil, and fat Daulidians,
Panopæans, Anemores, and fierce Hyampolists;
And those that dwell where Cephisus casts up his silken mists;
The men that fair Lilæa held, near the Cephisian spring;
All which did forty sable barks to that designment bring.
About th’ entoil’d Phocensian fleet had these their sail assign’d;
And near to the sinister wing the arm’d Bœotians shin’d.
Ajax the less, Oïleus’ son, the Locrians led to war;
Not like to Ajax Telamon, but lesser man by far,
Little he was, and ever wore a breastplate made of linne,
But for the manage of his lance he gen’ral praise did win.
The dwellers of Caliarus, of Bessa, Opoën,
The youths of Cynus, Scarphis, and Augias, lovely men,
Of Tarphis, and of Thronius, near flood Boagrius’ fall;
Twice-twenty martial barks of these, less Ajax sail’d withal.
Who near Eubœa’s blesséd soil their habitations had,
Strength-breathing Abants, who their seats in sweet Eubœa made,
The Histiæans rich in grapes, the men of Chalcida,
The Cerinths bord’ring on the sea, of rich Eretria,
Of Dion’s highly-seated town, Charistus, and of Styre,
All these the duke Alphenor led, a flame of Mars’s fire,
Surnam’d Chalcodontiades, the mighty Abants’ guide,
Swift men of foot, whose broad-set backs their trailing hair did bide,
Well-seen in fight, and soon could pierce with far extended darts
The breastplates of their enemies, and reach their dearest hearts.
Forty black men of war did sail in this Alphenor’s charge.
The soldiers that in Athens dwelt, a city builded large,
The people of Eristhius, whom Jove-sprung Pallas fed,
And plenteous-feeding Tellus brought out of her flow’ry bed;
Him Pallas placed in her rich fane, and, ev’ry ended year,
Of bulls and lambs th’ Athenian youths please him with off’rings there;
Mighty Menestheus, Peteus’ son, had their divided care;
For horsemen and for targeteers none could with him compare,
Nor put them into better place, to hurt or to defend;
But Nestor (for he elder was) with him did sole contend;
With him came fifty sable sail. And out of Salamine
Great Ajax brought twelve sail, that with th’ Athenians did combine.
Who did in fruitful Argos dwell, or strong Tiryntha keep,
Hennion, or in Asinen whose bosom is so deep,
Trœzena, Eïon, Epidaure where Bacchus crowns his head,
Ægina, and Maseta’s soil, did follow Diomed,
And Sthenelus, the dear-lov’d son of famous Capaneus
Together with Euryalus, heir of Mecisteus,
The king of Talæonides; past whom in deeds of war,
The famous soldier Diomed of all was held by far.
Four score black ships did follow these. The men fair Mycene held,
The wealthy Corinth, Cleon that for beauteous site excell’d,
Aræthyrea’s lovely seat, and in Ornia’s plain,
And Sicyona, where at first did king Adrastus reign,
High-seated Gonoëssa’s towers, and Hyperisius,
That dwelt in fruitful Pellenen, and in divine Ægius,
With all the sea-side borderers, and wide Helice’s friends,
To Agamemnon ev’ry town her native birth commends,
In double-fifty sable barks. With him a world of men
Most strong and full of valour went, and he in triumph then
Put on his most resplendent arms, since he did over-shine
The whole heroic host of Greece, in pow’r of that design.
Who did in Lacedæmon’s rule th’ unmeasur’d concave hold,
High Pharis, Sparta, Messe’s tow’rs, for doves so much extoll’d,
Bryseia’s and Augia’s grounds, strong Laa, Oetylon,
Amyclas, Helos’ harbour-town, that Neptune beats upon,
All these did Menelaus lead (his brother, that in cries
Of war was famous). Sixty ships convey’d these enemies
To Troy in chief, because their king was chiefly injur’d there,
In Helen’s rape, and did his best to make them buy it dear.
Who dwelt in Pylos’ sandy soil, and Arene the fair,
In Thryon, near Alpheus’ flood, and Aepy full of air,
In Cyparisscus, Amphigen, and little Pteleon,
The town where all the Iliots dwelt, and famous Doreon,
Where all the Muses, opposite, in strife of poesy,
To ancient Thamyris of Thrace, did use him cruelly,
(He coming from Eurytus’ court, the wise Œchalian king,)
Because he proudly durst affirm he could more sweetly sing
Than that Pierian race of Jove; who, angry with his vaunt,
Bereft his eyesight, and his song, that did the ear enchant,
And of his skill to touch his harp disfurnishéd his hand.
All these in ninety hollow keels grave Nestor did command.
The richly-blest inhabitants of the Arcadian land
Below Cyllene’s mount (that by Epytus’ tomb did stand)
Where dwelt the bold near-fighting men, who did in Phæneus live,
And Orchomen, where flocks of sheep the shepherds clust’ring drive,
In Ripe, and in Stratié, the fair Mantinean town,
And strong Enispe, that for height is ever weather-blown,
Tegea, and in Stymphalus, Parrhasia strongly wall’d,
All these Alcæus’ son to field (king Agapenor) call’d;
In sixty barks he brought them on, and ev’ry bark well-mann’d
With fierce Arcadian’s, skill’d to use the utmost of a band.
King Agamemnon, on these men, did well-built ships bestow
To pass the gulfy purple sea, that did no sea rites know.
They, who in Hermin, Buphrasis, and Elis, did remain,
What Olen’s cliffs, Alisius, and Myrsin did contain,
Were led to war by twice-two dukes (and each ten ships did bring,
Which many vent’rous Epians did serve for burthening,)
Beneath Amphimachus’s charge, and valiant Thalpius,
(Son of Eurytus-Actor one, the other Cteatus,)
Diores Amaryncides the other did employ,
The fourth divine Polixenus (Agasthenes’s joy).
The king of fair Angeiades, who from Dulichius came,
And from Echinaus’ sweet isles, which hold their holy frame
By ample Elis region, Meges Phylides led;
Whom duke Phyleus, Jove’s belov’d, begat, and whilome fled
To large Dulichius, for the wrath that fir’d his father’s breast.
Twice-twenty ships with ebon sails were in his charge address’d.
The warlike men of Cephale, and those of Ithaca,
Woody Neritus, and the men of wet Crocylia,
Sharp Ægilipa, Samos’ isle, Zacynthus sea inclos’d,
Epirus, and the men that hold the continent oppos’d,
All these did wise Ulysses lead, in counsel peer to Jove;
Twelve ships he brought, which in their course vermilion sterns did move.
Thoas, Andremon’s well-spoke son, did guide th’ Ætolians well,
Those that in Pleuron, Olenon, and strong Pylene dwell,
Great Chalcis, that by sea-side stands, and stony Calydon;
(For now no more of Œneus’ sons surviv’d; they all were gone;
No more his royal self did live, no more his noble son
The golden Meleager now, their glasses all were run)
All things were left to him in charge, th’ Ætolians’ chief he was,
And forty ships to Trojan wars the seas with him did pass.
The royal soldier Idomen did lead the Cretans stout,
The men of Gnossus, and the town Gortyna wall’d about,
Of Lictus, and Miletus’ tow’rs, of white Lycastus’ state,
Of Phæstus, and of Rhytius, the cities fortunate.
And all the rest inhabiting the hundred towns of Crete;
Whom warlike Idomen did lead, co-partner in the fleet
With kill-man Merion. Eighty ships with them did Troy invade.
Tlepolemus Heraclides, right strong and bigly made,
Brought nine tall ships of war from Rhodes, which haughty Rhodians mann’d,
Who dwelt in three dissever’d parts of that most pleasant land,
Which Lyndus and Jalissus were, and bright Camirus, call’d.
Tlepolemus commanded these, in battle unappall’d;
Whom fair Astyoche brought forth, by force of Hercules,
Led out of Ephyr with his hand, from river Selleës,
When many towns of princely youths he levell’d with the ground.
Tlepolem, in his father’s house (for building much renown’d)
Brought up to headstrong state of youth, his mother’s brother slew,
The flow’r of arms, Licymnius, that somewhat aged grew;
Then straight he gather’d him a fleet, assembling bands of men,
And fled by sea, to shun the threats that were denouncéd then
By other sons and nephews of th’ Alciden fortitude.
He in his exile came to Rhodes, driv’n in with tempests rude.
The Rhodians were distinct in tribes, and great with Jove did stand,
The King of men and Gods, who gave much treasure to their land.
Nirëus, out of Syma’s hav’n three well-built barks did bring;
Nirëus, fair Aglaia’s son, and Charopes the king;
Nirëus was the fairest man that to fair Ilion came
Of all the Greeks, save Peleus’ son, who pass’d for gen’ral frame;
But weak this was, not fit for war, and therefore few did guide.
Who did in Cassus, Nisyrus, and Crapathus, abide,
In Co, Eurypylus’s town, and in Calydna’s soils,
Phidippus and bold Antiphus did guide to Trojan toils,
(The sons of crownéd Thessalus, deriv’d from Hercules)
Who went with thirty hollow ships well-order’d to the seas.
Now will I sing the sackful troops Pelasgian Argos held,
That in deep Alus, Alopé, and soft Trechina dwell’d,
In Phthia, and in Hellade where live the lovely dames,
The Myrmidons, Hellenians, and Achives, rob’d of fames;
All which the great Æacides in fifty ships did lead.
For these forgat war’s horrid voice, because they lack’d their head
That would have brought them bravely forth; but now at fleet did lie
That wind-like user of his feet, fair Thetis’ progeny,
Wroth for bright-cheek’d Briseis’ loss, whom from Lyrnessus’ spoils
(His own exploit) he brought away as trophy of his toils,
When that town was depopulate; he sunk the Theban tow’rs;
Myneta, and Epistrophus, he sent to Pluto’s bow’rs,
Who came of king Evenus’ race, great Helepiades;
Yet now he idly lives enrag’d, but soon must leave his ease.
Of those that dwelt in Phylace, and flow’ry Pyrason
The wood of Ceres, and the soil that sheep are fed upon
Iton, and Antron built by sea, and Pteleus full of grass,
Protesilaus, while he liv’d, the worthy captain was,
Whom now the sable earth detains; his tear-torn-facéd spouse
He woeful left in Phylace, and his half-finish’d house;
A fatal Dardan first his life, of all the Greeks, bereft,
As he was leaping from his ship; yet were his men unleft
Without a chief, for though they wish’d to have no other man
But good Protesilay their guide, Podarces yet began
To govern them, (Iphitis’ son, the son of Phylacus)
Most rich in sheep, and brother to short-liv’d Protesilaus,
Of younger birth, less, and less strong, yet serv’d he to direct
The companies, that still did more their ancient duke affect.
Twice-twenty jetty sails with him the swelling stream did take.
But those that did in Pheres dwell, at the Bœbeian lake,
In Bœbe, and in Glaphyra, Iaolcus builded fair,
In thrice-six ships to Pergamus did through the seas repair,
With old Admetus’ tender son, Eumelus, whom he bred
Of Alcest, Pelius’ fairest child of all his female seed.
The soldiers that before the siege Methone’s vales did hold,
Thaumacie, flow’ry Melibœ, and Olison the cold,
Duke Philoctetes governéd, in darts of finest sleight;
Sev’n vessels in his charge convey’d their honourable freight,
By fifty rowers in a bark, most expert in the bow;
But he in sacred Lemnos lay, brought miserably low
By torment of an ulcer grown with Hydra’s poison’d blood,
Whose sting was such, Greece left him there in most impatient mood;
Yet thought they on him at his ship and choos’d, to lead his men,
Medon, Oïleus’ bastard son, brought forth to him by Rhen.
From Tricce, bleak Ithomen’s clifts, and hapless Oechaly,
(Eurytus’ city, rul’d by him in wilful tyranny,)
In charge of Æsculapius’ sons, physician highly prais’d,
Machaon, Podalirius, were thirty vessels rais’d.
Who near Hyperia’s fountain dwelt, and in Ormenius,
The snowy tops of Titanus, and in Asterius,
Evemon’s son, Eurypylus, did lead into the field;
Whose towns did forty black-sail’d ships to that encounter yield.
Who Gyrton, and Argissa, held, Orthen, and Elon’s seat,
And chalky Oloössone, were led by Polypœte,
The issue of Pirithous, the son of Jupiter.
Him the Athenian Theseus’ friend Hippodamy did bear,
When he the bristled savages did give Ramnusia,
And drove them out of Pelius, as far as Æthica.
He came not single, but with him Leonteus, Coron’s son,
An arm of Mars, and Coron’s life Cenëus’ seed begun.
Twice-twenty ships attended these. Gunëus next did bring
From Cyphus twenty sail and two; the Enians following;
And fierce Peræbi, that about Dodon’s frozen mould
Did plant their houses; and the men that did the meadows hold,
Which Titaresius decks with flow’rs and his sweet current leads
Into the bright Peneïus, that hath the silver heads,
Yet with his admirable stream doth not his waves commix,
But glides aloft on it like oil; for ’tis the flood of Styx,
By which th’ immortal Gods do swear. Teuthredon’s honour’d birth,
Prothous, led the Magnets forth, who near the shady earth
Of Pelius, and Peneïon, dwelt; forty revengeful sail
Did follow him. These were the dukes and princes of avail
That came from Greece. But now the man, that overshin’d them all,
Sing, Muse; and their most famous steeds to my recital call,
That both th’ Atrides followéd. Fair Pheretiades
The bravest mares did bring by much; Eumelius manag’d these,
Swift of their feet as birds of wing, both of one hair did shine,
Both of an age, both of a height, as measur’d by a line,
Whom silver-bow’d Apollo bred in the Pierian mead,
Both slick and dainty, yet were both in war of wondrous dread.
Great Ajax Telamon for strength pass’d all the peers of war,
While vex’d Achilles was away; but he surpass’d him far.
The horse that bore that faultless man were likewise past compare;
Yet lay he at the crook’d-stern’d ships, and fury was his fare,
For Atreus’ son’s ungracious deed, his men yet pleas’d their hearts
With throwing of the holéd stone, with hurling of their darts,
And shooting fairly on the shore; their horse at chariots fed
On greatest parsley, and on sedge that in the fens is bred.
His princes’ tents their chariots held, that richly cover’d were.
His princes, amorous of their chief, walk’d storming here and there
About the host, and scorn’d to fight: their breaths as they did pass
Before them flew, as if a fire fed on the trembling grass;
Earth under-groan’d their high-rais’d feet, as when offended Jove,
In Arime, Typhœius with rattling thunder drove
Beneath the earth; in Arime, men say, the grave is still,
Where thunder tomb’d Typhœius, and is a monstrous hill;
And as that thunder made earth groan, so groan’d it as they past,
They trod with such hard-set-down steps, and so exceeding fast.
To Troy the rainbow-girded Dame right heavy news relates
From Jove, as all to council drew in Priam’s palace-gates,
Resembling Priam’s son in voice, Polites, swift of feet;
In trust whereof, as sentinel, to see when from the fleet
The Grecians sallied, he was set upon the lofty brow
Of aged Æsyetes’ tomb; and this did Iris show:
“O Priam, thou art always pleas’d with indiscreet advice,
And fram’st thy life to times of peace, when such a war doth rise
As threats inevitable spoil. I never did behold
Such and so mighty troops of men, who trample on the mould
In number like Autumnus’ leaves, or like the marine sand,
All ready round about the walls to use a ruining hand.
Hector, I therefore charge thee most, this charge to undertake.
A multitude remain in Troy, will fight for Priam’s sake,
Of other lands and languages; let ev’ry leader then
Bring forth well-arm’d into the field his sev’ral bands of men.”
Strong Hector knew a Deity gave charge to this assay,
Dismiss’d the council straight; like waves, clusters to arms do sway;
The ports are all wide open set; out rush’d the troops in swarms,
Both horse and foot; the city run with sudden-cried alarms.
A column stands without the town, that high his head doth raise,
A little distant, in a plain trod down with divers ways,
Which men do Batieia call, but the Immortals name
Myrine’s famous sepulchre, the wondrous active dame.
Here were th’ auxiliary bands, that came in Troy’s defence,
Distinguish’d under sev’ral guides of special excellence.
The duke of all the Trojan pow’r great helm-deck’d Hector was,
Which stood of many mighty men well-skill’d in darts of brass.
Æneas of commixéd seed (a Goddess with a man,
Anchises with the Queen of love) the troops Dardanian
Led to the field; his lovely sire in Ida’s lower shade
Begat him of sweet Cyprides; he solely was not made
Chief leader of the Dardan pow’rs, Antenor’s valiant sons,
Archilochus and Acamas, were joind companions.
Who in Zelia dwelt beneath the sacred foot of Ide,
That drank of black Æsepus’ stream, and wealth made full of pride,
The Aphnii, Lycaon’s son, whom Phœbus gave his bow,
Prince Pandarus did lead to field. Who Adrestinus owe,
Apesus’ city, Pityæ, and mount Tereiës,
Adrestus and stout Amphius led; who did their sire displease,
(Merops Percosius, that excell’d all Troy in heav’nly skill
Of futures-searching prophecy) for, much against his will,
His sons were agents in those arms; whom since they disobey’d,
The fates, in letting slip their threads, their hasty valours stay’d.
Who in Percotes, Practius, Arisba, did abide,
Who Sestus and Abydus bred, Hyrtacides did guide;
Prince Asius Hyrtacides, that, through great Selees’ force,
Brought from Arisba to that fight the great and fiery horse.
Pylæus, and Hippothous, the stout Pelasgians led,
Of them Larissa’s fruitful soil before had nourishéd;
These were Pelasgian Pithus’ sons, son of Teutamidas.
The Thracian guides were Pirous, and valiant Acamas,
Of all that the impetuous flood of Hellespont enclos’d.
Euphemus, the Ciconian troops, in his command dispos’d,
Who from Trœzenius-Ceades right nobly did descend.
Pyræchmes did the Pæons rule, that crookéd bows do bend;
From Axius, out of Amydon, he had them in command,
From Axius, whose most beauteous stream still overflows the land.
Pylæmen with the well-arm’d heart, the Paphlagonians led,
From Enes, where the race of mules fit for the plough is bred.
The men that broad Cytorus’ bounds, and Sesamus, enfold,
About Parthenius’ lofty flood, in houses much extoll’d,
From Cromna and Ægialus, the men that arms did bear,
And Erythinus situate high, Pylæmen’s soldiers were.
Epistrophus and Dius did the Halizonians guide,
Far-fetch’d from Alybe, where first the silver mines were tried.
Chromis, and augur Ennomus, the Mysians did command,
Who could not with his auguries the strength of death withstand,
But suffer’d it beneath the stroke of great Æacides,
In Xanthus; where he made more souls dive to the Stygian seas.
Phorcys, and fair Ascanius, the Phrygians brought to war,
Well train’d for battle, and were come out of Ascania far.
With Methles, and with Antiphus, (Pylæmen’s sons) did fight
The men of Meïon, whom the fen Gygæa brought to light,
And those Meionians that beneath the mountain Tmolus sprung.
The rude unletter’d Caribæ, that barbarous were of tongue,
Did under Nastes’ colours march, and young Amphimachus,
(Nomion’s famous sons) to whom, the mountain Phthirorus
That with the famous wood is crown’d, Miletus, Mycales
That hath so many lofty marks for men that love the seas,
The crooked arms Mæander bow’d with his so snaky flood,
Resign’d for conduct the choice youth of all their martial brood.
The fool Amphimachus, to field, brought gold to be his wrack,
Proud-girl-like that doth ever bear her dow’r upon her back;
Which wise Achilles mark’d, slew him, and took his gold in strife,
At Xanthus’ flood; so little Death did fear his golden life.
Sarpedon led the Lycians, and Glaucus unreprov’d,
From Lycia, and the gulfy flood of Xanthus far remov’d.

THE END OF THE SECOND BOOK.

THE THIRD BOOK OF HOMER’S ILIADS

THE ARGUMENT

Paris, betwixt the hosts, to single fight,
Of all the Greeks, dares the most hardy knight.
King Menelaus doth accept his brave,
Conditioning that he again should have
Fair Helena, with all she brought to Troy,
If he subdu’d; else Paris should enjoy
Her, and her wealth, in peace. Conquest doth grant
Her dear wreath to the Grecian combatant;
But Venus to her champion’s life doth yield
Safe rescue, and conveys him from the field
Into his chamber, and for Helen sends,
Whom much her lover’s foul disgrace offends;
Yet Venus for him still makes good her charms,
And ends the second combat in his arms.

ANOTHER ARGUMENT

Gamma the single fight doth sing
‘Twixt Paris and the Spartan king.

When ev’ry least commander’s will best soldiers had obey’d,
And both the hosts were rang’d for fight, the Trojans would have fray’d
The Greeks with noises, crying out, in coming rudely on;
At all parts like the cranes that fill, with harsh confusion,
Of brutish clangés all the air, and in ridiculous war
(Eschewing the unsuffer’d storms, shot from the winter’s star)
Visit the ocean, and confer the Pygmei soldiers’ death.
The Greeks charg’d silent, and like men, bestow’d their thrifty breath
In strength of far-resounding blows, still entertaining care
Of either’s rescue, when their strength did their engagements dare.
And as, upon a hill’s steep tops, the south wind pours a cloud,
To shepherds thankless, but by thieves that love the night, allow’d,
A darkness letting down, that blinds a stone’s cast off men’s eyes;
Such darkness from the Greeks’ swift feet (made all of dust) did rise.
But, ere stern conflict mix’d both strengths, fair Paris stept before
The Trojan host; athwart his back a panther’s hide he wore,
A crookéd bow, and sword, and shook two brazen-headed darts;
With which well-arm’d, his tongue provok’d the best of Grecian hearts
To stand with him in single fight. Whom when the man, wrong’d most
Of all the Greeks, so gloriously saw stalk before the host;
As when a lion is rejoic’d, (with hunger half forlorn,)
That finds some sweet prey, as a hart, whose grace lies in his horn,
Or sylvan goat, which he devours, though never so pursu’d
With dogs and men; so Sparta’s king exulted, when he viewed
The fair-fac’d Paris so expos’d to his so thirsted wreak,
Whereof his good cause made him sure. The Grecian front did break,
And forth he rush’d, at all parts arm’d, leapt from his chariot,
And royally prepar’d for charge. Which seen, cold terror shot
The heart of Paris, who retir’d as headlong from the king
As in him he had shunn’d his death. And as a hilly spring
Presents a serpent to a man, full underneath his feet,
Her blue neck, swoln with poison, rais’d, and her sting out, to greet
His heedless entry, suddenly his walk he altereth,
Starts back amaz’d, is shook with fear, and looks as pale as death;
So Menelaus Paris scar’d; so that divine-fac’d foe
Shrunk in his beauties. Which beheld by Hector, he let go
This bitter check at him; “Accurs’d, made but in beauty’s scorn,
Impostor, woman’s man! O heav’n, that thou hadst ne’er been born,
Or, being so manless, never liv’d to bear man’s noblest state,
The nuptial honour! Which I wish, because it were a fate
Much better for thee than this shame. This spectacle doth make
A man a monster. Hark! how loud the Greeks laugh, who did take
Thy fair form for a continent of parts as fair. A rape
Thou mad’st of nature, like their queen. No soul, an empty shape,
Takes up thy being; yet how spite to ev’ry shade of good
Fills it with ill! for as thou art, thou couldst collect a brood
Of others like thee, and far hence fetch ill enough to us,
Ev’n to thy father; all these friends make those foes mock them thus
In thee, for whose ridiculous sake so seriously they lay
All Greece, and fate, upon their necks. O wretch! Not dare to stay
Weak Menelaus? But ’twas well; for in him thou hadst tried
What strength lost beauty can infuse, and with the more grief died
To feel thou robb’dst a worthier man, to wrong a soldier’s right.
Your harp’s sweet touch, curl’d locks, fine shape, and gifts so exquisite,
Giv’n thee by Venus, would have done your fine dames little good,
When blood and dust had ruffled them, and had as little stood
Thyself in stead; but what thy care of all these in thee flies
We should inflict on thee ourselves. Infectious cowardice
In thee hath terrified our host; for which thou well deserv’st
A coat of tombstone, not of steel in which, for form, thou serv’st.”
To this thus Paris spake, (for form, that might inhabit heav’n)
“Hector, because thy sharp reproof is out of justice giv’n,
I take it well; but though thy heart, inur’d to these affrights,
Cuts through them as an axe through oak, that more us’d more excites
The workman’s faculty, whose art can make the edge go far,
Yet I, less practis’d than thyself in these extremes of war,
May well be pardon’d, though less bold; in these your worth exceeds,
In others mine. Nor is my mind of less force to the deeds
Requir’d in war, because my form more flows in gifts of peace.
Reproach not, therefore, the kind gifts of golden Cyprides.
All heav’n’s gifts have their worthy price; as little to be scorn’d
As to be won with strength, wealth, state; with which to be adorn’d,
Some men would change state, wealth, or strength. But, if your martial heart
Wish me to make my challenge good, and hold it such a part
Of shame to give it over thus, cause all the rest to rest,
And, ’twixt both hosts, let Sparta’s king and me perform our best
For Helen and the wealth she brought; and he that overcomes,
Or proves superior any way, in all your equal dooms,
Let him enjoy her utmost wealth, keep her, or take her home;
The rest strike leagues of endless date, and hearty friends become;
You dwelling safe in gleby Troy, the Greeks retire their force
T’ Achaia, that breeds fairest dames, and Argos, fairest horse.”
He said, and his amendsful words did Hector highly please,
Who rush’d betwixt the fighting hosts, and made the Trojans cease,
By holding up in midst his lance. The Grecians noted not
The signal he for parley used, but at him fiercely shot,
Hurl’d stones, and still were leveling darts. At last the king of men,
Great Agamemnon, cried aloud: “Argives! for shame, contain;
Youths of Achaia, shoot no more; the fair-helm’d Hector shows
As he desir’d to treat with us.” This said, all ceas’d from blows,
And Hector spake to both the hosts: “Trojans, and hardy Greeks,
Hear now what he that stirr’d these wars, for their cessation seeks.
He bids us all, and you, disarm, that he alone may fight
With Menelaus, for us all, for Helen and her right,
With all the dow’r she brought to Troy; and he that wins the day,
Or is, in all the art of arms, superior any way,
The queen, and all her sorts of wealth, let him at will enjoy;
The rest strike truce, and let love seal firm leagues ’twixt Greece and Troy.”
The Greek host wonder’d at this brave; silence flew ev’rywhere;
At last spake Sparta’s warlike king: “Now also give me ear,
Whom grief gives most cause of reply. I now have hope to free
The Greeks and Trojans of all ills, they have sustain’d for me,
And Alexander, that was cause I stretch’d my spleen so far.
Of both then, which is nearest fate, let his death end the war;
The rest immediately retire, and greet all homes in peace.
Go then (to bless your champion, and give his pow’rs success)
Fetch for the Earth, and for the Sun (the Gods on whom ye call)
Two lambs, a black one and a white, a female and a male;
And we another, for ourselves, will fetch, and kill to Jove.
To sign which rites bring Priam’s force, because we well approve
His sons perfidious, envious, and (out of practis’d bane
To faith, when she believes in them) Jove’s high truce may profane.
All young men’s hearts are still unstaid; but in those well-weigh’d deeds
An old man will consent to pass things past, and what succeeds
He looks into, that he may know, how best to make his way
Through both the fortunes of a fact, and will the worst obey.”
This granted, a delightful hope both Greeks and Trojans fed,
Of long’d-for rest from those long toils, their tedious war had bred.
Their horses then in rank they set, drawn from their chariots round,
Descend themselves, took off their arms, and plac’d them on the ground,
Near one another; for the space ’twixt both the hosts was small.
Hector two heralds sent to Troy, that they from thence might call
King Priam, and to bring the lambs, to rate the truce they swore.
But Agamemnon to the fleet Talthybius sent before,
To fetch their lamb; who nothing slack’d the royal charge was giv’n.
Iris, the rain-bow, then came down, ambassadress from heav’n,
To white-arm’d Helen. She assum’d at ev’ry part the grace
Of Helen’s last love’s sister’s shape, who had the highest place
In Helen’s love, and had to name Laodice, most fair
Of all the daughters Priam had, and made the nuptial pair
With Helicaon, royal sprout of old Antenor’s seed.
She found queen Helena at home, at work about a weed,
Wov’n for herself; it shin’d like fire, was rich, and full of size,
The work of both sides being alike; in which she did comprise
The many labours warlike Troy and brass-arm’d Greece endur’d
For her fair sake, by cruel Mars and his stern friends procur’d.
Iris came in in joyful haste, and said; “O come with me,
Lov’d nymph, and an admiréd sight of Greeks and Trojans see,
Who first on one another brought a war so full of tears,
Ev’n thirsty of contentious war. Now ev’ry man forbears,
And friendly by each other sits, each leaning on his shield,
Their long and shining lances pitch’d fast by them in the field,
Paris, and Sparta’s king, alone must take up all the strife;
And he that conquers only call fair Helena his wife.”
Thus spake the thousand-colour’d Dame, and to her mind commends
The joy to see her first espous’d, her native tow’rs, and friends;
Which stirr’d a sweet desire in her: to serve the which she hied,
Shadow’d her graces with white veils, and (though she took a pride
To set her thoughts at gaze, and see, in her clear beauty’s flood,
What choice of glory swum to her yet tender womanhood)
Season’d with tears her joys to see more joys the more offence,
And that perfection could not flow from earthly excellence.

Thus went she forth, and took with her her women most of name,
Æthra, Pitthëus’ lovely birth, and Clymene, whom fame
Hath for her fair eyes memoris’d. They reach’d the Scæan Tow’rs,
Where Priam sat, to see the fight, with all his counsellors;
Panthous, Lampus, Clytius, and stout Hicetaon,
Thymœtes, wise Antenor, and profound Ucalegon;
All grave old men; and soldiérs they had been, but for age
Now left the wars; yet counsellors they were exceeding sage.
And as in well-grown woods, or trees, cold spiny grasshoppers
Sit chirping, and send voices out, that scarce can pierce our ears
For softness, and their weak faint sounds; so, talking on the tow’r,
These seniors of the people sat; who when they saw the pow’r
Of beauty, in the queen, ascend ev’n those cold-spirited peers,
Those wise and almost wither’d men, found this heat in their years,
That they were forc’d (though whispéring) to say: “What man can blame
The Greeks and Trojans to endure, for so admir’d a dame,
So many mis’ries, and so long? In her sweet count’nance shine
Looks like the Goddesses. And yet (though never so divine)
Before we boast, unjustly still, of her enforcéd prise,
And justly suffer for her sake, with all our progenies,
Labour and ruin, let her go; the profit of our land
Must pass the beauty.” Thus, though these could bear so fit a hand
On their affections, yet, when all their gravest powers were us’d,
They could not choose but welcome her, and rather they accus’d
The Gods than beauty; for thus spake the most-fam’d king of Troy:
“Come, lovéd daughter, sit by me and take the worthy joy
Of thy first husband’s sight, old friends, and princes near allied,
And name me some of these brave Greeks, so manly beautified.
Come, do not think I lay the wars, endur’d by us, on thee,
The Gods have sent them, and the tears in which they swum to me.
Sit then, and name this goodly Greek, so tall, and broadly spread,
Who than the rest, that stand by him, is higher by the head;
The bravest man I ever saw, and most majestical,
His only presence makes me think him king amongst them all.”

The fairest of her sex replied: “Most rev’rend father-in-law,
Most lov’d, most fear’d, would some ill death had seiz’d me, when I saw
The first mean why I wrong’d you thus: that I had never lost
The sight of these my ancient friends, of him that lov’d me most,
Of my sole daughter, brothers both, with all those kindly mates,
Of one soil, one age, born with me, though under diff’rent fates!
But these boons envious stars deny; the memory of these
In sorrow pines those beauties now, that then did too much please;
Nor satisfy they your demand, to which I thus reply:
That’s Agamemnon, Atreus’ son, the great in empery;
A king, whom double royalty doth crown, being great and good,
And one that was my brother-in-law, when I contain’d my blood,
And was more worthy; if at all I might be said to be,
My being being lost so soon in all that honour’d me.”

The good old king admir’d, and said: “O Atreus’ blesséd son,
Born unto joyful destinies, that hast the empire won
Of such a world of Grecian youths, as I discover here!
I once march’d into Phrygia, that many vines doth bear,
Where many Phrygians I beheld, well-skill’d in use of horse,
That of the two men, like two Gods, were the commanded force,
Otrëus, and great Mygdonus, who on Sangarius’ sands
Set down their tents with whom myself, for my assistant bands,
Was number’d as a man in chief; the cause of war was then
Th’ Amazon dames, that in their facts affected to be men.
In all there was a mighty pow’r, which yet did never rise
To equal these Achaian youths, that have the sable eyes.”
Then (seeing Ulysses next) he said: “Lov’d daughter, what is he
That, lower than great Atreus’ son; seems by the head to me,
Yet, in his shoulders and big breast, presents a broader show?
His armour lies upon the earth; he up and down doth go,
To see his soldiers keep their ranks, and ready have their arms,
If, in this truce, they should be tried by any false alarms.
Much like a well-grown bell-wether, or feltred ram, he shows,
That walks before a wealthy flock of fair white-fleeced ewes.”

High Jove and Leda’s fairest seed to Priam thus replies:
“This is the old Laertes’ son, Ulysses, call’d the wise;
Who, though unfruitful Ithaca was made his nursing seat,
Yet knows he ev’ry sort of sleight, and is in counsels great.”

The wise Antenor answer’d her: “’Tis true, renownéd dame;
For, some times past, wise Ithacus to Troy a legate came,
With Menelaus, for your cause; to whom I gave receipt
As guests, and welcom’d to my house, with all the love I might.
I learn’d the wisdom of their souls, and humours of their blood;
For when the Trojan council met, and these together stood,
By height of his broad shoulders had Atrides eminence,
Yet, set, Ulysses did exceed, and bred more reverence.
And when their counsels and their words they wove in one, the speech
Of Atreus’ son was passing loud, small, fast, yet did not reach
To much, being naturally born Laconical; nor would
His humour lie for anything, or was, like th’ other, old;
But when the prudent Ithacus did to his counsels rise,
He stood a little still, and fix’d upon the earth his eyes,
His sceptre moving neither way, but held it formally,
Like one that vainly doth affect. Of wrathful quality,
And frantic (rashly judging him) you would have said he was,
But when, out of his ample breast he gave his great voice pass,
And words that flew about our ears, like drifts of winter’s snow,
None thenceforth might contend with him, tho’ nought admir’d for show.”

The third man, aged Priam mark’d, was Ajax Telamon,
Of whom he ask’d: “What lord is that, so large of limb and bone,
So rais’d in height, that to his breast I see there reacheth none?”

To him the Goddess of her sex, the large-veil’d Helen, said:
“That Lord is Ajax Telamon, a bulwark in their aid.
On th’ other side stands Idomen, in Crete of most command,
And round about his royal sides his Cretan captains stand;
Oft hath the warlike Spartan king giv’n hospitable due
To him within our Lacene court, and all his retinue.
And now the other Achive dukes I gen’rally discern;
All which I know, and all their names could make thee quickly learn.
Two princes of the people yet, I nowhere can behold,
Castor, the skilful knight on horse and Pollux, uncontroll’d
For all stand-fights, and force of hand; both at a burthen bred;
My natural brothers; either here they have not followéd
From lovely Sparta, or, arriv’d within the sea-born fleet,
In fear of infamy for me, in broad field shame to meet.”

Nor so; for holy Tellus’ womb inclos’d those worthy men
In Sparta, their belovéd soil. The voiceful heralds then
The firm agreement of the Gods through all the city ring;
Two lambs, and spirit-refreshing wine (the fruit of earth) they bring,
Within a goat-skin bottle clos’d; Idæus also brought
A massy glitt’ring bowl, and cups, that all of gold were wrought;
Which bearing to the king, they cried: “Son of Laomedon
Rise, for the well-rode peers of Troy, and brass-arm’d Greeks, in one,
Send to thee to descend the field, that they firm vows may make;
For Paris, and the Spartan king, must fight for Helen’s sake,
With long-arm’d lances; and the man that proves victorious,
The woman, and the wealth she brought, shall follow to his house;
The rest knit friendship, and firm leagues; we safe in Troy shall dwell,
In Argos and Achaia they, that do in dames excel.”

He said; and Priam’s aged joints with chilled fear did shake,
Yet instantly he bade his men his chariot ready make.
Which soon they did, and he ascends. He takes the reins, and guide
Antenor calls; who instantly mounts to his royal side,
And, through the Scæan ports to field, the swift-foot horse they drive.
And when at them of Troy and Greece the aged lords arrive,
From horse, on Troy’s well-feeding soil, ’twixt both the hosts they go.
When straight up-rose the king of men, up-rose Ulysses too,
The heralds in their richest coats repeat (as was the guise)
The true vows of the Gods (term’d theirs, since made before their eyes)
Then in a cup of gold they mix the wine that each side brings,
And next pour water on the hands of both the kings of kings.
Which done, Atrides drew his knife, that evermore he put
Within the large sheath of his sword; with which away he cut
The wool from both fronts of the lambs, which (as a rite in use
Of execration to their heads, that brake the plighted truce)
The heralds of both hosts did give the peers of both; and then,
With hands and voice advanc’d to heav’n, thus pray’d the king of men:

“O Jove, that Ida dost protect, and hast the titles won
Most glorious, most invincible; and thou all-seeing Sun,
All-hearing, all-recomforting; Floods; Earth; and Pow’rs beneath,
That all the perjuries of men chastise ev’n after death!
Be witnesses, and see perform’d the hearty vows we make.—
If Alexander shall the life of Menelaus take,
He shall from henceforth Helena, with all her wealth, retain,
And we will to our household Gods, hoise sail, and home again.
If, by my honour’d brother’s hand, be Alexander slain,
The Trojans then shall his forc’d queen, with all her wealth, restore,
And pay convenient fine to us, aid ours for evermore.
If Priam and his sons deny to pay his, thus agreed,
When Alexander shall be slain; or that perfidious deed,
And for the fine, will I fight here, till dearly they repay,
By death and ruin, the amends, that falsehood keeps away.”
This said, the throats of both the lambs cut with his royal knife,
He laid them panting on the earth, till, quite depriv’d of life,
The steel had robb’d them of their strength; then golden cups they crown’d,
With wine out of a cistern drawn; which pour’d upon the ground,
They fell upon their humble knees to all the Deities,
And thus pray’d one of both the hosts, that might do sacrifice:
“O Jupiter, most high, most great, and all the deathless Pow’rs!
Who first shall dare to violate the late sworn oaths of ours,
So let the bloods and brains of them, and all they shall produce,
Flow on the stain’d face of the earth, as now this sacred juice;
And let their wives with bastardice brand all their future race.”
Thus pray’d they; but, with wish’d effects, their pray’rs Jove did not grace;
When Priam said: “Lords of both hosts, I can no longer stay
To see my lov’d son try his life, and so must take my way
To wind-exposéd Ilion. Jove yet and heav’n’s high States
Know only, which of these must now pay tribute to the Fates.”
Thus, putting in his coach the lambs, he mounts and reins his horse;
Antenor to him; and to Troy, both take their speedy course.
Then Hector, Priam’s martial son, stepp’d forth, and met the ground,
With wise Ulysses, where the blows of combat must resound;
Which done, into a helm they put two lots, to let them know
Which of the combatants should first his brass-pil’d jav’lin throw;
When all the people standing by, with hands held up to heav’n,
Pray’d Jove the conquest might not be by force or fortune giv’n,
But that the man, who was in right the author of most wrong,
Might feel his justice, and no more these tedious wars prolong,
But, sinking to the house of death, leave them (as long before)
Link’d fast in leagues of amity, that might dissolve no more.
Then Hector shook the helm that held the equal dooms of chance,
Look’d back, and drew; and Paris first had lot to hurl his lance,
The soldiers all sat down enrank’d, each by his arms and horse
That then lay down and cool’d their hoofs. And now th’ allotted course
Bids fair-hair’d Helen’s husband arm; who first makes fast his greaves
With silver buckles to his legs; then on his breast receives
The curets that Lycaon wore (his brother) but made fit
For his fair body; next his sword he took, and fasten’d it,
All damask’d, underneath his arm; his shield then grave and great
His shoulders wore; and on his head his glorious helm he set,
Topp’d with a plume of horse’s hair, that horribly did dance,
And seem’d to threaten as he mov’d; at last he takes his lance,
Exceeding big, and full of weight, which he with ease could use.
In like sort, Sparta’s warlike king himself with arms indues.
Thus arm’d at either army both, they both stood bravely in,
Possessing both hosts with amaze, they came so chin to chin,
And, with such horrible aspécts, each other did salute.
A fair large field was made for them; where wraths, for hugeness mute,
And mutual, made them mutually at either shake their darts
Before they threw. Then Paris first with his long jav’lin parts;
It smote Atrides’ orby targe, but ran not through the brass,
For in it (arming well the shield) the head reflected was.
Then did the second combatant apply him to his spear,
Which ere he threw, he thus besought almighty Jupiter:
“O Jove! Vouchsafe me now revenge, and that my enemy,
For doing wrong so undeserv’d, may pay deservedly
The pains he forfeited; and let these hands inflict those pains,
By conqu’ring, ay, by conqu’ring dead, him on whom life complains;
That any now, or anyone of all the brood of men
To live hereafter, may with fear from all offence abstain,
Much more from all such foul offence to him that was his host,
And entertain’d him as the man whom he affected most.”
This said, he shook and threw his lance; which strook through Paris’ shield,
And, with the strength he gave to it, it made the curets yield,
His coat of mail, his breast, and all, and drove his entrails in,
In that low region where the guts in three small parts begin;
Yet he, in bowing of his breast, prvented sable death.
This taint he follow’d with his sword, drawn from a silver sheath,
Which lifting high, he strook his helm full where his plume did stand,
On which it piecemeal brake, and fell from his unhappy hand.
At which he sighing stood, and star’d upon the ample sky,
And said: “O Jove, there is no God giv’n more illiberally
To those that serve thee than thyself, why have I pray’d in vain?
I hop’d my hand should have reveng’d, the wrongs I still sustain,
On him that did them, and still dares their foul defence pursue;
And now my lance hath miss’d his end, my sword in shivers flew,
And he ’scapes all.” With this, again he rush’d upon his guest,
And caught him by the horse-hair plume, that dangled on his crest,
With thought to drag him to the Greeks; which he had surely done,
And so, besides the victory, had wondrous glory won,
(Because the needle-painted lace, with which his helm was tied
Beneath his chin, and so about his dainty throat implied,
Had strangled him;) but that, in time, the Cyprian seed of Jove
Did brake the string, with which was lin’d that which the needle wove,
And was the tough thong of a steer; and so the victor’s palm
Was, for so full a man-at-arms, only an empty helm.
That then he swung about his head, and cast among his friends,
Who scrambled, and took ’t up with shouts. Again then he intends
To force the life-blood of his foe, and ran on him amain,
With shaken jav’lin; when the Queen, that lovers loves, again[1]
Attended, and now ravish’d him from that encounter quite,
With ease, and wondrous suddenly; for she, a Goddess, might.
She hid him in a cloud of gold, and never made him known,
Till in his chamber, fresh and sweet, she gently set him down,
And went for Helen; whom she found in Scæa’s utmost height,
To which whole swarms of city dames had climb’d to see the sight.
To give her errand good success, she took on her the shape
Of beldame Græa, who was brought by Helen, in her rape,
From Lacedæmon, and had trust in all her secrets still,
Being old, and had (of all her maids) the main bent of her will,
And spun for her her finest wool. Like her, Love’s Empress came,
Pull’d Helen by the heav’nly veil, and softly said: “Madame,
My lord calls for you, you must needs make all your kind haste home;
He’s in your chamber, stays, and longs; sits by your bed; pray come,
’Tis richly made, and sweet; but he more sweet, and looks so clear,
So fresh, and movingly attir’d, that, seeing, you would swear
He came not from the dusky fight, but from a courtly dance,
Or would to dancing.” This she made a charm for dalliance;
Whose virtue Helen felt, and knew, by her so radiant eyes,
White neck, and most enticing breasts, the deified disguise.
At which amaz’d, she answer’d her: “Unhappy Deity!
Why lov’st thou still in these deceits to wrap my phantasy?
Or whither yet, of all the towns giv’n to their lust beside,
In Phrygia, or Mæonia, com’st thou to be my guide,
If there (of divers-languag’d men thou hast, as here in Troy,
Some other friend to be my shame; since here thy latest joy
By Menelaus now subdu’d, by him shall I be borne
Home to his court, and end my life in triumphs of his scorn?
And, to this end, would thy deceits my wanton life allure?
Hence, go thyself to Priam’s son and all the ways abjure
Of Gods, or godlike-minded dames, nor ever turn again
Thy earth-affecting feet to heav’n but for his sake sustain
Toils here; guard, grace him endlessly, till he requite thy grace
By giving thee my place with him; or take his servant’s place,
If, all dishonourable ways, your favours seek to serve
His never-pleas’d incontinence; I better will deserve,
Than serve his dotage now. What shame were it for me to feed
This lust in him; all honour’d dames would hate me for the deed!
He leaves a woman’s love so sham’d, and shows so base a mind,
To feel nor my shame nor his own; griefs of a greater kind
Wound me than such as can admit such kind delights so soon.”
The Goddess, angry that, past shame, her mere will was not done,
Replied: “Incense me not, you wretch, lest, once incens’d, I leave
Thy curs’d life to as strange a hate, as yet it may receive
A love from me; and lest I spread through both hosts such despite,
For those plagues they have felt for thee, that both abjure thee quite,
And setting thee in midst of both, turn all their wraths on thee,
And dart thee dead; that such a death may wreak thy wrong of me.”
This strook the fair dame with such fear, it took her speech away,
And, shadow’d in her snowy veil, she durst not but obey;
And yet, to shun the shame she fear’d, she vanish’d undescried
Of all the Trojan ladies there, for Venus was her guide.
Arriv’d at home, her women both fell to their work in haste;
When she, that was of all her sex the most divinely grac’d,
Ascended to a higher room, though much against her will,
Where lovely Alexander was, being led by Venus still.
The laughter-loving Dame discen’d her mov’d mind by her grace,
And, for her mirth sake, set a stool, full before Paris’ face,
Where she would needs have Helen sit; who, though she durst not choose
But sit, yet look’d away for all the Goddess’ pow’r could use,
And used her tongue too, and to chide whom Venus sooth’d so much,
And chid, too, in this bitter kind: “And was thy cowardice such,
So conquer’d, to be seen alive? O would to God, thy life
Had perish’d by his worthy hand, to whom I first was wife!
Before this, thou wouldst glorify thy valour and thy lance,
And, past my first love’s, boast them far. Go once more, and advance
Thy braves against his single pow’r; this foil might fall by chance.
Poor conquer’d man! ’Twas such a chance, as I would not advise
Thy valour should provoke again. Shun him, thou most unwise,
Lest next, thy spirit sent to hell, thy body be his prise.”
He answer’d: “Pray thee, woman, cease, to chide and grieve me thus.
Disgraces will not ever last. Look on their end. On us
Will other Gods, at other times, let fall the victor’s wreath,
As on him Pallas put it now. Shall our love sink beneath
The hate of fortune? In love’s fire, let all hates vanish. Come,
Love never so inflam’d my heart; no, not when, bringing home
Thy beauty’s so delicious prise, on Cranaë’s blest shore
I long’d for, and enjoy’d thee first.” With this he went before,
She after, to the odorous bed. While these to pleasure yield,
Perplex’d Atrides, savage-like, ran up and down the field,
And ev’ry thickest troop of Troy, and of their far-call’d aid,
Search’d for his foe, who could not be by any eye betray’d;
Nor out of friendship (out of doubt) did they conceal his sight,
All hated him so like their deaths, and ow’d him such despite.
At last thus spake the king of men: “Hear me, ye men of Troy,
Ye Dardans, and the rest, whose pow’rs you in their aids employ.
The conquest on my brother’s part, ye all discern is clear,
Do you then Argive Helena, with all her treasure here,
Restore to us, and pay the mulct, that by your vows is due,
Yield us an honour’d recompense, and, all that should accrue
To our posterities, confirm; that when you render it,
Our acts may here be memoris’d.” This all Greeks else thought fit.

THE END OF THE THIRD BOOK.

[1] When the Queen, etc.—This place Virgil imitateth.

THE FOURTH BOOK OF HOMER’S ILIADS

THE ARGUMENT

The Gods in council, at the last, decree
That famous Ilion shall expugned be;
And that their own continu’d faults may prove
The reasons that have so incensed Jove,
Minerva seeks, with more offences done
Against the lately injur’d Atreus’ son,
(A ground that clearest would make seen their sin)
To have the Lycian Pandarus begin.
He (’gainst the truce with sacred cov’nants bound)
Gives Menelaus a dishonour’d wound,
Machaon heals him. Agamemnon then
To mortal war incenseth all his men.
The battles join; and, in the heat of fight,
Cold death shuts many eyes in endless night.

ANOTHER ARGUMENT

In Delta is the Gods’ Assize;
The truce is broke; wars freshly rise.

Within the fair-pav’d court of Jove, he and the Gods conferr’d
About the sad events of Troy; amongst whom minister’d
Bless’d Hebe nectar. As they sat, and did Troy’s tow’rs behold,
They drank, and pledg’d each other round in full-crown’d cups of gold.
The mirth at whose feast was begun by great Saturnides
In urging a begun dislike amongst the Goddesses,
But chiefly in his solemn queen, whose spleen he was dispos’d
To tempt yet further, knowing well what anger it inclos’d,
And how wives’ angers should be us’d. On which, thus pleas’d, he play’d:
“Two Goddesses there are that still give Menelaus aid,
And one that Paris loves. The two that sit from us so far
(Which Argive Juno is, and She that rules in deeds of war,)
No doubt are pleas’d to see how well the late-seen fight did frame;
And yet, upon the adverse part, the laughter-loving Dame
Made her pow’r good too for her friend; for, though he were so near
The stroke of death in th’ others’ hopes, she took him from them clear.
The conquest yet is questionless the martial Spartan king’s.
We must consult then what events shall crown these future things,
If wars and combats we shall still with even successes strike,
Or as impartial friendship plant on both parts. If ye like
The last, and that it will as well delight as merely please
Your happy deities, still let stand old Priam’s town in peace,
And let the Lacedæmon king again his queen enjoy.”
As Pallas and Heav’n’s Queen sat close, complotting ill to Troy,
With silent murmurs they receiv’d this ill-lik’d choice from Jove;
‘Gainst whom was Pallas much incens’d, because the Queen of Love
Could not, without his leave, relieve in that late point of death
The son of Priam, whom she loath’d; her wrath yet fought beneath
Her supreme wisdom, and was curb’d; but Juno needs must ease
Her great heart with her ready tongue, and said; “What words are these,
Austere, and too-much-Saturn’s son? Why wouldst thou render still
My labours idle, and the sweat of my industrious will
Dishonour with so little pow’r? My chariot-horse are tir’d
With posting to and fro for Greece, and bringing banes desir’d
To people must’ring Priamus, and his perfidious sons;
Yet thou protect’st, and join’st with them whom each just Deity shuns.
Go on, but ever go resolv’d all other Gods have vow’d
To cross thy partial course for Toy, in all that makes it proud.”
At this, the cloud-compelling Jove a far-fetch’d sigh let fly,
And said: “Thou fury! What offence of such impiety
Hath Priam or his sons done thee, that, with so high a hate,
Thou shouldst thus ceaselessly desire to raze and ruinate
So well a builded town as Troy? I think, hadst thou the pow’r,
Thou wouldst the ports and far-stretch’d walls fly over, and devour
Old Priam and his issue quick, and make all Troy thy feast,
And then at length I hope thy wrath and tiréd spleen would rest;
To which run on thy chariot, that nought be found in me
Of just cause to our future jars. In this yet strengthen thee,
And fix it in thy memory fast, this if I entertain
As peremptory a desire to level with the plain
A city where thy lovéd live, stand not betwixt my ire
And what it aims at, but give way, when thou hast thy desire;
Which now I grant thee willingly, although against my will.
For not beneath the ample sun, and heav’n’s star-bearing hill,
There is a town of earthly men so honour’d in my mind
As sacred Troy; nor of earth’s kings as Priam and his kind,
Who never let my altars lack rich feast of off’rings slain,
And their sweet savours; for which grace I honour them again.”
Dread Juno, with the cow’s fair eyes, replied: “Three towns there are
Of great and eminent respect, both in my love and care;
Mycene, with the broad highways; and Argos, rich in horse;
And Sparta; all which three destroy, when thou envi’st their force,
I will not aid them, nor malign thy free and sov’reign will,
For if I should be envious, and set against their ill,
I know my envy were in vain, since thou art mightier far.
But we must give each other leave, and wink at either’s war.
I likewise must have pow’r to crown my works with wishéd end,
Because I am a Deity, and did from thence descend
Whence thou thyself, and th’ elder born; wise Saturn was our sire;
And thus there is a two-fold cause that pleads for my desire,
Being sister, and am call’d thy wife; and more, since thy command
Rules all Gods else, I claim therein a like superior hand.
All wrath before then now remit, and mutually combine
In either’s empire; I, thy rule, and thou, illustrate, mine;
So will the other Gods agree, and we shall all be strong.
And first (for this late plot) with speed let Pallas go among
The Trojans, and some one of them entice to break the truce
By off’ring in some treach’rous wound the honour’d Greeks abuse.”
The Father both of men and Gods agreed, and Pallas sent,
With these wing’d words, to both the hosts: “Make all haste, and invent
Some mean by which the men of Troy, against the truce agreed,
May stir the glorious Greeks to arms with some inglorious deed.”
Thus charg’d he her with haste that did, before, in haste abound,
Who cast herself from all the heights, with which steep heav’n is crown’d.
And as Jove, brandishing a star, which men a comet call,
Hurls out his curled hair abroad, that from his brand exhals
A thousand sparks, to fleets at sea, and ev’ry mighty host,
Of all presages and ill-haps a sign mistrusted most;
So Pallas fell ’twixt both the camps, and suddenly was lost,
When through the breasts of all that saw, she strook a strong amaze
With viewing, in her whole descent, her bright and ominous blaze.
When straight one to another turn’d, and said: “Now thund’ring Jove
(Great Arbiter of peace and arms) will either stablish love
Amongst our nations, or renew such war as never was.”
Thus either army did presage, when Pallas made her pass
Amongst the multitude of Troy; who now put on the grace
Of brave Laodocus, the flow’r of old Antenor’s race,
And sought for Lycian Pandarus, a man that, being bred
Out of a faithless family, she thought was fit to shed
The blood of any innocent, and break the cov’nant sworn;
He was Lycaon’s son, whom Jove into a wolf did turn
For sacrificing of a child, and yet in arms renown’d
As one that was inculpable. Him Pallas standing found,
And round about him his strong troops that bore the shady shields;
He brought them from Æsepus’ flood, let through the Lycian fields;
Whom standing near, she whisper’d thus: “Lycaon’s warlike son,
Shall I despair at thy kind hands to have a favour done?
Nor dar’st thou let an arrow fly upon the Spartan king?
It would be such a grace to Troy, and such a glorious thing,
That ev’ry man would give his gift; but Alexander’s hand
Would load thee with them, if he could discover from his stand
His foe’s pride strook down with thy shaft, and he himself ascend
The flaming heap of funeral. Come, shoot him, princely friend;
But first invoke the God of Light, that in thy land was born,
And is in archers’ art the best that ever sheaf hath worn,
To whom a hundred first-ew’d lambs vow thou in holy fire,
When safe to sacred Zelia’s tow’rs thy zealous steps retire.”
With this the mad gift-greedy man Minerva did persuade,
Who instantly drew forth a bow, most admirably made
Of th’ antler of a jumping goat bred in a steep upland,
Which archer-like (as long before he took his hidden stand,
The evicke skipping from a rock) into the breast he smote,
And headlong fell’d him from his cliff. The forehead of the goat
Held out a wondrous goodly palm, that sixteen branches brought;
Of all which join’d, an useful bow a skilful bowyer wrought,
Which pick’d and polish’d, both the ends he hid with horns of gold.
And this bow, bent, he close laid down, and bad his soldiers hold
Their shields before him, lest the Greeks, discerning him, should rise
In tumults ere the Spartan king could be his arrow’s prise.
Mean space, with all his care he choos’d, and from his quiver drew,
An arrow, feather’d best for flight and yet that never flew,
Strong headed, and most apt to pierce; then took he up his bow,
And nock’d his shaft, the ground whence all their future grief did grow.
When, praying to his God the Sun, that was in Lycia bred,
And king of archers, promising that he the blood would shed
Of full an hundred first-fall’n lambs, all offer’d to his name,
When to Zelia’s sacred walls from rescu’d Troy he came,
He took his arrow by the nock, and to his bended breast[1]
The oxy sinew close he drew, ev’n till the pile did rest
Upon the bosom of the bow; and as that savage prise
His strength constrain’d into an orb, as if the wind did rise
The coming of it made a noise, the sinew-forgéd string
Did give a mighty twang, and forth the eager shaft did sing,
Affecting speediness of flight, amongst the Achive throng.
Nor were the blesséd Heav’nly Pow’rs unmindful of thy wrong,
O Menelaus, but, in chief, Jove’s seed: the Pillager,
Stood close before, and slack’d the force the arrow did confer,
With as much care and little hurt, as doth a mother use,
And keep off from her babe, when sleep doth through his pow’rs diffuse
His golden humour, and th’ assaults of rude and busy flies
She still checks with her careful hand; for so the shaft she plies
That on the buttons made of gold, which made his girdle fast,
And where his curets double were, the fall of it she plac’d.
And thus much proof she put it to: the buckle made of gold;
The belt it fast’ned, bravely wrought; his curets’ double fold;
And last, the charméd plate he wore, which help’d him more than all,
And, ’gainst all darts and shafts bestow’d, was to his life a wall;
So, through all these, the upper skin the head did only race;
Yet forth the blood flow’d, which did much his royal person grace,
And show’d upon his ivory skin, as doth a purple dye
Laid, by a dame of Caïra, or lovely Mæony,
On ivory, wrought in ornaments to deck the cheeks of horse;
Which in her marriage room must lie; whose beauties have such force
That they are wish’d of many knights, but are such precious things,
That they are kept for horse that draw the chariots of kings,
Which horse, so deck’d, the charioteer esteems a grace to him;
Like these, in grace, the blood upon thy solid thighs did swim,
O Menelaus, down by calves and ankles to the ground.
For nothing decks a soldier so, as doth an honour’d wound.
Yet, fearing he had far’d much worse, the hair stood up on end
On Agamemnon, when he saw so much black blood descend.
And stiff’ned with the like dismay was Menelaus too,
But seeing th’ arrow’s stale without, and that the head did go
No further than it might be seen, he call’d his spirits again;
Which Agamemnon marking not but thinking he was slain,
He grip’d his brother by the hand, and sigh’d as he would break,
Which sigh the whole host took from him, who thus at last did speak:
“O dearest brother, is’t for this, that thy death must be wrought,
Wrought I this truce? For this has thou the single combat fought
For all the army of the Greeks? For this hath Ilion sworn,
And trod all faith beneath their feet? Yet all this hath not worn
The right we challeng’d out of force; this cannot render vain
Our stricken right hands, sacred wine, nor all our off’rings slain;
For though Olympius be not quick in making good our ill,
He will be sure as he is slow, and sharplier prove his will.
Their own hands shall be ministers of those plagues they despise,
Which shall their wives and children reach, and all their progenies.
For both in mind and soul I know, that there shall come a day
When Ilion, Priam, all his pow’r, shall quite be worn away,
When heav’n-inhabiting Jove shall shake his fiery shield at all,
For this one mischief. This, I know, the world cannot recall.
But be all this, all my grief still for thee will be the same,
Dear brother. If thy life must here put out his royal flame,
I shall to sandy Argos turn with infamy my face;
And all the Greeks will call for home; old Priam and his race
Will flame in glory; Helena untouch’d be still their prey;
And thy bones in our enemies’ earth our curséd fates shall lay;
Thy sepulchre be trodden down; the pride of Troy desire
Insulting on it, ‘Thus, O thus, let Agamemnon’s ire
In all his acts be expiate, as now he carries home
His idle army, empty ships, and leaves here overcome
Good Menelaus.’ When this rave breaks in their bated breath,
Then let the broad earth swallow me, and take me quick to death.”
“Nor shall this ever chance,” said he, “and therefore be of cheer,
Lest all the army, led by you, your passions put in fear.
The arrow fell in no such place a death could enter at,
My girdle, curets doubled here, and my most trusted plate,
Objected all ’twixt me and death, the shaft scarce piercing one.”
“Good brother,” said the king, “I wish it were no further gone,
For then our best in med’cines skilled shall ope and search the wound,
Applying balms to ease thy pains, and soon restore thee sound.”
This said, divine Talthybiús he call’d, and bad him haste
Machaon (Æsculapius’ son, who most of men was grac’d
With physic’s sov’reign remedies) to come and lend his hand
To Menelaus, shot by one well-skill’d in the command
Of bow and arrows, one of Troy, or of the Lycian aid,
Who much hath glorified our foe, and us as much dismay’d.
He heard, and hasted instantly, and cast his eyes about
The thickest squadrons of the Greeks, to find Machaon out.
He found him standing guarded well with well-arm’d men of Thrace;
With whom he quickly join’d, and said: “Man of Apollo’s race,
Haste, for the king of men commands, to see a wound impress’d
In Menelaus, great in arms, by one instructed best
In th’ art of archery, of Troy, or of the Lycian bands,
That them with much renown adorns, us with dishonour brands.”
Machaon much was mov’d with this, who with the herald flew
From troop to troop alongst the host; and soon they came in view
Of hurt Atrides, circled round with all the Grecian kings;
Who all gave way, and straight he draws the shaft, which forth he brings
Without the forks; the girdle then, plate, curets, off he plucks,
And views the wound; when first from it the clotter’d blood he sucks,
Then med’cines, wondrously compos’d, the skilful leech applied,
Which loving Chiron taught his sire, he from his sire had tried.
While these were thus employ’d to ease the Atrean martialist,
The Trojans arm’d, and charg’d the Greeks; the Greeks arm and resist.
Then not asleep, nor maz’d with fear, nor shifting off the blows,
You could behold the king of men, but in full speed he goes
To set a glorious fight on foot; and he examples this,
With toiling, like the worst, on foot; who therefore did dismiss
His brass-arm’d chariot, and his steeds, with Ptolemëus’ son,
Son of Piraides, their guide, the good Eurymedon;
“Yet,” said the king, “attend with them, lest weariness should seize
My limbs, surcharg’d with ord’ring troops so thick and vast as these.”
Eurymedon then rein’d his horse, that trotted neighing by;
The king a footman, and so scours the squadrons orderly.
Those of his swiftly-mounted Greeks, that in their arms were fit,
Those he put on with cheerful words, and bad them not remit
The least spark of their forward spirits, because the Trojans durst
Take these abhorr’d advantages, but let them do their worst;
For they might be assur’d that Jove would patronise no lies,
And that who, with the breach of truce, would hurt their enemies,
With vultures should be torn themselves; that they should raze their town,
Their wives, and children at their breast, led vassals to their own.
But such as he beheld hang off from that increasing fight,
Such would he bitterly rebuke, and with disgrace excite:
“Base Argives, blush ye not to stand as made for butts to darts?
Why are ye thus discomfited, like hinds that have no hearts,
Who, wearied with a long-run field, are instantly emboss’d,
Stand still, and in their beastly breasts is all their courage lost?
And so stand you strook with amaze, nor dare to strike a stroke.
Would ye the foe should nearer yet your dastard spleens provoke,
Ev’n where on Neptune’s foamy shore our navies lie in sight,
To see if Jove will hold your hands, and teach ye how to fight?”
Thus he, commanding, rang’d the host, and, passing many a band,
He came to the Cretensian troops, where all did arméd stand
About the martial Idomen; who bravely stood before
In vanguard of his troops, and match’d for strength a savage boar;
Meriones, his charioteer, the rearguard bringing on.
Which seen to Atreus’ son, to him it was a sight alone,
And Idomen’s confirméd mind with these kind words he seeks:
“O Idomen! I ever lov’d thy self past all the Greeks,
In war, or any work of peace, at table, ev’rywhere;
For when the best of Greece besides mix ever, at our cheer,
My good old ardent wine with small, and our inferior mates
Drink ev’n that mix’d wine measur’d too, thou drink’st, without those rates,
Our old wine neat, and evermore thy bowl stands full like mine,
To drink still when and what thou wilt. Then rouse that heart of thine,
And, whatsoever heretofore thou hast assum’d to be,
This day be greater.” To the king in this sort answer’d he:
“Atrides, what I ever seem’d, the same at ev’ry part
This day shall show me at the full, and I will fit thy heart.
But thou shouldst rather cheer the rest, and tell them they in right
Of all good war must offer blows, and should begin the fight,
(Since Troy first brake the holy truce) and not endure these braves.
To take wrong first, and then be dar’d to the revenge it craves;
Assuring them that Troy in fate must have the worst at last,
Since first, and ’gainst a truce, they hurt, where they should have embrac’d.”
This comfort and advice did fit Atrides’ heart indeed
Who still through new-rais’d swarms of men held his laborious speed,
And came where both th’ Ajaces stood; whom like the last he found
Arm’d, casqu’d, and ready for the fight. Behind them, hid the ground
A cloud of foot, that seem’d to smoke. And as a goatherd spies,
On some hill’s top, out of the sea a rainy vapour rise,
Driv’n by the breath of Zephyrus which, though far off he rest,
Comes on as black as pitch, and brings a tempest in his breast,
Whereat he frighted, drives his herds apace into a den;
So dark’ning earth with darts and shields show’d these with all their men.
This sight with like joy fir’d the king, who thus let forth the flame
In crying out to both the dukes: “O you of equal name,
I must not cheer, nay, I disclaim all my command of you,
Yourselves command with such free minds, and make your soldiers show
As you nor I led, but themselves. O would our father Jove,
Minerva, and the God of Light, would all our bodies move
With such brave spirits as breathe in you, then Priam’s lofty town
Should soon be taken by our hands, for ever overthrown!”
Then held he on to other troops, and Nestor next beheld,
The subtle Pylian orator, range up and down the field
Embattelling his men at arms, and stirring all to blows,
Points ev’ry legion out his chief, and ev’ry chief he shows
The forms and discipline of war, yet his commanders were
All expert, and renownéd men. Great Pelagon was there,
Alastor, manly Chromius, and Hæmon worth a throne,
And Bias that could armies lead. With these he first put on
His horse troops with their chariots; his foot (of which he choos’d
Many, the best and ablest men, and which he ever us’d
As rampire to his gen’ral pow’r) he in the rear dispos’d.
The slothful, and the least of spirit, he in the midst inclos’d,
That, such as wanted noble wills, base need might force to stand.
His horse troops, that the vanguard had, he strictly did command
To ride their horses temp’rately, to keep their ranks, and shun
Confusion, lest their horsemanship and courage made them run
(Too much presum’d on) much too far, and, charging so alone,
Engage themselves in th’ enemy’s strength, where many fight with one.
“Who his own chariot leaves to range, let him not freely go,
But straight unhorse him with a lance; for ’tis much better so.
And with this discipline,” said he, “this form, these minds, this trust,
Our ancestors have walls and towns laid level with the dust.”
Thus prompt, and long inur’d to arms, this old man did exhort;
And this Atrides likewise took in wondrous cheerful sort,
And said: “O father, would to heav’n, that as thy mind remains
In wonted vigour, so thy knees could undergo our pains!
But age, that all men overcomes, hath made his prise on thee;
Yet still I wish that some young man, grown old in mind, might be
Put in proportion with thy years, and thy mind, young in age,
Be fitly answer’d with his youth; that still where conflicts rage,
And young men us’d to thirst for fame, thy brave exampling hand
Might double our young Grecian spirits, and grace our whole command.”
The old knight answer’d: “I myself could wish, O Atreus’ son,
I were as young as when I slew brave Ereuthalion,
But Gods at all times give not all their gifts to mortal men.
If then I had the strength of youth, I miss’d the counsels then
That years now give me; and now years want that main strength of youth;
Yet still my mind retains her strength (as you now said the sooth)
And would be where that strength is us’d, affording counsel sage
To stir youth’s minds up; ’tis the grace and office of our age;
Let younger sinews, men sprung up whole ages after me,
And such as have strength, use it, and as strong in honour be.”
The king, all this while comforted, arriv’d next where he found
Well-rode Menestheus (Peteus’ son) stand still, inviron’d round
With his well-train’d Athenian troops, and next to him he spied
The wise Ulysses, deedless too, and all his bands beside
Of strong Cephalians; for as yet th’ alarm had not been heard
In all their quarters, Greece and Troy were then so newly stirr’d,
And then first mov’d, as they conceiv’d; and they so look’d about
To see both hosts give proof of that they yet had cause to doubt.
Atrides seeing them stand so still, and spend their eyes at gaze,
Began to chide: “And why,” said he, “dissolv’d thus in amaze,
Thou son of Peteus, Jove-nurs’d king, and thou in wicked sleight
A cunning soldier, stand ye off? Expect ye that the fight
Should be by other men begun? ’Tis fit the foremost band
Should show you there; you first should front who first lifts up his hand.
First you can hear, when I invite the princes to a feast,
When first, most friendly, and at will, ye eat and drink the best,
Yet in the fight, most willingly, ten troops ye can behold
Take place before ye.” Ithacus at this his brows did fold,
And said: “How hath thy violent tongue broke through thy set of teeth,
To say that we are slack in fight, and to the field of death
Look others should enforce our way, when we were busied then,
Ev’n when thou spak’st, against the foe to cheer and lead our men?
But thy eyes shall be witnesses, if it content thy will,
And that (as thou pretend’st) these cares do so affect thee still,
The father of Telemachus (whom I esteem so dear,
And to whom, as a legacy, I’ll leave my deeds done here)
Ev’n with the foremost band of Troy hath his encounter dar’d,
And therefore are thy speeches vain, and had been better spar’d.”
He, smiling, since he saw him mov’d, recall’d his words, and said:
“Most generous Laertes’ son, most wise of all our aid,
I neither do accuse thy worth, more than thyself may hold
Fit, (that inferiors think not much, being slack, to be controll’d)
Nor take I on me thy command; for well I know thy mind
Knows how sweet gentle counsels are, and that thou stand’st inclin’d,
As I myself, for all our good. On then; if now we spake
What hath displeas’d, another time we full amends will make;
And Gods grant that thy virtue ere may prove so free and brave,
That my reproofs may still be vain, and thy deservings grave.”
Thus parted they; and forth he went, when he did leaning find,
Against his chariot, near his horse, him with the mighty mind,
Great Diomedes, Tydeus’ son, and Sthenelus, the seed
Of Capaneius; whom the king seeing likewise out of deed,
Thus cried he out on Diomed: “O me! In what a fear
The wise great warrior, Tydeus’ son, stands gazing ev’rywhere
For others to begin the fight! It was not Tydeus’ use
To be so daunted, whom his spirit would evermore produce
Before the foremost of his friends in these affairs of fright,
As they report that have beheld him labour in a fight.
For me, I never knew the man, nor in his presence came,
But excellent, above the rest, he was in gen’ral fame;
And one renown’d exploit of his, I am assur’d, is true.
He came to the Mycenian court, without arms, and did sue,
At godlike Polynices’ hands, to have some worthy aid
To their designs that ’gainst the walls of sacred Thebes were laid.
He was great Polynices’ guest, and nobly entertain’d,
And of the kind Mycenian state what he requested gain’d,
In mere consent; but when they should the same in act approve,
By some sinister prodigies, held out to them by Jove,
They were discourag’d. Thence he went, and safely had his pass
Back to Asopus’ flood, renown’d for bulrushes and grass.
Yet, once more, their ambassador, the Grecian peers address
Lord Tydeus to Eteocles; to whom being giv’n access,
He found him feasting with a crew of Cadmeans in his hall;
Amongst whom, though an enemy, and only one to all;
To all yet he his challenge made at ev’ry martial feat,
And eas’ly foil’d all, since with him Minerva was so great.
The rank-rode Cadmeans, much incens’d with their so foul disgrace,
Lodg’d ambuscadoes for their foe, in some well-chosen place
By which he was to make return. Twice five-and-twenty men,
And two of them great captains too, the ambush did contain.
The names of those two men of rule were Mæon, Hæmon’s son,
And Lycophontes, Keep-field call’d, the heir of Autophon,
By all men honour’d like the Gods; yet these and all their friends
Were sent to hell by Tydeus’ hand, and had untimely ends.
He trusting to the aid of Gods, reveal’d by augury,
Obeying which, one chief he sav’d, and did his life apply
To be the heavy messenger of all the others’ deaths;
And that sad message, with his life, to Mæon he bequeaths.
So brave a knight was Tydeüs of whom a son is sprung,
Inferior far in martial deeds, though higher in his tongue.”
All this Tydides silent heard, aw’d by the rev’rend king;
Which stung hot Sthenelus with wrath, who thus put forth his sting:
“Atrides, when thou know’st the truth, speak what thy knowledge is,
And do not lie so; for I know and I will brag in this,
That we are far more able men than both our fathers were.
We took the sev’n-fold ported Thebes, when yet we had not there
So great help as our fathers had; and fought beneath a wall,
Sacred to Mars, by help of Jove, and trusting to the fall
Of happy signs from other Gods, by whom we took the town
Untouch’d; our fathers perishing here by follies of their own;
And therefore never more compare our fathers’ worth with ours.”
Tydides frown’d at this, and said: “Suppress thine anger’s pow’rs,
Good friend, and hear why I refrain’d. Thou seest I am not mov’d
Against our gen’ral, since he did but what his place behov’d,
Admonishing all Greeks to fight; for, if Troy prove our prise,
The honour and the joy is his; if here our ruin lies,
The shame and grief for that as much is his in greatest kinds.
As he then his charge, weigh we ours; which is our dauntless minds.”
Thus, from his chariot, amply arm’d, he jump’d down to the ground;
The armour of the angry king so horribly did sound,
It might have made his bravest foe let fear take down his braves.
And as when with the west-wind flaws, the sea thrusts up her waves,
One after other, thick and high, upon the groaning shores,
First in herself loud, but oppos’d with banks and rocks she roars,
And, all her back in bristles set, spits ev’ry way her foam;
So, after Diomed, instantly the field was overcome
With thick impressions of the Greeks; and all the noise that grew
(Ord’ring and cheering up their men) from only leaders flew.
The rest went silently away, you could not hear a voice,
Nor would have thought, in all their breasts, they had one in their choice,
Their silence uttering their awe of them that them controll’d,
Which made each man keep right his arms, march, fight still where he should
The Trojans (like a sort of ewes, penn’d in a rich man’s fold,
Close at his door, till all be milk’d, and never baaing hold
Hearing the bleating of their lambs) did all their wide host fill
With shouts and clamours, nor observ’d one voice, one baaing still,
But show’d mix’d tongues from many a land of men call’d to their aid.
Rude Mars had th’ ordering of their spirits; of Greeks, the learned Maid
But Terror follow’d both the hosts, and Flight, and furious Strife
The sister, and the mate, of Mars, that spoil of human life;
And never is her rage at rest, at first she is but small,
Yet after, but a little fed, she grows so vast and tall
That, while her feet move here in earth, her forehead is in heav’n;
And this was she that made ev’n then both hosts so deadly giv’n.
Through ev’ry troop she stalk’d, and stirr’d rough sighs up as she went;
But when in one field both the foes her fury did content,
And both came under reach of darts, then darts and shields oppos’d
To darts and shields; strength answer’d strength; then swords and targets clos’d
With swords and targets; both with pikes; and then did tumult rise
Up to her height; then conqu’rors’ boasts mix’d with the conquer’d’s cries;
Earth flow’d with blood. And as from hills rainwaters headlong fall,
That all ways eat huge ruts, which, met in one bed, fill a vall
With such a confluence of streams, that on the mountain grounds
Far off, in frighted shepherds’ ears, the bustling noise rebounds:
So grew their conflicts, and so show’d their scuffling to the ear,
With flight and clamour still commix’d, and all effects of fear.
And first renown’d Antilochus slew (fighting, in the face
Of all Achaia’s foremost bands, with an undaunted grace)
Echepolus Thalysiades; he was an arméd man;
Whom on his hair-plum’d helmet’s crest the dart first smote, then ran
Into his forehead, and there stuck; the steel pile making way
Quite through his skull; a hasty night shut up his latest day.
His fall was like a fight-rac’d tow’r; like which lying there dispread,
King Elephenor (who was son to Chalcodon, and led
The valiant Abants) covetous that he might first possess
His arms, laid hands upon his feet, and hal’d him from the press
Of darts and jav’lins hurl’d at him. The action of the king
When great-in-heart Agenor saw, he made his jav’lin sing
To th’ others’ labour; and along as he the trunk did wrest,
His side (at which he bore his shield) in bowing of his breast
Lay naked, and receiv’d the lance, that made him lose his hold
And life together; which, in hope of that he lost, he sold,
But for his sake the fight grew fierce, the Trojans and their foes
Like wolves on one another rush’d, and man for man it goes.
The next of name, that serv’d his fate, great Ajax Telamon
Preferr’d so sadly. He was heir to old Anthemion,
And deck’d with all the flow’r of youth; the fruit of which yet fled,
Before the honour’d nuptial torch could light him to his bed.
His name was Simoisius; for, some few years before,
His mother walking down the hill of Ida, by the shore
Of silver Simois, to see her parents’ flocks, with them
She, feeling suddenly the pains of child-birth, by the stream
Of that bright river brought him forth; and so (of Simois)
They call’d him Simoisius. Sweet was that birth of his
To his kind parents, and his growth did all their care employ;
And yet those rites of piety, that should have been his joy
To pay their honour’d years again in as affectionate sort,
He could not graciously perform, his sweet life was so short,
Cut off with mighty Ajax’ lance; for, as his spirit put on,
He strook him at his breast’s right pap, quite through his shoulder-bone,
And in the dust of earth he fell, that was the fruitful soil
Of his friends’ hopes; but where he sow’d he buried all his toil.
And as a poplar shot aloft, set by a river side,
In moist edge of a mighty fen, his head in curls implied,
But all his body plain and smooth, to which a wheel-wright puts
The sharp edge of his shining axe, and his soft timber cuts
From his in native root, in hope to hew out of his bole
The fell’ffs, or out-parts of a wheel, that compass in the whole,
To serve some goodly chariot; but, being big and sad,
And to be hal’d home through the bogs, the useful hope he had
Sticks there, and there the goodly plant lies with’ring out his grace:
So lay, by Jove-bred Ajax’ hand, Anthemion’s forward race,
Nor could through that vast fen of toils be drawn to serve the ends
Intended by his body’s pow’rs, nor cheer his aged friends.
But now the gay-arm’d Antiphus, a son of Priam, threw
His lance at Ajax through the prease; which went by him, and flew
On Leucus, wise Ulysses’ friend; his groin it smote, as fain
He would have drawn into his spoil the carcass of the slain,
By which he fell, and that by him; it vex’d Ulysses’ heart,
Who thrust into the face of fight, well-arm’d at ev’ry part,
Came close, and look’d about to find an object worth his lance;
Which when the Trojans saw him shake, and he so near advance,
All shrunk; he threw, and forth it shin’d, nor fell but where it fell’d;
His friend’s grief gave it angry pow’r, and deadly way it held
Upon Democoon, who was sprung of Priam’s wanton force,
Came from Abydus, and was made the master of his horse.
Through both his temples strook the dart, the wood of one side shew’d,
The pile out of the other look’d, and so the earth he strew’d
With much sound of his weighty arms. Then back the foremost went;
Ev’n Hector yielded; then the Greeks gave worthy clamours vent,
Effecting then their first-dumb pow’rs; some drew the dead, and spoil’d,
Some follow’d, that, in open flight, Troy might confess it foil’d.
Apollo, angry at the sight, from top of Ilion cried:
“Turn head, ye well-rode peers of Troy, feed not the Grecians’ pride,
They are not charm’d against your points, of steel, nor iron, fram’d;
Nor fights the fair-hair’d Thetis’ son, but sits at fleet inflam’d.”
So spake the dreadful God from Troy. The Greeks, Jove’s noblest Seed
Encourag’d to keep on the chace; and, where fit spirit did need,
She gave it, marching in the midst. Then flew the fatal hour
Back on Diores, in return of Ilion’s sun-burn’d pow’r;
Diores Amaryncides, whose right leg’s ankle-bone,
And both the sinews, with a sharp and handful-charging stone
Pirus Imbrasides did break, that led the Thracian bands
And came from Ænos; down he fell, and up he held his hands
To his lov’d friends; his spirit wing’d to fly out of his breast
With which not satisfied, again Imbrasides address’d
His jav’lin at him, and so ripp’d his navel, that the wound,
As endlessly it shut his eyes, so, open’d, on the ground
It pour’d his entrails. As his foe went then suffic’d away,
Thoas Ætolius threw a dart, that did his pile convey,
Above his nipple, through his lungs; when, quitting his stern part,
He clos’d with him, and, from his breast first drawing out his dart,
His sword flew in, and by the midst it wip’d his belly out;
So took his life, but left his arms; his friends so flock’d about,
And thrust forth lances of such length before their slaughter’d king,
Which, though their foe were big and strong, and often brake the ring
Forg’d of their lances, yet (enforc’d) he left th’ affected prise.
The Thracian and Epeian dukes, laid close with closéd eyes
By either other, drown’d in dust; and round about the plain,
All hid with slaughter’d carcasses, yet still did hotly reign
The martial planet; whose effects had any eye beheld,
Free and unwounded (and were led by Pallas through the field,
To keep off jav’lins, and suggest the least fault could be found)
He could not reprehend the fight, so many strew’d the ground.

THE END OF THE FOURTH BOOK.

[1] Virgil useth these verses.

THE FIFTH BOOK OF HOMER’S ILIADS

THE ARGUMENT

King Diomed (by Pallas’ spirit inspir’d
With will and pow’r) is for his acts admir’d,
Mere men, and men deriv’d from Deities,
And Deities themselves, he terrifies.
Adds wounds to terrors. His inflamed lance
Draws blood from Mars, and Venus. In a trance
He casts Æneas, with a weighty stone;
Apollo quickens him, and gets him gone.
Mars is recur’d by Pæon, but by Jove
Rebuk’d for authoring breach of human love.

ANOTHER ARGUMENT

In Epsilon, Heav’n’s blood is shed
By sacred rage of Diomed.

Then Pallas breath’d in Tydeus’ son; to render whom supreme
To all the Greeks, at all his parts, she cast a hotter beam
On his high mind, his body fill’d with much superior might,
And made his cómplete armour cast a far more cómplete light.
From his bright helm and shield did burn a most unwearied fire,[1]
Like rich Autumnus’ golden lamp, whose brightness men admire
Past all the other host of stars, when, with his cheerful face
Fresh wash’d in lofty Ocean waves, he doth the skies enchase.
To let whose glory, lose no sight, still Pallas made him turn
Where tumult most express’d his pow’r, and where the fight did burn.
An honest and a wealthy man inhabited in Troy,
Dares, the priest of Mulciber, who two sons did enjoy,
Idæus, and bold Phegeüs, well-seen in ev’ry fight.
These (singled from their troops, and hors’d) assail’d Minerva’s knight,
Who rang’d from fight to fight on foot. All hasting mutual charge,
And now drawn near, first Phegeus threw a jav’lin swift and large,
Whose head the king’s left shoulder took, but did no harm at all;
Then rush’d he out a lance at him, that had no idle fall,
But in his breast stuck ’twixt the paps, and strook him from his horse.
Which stern sight when Idæus saw, distrustful of his force
To save his slaughter’d brother’s spoil, it made him headlong leap
From his fair chariot, and leave all; yet had not ’scap’d the heap
Of heavy fun’ral, if the God, great President of fire,
Had not in sudden clouds of smoke and pity of his sire
To leave him utterly unheir’d, giv’n safe pass to his feet.
He gone, Tydides sent the horse and chariot to the fleet.
The Trojans seeing Dares’ sons one slain, the other fled,
Were strook amaz’d. The blue-ey’d Maid (to grace her Diomed
In giving free way to his pow’r) made this so ruthful fact
A fit advantage to remove the War-god out of act,
Who rag’d so on the Ilion side. She grip’d his hand, and said:
“Mars, Mars, thou ruiner of men, that in the dust hast laid
So many cities, and with blood thy godhead dost distain,
Now shall we cease to show our breasts as passionate as men,
And leave the mixture of our hands, resigning Jove his right,
As Rector of the Gods, to give the glory of the fight
Where he affecteth, lest he force what he should freely yield?”
He held it fit, and went with her from the tumultuous field,
Who set him in an herby seat on broad Scamander’s shore.
He gone, all Troy was gone with him, the Greeks drave all before.
And ev’ry leader slew a man; but first the king of men
Deserv’d the honour of his name, and led the slaughter then,
And slew a leader, one more huge than any man he led,
Great Odius, duke of Halizons; quite from his chariot’s head
He strook him with a lance to earth, as first he flight address’d;
It took his forward-turnéd back, and look’d out of his breast;
His huge trunk sounded, and his arms did echo the resound.
Idomenæus to the death did noble Phæstus wound,
The son of Meon-Borus, that from cloddy Terna came;
Who, taking chariot, took his wound, and tumbled with the same
From his attempted seat: the lance through his right shoulder strook,
And horrid darkness strook through him; the spoil his soldiers took.
Atrides-Menelaus slew, as he before him fled,
Scamandrius, son of Strophius, that was a huntsman bred;
A skilful huntsman, for his skill Diana’s self did teach,
And made him able with his dart infallibly to reach
All sorts of subtlest savages, which many a woody hill
Bred for him, and he much preserv’d, and all to show his skill.
Yet not the dart-delighting Queen taught him to shun this dart,
Nor all his hitting so far off, the mast’ry of his art;
His back receiv’d it, and he fell upon his breast withal;
His body’s ruin, and his arms, so sounded in his fall,
That his affrighted horse flew off, and left him, like his life.
Meriones slew Phereclus, whom she that ne’er was wife,
Yet Goddess of good housewives, held in excellent respect
For knowing all the witty things that grace an architect,
And having pow’r to give it all the cunning use of hand.
Harmonides, his sire, built ships, and made him understand,
With all the practice it requir’d, the frame of all that skill.
He built all Alexander’s ships, that author’d all the ill
Of all the Trojans and his own, because he did not know
The oracles advising Troy (for fear of overthrow)
To meddle with no sea affair, but live by tilling land.
This man Meriones surpris’d, and drave his deadly hand
Through his right hip; the lance’s head ran through the región
About the bladder, underneath th’ in-muscles and the bone;
He, sighing, bow’d his knees to death, and sacrific’d to earth.
Phylides stay’d Pedæus’ flight, Antenor’s bastard birth,
Whom virtuous Theano his wife, to please her husband, kept
As tenderly as those she lov’d. Phylides near him stept,
And in the fountain of the nerves did drench his fervent lance,
At his head’s back-part; and so far the sharp head did advance,
It cleft the organ of his speech, and th’ iron, cold as death,
He took betwixt his grinning teeth, and gave the air his breath.
Eurypylus, the much renown’d, and great Evemon’s son,
Divine Hypsenor slew, begot by stout Dolopion,
And consecrate Scamander’s priest; he had a God’s regard
Amongst the people; his hard flight the Grecian follow’d hard,
Rush’d in so close, that with his sword he on his shoulder laid
A blow that his arm’s brawn cut off; nor there his vigour stay’d,
But drave down, and from off his wrist it hew’d his holy hand
That gush’d out blood, and down it dropp’d upon the blushing sand;
Death, with his purple finger, shut, and violent fate, his eyes.
Thus fought these, but distinguish’d well. Tydides so implies
His fury that you could not know whose side had interest
In his free labours, Greece or Troy; but as a flood, increas’d
By violent and sudden show’rs, let down from hills, like hills
Melted in fury, swells and foams, and so he overfills
His natural channel; that besides both hedge and bridge resigns
To his rough confluence, far spread; and lusty flourishing vines
Drown’d in his outrage; Tydeus’ son so overran the field,
Strew’d such as flourish’d in his way, and made whole squadrons yield,
When Pandarus, Lycaon’s son, beheld his ruining hand,
With such resistless insolence, make lanes through ev’ry band,
He bent his gold-tipp’d bow of horn, and shot him rushing in,
At his right shoulder, where his arms were hollow; forth did spin
The blood, and down his curets ran; then Pandarus cried out:
“Rank-riding Trojans, now rush in. Now, now, I make no doubt:
Our bravest foe is mark’d for death; he cannot long sustain
My violent shaft, if Jove’s fair Son did worthily constrain
My foot from Lycia.” Thus he brav’d, and yet his violent shaft
Strook short with all his violence, Tydides’ life was saft;
Who yet withdrew himself behind his chariot and steeds,
And call’d to Sthenelus: “Come, friend, my wounded shoulder needs
Thy hand to ease it of this shaft.” He hasted from his seat
Before the coach, and drew the shaft; the purple wound did sweat,
And drown his shirt of mail in blood, and as it bled he pray’d:
“Hear me, of Jove-Ægiochus thou most unconquer’d Maid!
If ever in the cruel field thou has assistful stood
Or to my father, or myself, now love, and do me good.
Give him into my lance’s reach, that thus hath giv’n a wound
To him thou guard’st, preventing me, and brags that never more
I shall behold the cheerful sun.” Thus did the king implore.
The Goddess heard, came near, and took the weariness of fight
From all his nerves and lineaments, and made them fresh and light,
And said: “Be bold, O Diomed, in ev’ry combat shine,
The great shield-shaker Tydeus’ strength (that knight, that sire of thine)
By my infusion breathes in thee; and from thy knowing mind
I have remov’d those erring mists that made it lately blind,
That thou may’st diff’rence Gods from men, and therefore use thy skill
Against the tempting Deities, if any have a will
To try if thou presum’st of that, as thine, that flows from them,
And so assum’st above thy right. Where thou discern’st a beam
Of any other Heav’nly Pow’r than She that rules in love,
That calls thee to the change of blows, resist not, but remove;
But if that Goddess be so bold (since she first stirr’d this war)
Assault and mark her from the rest with some infámous scar.”
The blue-eyed Goddess vanishéd, and he was seen again
Amongst the foremost, who before though he were prompt and fain
To fight against the Trojans’ pow’rs, now, on his spirits were call’d
With thrice the vigour; lion-like, that hath been lately gall’d
By some bold shepherd in a field, where his curl’d flocks were laid,
Who took him as he leap’d the fold, not slain yet, but appaid
With greater spirit, comes again, and then the shepherd hides,
(The rather for the desolate place) and in his cot abides,
His flocks left guardless; which, amaz’d, shake and shrink up in heaps;
He, ruthless, freely takes his prey, and out again he leaps;
So sprightly, fierce, victorious, the great heroë flew
Upon the Trojans, and, at once, he two commanders slew,
Hypenor and Astynous; in one his lance he fix’d
Full at the nipple of his breast; the other smote betwixt
The neck and shoulder with his sword, which was so well laid on
It swept his arm and shoulder off. These left, he rush’d upon
Abas and Polyëidus, of old Eurydamas
The hapless sons; who could by dreams tell what would come to pass,
Yet, when his sons set forth to Troy, the old man could not read
By their dreams what would chance to them, for both were stricken dead
By great Tydides, After these, he takes into his rage
Xanthus and Thoön, Phænops’ sons, born to him in his age;
The good old man ev’n pin’d with years, and one son more
To heir his goods; yet Diomed took both, and left him store
Of tears and sorrows in their steads, since he could never see
His sons leave those hot wars alive; so this the end must be
Of all his labours; what he heap’d, to make his issue great,
Authority heir’d, and with her seed fill’d his forgotten seat.
Then snatch’d he up two Priamists, that in one chariot stood,
Echemon, and fair Chromius. As feeding in a wood
Oxen or steers are, one of which a lion leaps upon,
Tears down, and wrings in two his neck; so, sternly, Tydeus’ son
Threw from their chariot both these hopes of old Dardanides,
Then took their arms, and sent their horse to those that ride the seas,
Æneas, seeing the troops thus toss’d, brake through the heat of fight,
And all the whizzing of the darts, to find the Lycian knight,
Lycaon’s son; whom having found, he thus bespake the peer;
“O Pandarus, where’s now thy bow, thy deathful arrows where,
In which no one in all our host but gives the palm to thee,
Nor in the sun-lov’d Lycian greens, that breed our archery,
Lives any that exceeds thyself? Come, lift thy hands to Jove,
And send an arrow at this man, if but a man he prove,
That wins such god-like victories, and now affects our host
With so much sorrow, since so much of our best blood is lost
By his high valour. I have fear some God in him doth threat,
Incens’d for want of sacrifice; the wrath of God is great.”
Lycaon’s famous son replied: “Great counsellor of Troy,
This man, so excellent in arms, I think is Tydeus’ joy;
I know him by his fi’ry shield, by his bright three-plum’d casque,
And by his horse; nor can I say, if or some God doth mask
In his appearance, or he be whom I nam’d Tydeus’ son,
But without God the things he does for certain are not done.
Some great Immortal, that conveys his shoulders in a cloud,
Goes by and puts by ev’ry dart at his bold breast bestow’d,
Or lets it take with little hurt; for I myself let fly
A shaft that shot him through his arms, but had as good gone by,
Yet which I gloriously affirm’d had driv’n him down to hell.
Some God is angry, and with me; for far hence, where I dwell,
My horse and chariots idle stand, with which some other way
I might repair this shameful miss. Elev’n fair chariots stay
In old Lycaon’s court, new made, new trimm’d to have been gone,
Curtain’d, and arrast under foot; two horse to ev’ry one,
That eat white barley and black oats, and do no good at all;
And these Lycaon (that well knew how these affairs would fall)
Charg’d, when I set down this design, I should command with here,
And gave me many lessons more, all which much better were
Than any I took forth myself. The reason I laid down
Was but the sparing of my horse, since in a siegéd town
I thought our horse-meat would be scant; when they were us’d to have
Their manger full; so I left them, and like a lackey slave
Am come to Ilion, confident in nothing but my bow
That nothing profits me. Two shafts I vainly did bestow
At two great princes, but of both my arrows neither slew,
Nor this, nor Atreus’ younger son; a little blood I drew,
That serv’d but to incense them more. In an unhappy star
I therefore from my armoury have drawn those tools of war
That day, when, for great Hector’s sake, to amiable Troy:
I came to lead the Trojan bands. But if I ever joy,
In safe return, my country’s sight, my wife’s, my lofty tow’rs,
Let any stranger take this head, if to the fi’ry Pow’rs
This bow, these shafts, in pieces burst, by these hands be not thrown;
Idle companions that they are to me and my renown.”
Æneas said: “Use no such words; for, any other way
Than this, they shall not now be us’d. We first will both assay
This man with horse and chariot. Come then, ascend to me,
That thou may’st try our Trojan horse, how skill’d in field they be,
And in pursuing those that fly, or flying, being pursued,
How excellent they are of foot; and these, if Jove conclude
The ’scape of Tydeüs again, and grace him with our flight,
Shall serve to bring us safely off. Come, I’ll be first shall fight,
Take thou these fair reins and this scourge; or, if thou wilt, fight thou,
And leave the horses’ care to me.” He answer’d: “I will now
Descend to fight, keep thou the reins, and guide thyself thy horse;
Who with their wonted manager will better wield the force
Of the impulsive chariot, if we be driv’n to fly,
Than with a stranger; under whom they will be much more shy,
And, fearing my voice, wishing thine, grow resty, nor go on
To bear us off, but leave engag’d for mighty Tydeus’ son
Themselves and us. Then be thy part thy one-hoof’d horses’ guide,
I’ll make the fight, and with a dart receive his utmost pride.”
With this the gorgeous chariot both, thus prepar’d, ascend
And make full way at Diomed; which noted by his friend,
“Mine own most-lovéd mind,” said he, “two mighty men of war
I see come with a purpos’d charge; one’s he that hits so far
With bow and shaft, Lycaon’s son; the other fames the brood
Of great Anchises and the Queen that rules in amorous blood,
Æneas, excellent in arms. Come up, and use your steeds,
And look not war so in the face, lest that desire that feeds
Thy great mind be the bane of it.” This did with anger sting
The blood of Diomed, to see his friend, that chid the king
Before the fight, and then preferr’d his ablesse and his mind
To all his ancestors in fight, now come so far behind;
Whom thus he answer’d: “Urge no flight, you cannot please me so;
Nor is it honest in my mind to fear a coming foe,
Or make a flight good, though with fight. My pow’rs are yet entire,
And scorn the help-tire of a horse. I will not blow the fire
Of their hot valours with my flight, but cast upon the blaze
This body borne upon my knees. I entertain amaze?
Minerva will not see that shame. And since they have begun,
They shall not both elect their ends; and he that ’scapes shall  run,
Or stay and take the other’s fate. And this I leave for thee;—
If amply-wise Athenia give both their lives to me,
Rein our horse to their chariot hard, and have a special heed
To seize upon Æneas’ steeds, that we may change their breed,
And make a Grecian race of them that have been long of Troy.
For these are bred of those brave beasts which, for the lovely boy
That waits now on the cup of Jove, Jove, that far-seeing God,
Gave Tros the king in recompense; the best that ever trod
The sounding centre, underneath the morning and the sun.
Anchises stole the breed of them; for, where their sires did run,
He closely put his mares to them, and never made it known
To him that heir’d them, who was then the king Laomedon.
Six horses had he of that race, of which himself kept four,
And gave the other two his son; and these are they that scour
The field so bravely towards us, expert in charge and flight.
If these we have the pow’r to take, our prise is exquisite,
And our renown will far exceed.” While these were talking thus,
The fir’d horse brought th’ assailants near, and thus spake Pandarus:
“Most suff’ring-minded Tydeus’ son, that hast of war the art,
My shaft, that strook thee, slew thee not, I now will prove a dart.”
This said, he shook, and then he threw, a lance, aloft and large,
That in Tydides’ curets stuck, quite driving through his targe;
Then bray’d he out so wild a voice that all the field might hear:
“Now have I reach’d thy root of life, and by thy death shall bear
Our praise’s chief prise from the field.” Tydides undismay’d
Replied: “Thou err’st, I am not touch’d; but more charge will be laid
To both your lives before you part; at least the life of one
Shall satiate the throat of Mars.” This said, his lance was gone,
Minerva led it to his face, which at his eye ran in,
And, as he stoop’d, strook through his jaws, his tongue’s root, and his chin.
Down from the chariot he fell, his gay arms shin’d and rung,
The swift horse trembled, and his soul for ever charm’d his tongue.
Æneas with his shield, and lance, leapt swiftly to his friend,
Afraid the Greeks would force his trunk; and that he did defend,
Bold as a lion of his strength; he hid him with his shield,
Shook round his lance, and horribly did threaten all the field
With death, if any durst make in. Tydides rais’d a stone
With his one hand, of wondrous weight, and pour’d it mainly on
The hip of Anchisiades, wherein the joint doth move
The thigh (’tis call’d the huckle-bone) which all in sherds it drove,
Brake both the nerves, and with the edge cut all the flesh away.
It stagger’d him upon his knees, and made th’ heroë stay
His strook-blind temples on his hand, his elbow on the earth;
And there this prince of men had died, if She that gave him birth,
(Kiss’d by Anchises on the green, where his fair oxen fed)
Jove’s loving daughter, instantly had not about him spread
Her soft embraces, and convey’d within her heav’nly veil
(Us’d as a rampire ’gainst all darts that did so hot assail)
Her dear-lov’d issue from the field, Then Sthenelus in haste,
Rememb’ring what his friend advis’d, from forth the prease made fast
His own horse to their chariot, and presently laid hand
Upon the lovely-coated horse Æneas did command.
Which bringing to the wond’nng Greeks, he did their guard commend
To his belov’d Deipylus, who was his inward friend,
And, of his equals, one to whom he had most honour shown,
That he might see them safe at fleet; then stept he to his own.
With which he cheerfully made in to Tydeus’ mighty race,
He, mad with his great enemy’s rape, was hot in desp’rate chace
Of her that made it, with his lance, arm’d less with steel than spite,
Well knowing her no Deity that had to do in fight,
Minerva his great patroness, nor, She that raceth towns,
Bellona, but a goddess weak, and foe to men’s renowns.
Her, through a world of fight pursu’d, at last he overtook,
And, thrusting up his ruthless lance, her heav’nly veil he strook
(That ev’n the Graces wrought themselves, at her divine command)
Quite through, and hurt the tender back of her delicious hand.
The rude point piercing through her palm, forth flow’d th’ immortal blood;
Blood, such as flows in blesséd Gods, that eat no human food,
Nor drink of our inflaming wine, and therefore bloodless are,
And call’d Immortals; out she cried, and could no longer bear
Her lov’d son; whom she cast from her, and in a sable cloud
Phœbus, receiving, hid him close from all the Grecian crowd,
Lest some of them should find his death. Away flew Venus then,
And after her cried Diomed: “Away, thou spoil of men,
Though sprung from all-preserving Jove, these hot encounters leave.
Is’t not enough that silly dames thy sorc’ries should deceive,
Unless thou thrust into the war, and rob a soldier’s right?
I think a few of these assaults will make thee fear the fight,
Wherever thou shalt hear it nam’d.” She, sighing, went her way
Extremely griev’d, and with her griefs her beauties did decay,
And black her ivory body grew. Then from a dewy mist
Brake swift-foot Iris to her aid, from all the darts that hiss’d
At her quick rapture; and to Mars they took their plaintive course,
And found him on the fight’s left hand, by him his speedy horse,
And huge lance, lying in a fog. The Queen of all things fair
Her lovéd brother, on her knees, besought, with instant pray’r,
His golden-riband-bound-man’d horse to lend her up to heav’n
For she was much griev’d with a wound a mortal man had giv’n,
Tydides, that ’gainst Jove himself durst now advance his arm.
He granted, and his chariot (perplex’d with her late harm)
She mounted, and her waggoness was She that paints the air.
The horse she rein’d, and with a scourge importun’d their repair,
That of themselves out-flew the wind, and quickly they ascend
Olympus, high seat of the Gods. Th’ horse knew their journey’s end,
Stood still, and from their chariot the windy-footed dame
Dissolv’d, and gave them heav’nly food; and to Dione came
Her wounded daughter, bent her knees. She kindly bade her stand,
With sweet embraces help’d her up, strok’d her with her soft hand,
Call’d kindly by her name, and ask’d: “What God hath been so rude,
Sweet daughter, to chastise thee thus, as if thou wert pursu’d
Ev’n to the act of some light sin, and deprehended so?
For otherwise, each close escape is in the great let go.”
She answer’d: “Haughty Tydeus’ son hath been so insolent,
Since, him whom most my heart esteems of all my lov’d descent,
I rescu’d from his bloody hand. Now battle is not giv’n
To any Trojans by the Greeks, but by the Greeks to heav’n.”
She answer’d: “Daughter, think not much, though much it grieve thee; use
The patience, whereof many Gods examples may produce,
In many bitter ills receiv’d, as well that men sustain
By their inflictions as by men repaid to them again.
Mars suffer’d much more than thyself by Ephialtes’ pow’r,
And Otus’, Aloëus’ sons; who in a brazen tow’r,
And in inextricable chains, cast that war-greedy God,
Where twice-six months and one he liv’d, and there the period
Of his sad life perhaps had clos’d, if his kind step-dame’s eye,
Fair Erebæa, had not seen; who told it Mercury,
And he by stealth enfranchis’d him; though he could scarce enjoy
The benefit of franchisement, the chains did so destroy
His vital forces with their weight. So Juno suffer’d more
When, with a three-fork’d arrow’s head, Amphitryo’s son did gore
Her right breast, past all hope of cure. Pluto sustain’d no less
By that self man, and by a shaft of equal bitterness
Shot through his shoulder at hell gates; and there, amongst the dead,
Were he not deathless, he had died; but up to heav’n he fled,
Extremely tortur’d, for recure, which instantly he won
At Pæon’s hand, with sov’reign balm; and this did Jove’s great son,
Unblest, great-high-deed-daring man, that car’d not doing ill,
That with his bow durst wound the Gods! But, by Minerva’s will,
Thy wound the foolish Diomed was so profane to give;
Not knowing he that fights with Heav’n hath never long to live,
And for this deed, he never shall have child about his knee
To call him father, coming home. Besides, hear this from me,
Strength-trusting man, though thou be strong, and art in strength a tow’r,
Take heed a stronger meet thee not, and that a woman’s pow’r
Contains not that superior strength, and lest that woman be
Adrastus’ daughter, and thy wife, the wise Ægiale;
When, from this hour not far, she wakes, ev’n sighing with desire
To kindle our revenge on thee, with her enamouring fire,
In choosing her some fresh young friend, and so drown all thy fame,
Won here in war, in her court-piece, and in an opener shame.”
This said, with both her hands she cleans’d the tender back and palm
Of all the sacred blood they lost; and, never using balm,
The pain ceas’d, and the wound was cur’d of this kind Queen of love.
Juno and Pallas, seeing this, assay’d to anger Jove,
And quit his late-made mirth with them, about the loving Dame,
With some sharp jest, in like sort, built upon her present shame.
Gray-ey’d Athenia began, and ask’d the Thunderer,
If, nothing moving him to wrath, she boldly might prefer,
What she conceiv’d, to his conceit; and, staying no reply,
She bade him view the Cyprian fruit he lov’d so tenderly,
Whom she thought hurt, and by this means;—intending to suborn
Some other lady of the Greeks (whom lovely veils adorn)
To gratify some other friend of her much-lovéd Troy,
As she embrac’d and stirr’d her blood to the Venerean joy,
The golden clasp, those Grecian dames upon their girdles wear,
Took hold of her delicious hand, and hurt it, she had fear.
The Thund’rer smil’d, and call’d to him love’s golden Arbitress,
And told her those rough works of war were not for her access;
She should be making marriages, embracings, kisses, charms,
Stern Mars and Pallas had the charge of those affairs in arms.
While these thus talk’d, Tydides’ rage still thirsted to achieve
His prise upon Anchises’ son, though well he did perceive
The Sun himself protected him; but his desires (inflam’d
With that great Trojan prince’s blood, and arms so highly fam’d)
Not that great God did reverence. Thrice rush’d he rudely on,
And thrice, betwixt his darts and death, the Sun’s bright target shone;
But when upon the fourth assault, much like a spirit, he flew,
The far-off-working Deity exceeding wrathful grew,
And ask’d him: “What! Not yield to gods? Thy equals learn to know.
The race of Gods is far above men creeping here below.”
This drave him to some small retreat; he would not tempt more near
The wrath of him that strook so far; whose pow’r had now set clear
Æneas from the stormy field within the holy place
Of Pergamus, where, to the hope of his so sov’reign grace,
A goodly temple was advanc’d; in whose large inmost part
He left him, and to his supply inclin’d his mother’s heart,
Latona, and the dart-pleas’d Queen; who cur’d, and made him strong.
The silver-bow’d fair God then threw in the tumultuous throng
An image, that in stature, look, and arms, he did create
Like Venus’ son; for which the Greeks and Trojans made debate,
Laid loud strokes on their ox-hide shields, and bucklers eas’ly borne;
Which error Phœbus pleas’d to urge on Mars himself in scorn:
“Mars, Mars,” said he, “thou plague of men, smear’d with the dust and blood
Of humans, and their ruin’d walls, yet thinks thy Godhead good
To fright this fury from the field, who next will fight with Jove?
First in a bold approach he hurt, the moist palm of thy love,
And next, as if he did affect to have a Deity’s pow’r,
He held out his assault on me.” This said, the lofty tow’r
Of Pergamus he made his seat; and Mars did now excite
The Trojan forces, in the form of him that led to fight
The Thracian troops, swift Acamas. “O Priam’s sons,” said he,
“How long the slaughter of your men can ye sustain to see?
Ev’n till they brave you at your gates? Ye suffer beaten down
Æneas, great Anchises’ son, whose prowess we renown
As much as Hector’s; fetch him off from this contentious prease.”
With this, the strength and spirits of all his courage did increase;
And yet Sarpedon seconds him, with this particular taunt
Of noble Hector: “Hector, where is thy unthankful vaunt,
And that huge strength on which it built, that thou, and thy allies,
With all thy brothers (without aid of us or our supplies,
And troubling not a citizen) the city safe would hold?
In all which friends’ and brothers’ helps I see not, nor am told
Of anyone of their exploits, but (all held in dismay
Of Diomed, like a sort of dogs, that at a lion bay,
And entertain no spirit to pinch) we, your assistants here,
Fight for the town as you help’d us; and I, an aiding peer,
No citizen, ev’n out of care, that doth become a man
For men and children’s liberties, add all the aid I can;
Not out of my particular cause; far hence my profit grows,
For far hence Asian Lycia lies, where gulfy Xanthus flows,
And where my lov’d wife, infant son, and treasure nothing scant,
I left behind me, which I see those men would have that want,
And therefore they that have would keep. Yet I, as I would lose
Their sure fruition, cheer my troops, and with their lives propose
Mine own life, both to gen’ral fight, and to particular cope
With this great soldier; though, I say, I entertain no hope
To have such gettings as the Greeks, nor fear to lose like Troy.
Yet thou, ev’n Hector, deedless stand’st, and car’st not to employ
Thy town-born friends, to bid them stand, to fight and save their wives,
Lest as a fowler casts his nets upon the silly lives
Of birds of all sorts, so the foe your walls and houses hales,
One with another, on all heads; or such as ’scape their falls,
He made the prey and prise of them (as willing overthrown)
That hope not for you with their force; and so this brave-built town
Will prove a chaos. That deserves in thee so hot a care,
As should consume thy days and nights, to hearten and prepare
Th’ assistant princes; pray their minds to bear their far-brought toils;
To give them worth with worthy fight; in victories and foils
Still to be equal; and thyself, exampling them in all,
Need no reproofs nor spurs. All this in thy free choice should fall.”
This stung great Hector’s heart; and yet, as ev’ry gen’rous mind
Should silent bear a just reproof, and show what good they find
In worthy counsels, by their ends put into present deeds,
Not stomach nor be vainly sham’d; so Hector’s spirit proceeds,
And from his chariot, wholly arm’d, he jump’d upon the sand,
On foot so toiling through the host, a dart in either hand,
And all hands turn’d against the Greeks. The Greeks despis’d their worst,
And, thick’ning their instructed pow’rs, expected all they durst.
Then with the feet of horse and foot, the dust in clouds did rise.
And as, in sacred floors of barns, upon corn-winnow’rs flies
The chaff, driv’n with an opposite wind, when yellow Ceres dites,
Which all the diters’ feet, legs, arms, their heads and shoulders whites;
So look’d the Grecians gray with dust, that strook the solid heav’n,
Rais’d from returning chariots, and troops together driv’n.
Each side stood to their labours firm. Fierce Mars flew through the air,
And gather’d darkness from the fight, and, with his best affair,
Obey’d the pleasure of the Sun, that wears the golden sword
Who bade him raise the spirits of Troy, when Pallas ceas’d t’ afford
Her helping office to the Greeks; and then his own hands wrought,
Which, from his fane’s rich chancel, cur’d, the true Æneas brought,
And plac’d him by his peers in field; who did with joy admire
To see him both alive and safe, and all his pow’rs entire
Yet stood not sifting how it chanc’d; another sort of task,
Then stirring th’ idle sieve of news, did all their forces ask,
Inflam’d by Phœbus, harmful Mars, and Eris eag’rer far.
The Greeks had none to hearten them; their hearts rose with the war;
But chiefly Diomed, Ithacus, and both th’ Ajaces us’d
Stirring examples and good words; their own fames had infus’d
Spirit enough into their bloods, to make them neither fear
The Trojans’ force, nor Fate itself, but still expecting were,
When most was done, what would be more; their ground they still made good,
And in their silence, and set pow’rs, like fair still clouds, they stood,
With which Jove crowns the tops of hills, in any quiet day,
When Boreas and the ruder winds (that use to drive away
Air’s dusky vapours, being loose, in many a whistling gale)
Are pleasingly bound up, and calm, and not a breath exhale;
So firmly stood the Greeks, nor fled for all the Ilion’s aid.
Atrides yet coasts through the troops, confirming men so staid:
“O friends,” said he, “hold up your minds; strength is but strength of will;
Rev’rence each other’s good in fight and shame at things done ill.
Where soldiers show an honest shame, and love of honour lives,
That ranks men with the first in fight, death fewer liveries gives
Than life, or than where Fame’s neglect makes cowards fight at length.
Flight neither doth the body grace, nor shows the mind hath strength.”
He said, and swiftly through the troops a mortal lance did send,
That reft a standard-bearer’s life, renown’d Æneas’ friend,
Deïcoon Pergasides, whom all the Trojans lov’d
As he were one of Priam’s sons, his mind was so approv’d
In always fighting with the first. The lance his target took,
Which could not interrupt the blow, that through it clearly strook,
And in his belly’s rim was sheath’d, beneath his girdle-stead.
He sounded falling, and his arms with him resounded, dead.
Then fell two princes of the Greeks by great Æneas’ ire,
Diocleus’ sons (Orsilochus and Crethon), whose kind sire
In bravely-builded Phæra dwelt, rich, and of sacred blood.
He was descended lineally from great Alphæus’ flood,
That broadly flows through Pyles’ fields; Alphæus did beget
Orsilochus, who in the rule of many men was set;
And that Orsilochus begat the rich Diocleüs;
Diocleus sire to Crethon was, and this Orsilochus.
Both these; arriv’d at man’s estate, with both th’ Atrides went,
To honour them in th’ Ilion wars; and both were one day sent,
To death as well as Troy, for death hid both in one black hour.
As two young lions (with their dam, sustain’d but to devour)
Bred on the tops of some steep hill, and in the gloomy deep
Of an inaccessible wood, rush out, and prey on sheep,
Steers, oxen, and destroy men’s stalls, so long that they come short,
And by the owner’s steel are slain; in such unhappy sort
Fell these beneath Æneas’ pow’r. When Menelaus view’d
Like two tall fir-trees these two fall, their timeless falls he rued,
And to the first fight, where they lay, a vengeful force he took;
His arms beat back the sun in flames, a dreadful lance he shook;
Mars put the fury in his mind, that by Æneas’ hands,
Who was to make the slaughter good, he might have strew’d the sands.
Antilochus, old Nestor’s son, observing he was bent
To urge a combat of such odds, and knowing, the event
Being ill on his part, all their pains (alone sustain’d for him)
Err’d from their end, made after hard, and took them in the trim
Of an encounter. Both their hands and darts advanc’d, and shook,
And both pitch’d in full stand of charge; when suddenly the look
Of Anchisiades took note of Nestor’s valiant son,
In full charge too; which, two to one, made Venus’ issue shun
The hot adventure, though he were a soldier well-approv’d.
Then drew they off their slaughter’d friends; who giv’n to their belov’d,
They turn’d where fight show’d deadliest hate; and there mix’d with the dead
Pylæmen, that the targeteers of Paphlagonia led,
A man like Mars; and with him fell good Mydon that did guide
His chariot, Atymnus’ son. The prince Pylæmen died
By Menelaus; Nestor’s joy slew Mydon; one before
The other in the chariot. Atrides’ lance did gore
Pylæmen’s shoulder, in the blade. Antilochus did force
A mighty stone up from the earth, and, as he turn’d his horse,
Strook Mydon’s elbow in the midst; the reins of ivory
Fell from his hands into the dust; Antilochus let fly
His sword withal, and, rushing in, a blow so deadly laid
Upon his temples, that he groan’d, tumbled to earth, and stay’d
A mighty while preposterously (because the dust was deep)
Upon his neck and shoulders there, ev’n till his foe took keep
Of his pris’d horse, and made them stir; and then he prostrate fell.
His horse Antilochus took home. When Hector had heard tell,
Amongst the uproar, of their deaths, he laid out all his voice,
And ran upon the Greeks. Behind came many men of choice,
Before him march’d great Mars himself match’d with his female mate,
The dread Bellona. She brought on, to fight for mutual fate,
A tumult that was wild and mad. He shook a horrid lance,
And now led Hector, and anon behind would make the chance.
This sight when great Tydides saw, his hair stood up on end;
And him, whom all the skill and pow’r of arms did late attend,
Now like a man in counsel poor, that, travelling, goes amiss,
And having pass’d a boundless plain, not knowing where he is,
Comes on the sudden where he sees a river rough, and raves
With his own billows ravishéd into the king of waves,
Murmurs with foam, and frights him back; so he, amaz’d, retir’d,
And thus would make good his amaze: “O friends, we all admir’d
Great Hector, as one of himself, well-darting, bold in war,
When some God guards him still from death, and makes him dare so far.
Now Mars himself, form’d like a man, is present in his rage,
And therefore, whatsoever cause importunes you to wage
War with these Trojans, never strive, but gently take your rod,
Lest in your bosoms, for a man, ye ever find a God.”
As Greece retir’d, the pow’r of Troy did much more forward prease,
And Hector two brave men of war sent to the fields of peace;
Menesthes, and Anchialus; one chariot bare them both.
Their falls made Ajax Telamon ruthful of heart, and wroth
Who lighten’d out a lance that smote Amphius Selages,
That dwelt in Pæsos, rich in lands, and did huge goods possess,
But Fate, to Priam and his sons, conducted his supply.
The jav’lin on his girdle strook, and piercéd mortally
His belly’s lower part; he fell: his arms had looks so trim,
That Ajax needs would prove their spoil; the Trojans pour’d on him
Whole storms of lances, large, and sharp, of which a number stuck
In his rough shield; yet from the slain he did his jav’lin pluck,
But could not from his shoulders force the arms he did affect,
The Trojans with such drifts of darts the body did protect;
And wisely Telamonius fear’d their valorous defence,
So many, and so strong of hand, stood in with such expense
Of deadly prowess; who repell’d, though big, strong, bold, he were,
The famous Ajax, and their friend did from his rapture bear.
Thus this place fill’d with strength of fight; in th’ army’s other prease,
Tlepolemus, a tall big man, the son of Hercules,
A cruel destiny inspir’d, with strong desire to prove
Encounter with Sarpedon’s strength, the son of cloudy Jove;
Who, coming on to that stern end, had chosen him his foe.
Thus Jove’s great nephew, and his son, ’gainst one another go.
Tlepolemus, to make his end more worth the will of fate,
Began as if he had her pow’r, and show’d the mortal state
Of too much confidence in man, with this superfluous brave:
“Sarpedon, what necessity or needless humour drave
Thy form to these wars, which in heart I know thou dost abhor,
A man not seen in deeds of arms, a Lycian counsellor?
They lie that call thee son to Jove, since Jove bred none so late;
The men of elder times were they, that his high pow’r begat,
Such men as had Herculean force. My father Hercules
Was Jove’s true issue; he was bold; his deeds did well express
They sprung out of a lion’s heart. He whilome came to Troy,
(For horse that Jupiter gave Tros, for Ganymed, his boy)
With six ships only, and few men, and tore the city down,
Left all her broad ways desolate, and made the horse his own.
For thee, thy mind is ill dispos’d, thy body’s pow’rs are poor,
And therefore are thy troops so weak; the soldier evermore
Follows the temper of his chief; and thou pull’st down a side.
But say thou art the son of Jove, and hast thy means supplied
With forces fitting his descent, the pow’rs that I compel
Shall throw thee hence, and make thy head run ope the gates of hell.”
Jove’s Lycian issue answer’d him: “Tlepolemus, ’tis true
Thy father holy Ilion in that sort overthrew;
Th’ injustice of the king was cause, that, where thy father had
Us’d good deservings to his state, he quitted him with bad.
Hesione, the joy and grace of king Laomedon,
Thy father rescu’d from a whale, and gave to Telamon
In honour’d nuptials (Telamon, from whom your strongest Greek
Boasts to have issu’d) and this grace might well expect the like;
Yet he gave taunts for thanks, and kept, against his oath, his horse,
And therefore both thy father’s strength, and justice, might enforce
The wreak he took on Troy; but this and thy cause differ far.
Sons seldom heir their fathers’ worths. Thou canst not make his war.
What thou assum’st for him, is mine, to be on thee impos’d.”
With this, he threw an ashen dart; and then Tlepolemus los’d
Another from his glorious hand. Both at one instant flew,
Both strook, both wounded. From his neck Sarpedon’s jav’lin drew
The life blood of Tlepolemus; full in the midst it fell;
And what he threaten’d, th’ other gave, that darkness, and that hell.
Sarpedon’s left thigh took the lance; it pierc’d the solid bone,
And with his raging head ran through; but Jove preserv’d his son.
The dart yet vex’d him bitterly, which should have been pull’d out,
But none consider’d then so much, so thick came on the rout,
And fill’d each hand so full of cause to ply his own defence;
‘Twas held enough, both fall’n that both were nobly carried thence
Ulysses knew th’ events of both, and took it much to heart
That his friend’s enemy should ’scape; and in a twofold part
His thoughts contended, if he should pursue Sarpedon’s life,
Or take his friend’s wreak on his men. Fate did conclude this strife,
By whom ’twas otherwise decreed than that Ulysses’ steel
Should end Sarpedon. In this doubt Minerva took the wheel
From fickle Chance, and made his mind resolve to right his friend
With that blood he could surest draw. Then did Revenge extend
Her full pow’r on the multitude; then did he never miss;
Alastor, Halius, Chromius, Noemon, Prytanis,
Alcander, and a number more, he slew, and more had slain,
If Hector had not understood; whose pow’r made in amain,
And strook fear through the Grecian troops, but to Sarpedon gave
Hope of full rescue, who thus cried: “O Hector! Help and save
My body from the spoil of Greece, that to your lovéd town
My friends may see me borne, and then let earth possess her own
In this soil, for whose sake I left my country’s; for no day
Shall ever show me that again, nor to my wife display,
And young hope of my name, the joy of my much thirsted sight;
All which I left for Troy, for them let Troy then do this right.”
To all this Hector gives no word, but greedily he strives
With all speed to repel the Greeks, and shed in floods their lives,
And left Sarpedon; but what face soever he put on
Of following the common cause, he left this prince alone
For his particular grudge, because, so late, he was so plain
In his reproof before the host, and that did he retain;
However, for example sake, he would not show it then,
And for his shame too, since ’twas just. But good Sarpedon’s men
Ventur’d themselves, and forc’d him off, and set him underneath
The goodly beech of Jupiter, where now they did unsheath
The ashen lance; strong Pelagon, his friend, most lov’d, most true,
Enforc’d it from his maiméd thigh; with which his spirit flew,
And darkness over-flew his eyes; yet with a gentle gale,
That round about the dying prince cool Boreas did exhale,
He was reviv’d, recomforted, that else had griev’d and died.
All this time flight drave to the fleet the Argives, who applied
No weapon ’gainst the proud pursuit, nor ever turn’d a head,
They knew so well that Mars pursu’d, and dreadful Hector led.
Then who was first, who last, whose lives the iron Mars did seize,
And Priam’s Hector? Helenus, surnam’d Œnopides;
Good Teuthras; and Orestes, skill’d in managing of horse;
Bold Œnomaus; and a man renown’d for martial force,
Trechus, the great Ætolian chief; Oresbius, that did wear
The gaudy mitre, studied wealth extremely, and dwelt near
Th’ Atlantic lake Cephisides, in Hyla, by whose seat
The good men of Bœotia dwelt. This slaughter grew so great,
It flew to heav’n; Saturnia discern’d it, and cried out
To Pallas: “O unworthy sight! To see a field so fought,
And break our words to Sparta’s king, that Ilion should be rac’d,
And he return reveng’d; when thus we see his Greeks disgrac’d,
And bear the harmful rage of Mars! Come, let us use our care,
That we dishonour not our pow’rs.” Minerva was as yare
As she at the despite of Troy. Her golden-bridled steeds
Then Saturn’s daughter brought abroad; and Hebe, she proceeds
T’ address her chariot; instantly she gives it either wheel,
Beam’d with eight spokes of sounding brass; the axle-tree was steel;
The fell’ffs incorruptible gold, their upper bands of brass,
Their matter most unvalued, their work of wondrous grace;
The naves, in which the spokes were driv’n, were all with silver bound;
The chariot’s seat two hoops of gold and silver strengthen’d round,
Edg’d with a gold and silver fringe; the beam, that look’d before,
Was massy silver; on whose top, gears all of gold it wore,
And golden poitrils. Juno mounts, and her hot horses rein’d,
That thirsted for contentión, and still of peace complain’d.
Minerva wrapt her in the robe, that curiously she wove,
With glorious colours, as she sate on th’ azure floor of Jove,
And wore the arms that he puts on, bent to the tearful field.
About her broad-spread shoulders hung his huge and horrid shield,
Fring’d round with ever-fighting snakes; through it was drawn to life
The miseries and deaths of fight; in it frown’d bloody Strife,
In it shin’d sacred Fortitude, in it fell Púrsuit flew,
In it the monster Gorgon’s head, in which held out to view
Were all the dire ostents of Jove; on her big head she plac’d
His four-plum’d glitt’ring casque of gold, so admirably vast
It would an hundred garrisons of soldiers comprehend.
Then to her shining chariot her vig’rous feet ascend;
And in her violent hand she takes his grave, huge, solid lance,
With which the conquests of her wrath she useth to advance,
And overturn whole fields of men, to show she was the Seed
Of him that thunders. Then heav’n’s Queen, to urge her horses’ speed,
Takes up the scourge, and forth they fly. The ample gates of heav’n
Rung, and flew open of themselves; the charge whereof is giv’n,
With all Olympus, and the sky, to the distinguish’d Hours,
That clear, or hide it all in clouds, or pour it down in show’rs.
This way their scourge-obeying horse made haste, and soon they won
The top of all the topful heav’ns, where aged Saturn’s son
Sat sever’d from the other Gods; then stay’d the white-arm’d Queen
Her steeds, and ask’d of Jove, if Mars did not incense his spleen
With his foul deeds, in ruining so many and so great
In the command and grace of Greece, and in so rude a heat?
At which, she said, Apollo laugh’d, and Venus, who still sue
To that mad God, for violence that never justice knew;
For whose impiety, she ask’d, if, with his wishéd love,
Herself might free the field of him? He bade her rather move
Athenia to the charge she sought, who us’d of old to be
The bane of Mars, and had as well the gift of spoil as he.
This grace she slack’d not, but her horse scourg’d, that in nature flew
Betwixt the cope of stars and earth; and how far at a view
A man into the purple sea may from a hill descry,
So far a high-neighing horse of heav’n at ev’ry jump would fly.[2]
Arriv’d at Troy, where, broke in curls, the two floods mix their force,
Scamander and bright Simois, Saturnia stay’d her horse,
Took them from chariot, and a cloud of mighty depth diffus’d
About them; and the verdant banks of Simois produc’d
In nature what they eat in heav’n. Then both the Goddesses[3]
March’d, like a pair of tim’rous doves, in hasting their access
To th’ Argive succour. Being arriv’d, where both the most and best
Were heap’d together (showing all, like lions at a feast
Of new-slain carcasses, or boars, beyond encounter strong)
There found they Diomed; and there, ’midst all th’ admiring throng,
Saturnia put on Stentor’s shape, that had a brazen voice,
And spake as loud as fifty men; like whom she made a noise,
And chid the Argives: “O ye Greeks, in name and outward rite
But princes only, not in act, what scandal, what despite,
Use ye to honour! All the time the great Æacides
Was conversant in arms, your foes durst not a foot address
Without their ports, so much they fear’d his lance that all controll’d,
And now they outray to your fleet.” This did with shame make bold
The gen’ral spirit and pow’r of Greece: when, with particular note
Of their disgrace, Athenia made Tydeus’ issue hot.
She found him at his chariot, refreshing of his wound
Inflicted by slain Pandarus; his sweat did so abound,
It much annoy’d him, underneath the broad belt of his shield;
With which, and tiréd with his toil, his soul could hardly yield
His body motion. With his hand he lifted up the belt,
And wip’d away that clotter’d blood the fervent wound did melt.
Minerva lean’d against his horse, and near their withers laid
Her sacred hand, then spake to him: “Believe me, Diomed,
Tydeus exampled not himself in thee his son; not great,
But yet he was a soldier; a man of so much heat,
That in his ambassy for Thebes, when I forbad his mind
To be too vent’rous, and when feasts his heart might have declin’d,
With which they welcom’d him, he made a challenge to the best,
And foil’d the best; I gave him aid, because the rust of rest,
That would have seiz’d another mind, he suffer’d not, but us’d
The trial I made like a man, and their soft feasts refus’d.
Yet, when I set thee on, thou faint’st; I guard thee, charge, exhort
That, I abetting thee, thou shouldst be to the Greeks a fort,
And a dismay to Ilion, yet thou obey’st in nought,
Afraid, or slothful, or else both; henceforth renounce all thought
That ever thou wert Tydeus’ son.” He answer’d her: “I know
Thou art Jove’s daughter, and, for that, in all just duty owe
Thy speeches rev’rence, yet affirm ingeniously that fear
Doth neither hold me spiritless, nor sloth. I only bear
Thy charge in zealous memory, that I should never war
With any blesséd Deity, unless (exceeding far
The limits of her rule) the Queen, that governs chamber sport,
Should press to field; and her thy will enjoin’d my lance to hurt.
But, He whose pow’r hath right in arms, I knew in person here,
Besides the Cyprian Deity; and therefore did forbear,
And here have gather’d in retreat these other Greeks you see,
With note and rev’rence of your charge.” “My dearest mind,” said she,
“What then was fit is chang’d. ’Tis true, Mars hath just rule in war,
But just war; otherwise he raves, not fights. He’s alter’d far.
He vow’d to Juno, and myself, that his aid should be us’d
Against the Trojans, whom it guards; and therein he abus’d
His rule in arms, infring’d his word, and made his war unjust.
He is inconstant, impious, mad. Resolve then; firmly trust
My aid of thee against his worst, or any Deity;
Add scourge to thy free horse, charge home; he fights perfidiously.”
This said; as that brave king, her knight, with his horse-guiding friend,
Were set before the chariot, for sign he should descend,
That she might serve for waggoness, she pluck’d the wagg’ner back,
And up into his seat she mounts; the beechen tree did crack
Beneath the burthen; and good cause, it bore so huge a thing,
A Goddess so replete with pow’r, and such a puissant king.
She snatch’d the scourge up and the reins, and shut her heaven’ly look
In Hell’s vast helm from Mars’s eyes; and full career she took
At him, who then had newly slain the mighty Periphas,
Renown’d son to Ochesius, and far the strongest was
Of all th’ Ætolians; to whose spoil the bloody God was run.
But when this man-plague saw the approach of god-like Tydeus’ son,
He let his mighty Periphas lie, and in full charge he ran
At Diomed; and he at him. Both near; the God began,
And, thirsty of his blood, he throws a brazen lance that bears
Full on the breast of Diomed, above the reins and gears;
But Pallas took it on her hand, and strook the eager lance
Beneath the chariot. Then the knight of Pallas doth advance,
And cast a jav’lin off at Mars, Minerva sent it on,
That, where his arming girdle gilt, his belly graz’d upon,
Just at the rim, and ranch’d the flesh; the lance again he got,
But left the wound, that stung him so, he laid out such a throat
As if nine or ten thousand men had bray’d out all their breaths
In one confusion, having felt as many sudden deaths.
The roar made both the hosts amaz’d. Up flew the God to heav’n;
And with him was through all the air as black a tincture driv’n
To Diomed’s eyes, as when the earth half-choked with smoking heat
Of gloomy clouds, that stifle men, and pitchy tempests threat,
Usher’d with horrid gusts of wind; with such black vapours plum’d,
Mars flew t’ Olympus, and broad heav’n, and there his place resum’d.
Sadly he went and sat by Jove, show’d his immortal blood,
That from a mortal-man-made wound pour’d such an impious flood,
And weeping pour’d out these complaints: “O Father, storms’t thou not
To see us take these wrongs from men? Extreme griefs we have got
Ev’n by our own deep councils, held for gratifying them;
And thou, our council’s president, conclud’st in this extreme
Of fighting ever; being rul’d by one that thou hast bred;
One never well, but doing ill; a girl so full of head
That, though all other Gods obey, her mad moods must command,
By thy indulgence, nor by word, nor any touch of hand,
Correcting her; thy reason is, she is a spark of thee,
And therefore she may kindle rage in men ’gainst Gods, and she
May make men hurt Gods, and those Gods that are besides thy seed.
First in the palm’s hit Cyprides; then runs the impious deed
On my hurt person; and, could life give way to death in me,
Or had my feet not fetched me off, heaps of mortality
Had kept me consort.” Jupiter, with a contracted brow,
Thus answered Mars: “Thou many minds, inconstant changeling thou,
Sit not complaining thus by me, whom most of all the Gods,
Inhabiting the starry hill, I hate; no periods
Being set to thy contentions, brawls, fights, and pitching fields;
Just of thy mother Juno’s moods, stiff-neck’d, and never yields,
Though I correct her still, and chide, nor can forbear offence,
Though to her son; this wound I know tastes of her insolence;
But I will prove more natural; thou shalt be cur’d, because
Thou com’st of me, but hadst thou been so cross to sacred laws,
Being born to any other God, thou had’st been thrown from heav’n
Long since, as low as Tartarus, beneath the giants driv’n.”
This said, he gave his wound in charge to Pæon, who applied
Such sov’reign med’cines, that as soon the pain was qualified,
And he recur’d; as nourishing milk, when runnet is put in,
Runs all in heaps of tough thick curd, though in his nature thin,
Ev’n so soon his wound’s parted sides ran close in his recure;
For he, all deathless, could not long the parts of death endure,
Then Hebe bath’d, and put on him fresh garments, and he sate
Exulting by his sire again, in top of all his state.
So, having, from the spoils of men, made his desir’d remove,
Juno and Pallas re-ascend the starry court of Jove.

THE END OF THE FIFTH BOOK.

[1] This simile likewise Virgil learns of him.

[2] How far a heavenly horse took at one reach or stroke in galloping or running; wherein Homer’s mind is far from being expressed in his interpreters, all taking it for how far Deities were borne from the earth, when instantly they came down to earth: τόσσον ἐπιθρώσκουσι, etc. tantun uno saltu conficiunt, vel, tantum subsultim progrediuntur, deorum altizoni equi, etc. uno being understood, and the horse’s swiftness highly expressed. The sense, otherwise, is senseless and contradictory.

[3] ᾽Αμβροσίην is the original word, which Scaliger taxeth very learnedly, asking how the horse came by it on those banks, when the text tells him Simois produced it; being willing to express by hyperbole the delicacy of that soil. If not, I hope the Deities could ever command it.

THE SIXTH BOOK OF HOMER’S ILIADS

THE ARGUMENT

The Gods now leaving an indiff’rent field,
The Greeks prevail, the slaughter’d Trojans yield.
Hector, by Helenus’ advice, retires
In haste to Troy, and Hecuba desires
To pray Minerva to remove from fight
The son of Tydeus, her affected knight,
And vow to her, for favour of such price,
Twelve oxen should be slain in sacrifice.
In mean space Glaucus and Tydides meet;
And either other with remembrance greet
Of old love ’twixt their fathers, which inclines
Their hearts to friendship; who change arms for signs
Of a continu’d love for either’s life.
Hector, in his return, meets with his wife,
And, taking in his armed arms his son,
He prophesies the fall of Ilion.

ANOTHER ARGUMENT

In Zeta, Hector prophesies;
Prays for his son; wills sacrifice.

The stern fight freed of all the Gods, conquest with doubtful wings
Flew on their lances; ev’ry way the restless field she flings
Betwixt the floods of Simois and Xanthus, that confin’d
All their affairs of Ilion, and round about them shin’d.
The first that weigh’d down all the field, of one particular side,
Was Ajax, son of Telamon; who, like a bulwark, plied
The Greeks’ protection, and of Troy the knotty orders brake,
Held out a light to all the rest, and showed them how to make
Way to their conquest, He did wound the strongest man of Thrace,
The tallest and the biggest set, Eussorian Acamas;
His lance fell on his casque’s plum’d top, in stooping; the fell head
Drave through his forehead to his jaws; his eyes night shadowéd.
Tydides slew Teuthranides Axylus, that did dwell,
In fair Arisba’s well-built tow’rs. He had of wealth a well,
And yet was kind and bountiful; he would a traveller pray
To be his guest, his friendly house stood in the broad highway,
In which he all sorts nobly us’d; yet none of them would stand
‘Twixt him and death, but both himself, and he that had command
Of his fair horse, Calesius, fell lifeless on the ground.
Euryalus, Opheltius and Dresus dead did wound;
Nor ended there his fi’ry course, which he again begins,
And ran to it successfully, upon a pair of twins,
Æsepus, and bold Pedasus, whom good Bucolion
(That first call’d father, though base-born, renown’d Laomedon)
On Nais Abarbaræa got, a nymph that, as she fed
Her curléd flocks, Bucolion woo’d, and mix’d in love and bed.
Both these were spoiled of arms and life, by Mecistiades.
Then Polypœtes, for stern death, Astyalus did seize;
Ulysses slew Percosius; Teucer Aretaön;
Antilochus (old Nestor’s joy) Ablerus; the great son
Of Atreüs, and king of men, Elatus, whose abode:
He held at upper Pedasus, where Satnius’ river flowed;
The great heroë Leitus stay’d Phylacus in flight
From further life; Eurypylus, Melanthius reft of light.
The brother to the king of men, Adrestus took alive;
Whose horse, affrighted with the flight, their driver now did drive
Amongst the low-grown tam’risk trees, and at an arm of one
The chariot in the draught-tree brake; the horse brake loose, and ron
The same way other flyers fled, contending all to town;
Himself close at the chariot wheel, upon his face was thrown,
And there lay flat, rolled up in dust. Atrides inwards drave;
And, holding at his breast his lance, Adrestus sought to save
His head by losing of his feet, and trusting to his knees;
On which the same parts of the king he hugs, and offers fees
Of worthy value for his life, and thus pleads their receipt:
“Take me alive, O Atreus’ son, and take a worthy weight
Of brass, elab’rate iron, and gold.[1] A heap of precious things
Are in my father’s riches hid, which, when your servant brings
News of my safety to his ears, he largely will divide
With your rare bounties.” Atreus’ son thought this the better side,
And meant to take it, being about to send him safe to fleet;
Which when, far off, his brother saw, he wing’d his royal feet,
And came in threat’ning, crying out: “O soft heart! What’s the cause
Thou spar’st these men thus? Have not they observ’d these gentle laws
Of mild humanity to thee, with mighty argument
Why thou shouldst deal thus; in thy house, and with all precedent
Of honour’d guest-rites, entertain’d? Not one of them shall fly
A bitter end for it from heav’n, and much less, dotingly,
‘Scape our revengeful fingers; all, ev’n th’ infant in the womb,
Shall taste of what they merited, and have no other tomb
Than razéd Ilion; nor their race have more fruit than the dust.”
This just cause turn’d his brother’s mind, who violently thrust
The pris’ner from him; in whose guts the king of men impress’d
His ashen lance, which (pitching down his foot upon the breast
Of him that upwards fell) he drew; then Nestor spake to all:
“O friends, and household men of Mars, let not your púrsuit fall,
With those ye fell, for present spoil; nor, like the king of men,
Let any ’scape unfell’d; but on, dispatch them all, and then
Ye shall have time enough to spoil.” This made so strong their chace,
That all the Trojans had been hous’d, and never turned a face,
Had not the Priamist Helenus, an augur most of name,
Will’d Hector and Æneas thus: “Hector! Anchises’ fame!
Since on your shoulders, with good cause, the weighty burden lies
Of Troy and Lycia (being both of noblest faculties
For counsel, strength of hand, and apt to take chance at her best
In ev’ry turn she makes) stand fast, and suffer not the rest,
By any way search’d out for ’scape, to come within the ports,
Lest, fled into their wives’ kind arms, they there be made the sports
Of the pursuing enemy. Exhort, and force your bands
To turn their faces; and, while we employ our ventur’d hands,
Though in a hard conditión, to make the other stay,
Hector, go thou to Ilion, and our queen-mother pray
To take the richest robe she hath; the same that’s chiefly dear
To her court fancy; with which gem, assembling more to her
Of Troy’s chief matrons, let all go, for fear of all our fates,
To Pallas’ temple, take the key, unlock the leavy gates,
Enter, and reach the highest tow’r, where her Palladium stands,
And on it put the precious veil with pure and rev’rend hands,
And vow to her, besides the gift, a sacrificing stroke
Of twelve fat heifers-of-a-year, that never felt the yoke,
(Most answ’ring to her maiden state) if she will pity us,
Our town, our wives, our youngest joys, and him, that plagues them thus,
Take from the conflict, Diomed, that fury in a fight,
That true son of great Tydeús, that cunning lord of flight,
Whom I esteem the strongest Greek; for we have never fled
Achilles, that is prince of men, and whom a Goddess bred,
Like him; his fury flies so high, and all men’s wraths commands.”
Hector intends his brother’s will, but first through all his bands
He made quick way, encouraging; and all, to fear afraid,
All turn’d their heads, and made Greece turn. Slaughter stood still dismay’d
On their parts, for they thought some God, fall’n from the vault of stars,
Was rush’d into the Ilions’ aid, they made such dreadful wars.
Thus Hector, toiling in the waves, and thrusting back the flood
Of his ebb’d forces, thus takes leave: “So, so, now runs your blood
In his right current; forwards now, Trojans, and far-call’d friends!
Awhile hold out, till, for success to this your brave amends,
I haste to Ilion, and procure our counsellors and wives
To pray, and offer hecatombs, for their states in our lives.”
Then fair-helm’d Hector turn’d to Troy, and, as he trode the field,
The black bull’s hide, that at his back he wore about his shield,
In the extreme circumference, was with his gait so rock’d,
That, being large, it both at once his neck and ankles knock’d.
And now betwixt the hosts were met, Hippolochus’ brave son,
Glaucus, who in his very look hope of some wonder won,
And little Tydeus’ mighty heir; who seeing such a man
Offer the field, for usual blows, with wondrous words began:
“What art thou, strong’st of mortal men, that putt’st so far before,
Whom these fights never show’d mine eyes? They have been evermore
Sons of unhappy parents born, that came within the length
Of this Minerva-guided lance, and durst close with the strength
That she inspires in me. If heav’n be thy divine abode,
And thou a Deity thus inform’d, no more with any God
Will I change lances. The strong son of Dryus did not live
Long after such a conflict dar’d, who godlessly did drive
Nysæus’ nurses through the hill made sacred to his name,
And called Nysseius; with a goad he punch’d each furious dame,
And made them ev’ry one cast down their green and leavy spears.
This th’ homicide Lycurgus did; and those ungodly fears,
He put the froes in, seiz’d their God. Ev’n Bacchus he did drive
From his Nysseius; who was fain, with huge exclaims, to dive
Into the ocean. Thetis there in her bright bosom took
The flying Deity; who so fear’d Lycurgus’ threats, he shook.
For which the freely-living Gods so highly were incens’d,
That Saturn’s great Son strook him blind, and with his life dispens’d
But small time after; all because th’ Immortals lov’d him not,
Nor lov’d him since he striv’d with them; and his end hath begot
Fear in my pow’rs to fight with heav’n. But, if the fruits of earth
Nourish thy body, and thy life be of our human birth,
Come near, that thou mayst soon arrive on that life-bounding shore,
To which I see thee hoise such sail.” “Why dost thou so explore,”
Said Glaucus, “of what race I am, when like the race of leaves
The race of man is, that deserves no question; nor receives
My being any other breath? The wind in autumn strows
The earth with old leaves then the spring the woods with new endows;
And so death scatters men on earth, so life puts out again
Man’s leavy issue. But my race, if, like the course of men,
Thou seek’st in more particular terms, ’tis this, to many known:
In midst of Argos, nurse of horse, there stands a walléd town,
Ephyré, where the mansion-house of Sisyphus did stand,
Of Sisyphus-Æölides, most wise of all the land.
Glaucus was son to him, and he begat Bellerophon,
Whose body heav’n indu’d with strength, and put a beauty on,
Exceeding lovely. Prætis yet his cause of love did hate,
And banish’d him the town; he might; he rul’d the Argive state.
The virtue of the one Jove plac’d beneath the other’s pow’r,
His exile grew, since he denied to be the paramour
Of fair Anteia, Prætus’ wife, who felt a raging fire
Of secret love to him; but he, whom wisdom did inspire
As well as prudence, (one of them advising him to shun
The danger of a princess’ love, the other not to run
Within the danger of the Gods, the act being simply ill,)
Still entertaining thoughts divine, subdu’d the earthly still.
She, rul’d by neither of his wits, preferr’d her lust to both,
And, false to Prætus, would seem true, with this abhorr’d untroth:
‘Prætus, or die thyself,’ said she, ‘or let Bellerophon die.
He urg’d dishonour to thy bed; which since I did deny,
He thought his violence should grant, and sought thy shame by force.’
The king, incens’d with her report, resolv’d upon her course,
But doubted how it should be run; he shunn’d his death direct,
(Holding a way so near not safe) and plotted the effect
By sending him with letters seal’d (that, open’d, touch his life)[2]
To Rhëuns king of Lycia, and father to his wife.
He went; and happily he went, the Gods walk’d all his way;
And being arriv’d in Lycia, where Xanthus doth display
The silver ensigns of his waves, the king of that broad land
Receiv’d him with a wondrous free and honourable hand.
Nine days he feasted him, and kill’d an ox in ev’ry day,
In thankful sacrifice to heav’n, for his fair guest; whose stay,
With rosy fingers, brought the world, the tenth well-welcom’d morn,
And then the king did move to see, the letters he had borne
From his lov’d son-in-law; which seen, he wrought thus their contents:
Chimæra, the invincible, he sent him to convince,
Sprung from no man, but mere divine; a lion’s shape before,
Behind a dragon’s, in the midst a goat’s shagg’d form, she bore,
And flames of deadly fervency flew from her breath and eyes;
Yet her he slew; his confidence in sacred prodigies
Render’d him victor. Then he gave his second conquest way
Against the famous Solymi, when (he himself would say,
Reporting it) he enter’d on a passing vig’rous fight.
His third huge labour he approv’d against a woman’s spite,
That fill’d a field of Amazons; he overcame them all.
Then set they on him sly Deceit, when Force had such a fall;
An ambush of the strongest men, that spacious Lycia bred,
Was lodg’d for him; whom he lodg’d sure, they never rais’d a head.
His deeds thus showing him deriv’d from some celestial race,
The king detain’d, and made amends, with doing him the grace
Of his fair daughter’s princely gift; and with her, for a dow’r,
Gave half his kingdom; and to this, the Lycians on did pour
More than was giv’n to any king; a goodly planted field,
In some parts thick of groves and woods, the rest rich crops did yield,
This field the Lycians futurely (of future wand’rings there
And other errors of their prince, in the unhappy rear
Of his sad life) the Errant call’d, The princess brought him forth
Three children (whose ends griev’d him more, the more they were of worth)
Isander; and Hippolochus; and fair Laodomy,
With whom, ev’n Jupiter himself left heav’n itself, to lie,
And had by her the man at arms, Sarpedon, call’d divine,
The Gods then left him, lest a man should in their glories shine,
And set against him; for his son, Isandrus, in a strife
Against the valiant Solymi, Mars reft of light and life;
Laodamïa, being envied of all the Goddesses,
The golden-bridle-handling Queen, the maiden Patroness,
Slew with an arrow; and for this he wander’d evermore
Alone through his Aleian field, and fed upon the core
Of his sad bosom, flying all the loth’d consórts of men.
Yet had he one surviv’d to him, of those three childeren,
Hippolochus, the root of me; who sent me here with charge
That I should always bear me well, and my deserts enlarge
Beyond the vulgar, lest I sham’d my race, that far excell’d
All that Ephyra’s famous tow’rs, or ample Lycia, held.
This is my stock, and this am I.” This cheer’d Tydides’ heart,
Who pitch’d his spear down, lean’d, and talk’d in this affectionate part:
“Certés, in thy great ancestor, and in mine own, thou art
A guest of mine, right ancient. King Oeneus twenty days
Detain’d, with feasts, Bellerophon, whom all the world did praise.
Betwixt whom mutual gifts were giv’n, My grandsire gave to thine
A girdle of Phœnician work, impurpl’d wondrous fine,
Thine gave a two-neck’d jug of gold, which, though I use not here,
Yet still it is my gem at home. But, if our fathers were
Familiar, or each other knew, I know not, since my sire
Left me a child, at siege of Thebes, where he left his life’s fire.
But let us prove our grandsires’ sons, and be each other’s guests.
To Lycia when I come, do thou receive thy friend with feasts;
Peloponnesus, with the like, shall thy wish’d presence greet.
Mean space, shun we each other here, though in the press we meet.
There are enow of Troy beside, and men enow renown’d,
To right my pow’rs, whomever heav’n shall let my lance confound,
So are there of the Greeks for thee; kill who thou canst. And now,
For sign of amity ’twixt us, and that all these may know
We glory in th’ hospitious rites our grandsires did commend,
Change we our arms before them all.” From horse then both descend,
Join hands, give faith, and take; and then did Jupiter elate[3]
The mind of Glaucus, who, to show his rev’rence to the state
Of virtue in his grandsire’s heart, and gratulate beside
The offer of so great a friend, exchang’d in that good pride,
Curets of gold for those of brass, that did on Diomed shine,
One of a hundred oxen’s price, the other but of nine.

By this, had Hector reach’d the ports of Scæa, and the tow’rs.
About him flock’d the wives of Troy, the children, paramours,
Inquiring how their husbands did, their fathers, brothers, loves.
He stood not then to answer them, but said: “It now behoves
Ye should all go t’ implore the aid of heav’n, in a distress
Of great effect, and imminent.” Then hasted he access
To Priam’s goodly builded court, which round about was run
With walking porches, galleries, to keep off rain and sun.
Within, of one side, on a rew, of sundry-colour’d stones,
Fifty fair lodgings were built out, for Priam’s fifty sons,
And for as fair sort of their wives; and, in the opposite view,
Twelve lodgings of like stone, like height, were likewise built arew,
Where, with their fair and virtuous wives, twelve princes, sons in law
To honourable Priam, lay. And here met Hecuba,
The loving mother, her great son; and with her needs must be
The fairest of her female race, the bright Laodice.
The queen gript hard her Hector’s hand, and said: “O worthiest son,
Why leav’st thou field? Is’t not because the curséd nation
Afflict our countrymen and friends? They are their moans that move
Thy mind to come and lift thy hands, in his high tow’r, to Jove.
But stay a little, that myself may fetch our sweetest wine
To offer first to Jupiter, then that these joints of thine
May be refresh’d; for, woe is me, how thou art toil’d and spent!
Thou for our city’s gen’ral state, thou for our friends far sent,
Must now the press of fight endure; now solitude, to call
Upon the name of Jupiter; thou only for us all.
But wine will something comfort thee; for to a man dismay’d
With careful spirits, or too much with labour overlaid,
Wine brings much rescue, strength’ning much the body and the mind.”
The great helm-mover thus receiv’d the auth’ress of his kind:
“My royal mother, bring no wine; lest rather it impair
Than help my strength, and make my mind forgetful of th’ affair
Committed to it; and (to pour it out in sacrifice)
I fear with unwash’d hands to serve the pure-liv’d Deities.
Nor is it lawful, thus imbru’d with blood and dust, to prove
The will of heav’n, or offer vows to cloud-compelling Jove.
I only come to use your pains (assembling other dames,
Matrons, and women honour’d most, with high and virtuous names)
With wine and odours, and a robe most ample, most of price,
And which is dearest in your love, to offer sacrifice
In Pallas’ temple; and to put the precious robe ye bear.
On her Palladium; vowing all, twelve oxen-of-a-year,
Whose necks were never wrung with yoke, shall pay her grace their lives,
If she will pity our sieg’d town; pity ourselves, our wives;
Pity our children; and remove, from sacred Ilion,
The dreadful soldier Diomed. And, when yourselves are gone
About this work, myself will go, to call into the field,
If he will hear me, Helen’s love; whom would the earth would yield)
And headlong take into her gulf, even quick before mine eyes;
For then my heart, I hope, would cast her load of miseries,
Borne for the plague he hath been born, and bred to the deface,
By great Olympius, of Troy, our sire, and all our race.”
This said, grave Hecuba went home, and sent her maids about,
To bid the matrons. She herself descended, and search’d out,
Within a place that breath’d perfumes, the richest robe she had;
Which lay with many rich ones more, most curiously made
By women of Sidonia; which Paris brought from thence,
Sailing the broad sea, when he made that voyage of offence,
In which he brought home Helena. That robe, transferr’d so far,
(That was the undermost) she took; it glittered like a star;
And with it went she to the fane, with many ladies more;
Amongst whom fair-cheek’d Theano unlock’d the folded door;
Chaste Theano, Antenor’s wife, and of Cissëus’ race,
Sister to Hecuba, both born to that great king of Thrace.
Her th’ Ilions made Minerva’s priest; and her they follow’d all
Up to the temple’s highest tow’r, where on their knees they fall,
Lift up their hands, and fill the fane with ladies’ piteous cries.
Then lovely Theano took the veil, and with it she implies
The great Palladium, praying thus: “Goddess of most renown
In all the heav’n of Goddesses, great Guardian of our town,
Rev’rend Minerva, break the lance of Diomed, cease his grace,
Give him to fall in shameful flight, headlong, and on his face,
Before our ports of Ilion, that instantly we may,
Twelve unyok’d oxen-of-a-year, in this thy temple slay,
To thy sole honour; take their bloods, and banish our offence;
Accept Troy’s zeal, her wives, and save her infants’ innocence.”
She pray’d, but Pallas would not grant. Mean space was Hector come
Where Alexander’s lodgings were, that many a goodly room
Had built in them by architects, of Troy’s most curious sort,
And were no lodgings, but a house; nor no house, but a court;
Or had all these contain’d in them; and all within a tow’r,
Next Hector’s lodgings and the king’s. The lov’d of heav’n’s chief Pow’r,
Hector, here enter’d. In his hand a goodly lance he bore,
Ten cubits long; the brazen head went shining ill before,
Help’d with a burnish’d ring of gold. He found his brother then
Amongst the women, yet prepar’d to go amongst the men,
For in their chamber he was set, trimming his arms, his shield,
His curets, and was trying how his crookéd bow would yield
To his straight arms. Amongst her maids was set the Argive Queen,
Commanding them in choicest works. When Hector’s eye had seen
His brother thus accompanied, and that he could not bear
The very touching of his arms but where the women were,
And when the time so needed men, right cunningly he chid.
That he might do it bitterly, his cowardice he hid,
That simply made him so retir’d, beneath an anger, feign’d
In him by Hector, for the hate the citizens sustain’d
Against him, for the foil he took in their cause; and again,
For all their gen’ral foils in his. So Hector seems to plain
Of his wrath to them, for their hate, and not his cowardice;[4]
As that were it that shelter’d him in his effeminacies,
And kept him, in that dang’rous time, from their fit aid in fight;
For which he chid thus: “Wretched man! So timeless is thy spite
That ’tis not honest; and their hate is just, ’gainst which it bends.
War burns about the town for thee; for thee our slaughter’d friends
Besiege Troy with their carcasses, on whose heaps our high walls
Are overlook’d by enemies; the sad sounds of their falls
Without, are echo’d with the cries of wives and babes within;
And all for thee; and yet for them thy honour cannot win
Head of thine anger. Thou shouldst need no spirit to stir up thine,
But thine should set the rest on fire, and with a rage divine
Chastise impartially the best, that impiously forbears.
Come forth, lest thy fair tow’rs and Troy be burn’d about thine ears.”
Paris acknowledg’d, as before, all just that Hector spake,
Allowing justice, though it were for his injustice’ sake;
And where his brother put a wrath upon him by his art,
He takes it, for his honour’s sake, as sprung out of his heart,
And rather would have anger seem his fault than cowardice;
And thus he answer’d: “Since, with right, you join’d check with advice,
And I hear you, give equal ear: It is not any spleen
Against the town, as you conceive, that makes me so unseen,
But sorrow for it; which to ease, and by discourse digest
Within myself, I live so close; and yet, since men might wrest
My sad retreat, like you, my wife with her advice inclin’d
This my addression to the field; which was mine own free mind,
As well as th’ instance of her words; for though the foil were mine,
Conquest brings forth her wreaths by turns. Stay then this haste of thine
But till I arm, and I am made a cónsort for thee straight;—
Or go, I’ll overtake thy haste.” Helen stood at receipt,
And took up all great Hector’s pow’rs, t’ attend her heavy words,
By which had Paris no reply. This vent her grief affords:
“Brother (if I may call you so, that had been better born
A dog, than such a horrid dame, as all men curse and scorn,
A mischief-maker, a man-plague) O would to God, the day,
That first gave light to me, had been a whirlwind in my way,
And borne me to some desert hill, or hid me in the rage
Of earth’s most far-resounding seas, ere I should thus engage
The dear lives of so many friends! Yet since the Gods have been
Helpless foreseers of my plagues, they might have likewise seen
That he they put in yoke with me, to bear out their award,
Had been a man of much more spirit, and, or had noblier dar’d
To shield mine honour with this deed, or with his mind had known
Much better the upbraids of men, that so he might have shown
(More like a man) some sense of grief for both my shame and his.
But he is senseless, nor conceives what any manhood is,
Nor now, nor ever after will; and therefore hangs, I fear,
A plague above him. But come near, good brother; rest you here,
Who, of the world of men, stands charg’d with most unrest for me,
(Vile wretch) and for my lover’s wrong; on whom a destiny
So bitter is impos’d by Jove, that all succeeding times
Will put, to our unended shames, in all men’s mouths our crimes.”
He answer’d: “Helen, do not seek to make me sit with thee;
I must not stay, though well I know thy honour’d love of me.
My mind calls forth to aid our friends, in whom my absence breeds
Longings to see me; for whose sakes, importune thou to deeds
This man by all means, that your care may make his own make hast,
And meet me in the open town, that all may see at last
He minds his lover. I myself will now go home, and see
My household, my dear wife, and son, that little hope of me;
For, sister, ’tis without my skill, if I shall evermore
Return, and see them, or to earth, her right in me, restore.
The Gods may stoop me by the Greeks.” This said, he went to see
The virtuous princess, his true wife, white-arm’d Andromache.
She, with her infant son and maid, was climb’d the tow’r about
The sight of him that sought for her, weeping and crying out.
Hector, not finding her at home, was going forth; retir’d;
Stood in the gate; her woman call’d, and curiously inquir’d
Where she was gone; bad tell him true, if she were gone to see
His sisters, or his brothers’ wives; or whether she should be
At temple with the other dames, t’ implore Minerva’s ruth.
Her woman answer’d: Since he ask’d, and urg’d so much the truth,
The truth was she was neither gone, to see his brothers’ wives,
His sisters, nor t’ implore the ruth of Pallas on their lives;
But she (advertis’d of the bane Troy suffer’d, and how vast
Conquest had made herself for Greece) like one distraught, made hast
To ample Ilion with her son, and nurse, and all the way
Mourn’d, and dissolv’d in tears for him. Then Hector made no stay,
But trod her path, and through the streets, magnificently built,
All the great city pass’d, and came where, seeing how blood was spilt,
Andromache might see him come: who made as he would pass
The ports without saluting her, not knowing where she was.
She, with his sight, made breathless haste, to meet him; she, whose grace
Brought him withal so great a dow’r; she that of all the race
Of king Aëtion only liv’d; Aëtion, whose house stood
Beneath the mountain Placius, environ’d with the wood
Of Theban Hypoplace, being court to the Cilician land.
She ran to Hector, and with her, tender of heart and hand,
Her son, borne in his nurse’s arms; when, like a heav’nly sign,
Compact of many golden stars, the princely child did shine,
Whom Hector call’d Scamandrius, but whom the town did name
Astyanax, because his sire did only prop the same.
Hector, though grief bereft his speech, yet smil’d upon his joy.
Andromache cried out, mix’d hands, and to the strength of Troy
Thus wept forth her affectión: “O noblest in desire!
Thy mind, inflam’d with others’ good, will set thyself on fire.
Nor pitiest thou thy son, nor wife, who must thy widow be,
If now thou issue; all the field will only run on thee.
Better my shoulders underwent the earth, than thy decease;
For then would earth bear joys no more; then comes the black increase
Of griefs (like Greeks on Ilion). Alas! What one survives
To be my refuge? One black day bereft sev’n brothers’ lives,
By stern Achilles; by his hand my father breath’d his last,
His high-wall’d rich Cilician Thebes[5] sack’d by him, and laid wast;
The royal body yet he left unspoil’d; religion charm’d
That act of spoil; and all in fire he burn’d him cómplete arm’d;
Built over him a royal tomb; and to the monument
He left of him, th’ Oreades (that are the high descent
Of Ægis-bearing Jupiter) another of their own
Did add to it, and set it round with elms; by which is shown,
In theirs, the barrenness of death; yet might it serve beside
To shelter the sad monument from all the ruffinous pride
Of storms and tempests, us’d to hurt things or that noble kind,
The short life yet my mother liv’d he sav’d, and serv’d his mind
With all the riches of the realm; which not enough esteem’d
He kept her pris’ner; whom small time, but much more wealth, redeem’d,
And she, in sylvan Hypoplace, Cilicia rul’d again,
But soon was over-rul’d by death; Diana’s chaste disdain
Gave her a lance, and took her life. Yet, all these gone from me,
Thou amply render’st all; thy life makes still my father be,
My mother, brothers; and besides thou art my husband too,
Most lov’d, most worthy. Pity them, dear love, and do not go,
For thou gone, all these go again; pity our common joy,
Lest, of a father’s patronage, the bulwark of all Troy,
Thou leav’st him a poor widow’s charge. Stay, stay then, in this tow’r,
And call up to the wild fig-tree all thy retiréd pow’r;
For there the wall is easiest scal’d, and fittest for surprise,
And there, th’ Ajaces, Idomen, th’ Atrides, Diomed, thrice
Have both survey’d and made attempt; I know not if induc’d
By some wise augury, or the fact was naturally infus’d
Into their wits, or courages.” To this, great Hector said:
“Be well assur’d, wife, all these things in my kind cares are weigh’d.
But what a shame, and fear, it is to think how Troy would scorn
(Both in her husbands, and her wives, whom long-train’d gowns adorn)
That I should cowardly fly off! The spirit I first did breath
Did never teach me that; much less, since the contempt of death
Was settled in me, and my mind knew what a worthy was,
Whose office is to lead in fight, and give no danger pass
Without improvement. In this fire must Hector’s trial shine;
Here must his country, father, friends, be, in him, made divine.
And such a stormy day shall come (in mind and soul I know)
When sacred Troy shall shed her tow’rs, for tears of overthrow;
When Priam, all his birth and pow’r, shall in those tears be drown’d.
But neither Troy’s posterity so much my soul doth wound,
Priam, nor Hecuba herself, nor all my brothers’ woes,
(Who though so many, and so good, must all be food for foes)
As thy sad state; when some rude Greek shall lead thee weeping hence,
These free days clouded, and a night of captive violence
Loading thy temples, out of which thine eyes must never see,
But spin the Greek wives’ webs of task, and their fetch water be
To Argos, from Messeides, or clear Hyperia’s spring;[6]
Which howsoever thou abhorr’st, Fate’s such a shrewish thing
She will be mistress; whose curs’d hands, when they shall crush out cries
From thy oppressions (being beheld by other enemies)
Thus they will nourish thy extremes: ‘This dame was Hector’s wife,
A man that, at the wars of Troy, did breathe the worthiest life
Of all their army.’ This again will rub thy fruitful wounds,
To miss the man that to thy bands could give such narrow bounds.
But that day shall not wound mine eyes; the solid heap of night
Shall interpose, and stop mine ears against thy plaints, and plight.”
This said, he reach’d to take his son; who, of his arms afraid,
And then the horse-hair plume, with which he was so overlaid,
Nodded so horribly, he cling’d back to his nurse, and cried.
Laughter affected his great sire, who doff’d, and laid aside
His fearful helm, that on the earth cast round about it light;
Then took and kiss’d his loving son, and (balancing his weight
In dancing him) these loving vows to living Jove he us’d
And all the other bench of Gods: “O you that have infus’d
Soul to this infant, now set down this blessing on his star;—
Let his renown be clear as mine; equal his strength in war;
And make his reign so strong in Troy, that years to come may yield
His facts this fame, when, rich in spoils, he leaves the conquer’d field
Sown with his slaughters: ‘These high deeds exceed his father’s worth.’
And let this echo’d praise supply the comforts to come forth
Of his kind mother with my life.” This said, th’ heroic sire
Gave him his mother; whose fair eyes fresh streams of love’s salt fire
Billow’d on her soft cheeks, to hear the last of Hector’s speech,
In which his vows compris’d the sum of all he did beseech
In her wish’d comfort. So she took into her od’rous breast
Her husband’s gift; who, mov’d to see her heart so much oppress’d,
He dried her tears, and thus desir’d: “Afflict me not, dear wife,
With these vain griefs. He doth not live, that can disjoin my life
And this firm bosom, but my fate; and fate, whose wings can fly?
Noble, ignoble, fate controls. Once born, the best must die,
Go home, and set thy housewif’ry on these extremes of thought;
And drive war from them with thy maids; keep them from doing nought.
These will be nothing; leave the cares of war to men, and me
In whom, of all the Ilion race, they take their high’st degree.”
On went his helm; his princess home, half cold with kindly fears;
When ev’ry fear turn’d back her looks, and ev’ry look shed tears.
Foe-slaught’ring Hector’s house soon reach’d, her many women there
Wept all to see her: in his life great Hector’s fun’rals were;
Never look’d any eye of theirs to see their lord safe home,
‘Scap’d from the gripes and pow’rs of Greece. And now was Paris come
From his high tow’rs; who made no stay, when once he had put on
His richest armour, but flew forth; the flints he trod upon
Sparkled with lustre of his arms; his long-ebb’d spirits now flow’d
The higher for their lower ebb. And as a fair steed, proud[7]
With full-giv’n mangers, long tied up, and now, his head stall broke,
He breaks from stable, runs the field, and with an ample stroke
Measures the centre, neighs, and lifts aloft his wanton head,
About his shoulders shakes his crest, and where he hath been fed,
Or in some calm flood wash’d, or, stung with his high plight, he flies
Amongst his females, strength put forth, his beauty beautifies,
And, like life’s mirror, bears his gait; so Paris from the tow’r
Of lofty Pergamus came forth; he show’d a sun-like pow’r
In carriage of his goodly parts, address’d now to the strife;
And found his noble brother near the place he left his wife.
Him thus respected he salutes: “Right worthy, I have fear
That your so serious haste to field, my stay hath made forbear,
And that I come not as you wish.” He answer’d: “Honour’d man,
Be confident, for not myself, nor any others, can
Reprove in thee the work of fight, at least, not any such
As is an equal judge of things; for thou hast strength as much
As serves to execute a mind very important, but
Thy strength too readily flies off, enough will is not put
To thy ability. My heart is in my mind’s strife sad,
When Troy (out of her much distress, she and her friends have had
By thy procurement) doth deprave thy noblesse in mine ears.
But come, hereafter we shall calm these hard conceits of theirs,
When, from their ports the foe expuls’d, high Jove to them hath giv’n
Wish’d peace, and us free sacrifice to all the Powers of heav’n.”

THE END OF THE SIXTH BOOK.

[1] This Virgil imitates.

[2] Bellerophontis literæ. Ad Eras. This long speech many critics tax as untimely, being, as they take it, in the heat of fight; Hier. Vidas, a late observer, being eagerest against Homer. Whose ignorance in this I cannot but note, and prove to you; for, besides the authority and office of a poet, to vary and quicken his poem with these episodes, sometimes beyond the leisure of their actions, the critic notes not how far his forerunner prevents his worst as far; and sets down his speech at the sudden and strange turning of the Trojan field, set on a little before by Hector; and that so fiercely, it made an admiring stand among the Grecians, and therein gave fit time for these great captains to utter their admirations, the whole field in that part being to stand like their commanders. And then how full of decorum this gallant show and speech was to sound understandings, I leave only to such, and let our critics go cavil.

[3] Φρένας ἐξέλετο Ζεύς, Mentem ademit Jup., the text hath it; which only I alter of all Homer’s original, since Plutarch against the Stoics excuses this supposed folly in Glaucus. Spondanus likewise encouraging my alterations, which I use for the loved and simple nobility of the free exchange in Glaucus, contrary to others that, for the supposed folly in Glaucus, turned his change into a proverb, χρύσεα χαλχείων, golden for brazen.

[4] Hector dissembles the cowardice he finds in Paris turning it, as if he chid him for his anger at the Trojans for hating him, being conquered by Menelaus, when it is for his effeminacy. Which is all paraphrastical in my translation.

[5] Thebes, a most rich city of Cilicia.

[6] The names of two fountains: of which one in Thessaly, the other near Argos, or, according to others, in Peloponnesus or Lacedæmon.

[7] His simile, high and expressive; which Virgil almost word for word hath translated, Æn. xi. (v. 492).

THE SEVENTH BOOK OF HOMER’S ILIADS[1]

THE ARGUMENT

Hector, by Helenus’ advice, doth seek
Advent’rous combat on the boldest Greek,
Nine Greeks stand up, acceptants ev’ry one,
But lot selects strong Ajax Telamon.
Both, with high honour, stand th’ important fight,
Till heralds part them by approached night.
Lastly, they grave the dead. The Greeks erect
A mighty wall, their navy to protect;
Which angers Neptune. Jove, by hapless signs,
In depth of night, succeeding woes divines.

ANOTHER ARGUMENT

In Eta, Priam’s strongest son
Combats with Ajax Telamon.

This said, brave Hector through the ports, with Troy’s bane-bringing knight,
Made issue to th’ insatiate field, resolv’d to fervent fight.
And as the Weather-wielder sends to seamen prosp’rous gales,
When with their sallow polish’d oars, long lifted from their falls,
Their wearied arms, dissolv’d with toil, can scarce strike one stroke more;
Like those sweet winds appear’d these lords, to Trojans tir’d before.
Then fell they to the works of death. By Paris’ valour fell
King Arëithous’ hapless son, that did in Arna dwell,
Menesthius, whose renownéd sire a club did ever bear,
And of Phylomedusa gat, that had her eyes so clear,
This slaughter’d issue. Hector’s dart strook Eionëus dead;
Beneath his good steel casque it pierc’d, above his gorget-stead.
Glaucus, Hippolochus’s son, that led the Lycian crew,
Iphinous-Dexiades with sudden jav’lin slew,
As he was mounting to his horse; his shoulders took the spear,
And ere he sate, in tumbling, down, his powers dissolvéd were.
When gray-ey’d Pallas had perceiv’d the Greeks so fall in fight,
From high Olympus’ top she stoop’d, and did on Ilion light.
Apollo, to encounter her, to Pergamus did fly,
From whence he, looking to the field, wish’d Trojans’ victory.
At Jove’s broad beech these Godheads met; and first Jove’s son objects;
“Why, burning in contention thus, do thy extreme affects
Conduct thee from our peaceful hill? Is it to oversway
The doubtful victory of fight, and give the Greeks the day?
Thou never pitiest perishing Troy. Yet now let me persuade,
That this day no more mortal wounds may either side invade.
Hereafter, till the end of Troy, they shall apply the fight,
Since your immortal wills resolve to overturn it quite.”
Pallas replied: “It likes me well; for this came I from heav’n;
But to make either armies cease, what order shall be giv’n?”
He said: “We will direct the spirit, that burns in Hector’s breast,
To challenge any Greek to wounds, with single pow’rs impress’d;
Which Greeks, admiring, will accept, and make some one stand out
So stout a challenge to receive, with a defence as stout.”
It is confirm’d; and Helenus (king Priam’s lovéd seed)
By augury discern’d th’ event that these two pow’rs decreed,
And greeting Hector ask’d him this: “Wilt thou be once advis’d?
I am thy brother, and thy life with mine is ev’nly prized.
Command the rest of Troy and Greece; to cease this public fight,
And, what Greek bears the greatest mind, to single strokes excite.
I promise thee that yet thy soul shall not descend to fates;
So heard I thy survival cast, by the celestial States.”
Hector with glad allowance gave his brother’s counsel ear,
And, fronting both the hosts, advanc’d just in the midst his spear.
The Trojans instantly surcease; the Greeks Atrides stay’d.
The God that bears the silver bow, and war’s triumphant Maid,
On Jove’s beech like two vultures sat, pleas’d to behold both parts
Flow in to hear, so sternly arm’d with huge shields, helms, and darts.
And such fresh horror as you see, driv’n through the wrinkled waves
By rising Zephyr, under whom the sea grows black, and raves;
Such did the hasty gath’ring troops’ of both hosts make to hear;
Whose tumult settled, ’twixt them both, thus spake the challenger:
“Hear, Trojans, and ye well-arm’d Greeks, what my strong mind, diffus’d
Through all my spirits, commands me speak: Saturnius hath not us’d
His promis’d favour for our truce, but, studying both our ills,
Will never cease, till Mars, by you, his rav’nous stomach fills
With ruin’d Troy, or we consume your mighty sea-borne fleet.
Since then the gen’ral peers of Greece in reach of one voice meet,
Amongst you all, whose breast includes the most impulsive mind,
Let him stand forth as combatant, by all the rest design’d.
Before whom thus I call high Jove, to witness of our strife:—
If he with home-thrust iron can reach th’ exposure of my life,
Spoiling my arms, let him at will convey them to his tent,
But let my body be return’d, that Troy’s two-sex’d descent
May waste it in the fun’ral pile. If I can slaughter him,
Apollo honouring me so much, I’ll spoil his conquer’d limb,
And bear his arms to Ilion, where in Apollo’s shrine
I’ll hang them, as my trophies due; his body I’ll resign
To be disposed by his friends in flamy funerals,
And honour’d with erected tomb, where Hellespontus falls
Into Ægæum, and doth reach ev’n to your naval road,
That, when our beings in the earth shall hide their period,
Survivors, sailing the black sea, may thus his name renew:
‘This is his monument whose blood long since did fates imbrue,
Whom, passing far in fortitude illustrate Hector slew.’
This shall posterity report, and my fame never die.”
This said, dumb silence seiz’d them all; they shaméd to deny,
And fear’d to undertake. At last did Menelaus speak,
Check’d their remissness, and so sigh’d, as if his heart would break:
“Ah me! But only threat’ning Greeks, not worthy Grecian names![2]
This more and more, not to be borne, makes grow our huge defames,
If Hector’s honourable proof be entertain’d by none.
But you are earth and water all, which, symboliz’d in one,
Have fram’d your faint unfi’ry spirits; ye sit without your hearts,
Grossly inglorious; but myself will use acceptive darts,
And arm against him, though you think I arm ’gainst too much odds;
But conquest’s garlands hang aloft, amongst th’ Immortal Gods.”
He arm’d, and gladly would have fought; but Menelaus, then,
By Hector’s far more strength, thy soul had fled th’ abodes of men,
Had not the kings of Greece stood up, and thy attempt restrain’d;
And ev’n the king of men himself, that in such compass reign’d,
Who took him by the bold right hand, and sternly pluck’d him back:
“Mad brother, ’tis no work for thee, thou seek’st thy wilful wrack!
Contain, though it despite thee much, nor for this strife engage
Thy person with a man more strong, and whom all fear t’ enrage;
Yea whom Æacides himself, in men-renowning war,
Makes doubt t’ encounter, whose huge strength surpasseth thine by far.
Sit thou then by thy regiment; some other Greek will rise
(Though he be dreadless, and no war will his desires suffice,
That makes this challenge to our strength) our valours to avow;
To whom, if he can ’scape with life, he will be glad to bow.”
This drew his brother from his will, who yielded, knowing it true,
And his glad soldiers took his arms; when Nestor did pursue
The same reproof he set on foot, and thus supplied his turn:
“What huge indignity is this! How will our country mourn!
Old Peleus that good king will weep, that worthy counsellor,
That trumpet of the Myrmidons, who much did ask me for
All men of name that went to Troy; with joy he did inquire
Their valour and their towardness, and I made him admire;
But, that ye all fear Hector now, if his grave ears shall hear,
How will he lift his hands to heav’n, and pray that death may bear
His grieved soul into the deep! O would to heav’n’s great King,[3]
Minerva, and the God of light, that now my youthful spring
Did flourish in my willing veins, as when at Phæa’s tow’rs
About the streams of Jardanus, my gather’d Pylean pow’rs,
And dart-employ’d Arcadians, fought, near raging Celadon!
Amongst whom, first of all, stood forth great Ereuthalion,
Who th’ arms of Arëithoús wore, brave Arëithoús,
And, since he still fought with a club, surnam’d Clavigerus,
All men, and fair-girt ladies both, for honour call’d him so.
He fought not with a keep-off spear, or with a far-shot bow,
But, with a massy club of iron, he broke through arméd bands.
And yet Lycurgus was his death, but not with force of hands;
With sleight (encount’ring in a lane, where his club wanted sway)
He thrust him through his spacious waist; who fell, and upwards lay,
In death not bowing his face to earth; his arms he did despoil,
Which iron Mars bestow’d on him; and those, in Mars’s toil,
Lycurgus ever after wore; but when he agéd grew,
Enforc’d to keep his peaceful house, their use he did renew
On mighty Ereuthalion’s limbs, his soldier, lovéd well;
And, with these arms he challeng’d all, that did in arms excel;
All shook, and stood dismay’d, none durst his adverse champion make.
Yet this same forward mind of mine, of choice, would undertake
To fight with all his confidence; though youngest enemy
Of all the army we conduct, yet I fought with him, I,
Minerva made me so renown’d, and that most tall strong peer
I slew; his big bulk lay on earth, extended here and there,
As it were covetous to spread the centre ev’rywhere.
O that my youth were now as fresh, and all my pow’rs as sound,
Soon should bold Hector be impugn’d! Yet you that most are crown’d
With fortitude of all our host, ev’n you methinks are slow,
Not free, and set on fire with lust, t’ encounter such a foe.”
With this, nine royal princes rose. Atrides for the first;
Then Diomed; th’ Ajaces then, that did th’ encounter thirst;
King Idomen and his consórts; Mars-like Meriones;
Evemon’s son, Eurypylus: and Andræmonides,
Whom all the Grecians Thoas call’d, sprung of Andræmon’s blood;
And wise Ulysses; ev’ry one, propos’d for combat, stood.
Again Gerenius Nestor spake: “Let lots be drawn by all;
His hand shall help the well-arm’d Greeks, on whom the lot doth fall,
And to his wish shall he be help’d, if he escape with life
The harmful danger-breathing fit of his advent’rous strife.”
Each mark’d his lot, and cast it into Agamemnon’s casque.
The soldiers pray’d, held up their hands, and this of Jove did ask,
With eyes advanc’d to heav’n: “O Jove, so lead the herald’s hand,
That Ajax, or great Tydeus’ son, may our wish’d champion stand,
Or else the king himself that rules the rich Mycenian land.”
This said, old Nestor mix’d the lots. The foremost lot survey’d
With Ajax Telamon was sign’d, as all the soldiers pray’d;
One of the heralds drew it forth, who brought and show’d it round,
Beginning at the right hand first, to all the most renown’d.
None knowing it, ev’ry man denied; but when he forth did pass
To him which mark’d and cast it in; which famous Ajax was,
He stretch’d his hand, and into it the herald put the lot,
Who, viewing it, th’ inscription knew; the duke deniéd not,
But joyfully acknowledg’d it, and threw it at his feet,
And said: “O friends, the lot is mine, which to my soul is sweet;
For now I hope my fame shall rise, in noble Hector’s fall.
But, whilst I arm myself, do you on great Saturnius call,
But silently, or to yourselves, that not a Trojan hear;
Or openly, if you think good, since none alive we fear.
None with a will, if I will not, can my bold pow’rs affright,
At least for plain fierce swing of strength, or want of skill in fight;
For I will well prove that my birth; and breed, in Salamine
Was not all consecrate to meat, or mere effects of wine.”
This said, the well-giv’n soldiers pray’d; up went to heav’n their eyne:
“O Jove, that Ida dost protect, most happy, most divine,
Send victory to Ajax’ side; fame; grace his goodly limb;
Or (if thy love bless Hector’s life, and thou hast care of him.)
Bestow on both like pow’r, like fame.” This said, in bright arms, shone
The good strong Ajax; who, when all his war attire was on,
March’d like the hugely-figur’d Mars, when angry Jupiter
With strength, on people proud of strength, sends him forth to infer
Wreakful contention, and comes on with presence full of fear;
So th’ Achive rampire, Telamon, did ’twixt the hosts appear;
Smil’d; yet of terrible aspéct; on earth, with ample pace,
He boldly stalk’d, and shook aloft his dart with deadly grace.
It did the Grecians good to see; but heartquakes shook the joints
Of all the Trojans, Hector’s self felt thoughts, with horrid points,
Tempt his bold bosom; but he now must make no counterflight,
Nor, with his honour, now refuse, that had provok’d the fight.
Ajax came near; and, like a tow’r, his shield his bosom barr’d,
The right side brass, and sev’n ox-hides within it quilted hard;[4]
Old Tychius, the best currier; that did in Hyla dwell,
Did frame it for exceeding proof, and wrought it wondrous well.
With this stood he to Hector close, and with this brave began:
“Now, Hector, thou shalt clearly know, thus meeting man to man,
What other leaders arm our host, besides great Thetis’ son,
Who with his hardy lion’s heart hath armies overrun;
But he lies at our crook’d-stern’d fleet, a rival with our king
In height of spirit; yet to Troy he many knights did bring,
Coequal with Æacides, all able to sustain
All thy bold challenge can import. Begin then, words are vain,”
The helm-grac’d Hector answer’d him: “Renownéd Telamon,
Prince of the soldiers came from Greece, assay not me, like one
Young and immartial, with great words, as to an Amazon dame;
I have the habit of all fights, and know the bloody frame
Of ev’ry slaughter; I well know the ready right hand charge,
I know the left, and ev’ry sway of my secureful targe;
I triumph in the cruelty of fixéd combat fight,
And manage horse to all designs; I think then with good right
I may be confident as far as this my challenge goes,
Without being taxéd with a vaunt, borne out with empty shows.
But, being a soldier so renown’d, I will not work on thee
With least advantage of that skill I know doth strengthen me,
And so, with privity of sleight, win that for which I strive,
But at thy best, ev’n open strength, if my endeavours thrive.”
Thus sent he his long jav’lin forth. It strook his foe’s huge shield
Near to the upper skirt of brass, which was the eighth it held.
Six folds th’ untamed dart strook through, and in the sev’nth tough hide
The point was check’d. Then Ajax threw; his angry lance did glide
Quite through his bright orbicular targe, his curace, shirt of mail,
And did his manly stomach’s mouth with dang’rous taint assail;
But, in the bowing of himself, black death too short did strike.
Then both, to pluck their jav’lins forth, encounter’d, lion-like,
Whose bloody violence is, increas’d by that raw food they eat,
Or boars whose strength wild nourishment doth make so wondrous great.
Again Priamides did wound in midst his shield of brass,
Yet pierc’d not through the upper plate, the head reflected was.
But Ajax, following his lance, smote through his target quite,
And stay’d bold Hector rushing in; the lance held way outright,
And hurt his neck; out gush’d the blood. Yet Hector ceas’d not so,
But in his strong hand took a flint, as he did backwards go,
Black, sharp, and big, laid in the field; the sev’nfold targe it smit
Full on the boss, and round about the brass did ring with it.
But Ajax a far greater stone lift up, and (wreathing round,
With all his body laid to it) he sent it forth to wound,
And gave unmeasur’d force to it; the round stone broke within
His rundled target; his lov’d knees to languish did begin;
And he lean’d, stretch’d out on his shield; but Phœbus rais’d him straight.
Then had they laid on wounds with swords, in use of closer fight,
Unless the heralds (messengers of Gods and godlike men)
The one of Troy, the other Greece, had held betwixt them then
Imperial sceptres; when the one, Idæus, grave and wise,
Said to them: “Now no more, my sons; the Sov’reign of the skies
Doth love you both; both soldiers are, all witness with good right;
But now night lays her mace on earth; ’tis good t’ obey the night.”
“Idæus,” Telamon replied, “to Hector speak, not me;
He that call’d all our Achive peers to station-fight, ’twas he;
If he first cease, I gladly yield.” Great Hector then began:
“Ajax, since Jove, to thy big form, made thee so strong a man,
And gave thee skill to use thy strength, so much, that for thy spear
Thou art most excellent of Greece, now let us fight forbear.
Hereafter we shall war again, till Jove our herald be,
And grace with conquest which he will. Heav’n yields to night, and we.
Go thou and comfort all thy fleet, all friends and men of thine,
As I in Troy my favourers, who in the fane divine
Have offer’d orisons for me; and come, let us impart
Some ensigns of our strife, to show each other’s suppled heart,
That men of Troy and Greece may say, Thus their high quarrel ends.
Those that, encount’ring, were such foes, are now, being sep’rate, friends,”
He gave a sword, whose handle was with silver studs through driv’n,[5]
Scabbard and all, with hangers rich. By Telamon was giv’n
A fair well-glosséd purple waist. Thus Hector went to Troy,
And after him a multitude, fill’d with his safety’s joy,
Despairing he could ever ’scape the puissant fortitude
And unimpeachéd Ajax’ hands. The Greeks like joy renew’d
For their reputed victory, and brought him to the king;
Who to the great Saturnides preferr’d an offering,
An ox that fed on five fair springs; they flay’d and quarter’d him,[6]
And then, in pieces cut, on spits they roasted ev’ry limb;
Which neatly dress’d, they drew it off. Work done, they fell to feast;
All had enough; but Telamon, the king fed past the rest
With good large pieces of the chine. Thus thirst and hunger stay’d,
Nestor, whose counsels late were best, vows new, and first he said:
“Atrides, and my other lords, a sort of Greeks are dead,
Whose black blood, near Scamander’s stream, inhuman Mars hath shed;
Their souls to hell descended are. It fits thee then, our king,
To make our soldiers cease from war; and, by the day’s first spring,
Let us ourselves, assembled all, the bodies bear to fire,
With mules and oxen near our fleet, that, when we home retire,
Each man may carry to the sons, of fathers slaughter’d here,
Their honour’d bones. One tomb for all, for ever, let us rear,
Circling the pile without the field; at which we will erect
Walls, and a rav’lin, that may safe our fleet and us protect.
And in them let us fashion gates, solid, and barr’d about,
Through which our horse, and chariots, may well get in and out.
Without all, let us dig a dike, so deep it may avail
Our forces ’gainst the charge of horse, and foot, that come t’ assail.
And thus th’ attempts, that I see swell, in Troy’s proud heart, shall fail.”
The kings do his advice approve. So Troy doth court convent
At Priam’s gate, in th’ Ilion tow’r, fearful and turbulent.
Amongst all, wise Antenor spake: “Trojans, and Dardan friends,
And peers assistants, give good ear to what my care commends
To your consents, for all our good. Resolve, let us restore
The Argive Helen, with her wealth, to him she had before.
We now defend but broken faiths. If, therefore, ye refuse,
No good event can I expect of all the wars, we use.”
He ceas’d; and Alexander spake; husband to the Argive queen:
“Antenor, to mine ears thy words harsh and ungracious been.
Thou canst use better if thou wilt: but, if these truly fit
Thy serious thoughts, the Gods with age have reft thy graver wit,
To warlike Trojans I will speak: I clearly do deny
To yield my wife, but all her wealth I render willingly,
Whatever I from Argos brought, and vow to make it more,
Which I have ready in my house, if peace I may restore.”
Priam, surnam’d Dardanides, godlike; in counsels grave;
In his son’s favour well-advis’d, this resolution gave:
“My royal friends of ev’ry state, there is sufficient done,
For this late council we have call’d, in th’ offer of my son.
Now then let all take needful food, then let the watch be set,
And ev’ry court of guard held strong; so, when the morn doth wet
The high-rais’d battlements of Troy, Idæus shall be sent
To th’ Argive fleet, and Atreus’ sons, t’ unfold my son’s intent,
From whose fact our contention springs; and, if they will, obtain
Respite from heat of fight, till fire consume our soldiers slain;
And after, our most fatal war let us importune still,
Till Jove the conquest have dispos’d to his unconquer’d will.”
All heard, and did obey the king; and, in their quarters, all,
That were to set the watch that night, did to their suppers fall.
Idæus in the morning went, and th’ Achive peers did find
In council at Atrides’ ship; his audience was assign’d;
And, in the midst of all the kings, the vocal herald said:
“Atrides! My renownéd king, and other kings, his aid,
Propose by me, in their commands, the offers Paris makes,
From whose joy all our woes proceed. He princely undertakes
That all the wealth he brought from Greece (would he had died before!)
He will, with other added wealth, for your amends restore
But famous Menelaus’ wife he still means to enjoy,
Though he be urg’d the contrary, by all the peers of Troy.
And this besides I have in charge, that, if it please you all,
They wish both sides may cease from war, that rites of funeral
May on their bodies be perform’d, that ill, the fields lie slain;
And after, to the will of Fate, renew the fight again.”
All silence held at first; at last Tydides made reply:
“Let no man take the wealth, or dame; for now a child’s weak eye
May see the imminent black end of Priam’s empery.”
This sentence, quick and briefly giv’n, the Greeks did all admire.
Then said, the king: “Herald, thou hear’st the voice entire
Of all our peers, to answer thee, for that of Priam’s son.
But, for our burning of the dead, by all means I am won
To satisfy thy king therein, without the slend’rest gain
Made of their spoiléd carcasses; but freely, being slain,
They shall be all consum’d with fire. To which I cite
High thund’ring Jove; that is the king of Juno’s delight.”
With this, he held his sceptre up, to all the sky-thron’d Pow’rs;
And grave Idæus did return to sacred Ilion’s tow’rs,
Where Ilians, and Dardanians, did still their counsels ply,
Expecting his return. He came, and told his legacy.
All, whirlwind-like, assembled then, some bodies to transport,
Some to hew trees. On th’ other part, the Argives did exhort
Their soldiers to the same affairs. Then, did the new fir’d sun
Smite the broad fields, ascending heav’n, and th’ ocean smooth did run;
When Greece and Troy mix’d in such peace, you scarce could either know.
Then wash’d they off their blood and dust, and did warm tears bestow
Upon the slaughter’d, and in cars convey’d them from the field.
Priam commanded none should mourn, but in still silence yield
Their honour’d carcasses to fire, and only grieve in heart.
All burn’d; to Troy Troy’s friends retire, to fleet the Grecian part.
Yet doubtful night obscur’d the earth, the day did not appear,
When round about the fun’ral pile, the Grecians gather’d were.
The pile they circled with a tomb, and by it rais’d a wall,
High tow’rs, to guard the fleet and them; and in the midst of all
They built strong gates, through which the horse and chariots passage had;
Without the rampire a broad dike, long and profound, they made,
On which they pallisadoes pitch’d; and thus the Grecians wrought.
Their huge works in so little time were to perfection brought,
That all Gods, by the Lightner set, the frame thereof admir’d;
‘Mongst whom the Earthquake-making God, this of their king inquir’d:
“Father of Gods, will any man, of all earth’s grassy sphere,
Ask any of the Gods’ consents to any actions there,
If thou wilt see the shag-hair’d Greeks, with headstrong labours frame
So huge a work, and not to us due off’rings first enflame?
As far as white Aurora’s dews are sprinkled through the air,
Fame will renown the hands of Greece, for this divine affair;
Men will forget the sacred work, the Sun and I did raise
For king Laomedon (bright Troy) and this will bear the praise.”
Jove was extremely mov’d with him, and said: “What words are these,
Thou mighty Shaker of the earth, thou Lord of all the seas?
Some other God, of far less pow’r, might hold conceits, dismay’d
With this rare Grecian stratagem, and thou rest well apaid;[7]
For it will glorify thy name, as far as light extends;
Since, when these Greeks shall see again their native soil and friends,
The bulwark batter’d, thou mayst quite devour it with thy waves,
And cover, with thy fruitless sands, this fatal shore of graves;
That, what their fi’ry industries have so divinely wrought
In raising it, in razing it thy pow’r will prove it nought.”
Thus spake the Gods among themselves. Set was the fervent sun;
And now the great work of the Greeks was absolutely done.
Then slew they oxen in their tents, and strength with food reviv’d,
When out of Lemnos a great fleet of od’rous wine arrived,
Sent by Eunëus, Jason’s son, born of Hypsipyle.
The fleet contain’d a thousand tun, which must transported be
To Atreus’ sons, as he gave charge, whose merchandise it was.
The Greeks bought wine for shining steel, and some for sounding brass,
Some for ox-hides, for oxen some, and some for prisoners.
A sumptuous banquet was prepar’d; and all that night the peers
And fair-hair’d Greeks consum’d in feast. So Trojans, and their aid.
And all the night Jove thunder’d loud; pale fear all thoughts dismay’d.
While they were gluttonous in earth, Jove wrought their banes in heav’n.
They pour’d full cups upon the ground, and were to off’rings driv’n
Instead of quaffings; and to drink, none durst attempt, before
In solemn sacrifice they did almighty Jove adore.
Then to their rests they all repair’d; bold zeal their fear bereav’d;
And sudden sleep’s refreshing gift, securely they receiv’d.

THE END OF THE SEVENTH BOOK.

[1] These next four books have not my last hand; and because the rest (for a time) will be sufficient to employ your censures, suspend them of these. Spare not the other.

[2] O verè Phrygiæ, neque enim Phryges; saith his imitator.

[3] O si præteritos referat mihi Jupiter annos Qualis eram, etc.

[4] Hine illud: Dominus clypei septemplicis Ajax.

[5] Hector gives Ajax a sword; Ajax, Hector a girdle. Both which gifts were afterwards cause of both their deaths.

[6] Virgil imit.

[7] The fortification that in the twelfth book is razed.

THE EIGHTH BOOK OF HOMER’S ILIADS

THE ARGUMENT

When Jove to all the Gods had giv’n command,
That none to either host should helpful stand,
To Ida he descends; and sees from thence
Juno and Pallas haste the Greeks’ defence;
Whose purpose, his command, by Iris given,
Doth intervent. Then came the silent even,
When Hector charg’d fires should consume the night,
Lest Greeks in darkness took suspected flight.

ANOTHER ARGUMENT

In Theta, Gods a Council have.
Troy’s conquest. Glorious Hector’s brave.

The cheerful Lady of the light, deck’d in her saffron robe,
Dispers’d her beams through ev’ry part of this enflow’red globe,
When thund’ring Jove a Court of Gods assembled by his will
In top of all the topful heights, that crown th’ Olympian hill.
He spake, and all the Gods gave ear: “Hear how I stand inclin’d,
That God nor Goddess may attempt t’ infringe my sov’reign mind,
But all give suffrage that with speed I may these discords end.
What God soever I shall find endeavour to defend
Or Troy or Greece, with wounds to heav’n he, sham’d, shall reascend;
Or, taking with him his offence, I’ll cast him down as deep
As Tartarus, the brood of night, where Barathrum doth steep[1]
Torment, in his profoundest sinks, where is the floor of brass,
And gates of iron; the place, for depth, as far doth hell surpass,
As heav’n, for height, exceeds the earth; then shall he know from thence
How much my pow’r, past all the Gods, hath sov’reign eminence.
Endanger it the whiles and see. Let down our golden chain,
And at it let all Deities their utmost strengths constrain
To draw me to the earth from heav’n; you never shall prevail,
Though, with your most contention, ye dare my state assail,
But when my will shall be dispos’d, to draw you all to me,
Ev’n with the earth itself, and seas, ye shall enforced be;
Then will I to Olympus’ top our virtuous engine bind,
And by it ev’rything shall hang, by my command inclin’d.
So much I am supreme to Gods, to men supreme as much.”
The Gods sat silent, and admir’d, his dreadful speech was such.
At last his blue-ey’d daughter spake: “O great Saturnides!
O father, O heav’n’s highest king, well know we the excess
Of thy great pow’r, compar’d with all; yet the bold Greeks’ estate
We needs must mourn, since they must fall beneath so hard a fate;
For, if thy grave command enjoin, we will abstain from fight.
But to afford them such advice, as may relieve their plight,
We will, with thy consent, be bold; that all may not sustain
The fearful burthen of thy wrath, and with their shames be slain.”
He smil’d, and said: “Be confident, thou art belov’d of me;
I speak not this with serious thoughts, but will be kind to thee.”
This said, his brass-hoof’d wingéd horse he did to chariot bind,
Whose crests were fring’d with manes of gold; and golden garments shin’d
On his rich shoulders; in his hand he took a golden scourge,
Divinely fashion’d, and with blows their willing speed did urge
Mid way betwixt the earth and heav’n. To Ida: then he came,
Abounding in delicious springs, and nurse of beasts untame,
Where, on the mountain Gargarus, men did a fane erect
To his high name, and altars sweet; and there his horse he check’d,
Dissolv’d them from his chariot, and in a cloud of jet
He cover’d them, and on the top took his triumphant seat,
Beholding Priam’s famous town, and all the fleet of Greece.
The Greeks took breakfast speedily, and arm’d at ev’ry piece.
So Trojans; who though fewer far, yet all to fight took arms,
Dire need enforc’d them to avert their wives’ and children’s harms.
All gates flew open; all the host did issue, foot and horse,
In mighty tumult; straight one place adjoin’d each adverse force.
Then shields with shields met, darts with darts, strength against strength oppos’d;
The boss-pik’d targets were thrust on, and thunder’d as they clos’d
In mighty tumult; groan for groan, and breath for breath did breathe,
Of men then slain, and to be slain; earth flow’d with fruits of death.
While the fair morning’s beauty held, and day increas’d in height,
Their jav’lins mutually made death transport an equal freight,
But when the hot meridian point, bright Phœbus did ascend,
Then Jove his golden balances did equally extend,
And, of long-rest-conferring death, put in two bitter fates
For Troy and Greece; he held the midst; the day of final dates
Fell on the Greeks; the Greeks’ hard lot sunk to the flow’ry ground,
The Trojans’ leapt as high as heav’n. Then did the claps resound
Of his fierce thunder; lightning leapt amongst each Grecian troop;
The sight amaz’d them; pallid fear made boldest stomachs stoop,
Then Idomen durst not abide, Atrides went his way,
And both th’ Ajaces; Nestor yet, against his will did stay,
That grave protector of the Greeks, for Paris with a dart
Enrag’d one of his chariot horse; he smote the upper part
Of all his skull, ev’n where the hair, that made his foretop, sprung.
The hurt was deadly, and the pain so sore the courser stung,
(Pierc’d to the brain) he stamp’d and plung’d. One on another bears,
Entangled round about the beam; then Nestor cut the gears
With his new-drawn authentic sword. Meanwhile the fi’ry horse
Of Hector brake into the press, with their bold ruler’s force;
Then good old Nestor had been slain, had Diomed not espy’d,
Who to Ulysses, as he fled, importunately cried:
“Thou that in counsels dost abound, O Laertiades,
Why fly’st thou? Why thus, coward-like, shunn’st thou the honour’d prease?
Take heed thy back take not a dart. Stay, let us both intend
To drive this cruel enemy, from our dear agéd friend.”
He spake, but wary Ithacus would find no patient ear,
But fled forthright, ev’n to the fleet. Yet, though he single were,
Brave Diomed mix’d amongst the fight, and stood before the steeds
Of old Neleides, whose estate thus kingly he areeds:
“O father, with these youths in fight, thou art unequal plac’d,
Thy willing sinews are unknit, grave age pursues thee fast,
And thy unruly horse are slow; my chariot therefore use,
And try how ready Trojan horse, can fly him that pursues,
Pursue the flier, and ev’ry way perform the varied fight;
I forc’d them from Anchises’ son, well skill’d in cause of flight.
Then let my squire lead hence thy horse; mine thou shalt guard, whilst I,
By thee advanc’d, assay the fight, that Hector’s self may try
If my lance dote with the defects, that fail best minds in age,
Or finds the palsy in my hands, that doth thy life engage.”
This noble Nestor did accept, and Diomed’s two friends,
Eurymedon that valour loves, and Sthenelus, ascends
Old Nestor’s coach. Of Diomed’s horse Nestor the charge sustains,
And Tydeus’ son took place of fight. Neleides held the reins,
And scourg’d the horse, who swiftly ran direct in Hector’s face;
Whom fierce Tydides bravely charg’d, but, he turn’d from the chace,
His jav’lin Eniopeus smit, mighty Thebæus’ son,
And was great Hector’s charioteer; it through his breast did run,
Near to his pap; he fell to earth, back flew his frighted horse,
His strength and soul were both dissolv’d. Hector had deep remorse
Of his mishap; yet left he him, and for another sought;
Nor long his steeds did want a guide, for straight good fortune brought
Bold Archeptolemus, whose life did from Iphitis spring;
He made him take the reins and mount. Then souls were set on wing;
Then high exploits were undergone; then Trojans in their walls
Had been infolded like meek lambs, had Jove wink’d at their falls,
Who hurl’d his horrid thunder forth, and made pale lightnings fly.
Into the earth, before the horse that Nestor did apply.
A dreadful flash burnt through the air, that savour’d sulphur-like,
Which down before the chariot the dazzled horse did strike.
The fair reins fell from Nestor’s hand, who did in fear entreat
Renown’d Tydides into flight to turn his fury’s heat:
“For know’st thou not,” said he, “our aid is not supplied from Jove?
This day he will give fame to Troy, which when it fits his love
We shall enjoy. Let no man tempt his unresisted will,
Though he exceed in gifts of strength; for he exceeds him still.”
“Father,” replied the king, “’tis true; but both my heart and soul
Are most extremely griev’d to think how Hector will control
My valour with his vaunts in Troy, that I was terror-sick
With his approach; which when he boasts, let earth devour me quick.”
“Ah! warlike Tydeus’ son,” said he, “what needless words are these?
Though Hector should report thee faint, and amorous of thy ease,
The Trojans, nor the Trojan wives, would never give him trust,
Whose youthful husbands thy free hand hath smother’d so in dust.”
This said, he turn’d his one-hoof’d horse to flight, and troop did take,
When Hector and his men, with shouts, did greedy púrsuit make,
And pour’d on darts that made air sigh. Then Hector did exclaim:
“O Tydeus’ son, the kings of Greece do most renown thy name
With highest place, feasts, and full cups; who now will do thee shame;
Thou shalt be like a woman us’d, and they will say: ‘Depart,
Immartial minion, since to stand Hector thou hadst no heart.’
Nor canst thou scale our turrets’ tops, nor lead the wives to fleet
Of valiant men; that wife-like fear’st my adverse charge to meet.”
This two ways mov’d him,—still to fly, or turn his horse and fight.
Thrice thrust he forward to assault, and ev’ry time the fright
Of Jove’s fell thunder drave him back, which he propos’d for sign
(To show the change of victory) Trojans should victors shine.
Then Hector comforted his men: “All my advent’rous friends,
Be men, and, of your famous strength, think of the honour’d ends.
I know benevolent Jupiter, did by his beck profess
Conquest and high renown to me, and to the Greeks distress.
O fools, to raise such silly forts, not worth the least account,
Nor able to resist our force! With ease our horse may mount,
Quite over all their hollow dike. But, when their fleet I reach,
Let Memory to all the world a famous bonfire teach,
For I will all their ships inflame, with whose infestive smoke,
Fear-shrunk, and hidden near their keels, the conquer’d Greeks shall choke.”
Then cherish’d he his famous horse: “O Xanthus, now,” said he,
“And thou Podargus, Æthon too, and Lampus, dear to me,
Make me some worthy recompense, for so much choice of meat,
Giv’n you by fair Andromache; bread of the purest wheat,
And with it, for your drink, mix’d wine, to make ye wishéd cheer,
Still serving you before myself, her husband young and dear.
Pursue, and use your swiftest speed, that we may take for prise
The shield of old Neleides, which fame lifts to the skies,
Ev’n to the handles telling it to be of massy gold.
And from the shoulders let us take, of Diomed the bold,
The royal curace Vulcan wrought, with art so exquisite,
These if we make our sacred spoil, I doubt not, but this night,
Ev’n to their navy to enforce the Greeks unturnéd flight.”
This Juno took in high disdain, and made Olympus shake
As she but stirr’d within her throne, and thus to Neptune spake:
“O Neptune, what a spite is this! Thou God so huge in pow’r,
Afflicts it not thy honour’d heart, to see rude spoil devour
These Greeks that have in Helice, and Aege, offer’d thee
So many and such wealthy gifts? Let them the victors be.
If we, that are the aids of Greece, would beat home these of Troy,
And hinder broad-ey’d Jove’s proud will, it would abate his joy.”
He, angry, told her she was rash, and he would not be one
Of all the rest, should strive with Jove, whose pow’r was match’d by none.
Whiles they conferr’d thus, all the space the trench contain’d before
(From that part of the fort that flank’d the navy-anchoring shore)
Was filled with horse and targeteers, who there for refuge came,
By Mars-swift Hector’s pow’r engaged; Jove gave his strength the fame;
And he with spoilful fire had burn’d the fleet, if Juno’s grace
Had not inspir’d the king himself, to run from place to place,
And stir up ev’ry soldier’s pow’r, to some illustrious deed.
First visiting their leaders’ tents, his ample purple weed
He wore, to show all who he was, and did his station take
At wise Ulysses’ sable barks, that did the battle make
Of all the fleet; from whence his speech might with more ease be driv’n
To Ajax’ and Achilles’ ships, to whose chief charge were giv’n
The vantguard and the rearguard both, both for their force of hand,
And trusty bosoms. There arriv’d, thus urg’d he to withstand
Th’ insulting Trojans: “O what shame, ye empty-hearted lords,
Is this to your admiréd forms! Where are your glorious words,
In Lemnos vaunting you the best of all the Grecian host?
‘We are the strongest men,’ ye said, ‘we will command the most,
Eating most flesh of high-horn’d beeves, and drinking cups full crown’d,
And ev’ry man a hundred foes, two hundred, will confound;
Now all our strength, dar’d to our worst; one Hector cannot tame,’
Who presently with horrid fire, will all our fleet inflame.
O Father Jove, hath ever yet thy most unsuffer’d hand
Afflicted, with such spoil of souls, the king of any land,
And taken so much fame from him? when I did never fail,
(Since under most unhappy stars; this fleet was under sail)
Thy glorious altars, I protest, but, above all the Gods,
Have burnt fat thighs of beeves to thee, and pray’d to raze th’ abodes
Of rape-defending Ilions. Yet grant, almighty Jove,
One favour;—that we may at least with life from hence remove,
Not under such inglorious hands, the hands of death employ;
And, where Troy should be stoop’d by Greece, let Greece fall under Troy.”
To this ev’n weeping king did Jove remorseful audience give,
And shook great heav’n to him, for sign his men and he should live.
Then quickly cast he off his hawk, the eagle prince of air,
That perfects his unspotted vows; who seiz’d in her repair
A sucking hind calf, which she truss’d in her enforcive seres,
And by Jove’s altar let it fall, amongst th’ amazéd peers,
Where the religious Achive kings, with sacrifice did please
The author of all oracles, divine Saturnides.
Now, when they knew the bird of Jove, they turn’d courageous head.
When none, though many kings put on, could make his vaunt, he led
Tydides to renew’d assault, or issu’d first the dike,
Or first did fight; but, far the first, stone dead his lance did strike
Arm’d Agelaus, by descent surnam’d Phradmonides;
He turn’d his ready horse to flight, and Diomed’s lance did seize
His back betwixt his shoulder-blades, and look’d out at his breast;
He fell, and his arms rang his fall. Th’ Atrides next address’d
Themselves to fight; th’ Ajaces next, with vehement strength endued;
Idomenëus and his friend, stout Merion, next pursued;
And after these Eurypylus, Evemon’s honour’d race;
The ninth, with backward-wreathéd bow, had little Teucer place,
He still fought under Ajax’ shield, who sometimes held it by,
And then he look’d his object out, and let his arrow fly,
And, whomsoever in the press he wounded; him he slew,
Then under Ajax’ sev’n-fold shield, he presently withdrew.
He far’d like an unhappy child, that doth to mother run
For succour, when he knows full well, he some shrewd turn hath done.
What Trojans then were to their deaths, by Teucer’s shafts impress’d?
Hapless Orsilochus was first, Ormenus, Ophelest,
Dæter, and hardy Chromius, and Lycophon divine,
And Amopaon that did spring from Polyæmon’s line,
And Menalippus; all, on heaps, he tumbled to the ground.
The king rejoic’d to see his shafts the Phrygian ranks confound,
Who straight came near, and spake to him: “O Teucer, lovely man,
Strike still so sure, and be a grace to ev’ry Grecian,
And to thy father Telamon, who took thee kindly home
(Although not by his wife his son) and gave thee foster room,
Ev’n from thy childhood; then to him, though far from hence remov’d,
Make good fame reach; and to thyself, I vow what shall be prov’d:
If he that dreadful Ægis bears, and Pallas, grant to me
Th’ expugnance of well-builded Troy; I first will honour thee
Next to myself with some rich gift, and put it in thy hand:
A three-foot vessel, that, for grace, in sacred fanes doth stand;
Or two horse and a chariot; or else a lovely dame
That may ascend on bed with thee, and amplify thy name.”
Teucer right nobly answer’d him: “Why, most illustrate king,
I being thus forward of myself, dost thou, adjoin a sting?
Without which, all the pow’r I have, I cease not to employ,
For, from the place where we repuls’d the Trojans towards Troy,
I all the purple field have strew’d, with, one or other slain.
Eight shafts I shot, with long steel heads, of which not one in vain,
All were in youthful bodies fix’d, well skill’d in war’s constraint;
Yet this wild dog; with all my aim, I have no pow’r to taint.”
This said, another arrow forth, from his stiff string he sent,
At Hector, whom he long’d to wound; but still amiss it went.
His shaft smit fair Gorgythion, of Priam’s princely race,
Who in Æpina was brought forth, a famous town in Thrace,
By Castianira, that, for form, was like celestial breed;
And, as a crimson poppy flow’r, surchargéd with his seed,
And vernal humours falling thick, declines his heavy brow,
So, of one side, his helmet’s weight his fainting head did bow.
Yet Teucer would, another shaft at Hector’s life dispose,
So fain he such a mark would hit, but still beside it goes;
Apollo did avert the shaft; but Hector’s charioteer,
Bold Archeptolemus, he smit, as he was rushing near
To make the fight; to earth he fell, his swift horse back did fly,
And there were both his strength and soul exil’d eternally.
Huge grief, for Hector’s slaughter’d friend, pinch’d-in his mighty mind,
Yet was he forc’d to leave him there, and his void place resign’d
To his sad brother, that was by, Cebriones; whose ear
Receiving Hector’s charge, he straight the weighty reins did bear;
And Hector from his shining coach, with horrid voice, leap’d on,
To wreak his friend on Teucer’s hand; and up he took a stone,
With which he at the archer ran; who from his quiver drew
A sharp-pil’d shaft, and nock’d it sure; but in great Hector flew
With such fell speed, that; in his draught, he his right shoulder strook
Where,’twixt his neck and breast, the joint his native closure took.
The wound was wondrous full of death, his, string in sunder flees,
His numméd hand fell strengthless down, and he upon his knees.
Ajax neglected not to aid his brother thus depress’d,
But came and saft him with his shield; and two more friends, address’d
To be his aid, took him to fleet, Mecisteus, Echius’ son,
And gay Alastor. Teucer sigh’d, for all his service done.
Then did Olympius, with fresh strength, the Trojan pow’rs revive,
Who, to their trenches once again, the troubled Greeks did drive.
Hector brought terror with his strength, and ever fought before.
As when some highly stomach’d hound, that hunts a sylvan boar,
Or kingly lion, loves the haunch, and pincheth oft behind,
Bold of his feet, and still observes the game to turn inclin’d,
Not utterly dissolv’d in flight; so Hector did pursue,
And whosoever was the last, he ever did subdue,
They fled, but, when they had their dike, and palisadoes, pass’d,
(A number of them put to sword) at ships they stay’d at last.
Then mutual exhortations flew, then, all with hands and eyes
Advanc’d to, all the Gods, their plagues wrung from them open cries.
Hector, with his four rich-man’d horse, assaulting always rode,
The eyes of Gorgon burnt in him, and war’s vermilion God.
The Goddess that all Goddesses, for snowy arms, out-shin’d,
Thus spake to Pallas, to the Greeks with gracious ruth inclin’d:
“O Pallas, what a grief is this! Is all our succour past
To these our perishing Grecian friends? At least withheld at last,
Ev’n now, when one man’s violence must make them perish all,
In satisfaction of a fate so full of funeral?
Hector Priamides now raves, no more to be endur’d.
That hath already on the Greeks so many harms inur’d.”
The azure Goddess answer’d her: “This man had surely found
His fortitude and life dissolv’d, ev’n on his father’s ground,
By Grecian valour, if my sire, infested with ill moods,
Did not so dote on these of Troy, too jealous of their bloods,
And ever an unjust repulse stands to my willing pow’rs,
Little rememb’ring what I did, in all the desp’rate hours
Of his affected Hercules; I ever rescu’d him,
In labours of Eurystheüs, untouch’d in life or limb,
When he, heav’n knows, with drownéd eyes look’d up for help to heav’n,
Which ever, at command of Jove, was by my suppliance giv’n,
But had my wisdom reach’d so far, to, know of this event,
When to the solid-ported depths of hell his son was sent,
To hale out hateful Pluto’s dog from darksome Erebus,
He had not ’scap’d the streams of Styx, so deep and dangerous.
Yet Jove hates me, and shows his love in doing Thetis’ will,
That kiss’d his knees, and strok’d his chin, pray’d, and importun’d till,
That he would honour with his aid her city-razing son,
Displeas’d Achilles; and for him our friends are thus undone.
But time shall come again, when he, to do his friends some aid,
Will call me his Glaucopides, his sweet and blue-eyed Maid.
Then harness thou thy horse for me, that his bright palace gates
I soon may enter, arming me, to order these debates;
And I will try if Priam’s son will still maintain his cheer,
When in the crimson paths of war, I dreadfully appear;
For some proud Trojans shall be sure to nourish dogs and fowls,
And pave the shore with fat and flesh, depriv’d of lives and souls.”
Juno prepar’d her horse, whose manes ribands of gold enlac’d.
Pallas her party-colour’d robe on her bright shoulders cast,
Divinely wrought with her own hands, in th’ entry of her sire.
Then put she on her ample breast her under-arming tire,
And on it her celestial arms. The chariot straight she takes,
With her huge heavy violent lance, with which she slaughter makes
Of armies fatal to her wrath. Saturnia whipp’d horse,
And heav’n-gates, guarded by the Hours, op’d by their proper force.
Through which they flew. Whom when Jove saw (set near the Idalian springs)
Highly, displeas’d, he Iris call’d, that hath the golden wings,
And said: “Fly, Iris, turn them back, let them not come at me,
Our meetings, sev’rally dispos’d, will nothing gracious be.
Beneath their o’erthrown chariot I’ll shiver their proud steeds,
Hurl down themselves, their waggon break, and, for their stubborn deeds,
In ten whole years they shall not heal the wounds I will impress
With horrid thunder; that my maid may know when to address
Arms ’gainst her father. For my wife, she doth not so offend.
’Tis but her use to interrupt whatever I intend.”
Iris, with this, left Ida’s hills, and up t’ Olympus flew,
Met near heav’n-gates the Goddesses, and thus their haste withdrew:
“What course intend you? Why are you wrapp’d with your fancies’ storm?
Jove likes not ye should aid the Greeks, but threats, and will perform,
To crush in pieces your swift horse beneath their glorious yokes,
Hurl down yourselves, your chariot break, and, those impoison’d strokes
His wounding thunder shall imprint in your celestial parts,
In ten full springs ye shall not cure; that She that tames proud hearts
(Thyself, Minerva) may be taught to know for what, and when,
Thou dost against thy father fight; for sometimes childeren
May with discretion plant themselves against their fathers’ wills,
But not, where humours only rule, in works beyond their skills.
For Juno; she offends him not, nor vexeth him so much,
For ’tis her use to cross his will, her impudence is such,
The habit of offence in this she only doth contract,
And so grieves or incenseth less, though ne’er the less her fact.
But thou most griev’st him, doggéd dame, whom he rebukes in time,
Lest silence should pervert thy will, and pride too highly climb
In thy bold bosom, desp’rate girl, if seriously thou dare
Lift thy unwieldy lance ’gainst Jove, as thy pretences are.”
She left them, and Saturnia said: “Ah me! Thou seed of Jove,
By my advice we will no more unfit convention move
With Jupiter, for mortal men; of whom, let this man die,
And that man live, whoever he pursues with destiny;
And let him, plotting all events, dispose of either host,
As he thinks fittest for them both, and may become us most.”
Thus turn’d she back, and to the Hours her rich-man’d horse resign’d,
Who them t’ immortal mangers bound; the chariot they inclin’d
Beneath the crystal walls of heav’n; and they in golden thrones
Consorted other Deities, replete with passións,
Jove, in his bright-wheel’d chariot, his fi’ry horse now, beats
Up to Olympus, and aspir’d the Gods’ eternal seats.
Great Neptune loos’d his horse, his car upon the altar plac’d,
And heav’nly-linen coverings did round about it cast.
The Far-seer us’d his throne of gold. The vast Olympus shook
Beneath his feet. His wife, and maid, apart places took,
Nor any word afforded him. He knew their thoughts, and said:
“Why do you thus torment yourselves? You need not sit dismay’d
With the long labours you have us’d in your victorious fight,
Destroying Trojans, ’gainst whose lives you heap such high despite.
Ye should have held your glorious course; for, be assur’d, as far
As all my pow’rs, by all means urg’d, could have sustain’d the war,
Not all the host of Deities should have retir’d my hand
From vow’d inflictions on the Greeks, much less you two withstand.
But you, before you saw the fight, much less the slaughter there,
Had all your goodly lineaments possess’d with shaking fear,
And never had your chariot borne their charge to heav’n again,
But thunder should have smit you both, had you one Trojan slain.”
Both Goddesses let fall their chins upon their ivory breasts,
Set next to Jove, contriving still afflicted Troy’s unrests.
Pallas for anger could not speak; Saturnia, contrary,
Could not for anger hold her peace, but made this bold reply:
“Not-to-be-suff’red Jupiter, what need’st thou still enforce
Thy matchless pow’r? We know it well; but we must yield remorse
To them that yield us sacrifice. Nor need’st thou thus deride
Our kind obedience, nor our griefs, but bear our pow’rs applied
To just protection of the Greeks, that anger tomb not all
In Troy’s foul gulf of perjury, and let them stand should fall.”
“Grieve not,” said Jove, “at all done yet; for, if thy fair eyes please
This next red morning they shall see the great Saturnides
Bring more destruction to the Greeks; and Hector shall not cease,
Till he have rouséd from the fleet swift-foot Æacides,
In that day, when before their ships, for his Patroclus slain,
The Greeks in great distress shall fight; for so the Fates ordain.
I weigh not thy displeaséd spleen, though to th’ extremest bounds
Of earth and seas it carry thee, where endless night confounds
Japet, and my dejected Sire, who sit so far beneath,
They never see the flying sun, nor hear the winds that breath,
Near to profoundest Tartarus. Nor, thither if thou went,
Would I take pity of thy moods, since none more impudent.”
To this she nothing did reply. And now Sol’s glorious light
Fell to the sea, and to the land drew up the drowsy night.
The Trojans griev’d at Phœbus’ fall, which all the Greeks desir’d,
And sable night, so often wish’d, to earth’s firm throne aspir’d.
Hector (intending to consult) near to the gulfy flood,
Far from the fleet, led to a place, pure and exempt from blood,
The Trojans’ forces. From their horse all lighted, and did hear
Th’ oration Jove-lov’d Hector made; who held a goodly spear,
Elev’n full cubits long, the head was brass, and did reflect
A wanton light before him still, it round about was deck’d
With strong hoops of new-burnish’d gold. On this he lean’d, and said:
“Hear me, my worthy friends of Troy, and you our honour’d aid.
A little since, I had conceit we should have made retreat,
By light of the inflaméd fleet, with all the Greeks’ escheat,
But darkness hath prevented us; and saft, with special grace,
These Achives and their shore-hal’d fleet. Let us then render place
To sacred Night, our suppers dress, and from our chariot free
Our fair-man’d horse, and meat them well. Then let there convoy’d be,
From forth the city presently, oxen and well-fed sheep,
Sweet wine, and bread; and fell much wood, that all night we may keep
Plenty of fires, ev’n till the light bring forth the lovely morn,
And let their brightness glaze the skies, that night may not suborn
The Greeks’ escape, if they for flight the sea’s broad back would take;
At least they may not part with ease, but, as retreat they make,
Each man may bear a wound with him, to cure when he comes home,
Made with a shaft or sharp’ned spear; and others fear to come,
With charge of lamentable war, ’gainst soldiers bred in Troy.
Then let our heralds through the town their offices employ
To warn the youth, yet short of war, and time-white fathers, past,
That in our god-built tow’rs they see strong courts of guard be plac’d,
About the walls; and let our dames, yet flourishing in years,
That, having beauties to keep pure, are most inclin’d to fears
(Since darkness in distressful times more dreadful is than light)
Make lofty fires in ev’ry house; and thus, the dang’rous night,
Held with strong watch, if th’ enemy have ambuscadoes laid
Near to our walls (and therefore seem in flight the more dismay’d,
Intending a surprise, while we are all without the town)
They ev’ry way shall be impugn’d, to, ev’ry man’s renown.
Perform all this, brave Trojan friends. What now I have to say
Is all express’d; the cheerful morn shall other things display.
It is my glory (putting trust in Jove, and other Gods)
That I shall now expulse these dogs Fates sent to our abodes,
Who bring ostents of destiny, and black their threat’ning fleet.
But this night let us hold strong guards; to-morrow we will meet
(With fierce-made war) before their ships, and I’ll make known to all
If strong Tydides from their ships can drive me to their wall,
Or I can pierce him with my sword, and force his bloody spoil.
The wishéd morn shall show his pow’r, if he can shun his foil
I running on him with my lance. I think; when day ascends,
He shall lie wounded with the first, and by him many friends.
O that I were as sure to live immortal, and sustain
No frailties with increasing years, but evermore remain
Ador’d like Pallas, or the Sun, as all doubts die in me
That heav’n’s next light shall be the last the Greeks shall ever see!”
This speech all Trojans did applaud; who from their traces los’d
Their sweating horse, which sev’rally with headstalls they repos’d,
And fast’ned by their chariots; when others brought from town
Fat sheep and oxen, instantly, bread, wine; and hewéd down
Huge store of wood. The winds transferr’d into the friendly sky
Their supper’s savour; to the which they sat delightfully,
And spent all night in open field; fires round about them shin’d.
As when about the silver moon, when air is free from wind,
And stars shine clear, to whose sweet beams, high prospects, and the brows
Of all steep hills and pinnacles, thrust up themselves for shows,
And ev’n the lowly valleys joy to glitter in their sight,
When the unmeasur’d firmament bursts to disclose her light,
And all the signs in heav’n are seen, that glad the shepherd’s heart;
So many fires disclos’d their beams, made by the Trojan part,
Before the face of Ilion, and her bright turrets show’d.
A thousand courts of guard kept fires, and ev’ry guard allow’d
Fifty stout men, by whom their horse ate oats and hard white corn,
And all did wishfully expect the silver-thronéd morn.

THE END OF THE EIGHTH BOOK.

[1] Virgil maketh this likewise his place, adding, Bis patet in præceps tantum, tenditque sub umbras, etc.

THE NINTH BOOK OF HOMER’S ILIADS

THE ARGUMENT

To Agamemnon, urging hopeless flight,
Stand Diomed, and Nestor, opposite.
By Nestor’s counsel, legates are dismiss’d
To Thetis’ son; who still denies t’ assist.

ANOTHER ARGUMENT

Iota sings the Ambassy,
And great Achilles’ stern reply.

So held the Trojans sleepless guard; the Greeks to flight were giv’n,
The feeble consort of cold fear, strangely infus’d from heav’n;
Grief, not to be endur’d, did wound all Greeks of greatest worth.
And as two lateral-sited winds, the west wind and the north,
Meet at the Thracian sea’s black breast, join in a sudden blore,
Tumble together the dark waves, and pour upon the shore
A mighty deal of froth and weed, with which men manure ground;
So Jove, and Troy did drive the Greeks, and all their minds confound.
But Agamemnon most of all was tortur’d at his heart,
Who to the voiceful heralds went, and bade them cite, apart,
Each Grecian leader sev’rally, not openly proclaim.
In which he labour’d with the first; and all together came.
They sadly sate. The king arose, and pour’d out tears as fast
As from a lofty rock a spring doth his black waters cast,
And, deeply sighing, thus bespake the Achives: “O my friends,
Princes, and leaders of the Greeks, heav’n’s adverse King extends
His wrath, with too much detriment, to my so just design,
Since he hath often promis’d me, and bound it with the sign
Of his bent forehead, that this Troy our vengeful hands should race,
And safe return; yet, now engag’d, he plagues us with disgrace,
When all our trust to him hath drawn so much blood from our friends.
My glory, nor my brother’s wreak, were the proposéd ends,
For which he drew you to these toils, but your whole countries’ shame,
Which had been huge to bear the rape of so divine a dame,
Made in despite of our revenge. And yet not that had mov’d
Our pow’rs to these designs, if Jove had not our drifts approv’d;
Which since we see he did for blood, ’tis desp’rate fight in us
To strive with him; then let us fly; ’tis flight he urgeth thus.”
Long time still silence held them all; at last did Diomed rise:
“Atrides, I am first must cross thy indiscreet advice,[1]
As may become me, being a king, in this our martial court.
Be not displeas’d then; for thyself didst broadly misreport
In open field my fortitude, and call’d me faint and weak,
Yet I was silent, knowing the time, loth any rites to break
That appertain’d thy public rule, yet all the Greeks knew well,
Of ev’ry age, thou didst me wrong. As thou then didst refell
My valour first of all the host, as of a man dismay’d;
So now, with fit occasion giv’n, I first blame thee afraid.
Inconstant Saturn’s son hath giv’n inconstant spirits to thee,
And, with a sceptre over all, an eminent degree;
But with a sceptre’s sov’reign grace, the chief pow’r, fortitude,
(To bridle thee) he thought not best thy breast should be endu’d.
Unhappy king, think’st thou the Greeks are such a silly sort,
And so excessive impotent, as thy weak words import?
If thy mind move thee to be gone, the way is open, go;
Mycenian ships enow ride near, that brought thee to this woe;
The rest of Greece will stay, nor stir till Troy be overcome
With full eversion; or if not, but (doters of their home)
Will put on wings to fly with thee. Myself and Sthenelus
Will fight till (trusting favouring Jove) we bring home Troy with us.”
This all applauded, and admir’d the spirit of Diomed;
When Nestor, rising from the rest, his speech thus seconded:
“Tydides, thou art, questionless, our strongest Greek in war,
And gravest in thy counsels too, of all that equal are
In place with thee, and stand on strength; nor is there any one
Can blame, or contradict thy speech; and yet thou hast not gone
So far, but we must further go. Thou’rt young, and well mightst be
My youngest son, though still I yield thy words had high degree
Of wisdom in them to our king, since well they did become
Their right in question, and refute inglorious going home.
But I (well known thy senior far) will speak, and handle all
Yet to propose, which none shall check; no, not our general.
A hater of society, unjust, and wild, is he
That loves intestine war, being stuff’d with manless cruelty.
And therefore in persuading peace, and home-flight, we the less
May blame our gen’ral, as one loth to wrap in more distress
His lovéd soldiers. But because they bravely are resolv’d
To cast lives after toils, before they part in shame involv’d,
Provide we for our honour’d stay; obey black night, and fall
Now to our suppers; then appoint our guards without the wall,
And in the bottom of the dike; which guard I wish may stand
Of our brave youth. And, Atreus’ son, since thou art in command
Before our other kings, be first in thy command’s effect.
It well becomes thee; since ’tis both what all thy peers expect,
And in the royal right of things is no impair to thee.
Nor shall it stand with less than right, that they invited be
To supper by thee; all thy tents are amply stor’d with wine,
Brought daily in Greek ships from Thrace; and to this grace of thine
All necessaries thou hast fit, and store of men to wait;
And, many meeting there, thou may’st hear ev’ry man’s conceit,
And take the best. It much concerns all Greeks to use advice
Of gravest nature, since so near our ships our enemies
Have lighted such a sort of fires, with which what man is joy’d?
Look, how all bear themselves this night; so live, or be destroy’d.”
All heard, and follow’d his advice. There was appointed then
Sev’n captains of the watch, who forth did march with all their men.
The first was famous Thrasymed, adviceful Nestor’s son;
Ascalaphus; and Ialmen; and mighty Merion;
Alphareus; and Deipyrus; and lovely Lycomed,
Old Creon’s joy. These sev’n bold lords an hundred soldiers led,
In ev’ry sever’d company, and ev’ry man his pike,
Some placéd on the rampire’s top, and some amidst the dike.
All fires made, and their suppers took. Atrides to his tent
Invited all the peers of Greece, and food sufficient
Appos’d before them, and the peers appos’d their hands to it.
Hunger and thirst being quickly quench’d, to counsel still they sit.
And first spake Nestor, who they thought of late advis’d so well,
A father grave, and rightly wise, who thus his tale did tell:
“Most high Atrides, since in thee I have intent to end,
From thee will I begin my speech, to whom Jove doth commend
The empire of so many men, and puts into thy hand
A sceptre, and establish’d laws, that thou mayst well command,
And counsel all men under thee. It therefore doth behove
Thyself to speak most, since of all thy speeches most will move;
And yet to hear, as well as speak; and then perform as well
A free just counsel; in thee still must stick what others tell.
For me, what in my judgment stands the most convenient
I will advise, and am assur’d advice more competent
Shall not be giv’n; the gen’ral proof, that hath before been made
Of what I speak, confirms me still, and now may well persuade,
Because I could not then, yet ought, when thou, most royal king,
Ev’n from the tent, Achilles’ love didst violently bring,
Against my counsel, urging thee by all means to relent;
But you, obeying your high mind, would venture the event,
Dishonouring our ablest Greek, a man th’ Immortals grace.
Again yet let’s deliberate, to make him now embrace
Affection to our gen’ral good, and bring his force to field;
Both which kind words and pleasing gifts must make his virtues yield.”
“O father,” answeréd the king, “my wrongs thou tell’st me right.
Mine own offence mine own tongue grants. One man must stand in fight
For our whole army; him I wrong’d; him Jove loves from his heart,
He shows it in thus honouring him; who, living thus apart,
Proves us but number, for his want makes all our weakness seen.
Yet after my confess’d offence, soothing my hum’rous spleen,
I’ll sweeten his affects again with presents infinite,
Which, to prove my firm intent, I’ll openly recite:
Sev’n sacred tripods free from fire; ten talents of fine gold;
Twenty bright cauldrons; twelve young horse, well-shap’d, and well-controll’d,
And victors too, for they have won the prize at many a race,
That man should not be poor that had but what their wingéd pace
Hath added to my treasury, nor feel sweet gold’s defect.
Sev’n Lesbian ladies he shall have, that were the most select,
And in their needles rarely skill’d, whom, when he took the town
Of famous Lesbos, I did choose; who won the chief renown
For beauty from their whole fair sex; amongst whom I’ll resign
Fair Brisis, and I deeply swear (for any fact of mine
That may discourage her receipt) she is untouch’d, and rests
As he resign’d her. To these gifts (if Jove to our requests
Vouchsafe performance, and afford the work, for which we wait,
Of winning Troy) with brass and gold he shall his navy freight;
And, ent’ring when we be at spoil, that princely hand of his
Shall choose him twenty Trojan dames, excepting Tyndaris,
The fairest Pergamus enfolds; and, if we make retreat
To Argos, call’d of all the world the Navel, or chief seat,
He shall become my son-in-law, and I will honour him
Ev’n as Orestes, my sole son, that cloth in honours swim.
Three daughters in my well-built court unmarried are, and fair;
Laodice, Chrysothemis that hath the golden hair,
And Iphianassa; of all three the worthiest let him take
All-jointureless to Peleus’ court; I will her jointure make,
And that so great as never yet did any maid prefer,
Sev’n cities right magnificent, I will bestow on her;
Enope, and Cardamyle, Mira for herbs renown’d,
The fair Æpea, Pedasus that doth with grapes abound,
Anthæa girded with green meads, Phera surnam’d Divine;
All whose bright turrets on the sea, in sandy Pylos, shine.
Th’ inhabitants in flocks and herds are wondrous confluent,
Who like a God will honour him, and him with gifts present,
And to his throne will contribute what tribute he will rate.
All this I gladly will perform, to pacify his hate.
Let him be mild and tractable; ’tis for the God of ghosts
To be unrul’d, implacable, and seek the blood of hosts,
Whom therefore men do much abhor; then let him yield to me,
I am his greater, being a king, and more in years than he.”
“Brave king,” said Nestor, “these rich gifts must make him needs relent,
Choose then fit legates instantly to greet him at his tent,
But stay; admit my choice of them, and let them straight be gone.
Jove-lovéd Phœnix shall be chief, then Ajax Telamon,
And prince Ulysses; and on them let these two heralds wait,
Grave Odius and Eurybates, Come, lords, take water straight,
Make pure your hand, and with sweet words appease Achilles’ mind,
Which we will pray the king of Gods may gently make inclin’d.”
All lik’d his speech; and on their hands the heralds water shed,
The youths crown’d cups of sacred wine to all distributed.
But having sacrific’d, and drunk to ev’ry man’s content,
With many notes by Nestor giv’n, the legates forward went.
With courtship in fit gestures us’d he did prepare them well,
But most Ulysses, for his grace did not so much excel.
Such rites beseem ambassadors; and Nestor urgéd these,
That their most honours might reflect enrag’d Æacides.
They went along the shore, and pray’d the God, that earth doth bind
In brackish chains, they might not fail, but bow his mighty mind.
The quarter of the Myrmidons they reach’d, and found him set
Delighted with his solemn harp, which curiously was fret
With works conceited, through the verge; the bawdrick that embrac’d
His lofty neck was silver twist; this, when his hand laid waste
Aëtion’s city, he did choose as his especial prise,
And, loving sacred music well, made it his exercise.
To it he sung the glorious deeds of great heroës dead,
And his true mind, that practice fail’d, sweet contemplation fed.
With him alone, and opposite, all silent sat his friend,
Attentive, and beholding him, who now his song did end.
Th’ ambassadors did forwards press, renown’d Ulysses led,
And stood in view. Their sudden sight his admiration bred,
Who with his harp and all arose; so did Menœtius’ son
When he beheld them. Their receipt Achilles thus begun:
“Health to my lords! Right welcome men, assure yourselves you be,
Though some necessity, I know, doth make you visit me,
Incens’d with just cause ’gainst the Greeks.” This said, a sev’ral seat
With purple cushions he set forth, and did their ease intreat,
And said: “Now, friend, our greatest bowl, with wine unmix’d and neat,
Appose these lords, and of the depth let every man make proof,
These are my best esteeméd friends, and underneath my roof.”
Patroclus did his dear friend’s will; and he that did desire
To cheer the lords, come faint from fight, set on a blazing fire
A great brass pot, and into it a chine of mutton put,
And fat goat’s flesh. Automedon held, while he pieces cut,
To roast and boil, right cunningly; then of a well-fed swine
A huge fat shoulder he cuts out, and spits it wondrous fine.
His good friend made a goodly fire; of which the force once past,
He laid the spit low, near the coals, to make it brown at last,
Then sprinkled it with sacred salt, and took it from the racks.
This roasted and on dresser set, his friend Patroclus takes
Bread in fair baskets; which set on, Achilles brought the meat,
And to divinest Ithacus took his opposéd seat
Upon the bench. Then did he will his friend to sacrifice,
Who cast sweet incense in the fire to all the Deities.
Thus fell they to their ready food. Hunger and thirst allay’d,
Ajax to Phœnix made a sign, as if too long they stay’d
Before they told their legacy. Ulysses saw him wink,
And, filling the great bowl with wine, did to Achilles drink:
“Health to Achilles! But our plights stand not in need of meat,
Who late supp’d at Atrides’ tent, though for thy love we eat
Of many things, whereof a part would make a cómplete feast.
Nor can we joy in these kind rites, that have our hearts oppress’d,
O prince, with fear of utter spoil. ’Tis made a question now,
If we can save our fleet or not, unless thyself endow
Thy pow’rs with wonted fortitude. Now Troy and her consórts,
Bold of thy want, have pitch’d their tents close to our fleet and forts,
And made a firmament of fires; and now no more, they say,
Will they be prison’d in their walls, but force their violent way
Ev’n to our ships; and Jove himself hath with his lightnings show’d
Their bold adventures happy signs; and Hector grows so proud
Of his huge strength, borne out by Jove, that fearfully he raves,
Presuming neither men nor Gods can interrupt his braves.
Wild rage invades him, and he prays that soon the sacred Morn
Would light his fury; boasting then our streamers shall be torn,
And all our naval ornaments fall by his conqu’ring stroke,
Our ships shall burn, and we ourselves lie stifled in the smoke.
And I am seriously afraid, Heav’n will perform his threats,
And that ’tis fatal to us all, far from our native seats,
To perish in victorious Troy. But rise, though it be late,
Deliver the afflicted Greeks from Troy’s tumultuous hate;
It will hereafter be thy grief, when no strength can suffice
To remedy th’ effected threats of our calamities.
Consider these affairs in time, while thou mayst use thy pow’r.
And have the grace to turn from Greece fate’s unrecover’d hour.
O friend, thou know’st thy royal sire forewarn’d what should be done,
That day he sent thee from his court to honour Atreus’ son:
‘My son,’ said he, ‘the victory let Jove and Pallas use
At their high pleasures, but do thou no honour’d means refuse
That may advance her. In fit bounds contain thy mighty mind,
Nor let the knowledge of thy strength be factiously inclin’d,
Contriving mischiefs. Be to fame and gen’ral good profess’d.
The more will all sorts honour thee. Benignity is best.’
Thus charg’d thy sire, which thou forgett’st. Yet now those thoughts appease,
That torture thy great spirit with wrath; which if thou wilt surcease,
The king will merit it with gifts; and, if thou wilt give ear,
I’ll tell how much he offers thee yet thou sitt’st angry here:
Sev’n tripods that no fire must touch; twice-ten pans, fit for flame;
Ten talents of fine gold; twelve horse that ever overcame,
And brought huge prises from the field, with swiftness of their feet,
That man should bear no poor account, nor want gold’s quick’ning sweet,
That had but what he won with them; sev’n worthiest Lesbian dames,
Renown’d for skill in housewif’ry, and bear the sov’reign fames
For beauty from their gen’ral sex, which, at thy overthrow
Of well-built Lesbos, he did choose; and these he will bestow,
And with these her he took from thee, whom, by his state, since then,
He swears he touch’d not, as fair dames use to be touch’d by men.
All these are ready for thee now. And, if at length we take,
By helps of Gods, this wealthy town, thy ships shall burthen make
Of gold and brass at thy desires, when we the spoil divide;
And twenty beauteous Trojan dames thou shalt select beside,
Next Helen, the most beautiful; and, when return’d we be
To Argos, be his son-in-law, for he will honour thee
Like his Orestes, his sole son, maintained in height of bliss.
Three daughters beautify his court, the fair Chrysothemis,
Laodice, and Iphianesse; of all the fairest take
To Peleus’ thy grave father’s court, and never jointure make;
He will the jointure make himself, so great, as never sire
Gave to his daughter’s nuptials. Sev’n cities left entire;
Cardamyle, and Enope, and Hira full of flow’rs,
Anthæa for sweet meadows prais’d, and Phera deck’d with tow’rs,
The bright Epea, Pedasus that doth God Bacchus please;
All, on the sandy Pylos’ soil, are seated near the seas;
Th’ inhabitants in droves and flocks exceeding wealthy be,
Who, like a God, with worthy gifts will gladly honour thee,
And tribute of especial rate to thy high sceptre pay.
All this he freely will perform, thy anger to allay.
But if thy hate to him be more than his gifts may repress,
Yet pity all the other Greeks, in such extreme distress,
Who with religion honour thee; and to their desp’rate ill
Thou shalt triumphant glory bring; and Hector thou may’st kill,
When pride makes him encounter thee, fill’d with a baneful sprite,
Who vaunts our whole fleet brought not one, equal to him in fight.”
Swift-foot Æacides replied: “Divine Laertes’ son,
’Tis requisite I should be short, and show what place hath won
Thy serious speech, affirming nought but what you shall approve
Establish’d in my settled heart, that in the rest I move
No murmur nor exceptión; for, like hell mouth I loath,
Who holds not in his words and thoughts one indistinguish’d troth.
What fits the freeness of my mind, my speech shall make display’d.
Nor Atreus’ son, nor all the Greeks, shall win me to their aid,
Their suit is wretchedly enforc’d, to free their own despairs,
And my life never shall be hir’d with thankless desp’rate pray’rs;
For never had I benefit, that ever foil’d the foe;
Ev’n share hath he that keeps his tent, and he to field doth go,
With equal honour cowards die, and men most valiant,
The much performer, and the man that can of nothing vaunt.
No overplus I ever found, when, with my mind’s most strife
To do them good, to dang’rous fight I have expos’d my life.
But ev’n as to unfeather’d birds the careful dam brings meat,
Which when she hath bestow’d, herself hath nothing left to eat;
So, when my broken sleeps have drawn the nights t’ extremest length,
And ended many bloody days with still-employéd strength,
To guard their weakness, and preserve their wives’ contents infract,
I have been robb’d before their eyes: Twelve cities I have sack’d
Assail’d by sea, elev’n by land, while this siege held at Troy;
And of all these, what was most dear, and most might crown the joy
Of Agamemnon, he enjoy’d, who here behind remain’d:
Which when he took, a few he gave, and many things retain’d,
Other to optimates and kings he gave, who hold them fast,
Yet mine he forceth; only I sit with my loss disgrac’d.
But so he gain a lovely dame, to be his bed’s delight,
It is enough; for what cause else do Greeks and Trojans fight?
Why brought he hither such an host? Was it not for a dame?
For fair-hair’d Helen? And doth love alone the hearts inflame
Of the Atrides to their wives, of all the men that move?
Ev’ry discreet and honest mind cares for his private love,
As much as they; as I myself lov’d Brisis as my life,
Although my captive, and had will to take her for my wife.
Whom since he forc’d, preventing me, in vain he shall prolong
Hopes to appease me that know well the deepness of my wrong.
But, good Ulysses, with thyself, and all you other kings,
Let him take stomach to repel Troy’s fi’ry threatenings.
Much hath he done without my help, built him a goodly fort,
Cut a dike by it, pitch’d with pales, broad and of deep import;
And cannot all these helps repress this kill-man Hector’s fright?
When I was arm’d among the Greeks, he would not offer fight
Without the shadow of his walls; but to the Scæan ports,
Or to the holy beach of Jove, come back’d with his consorts;
Where once he stood my charge alone, and hardly made retreat,
And to make new proof of our pow’rs, the doubt is not so great.
To-morrow then, with sacrifice perform’d t’ imperial Jove
And all the Gods, I’ll launch my fleet, and all my men remove;
Which (if thou wilt use so thy sight, or think’st it worth respect)
In forehead of the morn, thine eyes shall see, with sails erect
Amidst the fishy Hellespont, help’d with laborious oars.
And, if the Sea-god send free sail, the fruitful Phthian shores
Within three days we shall attain, where I have store of prise
Left, when with prejudice I came to these indignities.
There have I gold as well as here, and store of ruddy brass,
Dames slender, elegantly girt, and steel as bright as glass.
These will I take as I retire, as shares I firmly save,
Though Agamemnon be so base to take the gifts he gave.
Tell him all this, and openly, I on your honours charge,
That others may take shame to hear his lusts command so large,
And, if there yet remain a man he hopeth to deceive
(Being dyed in endless impudence) that man may learn to leave
His trust and empire. But alas, though, like a wolf he be,
Shameless and rude, he durst not take my prise, and look on me.
I never will partake his works, nor counsels, as before,
He once deceiv’d and injur’d me, and he shall never more
Tye my affections with his words. Enough is the increase
Of one success in his deceits; which let him joy in peace,
And bear it to a wretched end. Wise Jove hath reft his brain
To bring him plagues, and these his gifts I, as my foes, disdain.
Ev’n in the numbness of calm death I will revengeful be,
Though ten or twenty times so much he would bestow on me,
All he hath here, or any where, or Orchomen contains,
To which men bring their wealth for strength, or all the store remains
In circuit of Egyptian Thebes, where much hid treasure lies,
Whose walls contain an hundred ports, of so admir’d a size
Two hundred soldiers may a-front with horse and chariots pass.
Nor, would he amplify all this like sand, or dust, or grass,
Should he reclaim me, till this wreak pay’d me for all the pains
That with his contumely burn’d, like poison, in my veins.
Nor shall his daughter be my wife, although she might contend
With golden Venus for her form, or if she did transcend
Blue-ey’d Minerva for her works; let him a Greek select
Fit for her, and a greater king. For if the Gods protect
My safety to my father’s court, he shall choose me a wife.
Many fair Achive princesses of unimpeachéd life
In Helle and in Phthia live, whose sires do cities hold,
Of whom I can have whom I will. And, more an hundred fold
My true mind in my country likes to take a lawful wife
Than in another nation; and there delight my life
With those goods that my father got, much rather than die here.
Not all the wealth of well-built Troy, possess’d when peace was there,
All that Apollo’s marble fane in stony Pythos holds,
I value equal with the life that my free breast enfolds.
Sheep, oxen, tripods, crest-deck’d horse, though lost, may come again,
But when the white guard of our teeth no longer can contain
Our human soul, away it flies, and, once gone, never more
To her frail mansion any man can her lost pow’rs restore.
And therefore since my mother-queen, fam’d for her silver feet,
Told me two fates about my death in my direction meet:
The one, that, if I here remain t’ assist our victory,
My safe return shall never live, my fame shall never die;
If my return obtain success, much of my fame decays,
But death shall linger his approach, and I live many days,
This being reveal’d, ’twere foolish pride, t’ abridge my life for praise.
Then with myself, I will advise, others to hoise their sail,
For, ’gainst the height of Ilion, you never shall prevail,
Jove with his hand protecteth it, and makes the soldiers bold.
This tell the kings in ev’ry part, for so grave legates should,
That they may better counsels use, to save their fleet and friends
By their own valours; since this course, drown’d in my anger, ends.
Phœnix may in my tent repose, and in the morn steer course
For Phthia, if he think it good; if not, I’ll use no force.”
All wonder’d at his stern reply; and Phœnix, full of fears
His words would be more weak than just, supplied their wants with tears.
“If thy return incline thee thus, Peleus’ renownéd joy,
And thou wilt let our ships be burn’d with harmful fire of Troy,
Since thou art angry, O my son, how shall I after be
Alone in these extremes of death, relinquishéd by thee?
I, whom thy royal father sent as ord’rer of thy force,
When to Atrides from his court he left thee for this course,
Yet young, and when in skill of arms thou didst not so abound,
Nor hadst the habit of discourse, that makes men so renown’d.
In all which I was set by him, t’ instruct thee as my son,
That thou might’st speak, when speech was fit, and do, when deeds were done,
Not sit as dumb, for want of words, idle, for skill to move,
I would not then be left by thee, dear son, begot in love,
No, not if God would promise me, to raze the prints of time
Carv’d in my bosom and my brows, and grace me with the prime
Of manly youth, as when at first I left sweet Helle’s shore
Deck’d with fair dames, and fled the grudge my angry father bore;
Who was the fair Amyntor call’d, surnam’d Ormenides,
And for a fair-hair’d harlot’s sake, that his affects could please,
Contemn’d my mother, his true wife, who ceaseless urgéd me
To use his harlot Clytia, and still would clasp my knee
To do her will, that so my sire might turn his love to hate
Of that lewd dame, converting it to comfort her estate.
At last I was content to prove to do my mother good,
And reconcile my father’s love; who straight suspicious stood,
Pursuing me with many a curse, and to the Furies pray’d
No dame might love, nor bring me seed. The Deities obey’d
That govern hell; infernal Jove, and stern Persephone.
Then durst I in no longer date with my stern father be.
Yet did my friends, and near allies, inclose me with desires
Not to depart; kill’d sheep, boars, beeves; roast them at solemn fires;
And from my father’s tuns we drunk exceeding store of wine.
Nine nights they guarded me by turns, their fires did ceaseless shine,
One in the porch of his strong hall, and in the portal one,
Before my chamber; but when day beneath the tenth night shone,
I brake my chamber’s thick-fram’d doors, and through the hall’s guard pass’d,
Unseen of any man or maid. Through Greece then, rich and vast,
I fled to Phthia, nurse of sheep, and came to Peleus’ court;
Who entertain’d me heartily, and in as gracious sort
As any sire his only son, born when his strength is spent,
And bless’d with great possessions to leave to his descent.
He made me rich, and to my charge did much command commend.
I dwelt in th’ utmost region rich Phthia doth extend,
And govern’d the Dolopians, and made thee what thou art,
O thou that like the Gods art fram’d. Since, dearest to my heart,
I us’d thee so, thou lov’dst none else; nor anywhere wouldst eat,
Till I had crown’d my knee with thee, and carv’d thee tend’rest meat,
And giv’n thee wine so much, for love, that, in thy infancy
(Which still discretion must protect, and a continual eye)
My bosom lovingly sustain’d the wine thine could not bear.
Then, now my strength needs thine as much, be mine to thee as dear,
Much have I suffer’d for thy love, much labour’d, wishéd much,
Thinking, since I must have no heir (the Gods’ decrees are such)
I would adopt thyself my heir. To thee my heart did give
What any sire could give his son. In thee I hop’d to live.
O mitigate thy mighty spirits. It fits not one that moves
The hearts of all, to live unmov’d, and succour hates for loves.
The Gods themselves are flexible; whose virtues, honours, pow’rs,
Are more than thine, yet they will bend their breasts as we bend ours.
Perfumes, benign devotions, savours of off’rings burn’d,
And holy rites, the engines are with which their hearts are turn’d,
By men that pray to them, whose faith their sins have falsified.
For Pray’rs are daughters of great Jove, lame, wrinkled, ruddy-ey’d,
And ever following injury, who, strong and sound of feet,
Flies through the world, afflicting men. Believing Prayers yet,
To all that love that Seed of Jove, the certain blessing get
To have Jove hear, and help them too; but if he shall refuse,
And stand inflexible to them, they fly to Jove, and use
Their pow’rs against him, that the wrongs he doth to them may fall
On his own head, and pay those pains whose cure he fails to call.
Then, great Achilles, honour thou this sacred Seed of Jove,
And yield to them, since other men of greatest minds they move.
If Agamemnon would not give the self-same gifts he vows,
But offer other afterwards, and in his still-bent brows
Entomb his honour and his word, I would not thus exhort,
With wrath appeas’d, thy aid to Greece, though plagu’d in heaviest sort;
But much he presently will give, and after yield the rest.
T’ assure which he hath sent to thee the men thou lovest best,
And most renown’d of all the host, that they might soften thee.
Then let not both their pains and pray’rs lost and despiséd be,
Before which none could reprehend the tumult of thy heart,
But now to rest inexpiate were much too rude a part.
Of ancient worthies we have heard, when they were more displeas’d,
To their high fames, with gifts and pray’rs they have been still appeas’d.
For instance, I remember well a fact perform’d of old,
Which to you all, my friends, I’ll tell: The Curets wars did hold
With the well-fought Ætolians, where mutual lives had end
About the city Calydon. Th’ Ætolians did defend
Their flourishing country, which to spoil the Curets did contend.
Diana with-the-golden-throne, with Oeneus much incens’d,
Since with his plenteous land’s first fruits she was not reverenc’d,
(Yet other Gods, with hecatombs, had feasts, and she alone,
Great Jove’s bright daughter, left unserv’d, or by oblivion,
Or undue knowledge of her dues) much hurt in heart she swore;
And she, enrag’d, excited much, she sent a sylvan boar
From their green groves, with wounding tusks; who usually did spoil
King Oeneus’ fields, his lofty woods laid prostrate on the soil,
Rent by the roots trees fresh, adorn’d with fragrant apple flow’rs.
Which Meleager (Oeneus’ son) slew, with assembl’d pow’rs
Of hunters, and of fiercest hounds, from many cities brought;
For such he was that with few lives his death could not be bought,
Heaps of dead humans, by his rage, the fun’ral piles applied.
Yet, slain at last, the Goddess stirr’d about his head, and hide,
A wondrous tumult, and a war betwixt the Curets wrought
And brave Ætolians. All the while fierce Meleager fought,
Ill-far’d the Curets; near the walls none durst advance his crest,
Though they were many. But when wrath inflam’d his haughty breast
(Which oft the firm mind of the wise with passion doth infest)
Since ’twixt his mother-queen and him arose a deadly strife,
He left the court, and privately liv’d with his lawful wife,
Fair Cleopatra, female birth of bright Marpessa’s pain,
And of Ideus; who of all terrestrial men did reign,
At that time, king of fortitude, and for Marpessa’s sake,
‘Gainst wanton Phœbus, king of flames; his bow in hand did take,
Since he had ravish’d her, his joy; whom her friends after gave
The surname of Alcyone, because they could not save
Their daughter from Alcyone’s fate. In Cleopatra’s arms
Lay Meleager, feeding on his anger, for the harms
His mother pray’d might fall on him; who, for her brother slain
By Meleager, griev’d, and pray’d the Gods to wreak her pain
With all the horror could be pour’d upon her furious birth.
Still knock’d she with her impious hands the many-feeding earth,
To urge stern Pluto and his Queen t’ incline their vengeful ears,
Fell on her knees, and all her breast dew’d with her fi’ry tears,
To make them massacre her son, whose wrath enrag’d her thus.
Erinnys, wand’ring through the air, heard, out of Erebus,
Pray’rs fit for her unpleaséd mind. Yet Meleager lay
Obscur’d in fury. Then the bruit of the tumultuous fray
Rung through the turrets as they scal’d; then came th’ Ætolian peers
To Meleager with low suits, to rise and free their fears;
Then sent they the chief priests of Gods, with offer’d gifts t’ atone
His diff’ring fury, bade him choose, in sweet-soil’d Calydon,
Of the most fat and yieldy soil, what with an hundred steers
Might in a hundred days be plough’d, half that rich vintage bears,
And half of naked earth to plough; yet yielded not his ire.
Then to his lofty chamber-door, ascends his royal sire
With ruthful plaints, shook the strong bars; then came his sisters’ cries;
His mother then; and all intreat;—yet still more stiff he lies;—
His friends, most rev’rend, most esteem’d; yet none impression took,
Till the high turrets where he lay, and his strong chamber, shook
With the invading enemy, who now forced dreadful way
Along the city. Then his wife, in pitifil dismay,
Besought him, weeping; telling him the miseries sustain’d
By all the citizens, whose town the enemy had gain’d;
Men slaughter’d; children bondslaves made; sweet ladies forc’d with lust;
Fires climbing tow’rs, and turning them to heaps of fruitless dust.
These dangers soften’d his steel heart. Up the stout prince arose,
Indu’d his body with rich arms, and freed th’ Ætolian’s woes,
His smother’d anger giving air; which gifts did not assuage,
But his own peril. And because he did not disengage
Their lives for gifts, their gifts he lost. But for my sake, dear friend,
Be not thou bent to see our plights to these extremes descend,
Ere thou assist us; be not so by thy ill angel turn’d
From thine own honour. It were shame to see our navy burn’d,
And then come with thy timeless aid. For offer’d presents, come,
And all the Greeks will honour thee, as of celestial room.
But if without these gifts thou fight, forc’d by thy private woe,
Thou wilt be nothing so renown’d, though thou repel the foe.”
Achilles answer’d the last part of this oration thus:
“Phœnix, renown’d and reverend, the honours urg’d on us
We need not, Jove doth honour me, and to my safety sees,
And will, whiles I retain a spirit, or can command my knees.
Then do not thou with tears and woes impassion my affects,
Becoming gracious to my foe. Nor fits it the respects
Of thy vow’d love to honour him that hath dishonour’d me,
Lest such loose kindness lose his heart that yet is firm to thee.
It were thy praise to hurt with me the hurter of my state,
Since half my honour and my realm thou mayst participate.
Let these lords then return th’ event, and do thou here repose,
And, when dark sleep breaks with the day, our counsels shall disclose
The course of our return or stay.” This said, he with his eye
Made to his friend a covert sign, to hasten instantly
A good soft bed, that the old prince, soon as the peers were gone,
Might take his rest; when, soldier-like, brave Ajax Telamon
Spake to Ulysses, as with thought Achilles was not worth
The high direction of his speech, that stood so sternly forth
Unmov’d with th’ other orators, and spake, not to appease
Pelides’ wrath, but to depart. His arguments were these:
“High-issu’d Laertiades, let us insist no more
On his persuasion. I perceive the world would end before
Our speeches end in this affair. We must with utmost haste
Return his answer, though but bad. The peers are elsewhere plac’d,
And will not rise till we return. Great Thetis’ son hath stor’d
Proud wrath within him, as his wealth, and will not be implor’d,
Rude that he is, nor his friends’ love respects, do what they can,
Wherein past all, we honour’d him. O unremorseful man!
Another for his brother slain, another for his son,
Accepts of satisfaction; and he the deed hath done
Lives in belov’d society long after his amends,
To which his foe’s high heart, for gifts, with patience condescends;
But thee a wild and cruel spirit the Gods for plague have giv’n,
And for one girl, of whose fair sex we come to offer sev’n,
The most exempt for excellence, and many a better prise.
Then put a sweet mind in thy breast, respect thy own allies,
Though others make thee not remiss. A multitude we are,
Sprung of thy royal family, and our supremest care
Is to be most familiar, and hold most love with thee
Of all the Greeks, how great an host soever here there be.”
He answer’d: “Noble Telamon, prince of our soldiers here,
Out of thy heart I know thou speak’st, and as thou hold’st me dear;
But still as often as I think, how rudely I was us’d,
And, like a stranger, for all rites, fit for our good, refus’d
My heart doth swell against the man, that durst be so profane
To violate his sacred place; not for my private bane,
But since wrack’d virtue’s gen’ral laws he shameless did infringe;
For whose sake I will loose the reins, and give mine anger swinge,
Without my wisdom’s least impeach. He is a fool, and base,
That pities vice-plagu’d minds, when pain, not love of right, gives place.
And therefore tell your king, my lords, my just wrath will not care
For all his cares, before my tents and navy chargéd are
By warlike Hector, making way through flocks of Grecian lives,
Enlighten’d by their naval fire; but when his rage arrives
About my tent, and sable bark, I doubt not but to shield
Them and myself, and make him fly the there strong-bounded field.”
This said, each one but kiss’d the cup, and to the ships retir’d;
Ulysses first. Patroclus then the men and maids requir’d
To make grave Phœnix’ bed with speed, and see he nothing lacks.
They straight obey’d, and thereon laid the subtile fruit of flax,
And warm sheep-fells for covering; and there the old man slept,
Attending till the golden Morn her usual station kept.
Achilles lay in th’ inner room of his tent richly wrought,
And that fair lady by his side, that he from Lesbos brought,
Bright Diomeda, Phorbas’ seed. Patroclus did embrace
The beauteous Iphis, giv’n to him, when his bold friend did race
The lofty Scyrus that was kept in Enyeius’ hold.
Now at the tent of Atreus’ son, each man with cups of gold
Receiv’d th’ ambassadors return’d. All cluster’d near to know
What news they brought; which first the king would have Ulysses show:
“Say, most praiseworthy Ithacus, the Grecians’ great renown,
Will he defend us? Or not yet will his proud stomach down?”
Ulysses made reply: “Not yet will he appeaséd be,
But grows more wrathful, prizing light thy offer’d gifts and thee,
And wills thee to consult with us, and take some other course
To save our army and our fleet, and says, ‘with all his force,
The morn shall light him on his way to Phthia’s wishéd soil,
For never shall high-seated Troy be sack’d with all our toil,
Jove holds his hand ’twixt us and it, the soldiers gather heart.’
Thus he replies, which Ajax here can equally impart,
And both these heralds. Phœnix stays, for so was his desire,
To go with him, if he thought good; if not, he might retire.”
All wonder’d he should be so stern; at last bold Diomed spake:
“Would God, Atrides, thy request were yet to undertake,
And all thy gifts unoffer’d him! He’s proud enough beside,
But this ambassage thou hast sent will make him burst with pride.
But let us suffer him to stay, or go, at his desire,
Fight when his stomach serves him best, or when Jove shall inspire.
Meanwhile, our watch being strongly held, let us a little rest
After our food; strength lives by both, and virtue is their guest.
Then when the rosy-finger’d Morn holds out her silver light,
Bring forth thy host, encourage all, and be thou first in fight.”
The kings admir’d the fortitude, that so divinely mov’d
The skilful horseman Diomed, and his advice approv’d.
Then with their nightly sacrifice each took his sev’ral tent,
Where all receiv’d the sov’reign gifts soft Somnus did present.

THE END OF THE NINTH BOOK.

[1] Diomed takes fit time to answer his wrong done by Agamemnon in the fourth book.

THE TENTH BOOK OF HOMER’S ILIADS

THE ARGUMENT

Th’ Atrides, watching, wake the other peers,
And (in the fort, consulting of their fears)
Two kings they send, most stout, and honour’d most,
For royal scouts, into the Trojan host;
Who meeting Dolon, Hector’s bribed spy,
Take him, and learn how all the quarters lie.
He told them, in the Thracian regiment
Of rich king Rhesus, and his royal tent,
Striving for safety; but they end his strife,
And rid poor Dolon of a dang’rous life,
Then with digressive wiles they use their force
On Rhesus’ life, and take his snowy horse.

ANOTHER ARGUMENT

Kappa the night exploits applies:
Rhesus’ and Dolons tragedies.

The other princes at their ships soft-finger’d sleep did bind,
But not the Gen’ral; Somnus’ silks bound not his labouring mind
That turn’d, and return’d, many thoughts. And as quick lightnings fly,[1]
From well-deck’d Juno’s sovereign, out of the thicken’d sky,
Preparing some exceeding rain, or hail, the fruit of cold,
Or down-like snow that suddenly makes all the fields look old,
Or opes the gulfy mouth of war with his ensulphur’d hand,
In dazzling flashes pour’d from clouds, on any punish’d land;
So from Atrides’ troubled heart, through his dark sorrows, flew
Redoubled sighs; his entrails shook, as often as his view
Admir’d the multitude of fires, that gilt the Phrygian shade,
And heard the sounds of fifes, and shawms, and tumults soldiers made.
But when he saw his fleet and host kneel to his care and love,
He rent his hair up by the roots as sacrifice to Jove,
Burnt in his fi’ry sighs, still breath’d out of his royal heart,
And first thought good to Nestor’s care his sorrows to impart,
To try if royal diligence, with his approv’d advice,
Might fashion counsels to prevent their threaten’d miseries.
So up he rose, attir’d himself, and to his strong feet tied
Rich shoes, and cast upon his back a ruddy lion’s hide,
So ample it his ankles reach’d, then took his royal spear.
Like him was Menelaus pierc’d with an industrious fear,
Nor sat sweet slumber on his eyes, lest bitter fates should quite
The Greeks’ high favours, that for him resolv’d such endless fight.
And first a freckled panther’s hide hid his broad back athwart;
His head his brazen helm did arm; his able hand his dart;
Then made he all his haste to raise his brother’s head as rare,
That he who most excell’d in rule might help t’ effect his care.
He found him, at his ship’s crook’d stern, adorning him with arms;
Who joy’d to see his brother’s spirits awak’d without alarms,
Well weighing th’ importance of the time. And first the younger spake:
“Why, brother, are ye arming thus? Is it to undertake
The sending of some vent’rous Greek, t’ explore the foe’s intent?
Alas! I greatly fear, not one will give that work consent,
Expos’d alone to all the fears that flow in gloomy night.
He that doth this must know death well, in which ends ev’ry fright.”
“Brother,” said he, “in these affairs we both must use advice,
Jove is against us, and accepts great Hector’s sacrifice.
For I have never seen, nor heard, in one day, and by one,
So many high attempts well urg’d, as Hector’s pow’r hath done
Against the hapless sons of Greece: being chiefly dear to Jove,
And without cause, being neither fruit of any Goddess’ love,
Nor helpful God; and yet I fear the deepness of his hand,
Ere it be ras’d out of our thoughts, will many years withstand.
But, brother, hie thee to thy ships, and Idomen’s disease
With warlike Ajax; I will haste to grave Neleides,
Exhorting him to rise, and give the sacred watch command,
For they will specially embrace incitement at his hand,
And now his son their captain is, and Idomen’s good friend,
Bold Merion, to whose discharge we did that charge commend.”
“Command’st thou then,” his brother ask’d, “that I shall tarry here
Attending thy resolv’d approach, or else the message bear,
And quickly make return to thee?” He answer’d: “Rather stay,
Lest otherwise we fail to meet, for many a diff’rent way
Lies through our labyrinthian host. Speak ever as you go,
Command strong watch, from sire to son urge all t’ observe the foe,
Familiarly, and with their praise, exciting ev’ry eye,
Not with unseason’d violence of proud authority.
We must our patience exercise, and work ourselves with them,
Jove in our births combin’d such care to either’s diadem.”
Thus he dismiss’d him, knowing well his charge before he went.
Himself to Nestor, whom he found in bed within his tent,
By him his damask curets hung, his shield, a pair of darts,
His shining casque, his arming waist; in these he led the hearts
Of his apt soldiers to sharp war, not yielding to his years.
He quickly started from his bed, when to his watchful ears
Untimely feet told some approach; he took his lance in hand,
And spake to him: “Ho, what art thou that walk’st at midnight? Stand.
Is any wanting at the guards? Or lack’st thou any peer?
Speak, come not silent towards me; say, what intend’st thou here?”
He answer’d: “O Neleides, grave honour of our host,
’Tis Agamemnon thou mayst know, whom Jove afflicteth most
Of all the wretched men that live, and will, whilst any breath
Gives motion to my toiled limbs, and bears me up from death.
I walk the round thus, since sweet sleep cannot inclose mine eyes,
Nor shut those organs care breaks ope for our calamities.
My fear is vehement for the Greeks; my heart, the fount of heat,
With his extreme affects made cold, without my breast doth beat;
And therefore are my sinews strook with trembling; ev’ry part
Of what my friends may feel hath act in my disperséd heart.
But, if thou think’st of any course may to our good redound,
(Since neither thou thyself canst sleep) come, walk with me the round;
In way whereof we may confer, and look to ev’ry guard,
Lest watching long, and weariness with labouring so hard,
Drown their oppresséd memories of what they have in charge.
The liberty we give the foe, alas, is over large,
Their camp is almost mix’d with ours, and we have forth no spies
To learn their drifts; who may perchance this night intend surprise.”
Grave Nestor answer’d: “Worthy king, let good hearts bear our ill.
Jove is not bound to perfect all this busy Hector’s will;
But I am confidently giv’n, his thoughts are much dismay’d
With fear, lest our distress incite Achilles to our aid,
And therefore will not tempt his fate, nor ours, with further pride.
But I will gladly follow thee, and stir up more beside;
Tydides, famous for his lance; Ulysses; Telamon;
And bold Phylëus’ valiant heir. Or else, if anyone
Would haste to call king Idomen, and Ajax, since their sail
Lie so remov’d, with much good speed, it might our haste avail.
But, though he be our honour’d friend, thy brother I will blame,
Not fearing if I anger thee. It is his utter shame
He should commit all pains to thee, that should himself employ,
Past all our princes, in the care, and cure, of our annoy,
And be so far from needing spurs to these his due respects,
He should apply our spirits himself, with pray’rs and urg’d affects.
Necessity (a law to laws, and not to be endur’d)
Makes proof of all his faculties, not sound if not inur’d.”
“Good father,” said the king, “sometimes you know I have desir’d
You would improve his negligence, too oft to ease retir’d.
Nor is it for defect of spirit, or compass of his brain,
But with observing my estate, he thinks, he should abstain
Till I commanded, knowing my place; unwilling to assume,
For being my brother, anything might prove he did presume.
But now he rose before me far, and came t’ avoid delays,
And I have sent him for the men yourself desir’d to raise.
Come, we shall find them at the guards we plac’d before the fort,
For thither my direction was they should with speed resort.”
“Why now,” said Nestor, “none will grudge, nor his just rule withstand.
Examples make excitements strong, and sweeten a command.”
Thus put he on his arming truss, fair shoes upon his feet,
About him a mandilion, that did with buttons meet,
Of purple, large, and full of folds, curl’d with a warmful nap,
A garment that ’gainst cold in nights did soldiers use to wrap;
Then took he his strong lance in hand, made sharp with proved steel,
And went along the Grecian fleet. First at Ulysses’ keel
He call’d, to break the silken fumes that did his senses bind.
The voice through th’ organs of his ears straight rung about his mind.
Forth came Ulysses, asking him: “Why stir ye thus so late?
Sustain we such enforcive cause?” He answered, “Our estate
Doth force this perturbation; vouchsafe it, worthy friend,
And come, let us excite one more, to counsel of some end
To our extremes, by fight, or flight.” He back, and took his shield,
And both took course to Diomed. They found him laid in field,
Far from his tent; his armour by; about him was dispread
A ring of soldiers, ev’ry man his shield beneath his head;
His spear fix’d by him as he slept, the great end in the ground,
The point, that bristled the dark earth, cast a reflection round
Like palid lightnings thrown from Jove; thus this heroë lay,
And under him a big ox-hide; his royal head had stay
On arras hangings, rolléd up; whereon he slept so fast,
That Nestor stirr’d him with his foot, and chid to see him cast
In such deep sleep in such deep woes, and ask’d him why he spent
All night in sleep, or did not hear the Trojans near his tent,
Their camp drawn close upon their dike, small space ’twixt foes and foes?
He, starting up, said, “Strange old man, that never tak’st repose,
Thou art too patient of our toil. Have we not men more young,
To be employ’d from king to king? Thine age hath too much wrong.”
“Said like a king,” replied the sire, “for I have sons renown’d,
And there are many other men, might go this toilsome round;
But, you must see, imperious Need hath all at her command.
Now on the eager razor’s edge, for life or death, we stand[2]
Then go (thou art the younger man) and if thou love my ease,
Call swift-foot Ajax up thyself, and young Phyleides.”
This said, he on his shoulders cast a yellow lion’s hide,
Big, and reach’d earth; then took his spear, and Nestor’s will applied,
Rais’d the heroes, brought them both. All met; the round they went,
And found not any captain there asleep or negligent,
But waking, and in arms, gave ear to ev’ry lowest sound.
And as keen dogs keep sheep in cotes, or folds of hurdles bound,
And grin at ev’ry breach of air, envious of all that moves,
Still list’ning when the rav’nous beast stalks through the hilly groves,
Then men and dogs stand on their guards, and mighty tumults make,
Sleep wanting weight to close one wink; so did the captains wake,
That kept the watch the whole sad night, all with intentive ear
Converted to the enemies’ tents, that they might timely hear
If they were stirring to surprise; which Nestor joy’d to see.
“Why so, dear sons, maintain your watch, sleep not a wink,” said he,
“Rather than make your fames the scorn of Trojan perjury.”
This said, he foremost passed the dike, the others seconded,
Ev’n all the kings that had been call’d to council from the bed,
And with them went Meriones, and Nestor’s famous son;
For both were call’d by all the kings to consultation.
Beyond the dike they choos’d a place, near as they could from blood,
Where yet appear’d the falls of some, and whence, the crimson flood
Of Grecian lives being pour’d on earth by Hector’s furious chace,
He made retreat, when night repour’d grim darkness in his face.
There sat they down, and Nestor spake: “O friends, remains not one
That will rely on his bold mind, and view the camp, alone,
Of the proud Trojans, to approve if any straggling mate
He can surprise near th’ utmost tents, or learn the brief estate
Of their intentions for the time, and mix like one of them
With their outguards, expiscating if the renown’d extreme
They force on us will serve their turns, with glory to retire,
Or still encamp thus far from Troy? This may he well inquire,
And make a brave retreat untouch’d; and this would win him fame
Of all men canopied with heav’n, and ev’ry man of name,
In all this host shall honour him with an enriching meed,
A black ewe and her sucking lamb (rewards that now exceed
All other best possessions, in all men’s choice requests)
And still be bidden by our kings to kind and royal feasts.”
All rev’renc’d one another’s worth; and none would silence break,
Lest worst should take best place of speech; at last did Diomed speak:
“Nestor, thou ask’st if no man here have heart so well inclin’d
To work this stratagem on Troy? Yes, I have such a mind.
Yet, if some other prince would join, more probable will be
The strengthen’d hope of our exploit. Two may together see
(One going before another still) sly danger ev’ry way;
One spirit upon another works, and takes with firmer stay
The benefit of all his pow’rs; for though one knew his course,
Yet might he well distrust himself, which the other might enforce.”
This offer ev’ry man assum’d, all would with Diomed go;
The two Ajaces, Merion, and Menelaus too;
But Nestor’s son enforc’d it much; and hardy Ithacus,
Who had to ev’ry vent’rous deed a mind as venturous.
Amongst all these thus spake the king: “Tydides, most belov’d,
Choose thy associate worthily; a man the most approv’d
For use and strength in these extremes. Many thou seest stand forth;
But choose not thou by height of place, but by regard of worth,
Lest with thy nice respect of right to any man’s degree,
Thou wrong’st thy venture, choosing one least fit to join with thee,
Although perhaps a greater king.” This spake he with suspect
That Diomed, for honour’s sake, his brother would select.
Then said Tydides: “Since thou giv’st my judgment leave to choose,
How can it so much truth forget Ulysses to refuse,
That bears a mind so most exempt, and vig’rous in th’ effect
Of all high labours, and a man Pallas doth most respect?
We shall return through burning fire, if I with him combine,
He sets strength in so true a course, with counsels so divine.”
Ulysses, loth to be esteem’d a lover of his praise,
With such exceptions humbled him as did him higher raise,
And said: “Tydides, praise me not more than free truth will bear,
Nor yet impair me; they are Greeks that give judicial ear.
But come, the morning hastes, the stars are forward in their course,
Two parts of night are past, the third is left t’ employ our force.”
Now borrow’d they for haste some arms. Bold Thrasymedes lent
Advent’rous Diomed his sword (his own was at his tent),
His shield, and helm tough and well-tann’d, without or plume or crest,
And call’d a murrion, archers’ heads it uséd to invest.
Meriones lent Ithacus his quiver and his bow,
His helmet fashion’d of a hide; the workman did bestow
Much labour in it, quilting it with bow-strings, and, without
With snowy tusks of white-mouth’d boars ’twas arméd round about
Right cunningly, and in the midst an arming cap was plac’d,
That with the fix’d ends of the tusks his head might not be ras’d.
This, long since, by Autolycus was brought from Eleon,
When he laid waste Amyntor’s house, that was Ormenus’ son:
In Scandia, to Cytherius, surnam’d Amphidamas,
Autolycus did give this helm; he, when he feasted was
By honour’d Molus, gave it him, as present of a guest;
Molus to his son Merion did make it his bequest.
With this Ulysses arm’d his head; and thus they, both address’d,
Took leave of all the other kings. To them a glad ostent,
As they were ent’ring on their way, Minerva did present,
A hernshaw consecrate to her, which they could ill discern
Through sable night, but, by her clange, they knew it was a hern.
Ulysses joy’d, and thus invok’d: “Hear me, great Seed of Jove,
That ever dost my labours grace with presence of thy love,
And all my motions dost attend! Still love me, sacred Dame,
Especially in this exploit, and so protect our fame
We both may safely make retreat, and thriftily employ
Our boldness in some great affair baneful to them of Troy.”
Then pray’d illustrate Diomed: “Vouchsafe me likewise ear,
O thou unconquer’d Queen of arms! Be with thy favours near,
As, to my royal father’s steps, thou went’st a bounteous guide,
When th’ Achives and the peers of Thebes he would have pacified,
Sent as the Greeks’ ambassador, and left them at the flood
Of great Æsopus; whose retreat thou mad’st to swim in blood
Of his enambush’d enemies; and, if thou so protect
My bold endeavours, to thy name an heifer most select,
That never yet was tam’d with yoke, broad-fronted, one year old,
I’ll burn in zealous sacrifice, and set the horns in gold.”
The Goddess heard; and both the kings their dreadless passage bore
Through slaughter, slaughter’d carcasses, arms, and discolour’d gore.
Nor Hector let his princes sleep, but all to council call’d,
And ask’d, “What one is here will vow, and keep it unappall’d,
To have a gift fit for his deed, a chariot and two horse,
That pass for speed the rest of Greece? What one dares take this course,
For his renown, besides his gifts, to mix amongst the foe,
And learn if still they hold their guards, or with this overthrow
Determine flight, as being too weak to hold us longer war?”
All silent stood; at last stood forth one Dolon, that did dare
This dang’rous work, Eumedes’ heir, a herald much renown’d.
This Dolon did in gold and brass exceedingly abound,
But in his form was quite deform’d, yet passing swift to run;
Amongst five sisters, he was left Eumedes’ only son.
And he told Hector, his free heart would undertake t’ explore
The Greeks’ intentions, “but,” said he, “thou shalt be sworn before,
By this thy sceptre, that the horse of great Æacides,
And his strong chariot bound with brass, thou wilt (before all these)
Resign me as my valour’s prise; and so I rest unmov’d
To be thy spy, and not return before I have approv’d
(By vent’ring to Atrides’ ship, where their consults are held)
If they resolve still to resist, or fly as quite expell’d.”
He put his sceptre in his hand, and call’d the thunder’s God,
Saturnia’s husband, to his oath, those horse should not be rode
By any other man than he, but he for ever joy
(To his renown) their services, for his good done to Troy.
Thus swore he, and forswore himself, yet made base Dolon bold;
Who on his shoulders hung his bow, and did about him fold
A white wolf’s hide, and with a helm of weasels’ skins did arm
His weasel’s head, then took his dart, and never turn’d to harm
The Greeks with their related drifts; but being past the troops
Of horse and foot, he promptly runs, and as he runs he stoops
To undermine Achilles’ horse. Ulysses straight did see,
And said to Diomed: “This man makes footing towards thee,
Out of the tents. I know not well, if he be us’d as spy
Bent to our fleet, or come to rob the slaughter’d enemy.
But let us suffer him to come a little further on,
And then pursue him. If it chance, that we be overgone
By his more swiftness, urge him still to run upon our fleet,
And (lest he ’scape us to the town) still let thy jav’lin meet
With all his offers of retreat.” Thus stepp’d they from the plain
Amongst the slaughter’d carcasses. Dolon came on amain,
Suspecting nothing; but once past, as far as mules outdraw
Oxen at plough, being both put on, neither admitted law,
To plough a deep-soil’d furrow forth, so far was Dolon past.
Then they pursu’d, which he perceiv’d, and stay’d his speedless haste,
Subtly supposing Hector sent to countermand his spy;
But, in a jav’lin’s throw or less, he knew them enemy.
Then laid he on his nimble knees, and they pursu’d like wind.
As when a brace of greyhounds are laid in with hare and hind,
Close-mouth’d and skill’d to make the best of their industrious course,
Serve either’s turn, and, set on hard, lose neither ground nor force;
So constantly did Tydeus’ son, and his town-razing peer,
Pursue this spy, still turning him, as he was winding near
His covert, till he almost mix’d with their out-courts of guard.
Then Pallas prompted Diomed, lest his due worth’s reward
Should be impair’d if any man did vaunt he first did sheath
His sword in him, and he be call’d but second in his death.
Then spake he, threat’ning with his lance: “Or stay, or this comes on,
And long thou canst not run before thou be by death outgone.”
This said, he threw his jav’lin forth; which missed as Diomed would,
Above his right arm making way, the pile stuck in the mould.
He stay’d and trembled, and his teeth did chatter in his head.
They came in blowing, seiz’d him fast; he, weeping, offeréd
A wealthy ransom for his life, and told them he had brass,
Much gold, and iron, that fit for use in many labours was,
From whose rich heaps his father would a wondrous portion give,
If, at the great Achaian fleet, he heard his son did live.
Ulysses bad him cheer his heart. “Think not of death,” said he,
“But tell us true, why runn’st thou forth, when others sleeping be?
Is it to spoil the carcasses? Or art thou choicely sent
T’ explore our drifts? Or of thyself seek’st thou some wish’d event?”
He trembling answer’d: “Much reward did Hector’s oath propose,
And urg’d me, much against my will, t’ endeavour to disclose
If you determin’d still to stay, or bent your course for flight,
As all dismay’d with your late foil, and wearied with the fight.
For which exploit, Pelides’ horse and chariot he did swear,
I only ever should enjoy.” Ulysses smil’d to hear
So base a swain have any hope so high a prise t’ aspire,
And said, his labours did affect a great and precious hire,
And that the horse Pelides rein’d no mortal hand could use
But he himself, whose matchless life a Goddess did produce.
“But tell us, and report but truth, where left’st thou Hector now?
Where are his arms? His famous horse? On whom doth he bestow
The watch’s charge? Where sleep the kings? Intend they still to lie
Thus near encamp’d, or turn suffic’d with their late victory?”
“All this,” said he, “I’ll tell most true. At Ilus’ monument
Hector with all our princes sits, t’ advise of this event;
Who choose that place remov’d to shun the rude confuséd sounds
The common soldiers throw about. But, for our watch, and rounds,
Whereof, brave lord, thou mak’st demand, none orderly we keep.
The Trojans, that have roofs to save, only abandon sleep,
And privately without command each other they exhort
To make prevention of the worst; and in this slender sort
Is watch and guard maintain’d with us. Th’ auxiliary bands
Sleep soundly, and commit their cares into the Trojans’ hands,
For they have neither wives with them, nor children to protect;
The less they need to care, the more they succour dull neglect.”
“But tell me,” said wise Ithacus, “are all these foreign pow’rs
Appointed quarters by themselves, or else commix’d with yours?”
“And this,” said Dolon, “too, my lords, I’ll seriously unfold.
The Pæons with the crookéd bows, and Cares, quarters hold
Next to the sea, the Leleges, and Caucons, join’d with them,
And brave Pelasgians. Thymber’s mead, remov’d more from the stream,
Is quarter to the Lycians, the lofty Mysian force,
The Phrygians and Meonians, that fight with arméd horse.
But what need these particulars? If ye intend surprise
Of any in our Trojan camps, the Thracian quarter lies
Utmost of all, and uncommix’d with Trojan regiments,
That keep the voluntary watch. New pitch’d are all their tents.
King Rhesus, Eioneus’ son, commands them, who hath steeds
More white than snow, huge, and well-shap’d, their fi’ry pace exceeds
The winds in swiftness; these I saw; his chariot is with gold
And pallid silver richly fram’d, and wondrous to behold;
His great and golden armour is not fit a man should wear,
But for immortal shoulders fram’d. Come then, and quickly bear
Your happy pris’ner to your fleet; or leave him here fast bound,
Till your well-urg’d and rich return prove my relation sound.”
Tydides dreadfully replied: “Think not of passage thus,
Though of right acceptable news thou hast advértised us,
Our hands are holds more strict than so; and should we set thee free
For offer’d ransom, for this ’scape thou still wouldst scouting be
About our ships, or do us scathe in plain opposed arms,
But, if I take thy life, no way can we repent thy harms.”
With this, as Dolon reach’d his hand to use a suppliant’s part,
And stroke the beard of Diomed, he strook his neck athwart
With his forc’d sword, and both the nerves he did in sunder wound,
And suddenly his head, deceiv’d, fell speaking on the ground.
His weasel’s helm they took, his bow, his wolf’s skin, and his lance,
Which to Minerva Ithacus did zealously advance,
With lifted arm into the air; and to her thus he spake:
“Goddess, triumph in thine own spoils; to thee we first will make
Our invocations, of all pow’rs thron’d on th’ Olympian hill;
Now to the Thracians, and their horse, and beds, conduct us still.”
With this, he hung them up aloft upon a tamrick bough
As eyeful trophies, and the sprigs that did about it grow
He proinéd from the leafy arms, to make it easier view’d
When they should hastily retire, and be perhaps pursu’d,
Forth went they through black blood and arms, and presently aspir’d
The guardless Thracian regiment, fast bound with sleep, and tir’d;
Their arms lay by, and triple ranks they, as they slept, did keep,
As they should watch and guard their king, who, in a fatal sleep,
Lay in the midst; their chariot horse, as they coach-fellows were,
Fed by them; and the famous steeds, that did their gen’ral bear,
Stood next him, to the hinder part of his rich chariot tied.
Ulysses saw them first, and said, “Tydides, I have spied
The horse that Dolon, whom we slew, assur’d us we should see.
Now use thy strength; now idle arms are most unfit for thee;
Prise thou the horse; or kill the guard, and leave the horse to me.”
Minerva, with the azure eyes, breath’d strength into her king,
Who filled the tent with mixéd death. The souls, he set on wing,
Issu’d in groans, and made air swell into her stormy flood.
Horror and slaughter had one pow’r, the earth did blush with blood.
As when a hungry lion flies, with purpose to devour,
On flocks unkept, and on their lives doth freely use his pow’r;
So Tydeus’ son assail’d the foe; twelve souls before him flew;
Ulysses waited on his sword, and ever as he slew,
He drew them by their strengthless heels out of the horses’ sight.
That, when he was to lead them forth, they should not with affright
Boggle, nor snore, in treading on the bloody carcasses;
For being new come, they were unus’d to such stern sights as these.
Through four ranks now did Diomed the king himself attain,
Who, snoring in his sweetest sleep, was like his soldiers slain.
An ill dream by Minerva sent that night stood by his head,
Which was Oenides’ royal, unconquer’d Diomed.
Meanwhile Ulysses loos’d his horse, took all their reins in hand,
And led them forth; but Tydeus’ son did in contention stand
With his great mind to do some deed of more audacity;
If he should take the chariot, where his rich arms did lie,
And draw it by the beam away, or bear it on his back,
Or if, of more dull Thracian lives, he should their bosoms sack.
In this contention with himself, Minerva did suggest
And bade him think of his retreat; lest from their tempted rest
Some other God should stir the foe, and send him back dismay’d.
He knew the voice, took horse, and fled. The Trojan’s heav’nly aid,
Apollo with the silver bow, stood no blind sentinel
To their secure and drowsy host, but did discover well
Minerva following Diomed; and, angry with his act,
The mighty host of Ilion he enter’d, and awak’d
The cousin-german of the king, a counsellor of Thrace,
Hippocoon; who when he rose, and saw the desert place,
Where Rhesus’ horse did use to stand, and th’ other dismal harms,
Men struggling with the pangs of death, he shriek’d out thick alarms,
Call’d “Rhesus! Rhesus!” but in vain; then still, “Arm! Arm!” he cried.
The noise and tumult was extreme on every startled side
Of Troy’s huge host; from whence in throngs all gather’d, and admir’d
Who could perform such harmful facts, and yet be safe retir’d,
Now, coming where they slew the scout, Ulysses stay’d the steeds,
Tydides lighted, and the spoils, hung on the tamrick reeds,
He took and gave to Ithacus, and up he got again.
Then flew they joyful to their fleet. Nestor did first attain
The sounds the horse-hoofs strook through air, and said: “My royal peers!
Do I but dote, or say I true? Methinks about mine ears
The sounds of running horses beat. O would to God they were
Our friends thus soon return’d with spoils! But I have hearty fear,
Lest this high tumult of the foe doth their distress intend.”
He scarce had spoke, when they were come. Both did from horse descend.
All, with embraces and sweet words, to heav’n their worth did raise.
Then Nestor spake: “Great Ithacus, ev’n heap’d with Grecian praise,
How have you made these horse your prise? Pierc’d you the dang’rous host,
Where such gems stand? Or did some God your high attempts accost,
And honour’d you with this reward? Why, they be like the rays
The sun effuseth. I have mix’d with Trojans all my days;
And now, I hope you will not say, I always lie aboard,
Though an old soldier I confess; yet did all Troy afford
Never the like to any sense that ever I possess’d.
But some good God, no doubt, hath met, and your high valours bless’d,
For He that shadows heav’n with clouds loves both as his delights,
And She that supples earth with blood cannot forbear your sights.”
Ulysses answer’d: “Honour’d sire, the willing Gods can give
Horse much more worth than these men yield, since in more pow’r they live.
These horse are of the Thracian breed; their king, Tydides slew,
And twelve of his most trusted guard; and of that meaner crew
A scout for thirteenth man we kill’d, whom Hector sent to spy
The whole estate of our designs, if bent to fight or fly.”
Thus, follow’d with whole troops of friends, they with applauses  pass’d
The spacious dike, and in the tent of Diomed they plac’d
The horse without contention, as his deserving’s meed,
Which, with his other horse set up, on yellow wheat did feed.
Poor Dolon’s spoils Ulysses had; who shrin’d them on his stern,
As trophies vow’d to her that sent the good-aboding hern.
Then enter’d they the mere main sea, to cleanse their honour’d sweat
From off their feet, their thighs and necks; and, when their vehement heat
Was calm’d, and their swoln hearts refresh’d, more curious baths they us’d,
Where od’rous and dissolving oils, they through their limbs diffus’d.
Then, taking breakfast, a big bowl, fill’d with the purest wine,
They offer’d to the Maiden Queen, that hath the azure eyne.

THE END OF THE TENTH BOOK.

[1] These are the lightnings before snow, etc. that Scaliger’s Criticus so unworthily taxeth; citing the place falsely, as in the third book’s annotations, etc.

[2] ᾽Επὶ ξυρου̑ ἵσταται ἀκμη̑ς. This went into a proverb, used by Theocritus, in Dioscuris, out of Homer.

THE ELEVENTH BOOK OF HOMER’S ILIADS

THE ARGUMENT

Atrides and his other peers of name
Lead forth their men; whom Eris oath enflame.
Hector (by Iris’ charge) takes deedless breath,
Whiles Agamemnon plies the work of death,
Who with the first bears his imperial head.
Himself, Ulysses, and King Diomed,
Eurypylus, and Æsculapius’ son,
(Enforc’d with wounds) the furious skirmish shun.
Which martial sight when great Achilles views,
A little his desire of fight renews;
And forth he sends his friend, to bring him word
From old Neleides, what wounded lord
He in his chariot from the skirmish brought;
Which was Machaon. Nestor then besought
He would persuade his friend to wreak their harms,
Or come himself, deck’d in his dreadful arms.

ANOTHER ARGUMENT

Lambda presents the General,
In fight the worthiest man of all,

Aurora out of restful bed did from bright Tithon rise,
To bring each deathless Essence light, and use to mortal eyes;
When Jove sent Eris to the Greeks, sustaining in her hand
Stern signs of her designs for war. She took her horrid stand
Upon Ulysses’ huge black bark, that did at anchor ride
Amidst the fleet, from whence her sounds might ring on ev’ry side,
Both to the tents of Telamon, and th’ author of their smarts,
Who held, for fortitude and force, the navy’s utmost parts.
The red-ey’d Goddess, seated there, thunder’d the Orthian song,
High, and with horror, through the ears of all the Grecian throng,
Her verse with spirits invincible did all their breasts inspire,
Blew out all darkness from their limbs, and set their hearts on fire;
And presently was bitter war more sweet a thousand times,
Than any choice in hollow keels to greet their native climes.
Atrides summon’d all to arms, to arms himself dispos’d,
First on his legs he put bright greaves, with silver buttons clos’d;
Then with rich curace arm’d his breast, which Cinyras bestow’d
To gratify his royal guest; for ev’n to Cyprus flowed
Th’ unbounded fame of those designs the Greeks propos’d for Troy,
And therefore gave he him those arms, and wish’d his purpose joy.
Ten rows of azure mix’d with black, twelve golden like the sun,
Twice-ten of tin, in beaten paths, did through this armour run.
Three serpents to the gorget crept, that like three rainbows shin’d,
Such as by Jove are fix’d in clouds, when wonders are divin’d.
About his shoulders hung his sword, whereof the hollow hilt
Was fashion’d all with shining bars, exceeding richly gilt;
The scabbard was of silver plate, with golden hangers grac’d.
Then he took up his weighty shield, that round about him cast
Defensive shadows; ten bright zones of gold-affecting brass
Were driv’n about it; and of tin, as full of gloss as glass,
Swell’d twenty bosses out of it; in centre of them all
One of black metal had engrav’n, full of extreme appall,
An ugly Gorgon, compasséd with Terror and with Fear.
At it a silver bawdrick hung, with which he us’d to bear,
Wound on his arm, his ample shield; and in it there was wov’n
An azure dragon, curl’d in folds, from whose one neck was clov’n
Three heads contorted in an orb. Then plac’d he on his head
His four-plum’d casque; and in his hands two darts he managéd,
Arm’d with bright steel that blaz’d to heav’n. Then Juno, and the Maid
That conquers empires, trumpets serv’d to summon out their aid
In honour of the General, and on a sable cloud,
To bring them furious to the field, sat thund’ring out aloud.
Then all enjoin’d their charioteers, to rank their chariot horse
Close to the dike. Forth march’d the foot, whose front they did r’enforce
With some horse troops. The battle then was all of charioteers,
Lin’d with light horse. But Jupiter disturb’d this form with fears,
And from air’s upper region bid bloody vapours rain,
For sad ostent much noble life should ere their times be slain.
The Trojan host at Ilus’ tomb was in battalia led
By Hector and Polydamas, and old Anchises’ seed
Who god-like was esteem’d in Troy, by grave Antenor’s race
Divine Agenor, Polybus, unmarried Acamas
Proportion’d like the States of heav’n. In front of all the field,
Troy’s great Priamides did bear his all-ways-equal shield,
Still plying th’ ord’ring of his pow’r. And as amids the sky
We sometimes see an ominous star blaze clear and dreadfully,
Then run his golden head in clouds, and straight appear again;
So Hector otherwhiles did grace the vaunt-guard, shining plain,
Then in the rear-guard hid himself, and labour’d ev’rywhere
To order and encourage all; his armour was so clear,
And he applied each place so fast, that, like a lightning thrown
Out of the shield of Jupiter, in ev’ry eye he shone.
And as upon a rich man’s crop of barley or of wheat,
Oppos’d for swiftness at their work, a sort of reaper’s sweat,
Bear down the furrows speedily, and thick their handfuls fall;
So at the joining of the hosts ran slaughter through them all,
None stoop’d to any fainting thought of foul inglorious flight,
But equal bore they up their heads, and far’d like wolves in fight.
Stern Eris, with such weeping sights, rejoic’d to feed her eyes,
Who only show’d herself in field, of all the Deities;
The other in Olympus’ tops sat silent, and repined
That Jove to do the Trojans grace should bear so fix’d a mind.
He car’d not, but, enthron’d apart, triumphant sat in sway
Of his free pow’r, and from his seat took pleasure to display
The city so adorn’d with tow’rs, the sea with vessels fill’d,
The splendour of refulgent arms, the killer and the kill’d.
As long as bright Aurora rul’d, and sacred day increas’d,
So long their darts made mutual wounds, and neither had the best;
But when, in hill-environ’d vales, the timber-feller takes
A sharp set stomach to his meat, and dinner ready makes,
His sinews fainting, and his spirits become surcharg’d and dull,
Time of accustom’d ease arriv’d, his hands with labour full,
Then by their valours Greeks brake through the Trojan ranks, and cheer’d
Their gen’ral squadrons through the host; then first of all appear’d
The person of the king himself; and then the Trojans lost
Bianor by his royal charge, a leader in the host.
Who being slain, his charioteer, Oïleus, did alight,
And stood in skirmish with the king; the king did deadly smite
His forehead with his eager lance, and through his helm it ran,
Enforcing passage to his brain, quite through the harden’d pan,
His brain mix’d with his clotter’d blood, his body strew’d the ground.
There left he them, and presently he other objects found;
Isus and Antiphus, two sons King Priam did beget,
One lawful, th’ other wantonly. Both in one chariot met
Their royal foe; the baser born, Isus, was charioteer,
And famous Antiphus did fight; both which king Peleus’ heir,
Whilome in Ida keeping flocks, did deprehend and bind
With pliant osiers, and, for price, them to their sire resign’d.
Atrides, with his well-aim’d lance, smote Isus on the breast
Above the nipple; and his sword a mortal wound impress’d
Beneath the ear of Antiphus; down from their horse they fell.
The king had seen the youths before, and now did know them well,
Rememb’ring them the prisoners of swift Æacides,
Who brought them to the sable fleet from Ida’s foody leas.
And as a lion having found the furrow of a hind,
Where she hath calv’d two little twins, at will and ease doth grind
Their joints snatch’d in his solid jaws, and crusheth into mist
Their tender lives; their dam, though near, not able to resist,
But shook with vehement fear herself, flies through the oaken chace
From that fell savage, drown’d in sweat, and seeks some covert place;
So when with most unmatched strength the Grecian Gen’ral bent
‘Gainst these two princes, none durst aid their native king’s descent,
But fled themselves before the Greeks. And where these two were slain,
Pisander and Hippolochus (not able to restrain
Their headstrong horse, the silken reins being from their hands let fall)
Were brought by their unruly guides before the General.
Antimachus begat them both, Antimachus that took
Rich gifts, and gold, of Helen’s love, and would by no means brook
Just restitution should be made of Menelaus’ wealth,
Bereft him, with his ravish’d queen, by Alexander’s stealth.
Atrides, lion-like, did charge his sons, who on their knees
Fell from their chariot, and besought regard to their degrees,
Who, being Antimachus’s sons, their father would afford
A worthy ransom for their lives, who in his house did hoard
Much hidden treasure, brass, and gold, and steel, wrought wondrous choice.
Thus wept they, using smoothing terms, and heard this rugged voice
Breath’d from the unrelenting king: “If you be of the breed
Of stout Antimachus, that stay’d the honourable deed
The other peers of Ilion in council had decreed,
To render Helen and her wealth; and would have basely slain
My brother and wise Ithacus, ambassadors t’ attain
The most due motion; now receive wreak for his shameful part.”
This said, in poor Pisander’s breast he fix’d his wreakful dart,
Who upward spread th’ oppresséd earth; his brother crouch’d for dread,
And, as he lay, the angry king cut off his arms and head,
And let him like a football lie for ev’ry man to spurn.
Then to th’ extremest heat of fight he did his valour turn,
And led a multitude of Greeks, where foot did foot subdue,
Horse slaughter’d horse, Need feather’d flight, the batter’d centre flew
In clouds of dust about their ears, raised from the horses’ hooves,
That beat a thunder out of earth as horrible as Jove’s.
The king, persuading speedy chace, gave his persuasions way
With his own valour, slaught’ring still. As in a stormy day
In thick-set woods a rav’nous fire wraps in his fierce repair
The shaken trees, and by the roots doth toss them into air;
Ev’n so beneath Atrides’ sword flew up Troy’s flying heels,
Their horse drew empty chariots, and sought their thund’ring wheels
Some fresh directors through the field, where least the púrsuit drives.
Thick fell the Trojans, much more sweet to vultures than their wives.
Then Jove drew Hector from the darts, from dust, from death and blood,
And from the tumult. Still the king firm to the púrsuit stood,
Till at old Ilus’ monument, in midst of all the field,
They reach’d the wild fig-tree, and long’d to make their town their shield.
Yet there they rested not; the king still cried, ‘Pursue! Pursue!’
And all his unreprovéd hands did blood and dust imbrue.
But when they came to Scæa’s ports, and to the beech of Jove,
There made they stand; there ev’ry eye, fixed on each other, strove
Who should outlook his mate amaz’d; through all the field they fled.
And as a lion, when the night becomes most deaf and dead,
Invades ox-herds, affrighting all, that he of one may wreak
His dreadful hunger, and his neck he first of all doth break,
Then laps his blood and entrails up; so Agamemnon plied
The manage of the Trojan chace, and still the last man died,
The other fled, a number fell by his imperial hand,
Some grovelling downwards from their horse, some upwards strew’d the sand.
High was the fury of his lance. But, having beat them close
Beneath their walls, the both worlds’ Sire did now again repose
On fountain-flowing Ida’s tops, being newly slid from heav’n,
And held a lightning in his hand; from thence this charge was giv’n
To Iris with the golden wings: “Thaumantia, fly,” said he,
“And tell Troy’s Hector, that as long as he enrag’d shall see
The soldier-loving Atreus’ son amongst the foremost fight,
Depopulating troops of men, so long he must excite
Some other to resist the foe, and he no arms advance;
But when he wounded takes his horse, attain’d with shaft or lance,
Then will I fill his arm with death, ev’n till he reach the fleet,
And peaceful night treads busy day beneath her sacred feet.”
The wind-foot swift Thaumantia obey’d, and us’d her wings
To famous Ilion, from the mount enchas’d with silver springs,
And found in his bright chariot the hardy Trojan knight,
To whom she spake the words of Jove, and vanish’d from his sight.
He leapt upon the sounding earth, and shook his lengthful dart,
And ev’rywhere he breath’d exhorts, and stirr’d up ev’ry heart.
A dreadful fight he set on foot. His soldiers straight turn’d head.
The Greeks stood firm. In both the hosts, the field was perfected.
But Agamemnon, foremost still, did all his side exceed,
And would not be the first in name unless the first in deed.
Now sing, fair Presidents of verse, that in the heav’ns embow’r,
Who first encounter’d with the king, of all the adverse pow’r.
Iphidamas, Antenor’s son, ample and bigly set,
Brought up in pasture-springing Thrace, that doth soft sheep beget,
In grave Cisseus’ noble house, that was his mother’s sire,
Fair Theano; and when his breast was heighten’d with the fire
Of gaysome youth, his grandsire gave his daughter to his love.
Who straight his bridal-chamber left. Fame with affection strove,
And made him furnish twelve fair ships, to lend fair Troy his hand.
His ships he in Percope left, and came to Troy by land.
And now he tried the fame of Greece, encount’ring with the king,
Who threw his royal lance and miss’d. Iphidamas did fling,
And strook him on the arming waist, beneath his coat of brass,
Which forc’d him stay upon his arm, so violent it was,
Yet pierc’d it not his well-wrought zone, but when the lazy head
Tried hardness with his silver waist, it turn’d again like lead.
He follow’d, grasping the ground end, but with a lion’s wile
That wrests away a hunter’s staff, he caught it by the pile,
And pluck’d it from the caster’s hand, whom with his sword he strook
Beneath the ear, and with his wound his timeless death he took.
He fell and slept an iron sleep; wretched young man, he died,
Far from his newly-married wife, in aid of foreign pride,
And saw no pleasure of his love; yet was her jointure great,
An hundred oxen gave he her, and vow’d in his retreat
Two thousand head of sheep and goats, of which he store did leave.
Much gave he of his love’s first-fruits, and nothing did receive.
When Coon (one that for his form might feast an amorous eye,
And elder brother of the slain) beheld this tragedy,
Deep sorrow sat upon his eyes, and (standing laterally,
And to the Gen’ral undiscern’d) his jav’lin he let fly,
That ’twixt his elbow and his wrist transfix’d his armless arm;
The bright head shin’d on th’ other side. The unexpected harm
Impress’d some horror in the king; yet so he ceas’d not fight,
But rush’d on Coon with his lance, who made what haste he might,
Seizing his slaughter’d brother’s foot, to draw him from the field,
And call’d the ablest to his aid, when under his round shield
The king’s brass jav’lin, as he drew, did strike him helpless dead;
Who made Iphidamas the block, and cut off Coon’s head.
Thus under great Atrides’ arm Antenor’s issue thriv’d,
And, to suffice precisest fate, to Pluto’s mansion div’d.
He with his lance, sword, mighty stones, pour’d his heroic wreak
On other squadrons of the foe, whiles yet warm blood did break
Through his cleft veins; but when the wound was quite exhaust and crude,
The eager anguish did approve his princely fortitude.
As when most sharp and bitter pangs distract a labouring dame,
Which the divine Ilithyæ, that rule the painful frame
Of human child-birth, pour on her; th’ Ilithyæ that are
The daughters of Saturnia; with whose extreme repair
The woman in her travail strives to take the worst it gives,
With thought it must be, ’tis love’s fruit, the end for which she lives,
The mean to make herself new born, what comforts will redound;
So Agamemnon did sustain the torment of his wound.
Then took he chariot, and to fleet bad haste his charioteer,
But first pour’d out his highest voice to purchase ev’ry ear:
“Princes and leaders of the Greeks, brave friends, now from our fleet
Do you expel this boist’rous sway. Jove will not let me meet
Illustrate Hector, nor give leave that I shall end the day
In fight against the Ilion pow’r; my wound is in my way.”
This said, his ready charioteer did scourge his spriteful horse,
That freely to the sable fleet perform’d their fi’ry course.
To bear their wounded sovereign apart the martial thrust,
Sprinkling their pow’rful breasts with foam, and snowing on the dust.
When Hector heard of his retreat, thus he for fame contends:
“Trojans, Dardanians, Lycians, all my close-fighting friends,
Think what it is to be renown’d, be soldiers all of name,
Our strongest enemy is gone, Jove vows to do us fame,
Then in the Grecian faces drive your one-hoof’d violent steeds,
And far above their best be best, and glorify your deeds.”
Thus as a dog-giv’n hunter sets upon a brace of boars
His white-tooth’d hounds, puffs, shouts, breathes terms, and on his emprese pours
All his wild art to make them pinch; so Hector urg’d his host
To charge the Greeks, and, he himself most bold and active most,
He brake into the heat of fight, as when a tempest raves,
Stoops from the clouds, and all on heaps doth cuff the purple waves.
Who then was first, and last, he kill’d, when Jove did grace his deed?
Assæus, and Autonous, Opys, and Clytus’ seed
Prince Dolops, and the honour’d sire of sweet Euryalus
Opheltes, Agelaus next, and strong Hipponous,
Orus, Æsymnus, all of name. The common soldiers fell,
As when the hollow flood of air in Zephyr’s cheeks doth swell,
And sparseth all the gather’d clouds white Notus’ pow’r did draw,
Wraps waves in waves, hurls up the froth beat with a vehement flaw;
So were the common soldiers wrack’d in troops by Hector’s hand.
Then ruin had enforc’d such works as no Greeks could withstand,
Then in their fleet they had been hous’d, had not Laertes’ son
Stirr’d up the spirit of Diomed, with this impression:
“Tydides, what do we sustain, forgetting what we are?
Stand by me, dearest in my love. ’Twere horrible impair
For our two valours to endure a customary flight,
To leave our navy still engag’d, and but by fits to fight.”
He answer’d: “I am bent to stay, and anything sustain;
But our delight to prove us men will prove but short and vain,
For Jove makes Trojans instruments, and virtually then
Wields arms himself. Our cross affairs are not ’twixt men and men.”
This said, Thymbræus with his lance he tumbled from his horse,
Near his left nipple wounding him. Ulysses did enforce
Fair Molion, minion to this king that Diomed subdu’d.
Both sent they thence till they return’d, who now the king pursu’d
And furrow’d through the thicken’d troops. As when two chaséd boars
Turn head ’gainst kennels of bold hounds, and race way through their gores;
So, turn’d from flight, the forward kings show’d Trojans backward death.
Nor fled the Greeks, but by their wills, to get great Hector breath.
Then took they horse and chariot from two bold city foes,
Merops Percosius’ mighty sons. Their father could disclose,
Beyond all men, hid auguries, and would not give consent
To their egression to these wars, yet wilfully they went,
For Fates, that order sable death, enforc’d their tragedies.
Tydides slew them with his lance, and made their arms his prise.
Hypirochus, and Hippodus, Ulysses reft of light.
But Jove, that out of Ida look’d, then equalis’d the fight,
A Grecian for a Trojan then paid tribute to the Fates.
Yet royal Diomed slew one, ev’n in those even debates,
That was of name more than the rest, Pæon’s renownéd son,
The prince Agastrophus; his lance into his hip did run;
His squire detain’d his horse apart, that hinder’d him to fly,
Which he repented at his heart, yet did his feet apply
His ’scape with all the speed they had alongst the foremost bands,
And there his lovéd life dissolv’d. This Hector understands,
And rush’d with clamour on the king, right soundly seconded
With troops of Trojans. Which perceiv’d by famous Diomed,
The deep conceit of Jove’s high will stiffen’d his royal hair,
Who spake to near-fought Ithacus: “The fate of this affair
Is bent to us. Come let us stand, and bound his violence.”
Thus threw he his long jav’lin forth, which smote his head’s defence
Full on the top, yet pierc’d no skin; brass took repulse with brass;
His helm (with three folds made, and sharp) the gift of Phœbus was.
The blow made Hector take the troop, sunk him upon his hand,
And strook him blind. The king pursu’d before the foremost band
His dart’s recov’ry, which he found laid on the purple plain;
By which time Hector was reviv’d, and, taking horse again,
Was far commix’d within his strength, and fled his darksome grave.
He follow’d with his thirsty lance, and this elusive brave:
“Once more be thankful to thy heels, proud dog, for thy escape.
Mischief sat near thy bosom now; and now another rape
Hath thy Apollo made of thee, to whom thou well mayst pray,
When through the singing of our darts thou find’st such guarded way.
But I shall meet with thee at length, and bring thy latest hour,
If with like favour any God be fautour of my pow’r.
Meanwhile some other shall repay, what I suspend in thee.”
This said, he set the wretched soul of Pæon’s issue free,
Whom his late wound not fully slew. But Priam’s amorous birth
Against Tydides bent his bow, hid with a hill of earth,
Part of the ruinated tomb for honour’d Ilus built,
And as the curace of the slain, engrav’n and richly gilt,
Tydides from his breast had spoil’d, and from his shoulders raft
His target and his solid helm, he shot, and his keen shaft
(That never flew from him in vain) did nail unto the ground
The king’s right foot; the spleenful knight laugh’d sweetly at the wound,
Crept from his covert, and triumph’d: “Now art thou maim’d,” said he,
“And would to God my happy hand had so much honour’d me
To have infix’d it in thy breast, as deep as in thy foot,
Ev’n to th’ expulsure of thy soul! Then blest had been my shoot
Of all the Trojans; who had then breath’d from their long unrests.
Who fear thee, as the braying goats abhor the king of beasts.”
Undaunted Diomed replied: “You braver with your bow,
You slick-hair’d lover, you that hunt and fleer at wenches so,
Durst thou but stand in arms with me, thy silly archery
Would give thee little cause to vaunt. As little suffer I
In this same tall exploit of thine, perform’d when thou wert hid,
As if a woman, or a child that knew not what it did,
Had touch’d my foot. A coward’s steel hath never any edge.
But mine, t’ assure it sharp, still lays dead carcasses in pledge;
Touch it, it renders lifeless straight, it strikes the fingers’ ends
Of hapless widows in their cheeks, and children blind of friends.
The subject of it makes earth red, and air with sighs inflames,
And leaves limbs more embrac’d with birds than with enamour’d dames.”
Lance-fam’d Ulysses now came in, and stept before the king,
Kneel’d opposite, and drew the shaft. The eager pain did sting
Through all his body. Straight he took his royal chariot there,
And with direction to the fleet did charge his charioteer.
Now was Ulysses desolate, fear made no friend remain,
He thus spake to his mighty mind: “What doth my state sustain?
If I should fly this odds in fear, that thus comes clust’ring on,
‘Twere high dishonour; yet ’twere worse, to be surpris’d alone.
’Tis Jove that drives the rest to fight; but that’s a faint excuse.
Why do I tempt my mind so much? Pale cowards fight refuse.
He that affects renown in war must like a rock be fix’d,
Wound, or be wounded. Valour’s truth puts no respect betwixt.”
In this contention with himself, in flew the shady bands
Of targeteers, who sieg’d him round with mischief-filléd hands.
As when a crew of gallants watch the wild muse of a boar,
Their dogs put after in full cry, he rusheth on before,
Whets, with his lather-making jaws, his crookéd tusks for blood,
And, holding firm his usual haunts, breaks through the deepen’d wood,
They charging, though his hot approach be never so abhorr’d;
So, to assail the Jove-lov’d Greek, the Ilians did accord,
And he made through them. First he hurt, upon his shoulder blade,
Deiops, a blameless man at arms; then sent to endless shade
Thoon and Eunomus; and strook the strong Chersidamas,
As from his chariot he leap’d down, beneath his targe of brass;
Who fell, and crawl’d upon the earth with his sustaining palms,
And left the fight. Nor yet his lance left dealing martial alms,
But Socus’ brother by both sides, young Carops, did impress.
Then princely Socus to his aid made brotherly access,
And, coming near, spake in his charge: “O great Laertes’ son,
Insatiate in sly stratagems, and labours never done,
This hour, or thou shalt boast to kill the two Hippasides
And prise their arms, or fall thyself in my resolv’d access.”
This said, he threw quite through his shield his fell and well-driv’n lance,
Which held way through his curaces, and on his ribs did glance,
Plowing the flesh alongst his sides; but Pallas did repel
All inward passage to his life. Ulysses, knowing well
The wound undeadly (setting back his foot to form his stand)
Thus spake to Socus: “O thou wretch, thy death is in this hand,
That stay’st my victory on Troy, and where thy charge was made
In doubtful terms (or this or that) this shall thy life invade.”
This frighted Socus to retreat, and, in his faint reverse,
The lance betwixt his shoulders fell, and through his breast did perse,
Down fell he sounding, and the king thus play’d with his mis-ease:
“O Socus, you that make by birth the two Hippasides,
Now may your house and you perceive death can outfly the flyer.
Ah wretch! thou canst not ’scape my vows. Old Hippasus thy sire,
Nor thy well-honour’d mother’s hands, in both which lies thy worth,
Shall close thy wretched eyes in death, but vultures dig them forth,
And hide them with their darksome wings; but when Ulysses dies,
Divinest Greeks shall tomb my corse with all their obsequies.”
Now from his body and his shield the violent lance he drew,
That princely Socus had infix’d; which drawn, a crimson dew
Fell from his bosom on the earth; the wound did dare him sore.
And when the furious Trojans saw Ulysses’ forcéd gore,
Encouraging themselves in gross, all his destruction vow’d.
Then he retir’d, and summon’d aid. Thrice shouted he aloud,
As did denote a man engag’d. Thrice Menelaus’ ear
Observ’d his aid-suggesting voice, and Ajax being near,
He told him of Ulysses’ shouts, as if he were enclos’d
From all assistance, and advis’d their aids might be dispos’d
Against the ring that circled him, lest, charg’d with troops alone,
(Though valiant) he might be oppress’d, whom Greece so built upon.
He led, and Ajax seconded. They found their Jove-lov’d king
Circled with foes. As when a den of bloody lucerns cling
About a goodly-palméd hart, hurt with a hunter’s bow,
Whose ’scape his nimble feet enforce, whilst his warm blood doth flow,
And his light knees have pow’r to move; but, master’d of his wound,
Emboss’d within a shady hill, the lucerns charge him round,
And tear his flesh; when instantly fortune sends in the pow’rs
Of some stern lion, with whose sight they fly, and he devours;
So charged the Ilians Ithacus, many and mighty men.
But then made Menelaus in, and horrid Ajax then,
Bearing a target like a tow’r, close was his violent stand,
And every way the foe dispers’d, when, by the royal hand,
Kind Menelaus led away the hurt Laertes’ son,
Till his fair squire had brought his horse. Victorious Telamon
Still plied the foe, and put to sword a young Priamides,
Doryclus, Priam’s bastard son; then did his lance impress
Pandocus, and strong Pirasus, Lysander and Palertes.
As when a torrent from the hills, swoln with Saturnian show’rs,
Falls on the fields, bears blasted oaks, and wither’d rosin flow’rs,
Loose weeds, and all disperséd filth, into the ocean’s force;
So matchless Ajax beat the field, and slaughter’d men and horse.
Yet had not Hector heard of this, who fought on the left wing
Of all the host, near those sweet herbs Scamander’s flood doth spring,
Where many foreheads trod the ground, and where the skirmish burn’d
Near Nestor and king Idomen, where Hector over turn’d
The Grecian squadrons, authoring high service with his lance,
And skilful manage of his horse. Nor yet the discrepance
He made in death betwixt the hosts had made the Greeks retire,
If fair-hair’d Helen’s second spouse had not repress’d the fire
Of bold Machaon’s fortitude, who with a three-fork’d head
In his right shoulder wounded him. Then had the Grecians dread.
Lest, in his strength declin’d, the foe should slaughter their hurt friend.
Then Crete’s king urg’d Neleides his chariot to ascend,
And getting near him, take him in, and bear him to their tents.
A surgeon is to be preferr’d, with physic ornaments,
Before a multitude; his life gives hurt lives native bounds,
With sweet inspersion of fit balms, and perfect search of wounds.
Thus spake the royal Idomen. Neleides obey’d,
And to his chariot presently the wounded Greek convey’d,
The son of Æsculapius, the great physician.
To fleet they flew. Cebriones perceiv’d the slaughter done
By Ajax on the other troops, and spake to Hector thus:
“Whiles we encounter Grecians here, stern Telamonius
Is yonder raging, turning up in heaps our horse and men;
I know him by his spacious shield. Let us turn chariot then,
Where, both of horse and foot, the fight most hotly is propos’d,
In mutual slaughters. Hark, their throats from cries are never clos’d.”
This said, with his shrill scourge he strook the horse, that fast ensu’d
Stung with his lashes, tossing shields, and carcasses imbru’d.
The chariot tree was drown’d in blood, and th’ arches by the seat
Disperpled from the horses’ hoofs, and from the wheel bands beat.
Great Hector long’d to break the ranks, and startle their close fight,
Who horribly amaz’d the Greeks, and plied their sudden fright
With busy weapons, ever wing’d; his lance, sword, weighty stones.
Yet charg’d he other leader’s hands, not dreadful Telamon’s;
With whom he wisely shunn’d foul blows. But Jove (that weighs above
All human pow’rs) to Ajax’ breast divine repressions drove,
And made him shun who shunn’d himself; he ceas’d from fight amaz’d,
Cast on his back his sev’n-fold shield, and round about him gaz’d
Like one turn’d wild, look’d on himself in his distract retreat,
Knee before knee did scarcely move. As when from herds of neat,
Whole threaves of boors and mongrels chase a lion skulking near,
Loth he should taint the well-prized fat of any stall-fed steer,
Consuming all the night in watch, he, greedy of his prey,
Oft thrusting on is oft thrust off, so thick the jav’lins play
On his bold charges, and so hot the burning fire-brands shine,
Which he (though horrible) abhors, about his glowing eyne,
And early his great heart retires; so Ajax from the foe,
For fear their fleet should be inflam’d, ’gainst his swoln heart did go.
As when a dull mill ass comes near a goodly field of corn,
Kept from the birds by children’s cries, the boys are overborne
By his insensible approach, and simply he will eat;
About whom many wands are broke, and still the children beat,
And still the self-providing ass doth with their weakness bear,
Not stirring till his paunch be full, and scarcely then will steer;
So the huge son of Telamon amongst the Trojans far’d,
Bore show’rs of darts upon his shield, yet scorn’d to fly as scar’d,
And so kept softly on his way; nor would he mend his pace
For all their violent pursuits, that still did arm the chace
With singing lances. But, at last, when their cur-like presumes
More urg’d the more forborne, his spirits did rarify their fumes,
And he revok’d his active strength, turn’d head, and did repell
The horse-troops that were new made in, ’twixt whom the fight grew fell;
And by degrees he stole retreat, yet with such puissant stay
That none could pass him to the fleet. In both the armies’ sway
He stood, and from strong hands receiv’d sharp jav’lins on his shield,
Where many stuck, thrown on before, many fell short in field,
Ere the white body they could reach, and stuck, as telling how
They purpos’d to have pierc’d his flesh. His peril piercéd now
The eyes of prince Eurypylus, Evemon’s famous son,
Who came close on, and with his dart strook duke Apisaon,
Whose surname was Phausiades, ev’n to the concrete blood
That makes the liver; on the earth, out gush’d his vital flood.
Eurypylus made in, and eas’d his shoulders of his arms;
Which Paris seeing, he drew his bow, and wreak’d in part the harms
Of his good friend Phausiades, his arrow he let fly
That smote Eurypylus, and brake in his attainted thigh;
Then took he troop to shun black death, and to the flyers cried:
“Princes, and leaders of the Greeks, stand, and repulse the tide
Of this our honour-wracking chace. Ajax is drown’d in darts,
I fear past ’scape; turn, honour’d friends, help out his vent’rous parts.”
Thus spake the wounded Greek; the sound cast on their backs their shields,
And rais’d their darts; to whose relief Ajax his person wields.
Then stood he firmly with his friends, retiring their retire.
And thus both hosts indiff’rent join’d, the fight grew hot as fire.
Now had Neleides’ sweating steeds brought him, and his hurt friend,
Amongst their fleet. Æacides, that wishly did intend,
Standing astern his tall-neck’d ship, how deep the skirmish drew
Amongst the Greeks, and with what ruth the insecution grew,
Saw Nestor bring Machaon hurt, and from within did call
His friend Patroclus; who, like Mars in form celestial,
Came forth with first sound of his voice, first spring of his decay,
And ask’d his princely friend’s desire. “Dear friend,” said he, “this day
I doubt not will enforce the Greeks, to swarm about my knees;
I see unsuffer’d need employ’d in their extremities.
Go, sweet Patroclus, and inquire of old Neleides
Whom he brought wounded from the fight; by his back parts I guess
It is Machaon, but his face I could not well descry,
They pass’d me in such earnest speed.” Patroclus presently
Obey’d his friend, and ran to know. They now descended were,
And Nestor’s squire, Eurymedon, the horses did ungear;
Themselves stood near th’ extremest shore, to let the gentle air
Dry up their sweat; then to the tent where Hecamed the fair
Set chairs, and for the wounded prince a potion did prepare.
This Hecamed, by war’s hard fate, fell to old Nestor’s share,
When Thetis’ son sack’d Tenedos; she was the princely seed
Of worthy king Arsinous, and by the Greeks decreed
The prise of Nestor, since all men in counsel he surpass’d.
First, a fair table she appos’d, of which the feet were grac’d
With bluish metal mix’d with black; and on the same she put
A brass fruit-dish, in which she serv’d a wholesome onion cut
For pittance to the potion, and honey newly wrought,
And bread, the fruit of sacred meal. Then to the board she brought
A right fair cup with gold studs driv’n, which Nestor did transfer
From Pylos; on whose swelling sides four handles fixéd were,
And upon ev’ry handle sat a pair of doves of gold,
Some billing, and some pecking meat; two gilt feet did uphold
The antique body; and withal so weighty was the cup
That, being propos’d brimful of wine, one scarce could lift it up,
Yet Nestor drunk in it with ease, spite of his years’ respect.
In this the goddess-like fair dame a potion did confect
With good old wine of Pramnius, and scrap’d into the wine
Cheese made of goat’s milk, and on it spers’d flour exceeding fine.
In this sort for the wounded lord the potion she prepar’d,
And bad him drink. For company, with him old Nestor shar’d.
Thus physically quench’d they thirst, and then their spirits reviv’d
With pleasant conference. And now Patroclus, being arriv’d,
Made stay at th’ entry of the tent. Old Nestor, seeing it,
Rose, and receiv’d him by the hand, and fain would have him sit.
He set that courtesy aside, excusing it with haste,
Since his much-to-be-rev’renced friend sent him to know who past,
Wounded with him in chariot, so swiftly through the shore;
“Whom now,” said he, “I see and know, and now can stay no more;
You know, good father, our great friend is apt to take offence,
Whose fi’ry temper will inflame sometimes with innocence.”
He answer’d: “When will Peleus’ son some royal pity show
On his thus wounded countrymen? Ah! is he yet to know
How much affliction tires our host? How our especial aid,
Tainted with lances, at their tents are miserably laid?
Ulysses, Diomed, our king, Eurypylus, Machaon,
All hurt, and all our worthiest friends; yet no compassion
Can supple thy friend’s friendless breast! Doth he reserve his eye
Till our fleet burn, and we ourselves one after other die?
Alas, my forces are not now as in my younger life.
Oh would to God I had that strength I uséd in the strife
Betwixt us and the Elians, for oxen to be driv’n,
When Itymonius’ lofty soul was by my valour giv’n
As sacrifice to destiny, Hypirochus’ strong son,
That dwelt in Elis, and fought first in our contention!
We forag’d, as proclaiméd foes, a wondrous wealthy boot,
And he, in rescue of his herds, fell breathless at my foot.
All the dorp boors with terror fled. Our prey was rich and great;
Twice five and twenty flocks of sheep; as many herds of neat;
As many goats, and nasty swine; an hundred fifty mares,
All sorrel, most with sucking foals. And these soon-monied wares
We drave into Neleius’ town, fair Pylos, all by night.
My father’s heart was glad to see so much good fortune quite
The forward mind of his young son, that us’d my youth in deeds,
And would not smother it in moods. Now drew the Sun’s bright steeds
Light from the hills; our heralds now accited all that were
Endamag’d by the Elians; our princes did appear;
Our boot was parted; many men th’ Epeians much did owe,
That, being our neighbours, they did spoil; afflictions did so flow
On us poor Pylians, though but few. In brake great Hercules
To our sad confines of late years, and wholly did suppress
Our hapless princes. Twice-six Sons renown’d Neleius bred,
Only myself am left of all, the rest subdu’d and dead.
And this was it that made so proud the base Epeian bands,
On their near neighbours, being oppress’d, to lay injurious hands.
A herd of oxen for himself, a mighty flock of sheep,
My sire selected, and made choice of shepherds for their keep;
And from the gen’ral spoil he cull’d three hundred of the best.
The Elians ought him infinite, most plagu’d of all the rest.
Four wager-winning horse he lost, and chariots intervented,
Being led to an appointed race; the prize that was presented
Was a religious three-foot urn; Augeas was the king
That did detain them, and dismiss’d their keeper sorrowing
For his lov’d charge lost with foul words. Then both for words and deeds
My sire being worthily incens’d, thus justly he proceeds
To satisfaction, in first choice of all our wealthy prise;
And, as he shar’d much, much he left his subjects to suffice,
That none might be oppress’d with pow’r, or want his portion due.
Thus for the public good we shar’d. Then we to temples drew
Our cómplete city, and to heav’n we thankful rites did burn
For our rich conquest. The third day ensuing our return
The Elians flew on us in heaps; their gen’ral leaders were
The two Moliones, two boys, untrainéd in the fear
Of horrid war, or use of strength. A certain city shines
Upon a lofty prominent, and in th’ extreme confines
Of sandy Pylos, seated where Alpheus’ flood doth run,
And call’d Thryessa; this they sieg’d, and gladly would have won,
But, having pass’d through all our fields, Minerva as our spy
Fell from Olympus in the night, and arm’d us instantly;
Nor muster’d she unwilling men, nor unprepar’d for force.
My sire yet would not let me arm, but hid away my horse,
Esteeming me no soldier yet; yet shin’d I nothing less
Amongst our gallants, though on foot; Minerva’s mightiness
Led me to fight, and made me bear a soldier’s worthy name.
There is a flood falls into sea, and his crook’d course doth frame
Close to Arena, and is call’d bright Minyæus’ stream.
There made we halt, and there the sun cast many a glorious beam
On our bright armours, horse and foot insea’d together there.
Then march’d we on. By fi’ry noon we saw the sacred clear
Of great Alpheus, where to Jove we did fair sacrifice;
And to the azure God, that rules the under-liquid skies,
We offer’d up a solemn bull; a bull t’ Alpheus’ name;
And to the blue-ey’d Maid we burn’d a heifer never tame.
Now was it night; we supp’d and slept, about the flood, in arms.
The foe laid hard siege to our town, and shook it with alarms,
But, for prevention of their spleens, a mighty work of war
Appear’d behind them; for as soon as Phœbus’ fi’ry car
Cast night’s foul darkness from his wheels (invoking rev’rend Jove,
And the unconquer’d Maid his birth) we did th’ event approve,
And gave them battle. First of all, I slew (the army saw)
The mighty soldier Mulius, Augeas’ son-in-law,
And spoil’d him of his one hoof’d horse; his eldest daughter was
Bright Agamede, that for skill in simples did surpass,
And knew as many kind of drugs, as earth’s broad centre bred.
Him charg’d I with my brass-arm’d lance, the dust receiv’d him dead.
I, leaping to his chariot, amongst the foremost press’d,
And the great-hearted Elians fled frighted, seeing their best
And loftiest soldier taken down, the gen’ral of their horse.
I follow’d like a black whirlwind, and did for prise enforce
Full fifty chariots, ev’ry one furnish’d with two arm’d men,
Who ate the earth, slain with my lance. And I had slaughter’d then
The two young boys, Moliones, if their world-circling sire,
Great Neptune, had not saft their lives, and cover’d their retire
With unpierc’d clouds. Then Jove bestow’d a haughty victory
Upon us Pylians; for so long we did the chace apply,
Slaught’ring and making spoil of arms, till sweet Buprasius’ soil,
Alesius, and Olenia, were fam’d with our recoil;
For there Minerva turn’d our pow’r, and there the last I slew
As, when our battle join’d, the first. The Pylians then withdrew
To Pylas from Buprasius. Of all th’ Immortals then,
They most thank’d Jove for victory; Nestor the most of men.
Such was I ever, if I were employ’d with other peers,
And I had honour of my youth, which dies not in my years.
And great Achilles only joys hability of act
In his brave prime, and doth not deign t’ impart it where ’tis lack’d.
No doubt he will extremely mourn, long after that black hour
Wherein our ruin shall be brought, and rue his ruthless pow’r,
O friend! my memory revives the charge Menœtius gave
Thy towardness, when thou sett’st forth, to keep out of the grave
Our wounded honour. I myself and wise Ulysses were
Within the room, where ev’ry word then spoken we did hear,
For we were come to Peleus’ court, as we did must’ring pass
Through rich Achaia, where thy sire, Menœtius, was,
Thyself and great Æacides, when Peleüs the king
To thunder-loving Jove did burn an ox for offering,
In his court-yard. A cup of gold, crown’d with red wine, he held
On th’ holy incensory pour’d. You, when the ox was fell’d,
Were dressing his divided limbs; we in the portal stood.
Achilles seeing us come so near, his honourable blood
Was strook with a respective shame, rose, took us by the hands,
Brought us both in, and made us sit, and us’d his kind commands
For seemly hospitable rites, which quickly were appos’d.
Then, after needfulness of food, I first of all disclos’d
The royal cause of our repair; mov’d you and your great friend
To consort our renown’d designs; both straight did condescend.
Your fathers knew it, gave consent, and grave instruction
To both your valours. Peleus charg’d his most unequall’d son
To govern his victorious strength, and shine past all the rest
In honour, as in mere main force. Then were thy partings blest
With dear advices from thy sire; ‘My lovéd son,’ said he,
‘Achilles, by his grace of birth, superior is to thee,
And for his force more excellent, yet thou more ripe in years;
Then with sound counsels, age’s fruits, employ his honour’d years,
Command and overrule his moods; his nature will obey
In any charge discreetly giv’n, that doth his good assay.’
“Thus charg’d thy sire, which thou forgett’st. Yet now at last approve,
With forcéd reference of these, th’ attraction of his love;
Who knows if sacred influence may bless thy good intent,
And enter with thy gracious words, ev’n to his full consent?
The admonition of a friend is sweet and vehement.
If any oracle he shun, or if his mother-queen
Hath brought him some instinct from Jove, that fortifies his spleen,
Let him resign command to thee of all his Myrmidons,
And yield by that means some repulse to our confusions,
Adorning thee in his bright arms, that his resembled form
May haply make thee thought himself, and calm this hostile storm;
That so a little we may ease our overchargéd hands,
Draw some breath, not expire it all. The foe but faintly stands
Beneath his labours; and your charge being fierce, and freshly giv’n,
They eas’ly from our tents and fleet may to their walls be driv’n.”
This mov’d the good Patroclus’ mind; who made his utmost haste
T’ inform his friend; and as the fleet of Ithacus he past,
(At which their markets were dispos’d, councils, and martial courts,
And where to th’ altars of the Gods they made divine resorts)
He met renown’d Eurypylus, Evemon’s noble son,
Halting, his thigh hurt with a shaft, the liquid sweat did run
Down from his shoulders and his brows, and from his raging wound
Forth flow’d his melancholy blood, yet still his mind was sound.
His sight in kind Patroclus’ breast to sacred pity turn’d,
And (nothing more immartial for true ruth) thus he mourn’d:
“Ah wretched progeny of Greece, princes, dejected kings,
Was it your fates to nourish beasts, and serve the outcast wings
Of savage vultures here in Troy? Tell me, Evemon’s fame,
Do yet the Greeks withstand his force, whom yet no force can tame?
Or are they hopeless thrown to death by his resistless lance?”
“Divine Patroclus,” he replied, “no more can Greece advance
Defensive weapons, but to fleet they headlong must retire,
For those that to this hour have held our fleet from hostile fire,
And are the bulwarks of our host, lie wounded at their tents,
And Troy’s unvanquishable pow’r, still as it toils augments.
But take me to thy black-stern’d ship, save me, and from my thigh
Cut out this arrow, and the blood, that is ingor’d and dry,
Wash with warm water from the wound; then gentle salves apply,
Which thou know’st best, thy princely friend hath taught thee surgery,
Whom, of all Centaurs the most just, Chiron did institute.
Thus to thy honourable hands my ease I prosecute,
Since our physicians cannot help. Machaon at his tent
Needs a physician himself, being leech and patient;
And Podalirius, in the field, the sharp conflict sustains.”
Strong Menœtiades replied: “How shall I ease thy pains?
What shall we do, Eurypylus? I am to use all haste,
To signify to Thetis’ son occurrents that have past,
At Nestor’s honourable suit. But be that work achiev’d
When this is done, I will not leave thy torments unrelieved.”
This said, athwart his back he cast, beneath his breast, his arm,
And nobly help’d him to his tent. His servants, seeing his harm,
Dispread ox-hides upon the earth, whereon Machaon lay.
Patroclus cut out the sharp shaft, and clearly wash’d away
With lukewarm water the black blood; then ’twixt his hands he bruis’d
A sharp and mitigatory root; which when he had infus’d
Into the green, well-cleansed, wound, the pains he felt before
Were well, and instantly allay’d; the wound did bleed no more.

THE END OF THE ELEVENTH BOOK.

THE TWELFTH BOOK OF HOMER’S ILIADS

THE ARGUMENT

The Trojans at the trench their pow’rs engage,
Though greeted by a bird of bad presage.
In five parts they divide their pow’r to scale,
And Prince Sarpedon forceth down the pale.
Great Hector from the ports tears out a stone,
And with so dead a strength he sets it gone
At those broad gates the Grecians made to guard
Their tents and ships, that, broken, and unbarr’d,
They yield way to his pow’r; when all contend
To reach the ships; which all at last ascend.

ANOTHER ARGUMENT

Μy works the Trojans all the grace,
And doth the Grecian fort deface.

Patroclus thus employ’d in cure of hurt Eurypylus,
Both hosts are all for other wounds doubly contentious,
One always labouring to expel, the other to invade.
Nor could the broad dike of the Greeks, or that strong wall they made
To guard their fleet, be long unras’d; because it was not rais’d
By grave direction of the Gods, nor were their Deities prais’d
(When they begun) with hecatombs, that then they might be sure
(Their strength being season’d well with heav’n’s) it should have force t’ endure,
And so, the safeguard of their fleet, and all their treasure there,
Infallibly had been confirm’d; when, now, their bulwarks were
Not only without pow’r of check to their assaulting foe
(Ev’n now, as soon as they were built) but apt to overthrow;
Such as, in very little time, shall bury all their sight
And thought that ever they were made. As long as the despite
Of great Æacides held up, and Hector went not down,
And that by those two means stood safe king Priam’s sacred town,
So long their rampire had some use, though now it gave some way;
But when Troy’s best men suffer’d fate, and many Greeks did pay
Dear for their suff’rance, then the rest home to their country turn’d,
The tenth year of their wars at Troy, and Troy was sack’d and burn’d.
And then the Gods fell to their fort; then they their pow’rs employ
To ruin their work, and left less of that than they of Troy.
Neptune and Phœbus tumbled down, from the Idalian hills,
An inundation of all floods, that thence the broad sea fills
On their huge rampire; in one glut, all these together roar’d,
Rhesus, Heptaporus, Rhodius, Scamander the ador’d,
Caresus, Simois, Grenicus, Æsepus; of them all
Apollo open’d the rough mouths, and made their lusty fall
Ravish the dusty champian, where many a helm and shield,
And half-god race of men, were strew’d. And, that all these might yield
Full tribute to the heav’nly work, Neptune and Phœbus won
Jove to unburthen the black wombs of clouds, fill’d by the sun,
And pour them into all their streams, that quickly they might send
The huge wall swimming to the sea. Nine days their lights did spend
To nights in tempests; and when all their utmost depth had made,
Jove, Phœbus, Neptune, all came down, and all in state did wade
To ruin of that impious fort. Great Neptune went before,
Wrought with his trident, and the stones, trunks, roots of trees, he tore
Out of the rampire, toss’d them all into the Hellespont,
Ev’n all the proud toil of the Greeks, with which they durst confront
The to-be shunnéd Deities, and not a stone remain’d
Of all their huge foundations, all with the earth were plain’d.
Which done, again the Gods turn’d back the silver-flowing floods
By that vast channel, through whose vaults they pour’d abroad their broods,
And cover’d all the ample shore again with dusty sand.
And this the end was of that wall, where now so many a hand
Was emptied of stones and darts, contending to invade;
Where Clamour spent so high a throat; and where the fell blows made
The new-built wooden turrets groan. And here the Greeks were pent,
Tam’d with the iron whip of Jove, that terrors vehement
Shook over them by Hector’s hand, who was in ev’ry thought
The terror-master of the field, and like a whirlwind fought,
As fresh as in his morn’s first charge. And as a savage boar,
Or lion, hunted long, at last, with hounds’ and hunters’ store
Is compass’d round; they charge him close, and stand (as in a tow’r
They had inchas’d him) pouring on of darts an iron show’r;
His glorious heart yet nought appall’d, and forcing forth his way,
Here overthrows a troop, and there a running ring doth stay
His utter passage; when, again, that stay he overthrows,
And then the whole field frees his rage; so Hector wearies blows,
Runs out his charge upon the fort, and all his force would force
To pass the dike; which, being so deep, they could not get their horse
To venture on, but trample, snore, and on the very brink
To neigh with spirit, yet still stand off. Nor would a human think
The passage safe; or, if it were, ’twas less safe for retreat;
The dike being ev’rywhere so deep, and, where ’twas least deep, set
With stakes exceeding thick, sharp, strong, that horse could never pass,
Much less their chariots after them; yet for the foot there was
Some hopeful service, which they wish’d. Polydamas then spake:
“Hector, and all our friends of Troy, we indiscreetly make
Offer of passage with our horse; ye see the stakes, the wall,
Impossible for horse to take; nor can men fight at all,
The place being strait, and much more apt to let us take our bane
Than give the enemy. And yet, if Jove decree the wane
Of Grecian glory utterly, and so bereave their hearts
That we may freely charge them thus, and then will take our parts,
I would with all speed wish th’ assault, that ugly shame might shed
(Thus far from home) these Grecians’ bloods. But, if they once turn head
And sally on us from their fleet, when in so deep a dike
We shall lie struggling, not a man of all our host is like
To live and carry back the news. And therefore be it thus:
Here leave we horse kept by our men, and all on foot let us
Hold close together, and attend the grace of Hector’s guide,
And then they shall not bear our charge, our conquest shall be dyed
In their lives’ purples.” This advice pleas’d Hector, for ’twas sound;
Who first obey’d it, and full-arm’d betook him to the ground.
And then all left their chariots when he was seen to lead,
Rushing about him, and gave up each chariot and steed
To their directors to be kept, in all procinct of war,
There, and on that side of the dike. And thus the rest prepare
Their onset: In five regiments they all their pow’r divide,
Each regiment allow’d three chiefs. Of all which ev’n the pride
Serv’d in great Hector’s regiment; for all were set on fire
(Their passage beaten through the wall) with hazardous desire
That they might once but fight at fleet. With Hector captains were
Polydamas, and Cebriones, who was his charioteer;
But Hector found that place a worse. Chiefs of the second band
Were Paris and Alcathous, Agenor. The command
The third strong phalanx had, was giv’n to th’ augur Helenus,
Deiphobus, that god-like man, and mighty Asius,
Ev’n Asius Hyrtacides, that from Arisba rode
The huge bay horse, and had his house where river Selleës flow’d.
The fourth charge good Æneas led, and with him were combin’d
Archelochus, and Acamas, Antenor’s dearest kind,
And excellent at ev’ry fight. The fifth brave company
Sarpedon had to charge, who choos’d, for his command’s supply,
Asteropseus great in arms, and Glaucus; for both these
Were best of all men but himself, but he was fellowless.
Thus fitted with their well-wrought shields, down the steep dike they go,
And (thirsty of the wall’s assault) believe in overthrow,
Not doubting but with headlong falls to tumble down the Greeks
From their black navy. In which trust, all on; and no man seeks
To cross Polydamas’ advice with any other course,
But Asius Hyrtacides, who (proud of his bay horse)
Would not forsake them, nor his man, that was their manager,
(Fool that he was) but all to fleet, and little knew how near
An ill death sat him, and a sure, and that he never more
Must look on lofty Ilion; but looks, and all, before,
Put on th’ all-cov’ring mist of fate, that then did hang upon
The lance of great Deucalides; he fatally rush’d on
The left hand way, by which the Greeks, with horse and chariot,
Came usually from field to fleet; close to the gates he got,
Which both unbarr’d and ope he found, that so the easier might
An entry be for any friend that was behind in flight;
Yet not much easier for a foe, because there was a guard
Maintain’d upon it, past his thought; who still put for it hard,
Eagerly shouting; and with him were five more friends of name,
That would not leave him, though none else would hunt that way for fame
(In their free choice) but he himself. Orestes, Iamenus,
And Acamas Asiades, Thoon, Oenomaus,
Were those that follow’d Asius. Within the gates they found
Two eminently valorous, that from the race renown’d
Of the right valiant Lapithes deriv’d their high descent;
Fierce Leontëus was the one, like Mars in detriment.[1]
The other mighty Polypæt, the great Pirithous’ son.
These stood within the lofty gates, and nothing more did shun
The charge of Asius and his friends, than two high hill-bred oaks,
Well-rooted in the binding earth, obey the airy strokes
Of wind and weather, standing firm ’gainst ev’ry season’s spite.
Yet they pour on continued shouts, and bear their shields upright;
When in the mean space Polypæt and Leonteus cheer’d
Their soldiers to the fleet’s defence. But when the rest had heard
The Trojans in attempt to scale, clamour and flight did flow
Amongst the Grecians; and then, the rest dismay’d, these two
Met Asius ent’ring, thrust him back, and fought before their doors.
Nor far’d they then like oaks that stood, but as a brace of boars,
Couch’d in their own bred hill, that hear a sort of hunter’s shout,
And hounds in hot trail coming on, then from their dens break out,
Traverse their force, and suffer not, in wildness of their way,
About them any plant to stand, but thickets off’ring stay
Break through, and rend up by the roots, whet gnashes into air,
Which Tumult fills with shouts, hounds, horns, and all the hot affair
Beats at their bosoms; so their arms rung with assailing blows,
And so they stirr’d them in repulse, right well assur’d that those
Who were within, and on the wall, would add their parts, who knew
They now fought for their tents, fleet, lives, and fame, and therefore threw
Stones from the walls and tow’rs, as thick as when a drift wind shakes
Black clouds in pieces, and plucks snow, in great and plumy flakes,
From their soft bosoms, till the ground be wholly cloth’d in white;
So earth was hid with stones and darts, darts from the Trojan fight,
Stones from the Greeks, that on the helms and bossy Trojan shields
Kept such a rapping, it amaz’d great Asius, who now yields
Sighs, beats his thighs, and in a rage his fault to Jove applies:
“O Jove,” said he, “now clear thou show’st thou art a friend to lies,
Pretending, in the flight of Greece, the making of it good,
To all their ruins, which I thought could never be withstood;
Yet they, as yellow wasps, or bees (that having made their nest[2]
The grasping cranny of a hill) when for a hunter’s feast
Hunters come hot and hungry in, and dig for honey-combs,
Then fly upon them, strike and sting, and from their hollow homes
Will not be beaten, but defend their labour’s fruit, and brood;
No more will these be from their port, but either lose their blood
(Although but two against all us) or be our pris’ners made.”
All this, to do his action grace, could not firm Jove persuade,
Who for the gen’ral counsel stood, and ’gainst his singular brave,
Bestow’d on Hector that day’s fame. Yet he and these behave
Themselves thus nobly at this port; but how at other ports,
And all alongst the stony wall, sole force, ’gainst force and forts,
Rag’d in contention ’twixt both hosts, it were no easy thing,
Had I the bosom of a God, to tune to life and sing.
The Trojans fought not of themselves, a fire from heav’n was thrown
That ran amongst them, through the wall, mere added to their own.
The Greeks held not their own; weak Grief went with her wither’d hand,
And dipp’d it deeply in their spirits, since they could not command
Their forces to abide the field, whom harsh Necessity,
To save those ships should bring them home, and their good fort’s supply,
Drave to th’ expulsive fight they made; and this might stoop them more
Than Need itself could elevate, for ev’n Gods did deplore
Their dire estates, and all the Gods that were their aids in war,
Who, though they could not clear their plights, yet were their friends thus far,
Still to uphold the better sort; for then did Polypæt pass
A lance at Damasus, whose helm was made with cheeks of brass,
Yet had not proof enough, the pile drave through it and his skull.
His brain in blood drown’d, and the man, so late so spiritfull,
Fell now quite spiritless to earth. So emptied he the veins
Of Pylon, and Ormenus’ lives. And then Leonteüs gains
The life’s end of Hippomachus, Antimachus’s son;
His lance fell at his girdle-stead, and with his end begun
Another end. Leonteüs left him, and through the prease
(His keen sword drawn) ran desp’rately upon Antiphates,
And lifeless tumbled him to earth. Nor could all these lives quench
His fi’ry spirit, that his flame in Menon’s blood did drench,
And rag’d up ev’n to Iamen’s, and young Orestes’ life;
All heap’d together made their peace in that red field of strife.
Whose fair arms while the victors spoil’d, the youth of Ilion
(Of which there serv’d the most and best) still boldly built upon
The wisdom of Polydamas, and Hector’s matchless strength,
And follow’d, fill’d with wondrous spirit, with wish and hope at length,
The Greeks’ wall won, to fire their fleet. But, having pass’d the dike,
And willing now to pass the wall, this prodigy did strike
Their hearts with some delib’rate stay: A high-flown eagle soar’d
On their troops’ left hand, and sustain’d a dragon, all engor’d,
In her strong seres, of wondrous size, and yet had no such check
In life and spirit but still she fought, and turning back her neck
So stung the eagle’s gorge, that down she cast her fervent prey
Amongst the multitude, and took upon the winds her way,
Crying with anguish. When they saw a branded serpent sprawl
So full amongst them from above, and from Jove’s fowl let fall,
They took it an ostent from him, stood frighted, and their cause
Polydamas thought just, and spake: “Hector, you know, applause
Of humour hath been far from me; nor fits it, or in war,
Or in affairs of court, a man employ’d in public care
To blanch things further than their truth, or flatter any pow’r;
And therefore for that simple course your strength has oft been sour
To me in councils; yet again, what shows in my thoughts best,
I must discover. Let us cease, and make their flight our rest
For this day’s honour, and not now attempt the Grecian fleet,
For this, I fear, will be th’ event, the prodigy doth meet
So full with our affair in hand. As this high-flying fowl
Upon the left wing of our host, implying our control,
Hover’d above us, and did truss within her golden seres
A serpent so embru’d and big, which yet, in all her fears,
Kept life and fervent spirit to fight, and wrought her own release,
Nor did the eagle’s eyry feed; so though we thus far prease
Upon the Grecians, and perhaps may overrun their wall,
Our high minds aiming at their fleet, and that we much appall
Their trusséd spirits; yet are they so serpent-like dispos’d
That they will fight, though in our seres, and will at length be los’d
With all our outcries, and the life of many a Trojan breast
Shall with the eagle fly, before we carry to our nest
Them, or their navy.” Thus expounds the augur this ostent,
Whose depth he knows, and these should fear. Hector, with count’nance bent,
Thus answer’d him: “Polydamas, your depth in augury
I like not, and know passing well thou dost not satisfy
Thyself in this opinion; or if thou think’st it true,
Thy thoughts the Gods blind, to advise, and urge that as our due,
That breaks our duties, and to Jove, whose vow and sign to me
Is pass’d directly for our speed; yet light-wing’d birds must be,
By thy advice, our oracles, whose feathers little stay
My serious actions. What care I, if this, or th’ other, way
Their wild wings sway them; if the right, on which the sun doth rise,
Or, to the left hand, where he sets? ’Tis Jove’s high counsel flys
With those wings that shall bear up us; Jove’s, that both earth and heav’n,
Both men and Gods, sustains and rules. One augury is giv’n
To order all men, best of all; Fight for thy country’s right.
But why fear’st thou our further charge? For though the dang’rous fight
Strew all men here about the fleet, yet thou need’st never fear
To bear their fates; thy wary heart will never trust thee where
An enemy’s look is; and yet fight, for, if thou dar’st abstain,
Or whisper into any ear an abstinence so vain
As thou advisest, never fear that any foe shall take
Thy life from thee, for ’tis this lance.” This said, all forwards make,
Himself the first; yet before him exulting Clamour flew,
And thunder-loving Jupiter from lofty Ida blew
A storm that usher’d their assault, and made them charge like him.
It drave directly on the fleet a dust so fierce and dim
That it amaz’d the Grecians, but was a grace divine
To Hector and his following troops, who wholly did incline
To him, being now in grace with Jove, and so put boldly on
To raze the rampire; in whose height they fiercely set upon
The parapets, and pull’d them down, raz’d ev’ry foremost fight,
And all the buttresses of stone, that held their tow’rs upright,
They tore away with crows of iron, and hop’d to ruin all.
The Greeks yet stood, and still repair’d the fore-fights of their wall
With hides of oxen, and from thence, they pour’d down stones in show’rs
Upon the underminer’s heads. Within the foremost tow’rs
Both the Ajaces had command, who answer’d ev’ry part,
Th’ assaulters, and their soldiers, repress’d, and put in heart;
Repairing valour as their wall; spake some fair, some reprov’d,
Whoever made not good his place; and thus they all sorts mov’d:
“O countrymen, now need in aid would have excess be spent,
The excellent must be admir’d, the meanest excellent,
The worst do well. In changing war all should not be alike,
Nor any idle; which to know fits all, lest Hector strike
Your minds with frights, as ears with threats. Forward be all your hands,
Urge one another. This doubt down, that now betwixt us stands,
Jove will go with us to their walls.” To this effect aloud
Spake both the princes; and as high, with this, th’ expulsion flow’d.
And as in winter time, when Jove his cold sharp jav’lins throws
Amongst us mortals, and is moved to white earth with his snows,
The winds asleep, he freely pours, till highest prominents,
Hill tops, low meadows, and the fields that crown with most contents
The toils of men, seaports, and shores, are hid, and ev’ry place,
But floods, that snow’s fair tender flakes, as their own brood, embrace;
So both sides cover’d earth with stones, so both for life contend,
To show their sharpness; through the wall uproar stood up an end.
Nor had great Hector and his friends the rampire overrun,
If heav’n’s great Counsellor, high Jove, had not inflam’d his son
Sarpedon (like the forest’s king when he on oxen flies)
Against the Grecians; his round targe he to his arm applies,
Brass-leav’d without, and all within thick ox-hides quilted hard,
The verge nail’d round with rods of gold; and, with two darts prepar’d,
He leads his people. As ye see a mountain-lion fare,
Long kept from prey, in forcing which, his high mind makes him dare
Assault upon the whole full fold, though guarded never so
With well-arm’d men, and eager dogs; away he will not go,
But venture on, and either snatch a prey, or be a prey;
So far’d divine Sarpedon’s mind, resolv’d to force his way
Through all the fore-fights, and the wall; yet since he did not see
Others as great as he in name, as great in mind as he,
He spake to Glaucus:[3] “Glaucus, say, why are we honour’d more
Than other men of Lycia, in place; with greater store
Of meats and cups; with goodlier roofs; delightsome gardens; walks;
More lands and better; so much wealth, that court and country talks
Of us and our possessions, and ev’ry way we go,
Gaze on us as we were their Gods? This where we dwell is so;
The shores of Xanthus ring of this; and shall we not exceed
As much in merit as in noise? Come, be we great in deed
As well as look; shine not in gold, but in the flames of fight;
That so our neat-arm’d Lycians may say: ‘See, these are right
Our kings, our rulers; these deserve to eat and drink the best;
These govern not ingloriously; these, thus exceed the rest,
Do more than they command to do.’ O friend, if keeping back
Would keep back age from us, and death, and that we might not wrack
In this life’s human sea at all, but that deferring now
We shunn’d death ever, nor would I half this vain valour show,
Nor glorify a folly so, to wish thee to advance;
But since we must go, though not here, and that, besides the chance
Propos’d now, there are infinite fates of other sort in death,
Which, neither to be fled nor ’scaped, a man must sink beneath,
Come, try we, if this sort be ours, and either render thus
Glory to others, or make them resign the like to us.”
This motion Glaucus shifted not, but without words obey’d.
Foreright went both, a mighty troop of Lycians followéd.
Which by Menestheus observ’d, his hair stood up on end,
For, at the tow’r where he had charge, he saw Calamity bend
Her horrid brows in their approach. He threw his looks about
The whole fights near, to see what chief might help the mis’ry out
Of his poor soldiers, and beheld where both th’ Ajaces fought,
And Teucer newly come from fleet; whom it would profit nought
To call, since tumult on their helms, shields, and upon the ports,
Laid such loud claps; for ev’ry way, defences of all sorts
Were adding, as Troy took away; and Clamour flew so high
Her wings strook heav’n, and drown’d all voice. The two dukes yet so nigh
And at the offer of assault, he to th’ Ajaces sent
Thoos the herald with this charge: “Run to the regiment
Of both th’ Ajaces, and call both, for both were better here,
Since here will slaughter, instantly, be more enforc’d than there.
The Lycian captains this way make, who in the fights of stand
Have often show’d much excellence. Yet if laborious hand
Be there more needful than I hope, at least afford us some,
Let Ajax Telamonius and th’ archer Teucer come.”
The herald hasted, and arriv’d; and both th’ Ajaces told,
That Peteus’ noble son desir’d their little labour would
Employ himself in succouring him. Both their supplies were best,
Since death assail’d his quarter most; for on it fiercely press’d
The well-prov’d mighty Lycian chiefs. Yet if the service there
Allow’d not both, he pray’d that one part of his charge would bear,
And that was Ajax Telamon, with whom he wish’d would come
The archer Teucer. Telamon left instantly his room
To strong Lycomedes, and will’d Ajax Oiliades
With him to make up his supply, and fill with courages
The Grecian hearts till his return; which should he instantly
When he had well reliev’d his friend. With this the company
Of Teucer he took to his aid; Teucer, that did descend
(As Ajax did) from Telamon. With these two did attend
Pandion, that bore Teucer’s bow. When to Menestheus’ tow’r
They came, alongst the wall, they found him, and his hearten’d pow’r,
Toiling in making strong their fort. The Lycian princes set
Black whirlwind-like, with both their pow’rs, upon the parapet.
Ajax, and all, resisted them. Clamour amongst them rose.
The slaughter Ajax led; who first the last dear sight did close
Of strong Epicles, that was friend to Jove’s great Lycian son.
Amongst the high munition heap, a mighty marble stone
Lay highest, near the pinnacle, a stone of such a paise
That one of this time’s strongest men with both hands could not raise,
Yet this did Ajax rouse and throw, and all in sherds did drive
Epicles’ four-topp’d casque and skull; who (as ye see one dive
In some deep river) left his height; life left his bones withal.
Teucer shot Glaucus, rushing up yet higher on the wall,
Where naked he discern’d his arm, and made him steal retreat
From that hot service, lest some Greek, with an insulting threat,
Beholding it, might fright the rest. Sarpedon much was griev’d
At Glaucus parting, yet fought on, and his great heart reliev’d
A little with Alcmaon’s blood, surnam’d Thestorides,
Whose life he hurl’d out with his lance; which following through the prease
He drew from him. Down from the tow’r Alcmaon dead it strook;
His fair arms ringing out his death. Then fierce Sarpedon took
In his strong hand the battlement, and down he tore it quite,
The wall stripp’d naked, and broad way for entry and full fight
He made the many. Against him Ajax and Teucer made;
Teucer the rich belt on his breast did with a shaft invade;
But Jupiter averted death, who would not see his son
Die at the tails of th’ Achive ships. Ajax did fetch his run,
And, with his lance, strook through the targe of that brave Lycian king;
Yet kept he it from further pass, nor did it anything
Dismay his mind, although his men stood off from that high way
His valour made them, which he kept, and hop’d that stormy day
Should ever make his glory clear. His men’s fault thus he blam’d:
“O Lycians, why are your hot spirits so quickly disinflam’d?
Suppose me ablest of you all, ’tis hard for me alone
To ruin such a wall as this, and make confusion
Way to their navy. Lend your hands. What many can dispatch,
One cannot think. The noble work of many hath no match.”
The wise king’s just rebuke did strike a rev’rence to his will
Through all his soldiers; all stood in, and ’gainst all th’ Achives still
Made strong their squadrons, insomuch, that to the adverse side,
The work show’d mighty, and the wall, when ’twas within descried,
No easy service; yet the Greeks could neither free their wall
Of these brave Lycians, that held firm the place they first did scale;
Nor could the Lycians from their fort the sturdy Grecians drive,
Nor reach their fleet. But as two men about the limits strive
Of land that toucheth in a field, their measures in their hands,
They mete their parts out curiously, and either stiffly stands
That so far is his right in law, both hugely set on fire
About a passing-little ground; so, greedily aspire
Both these foes to their sev’ral ends, and all exhaust their most
About the very battlements (for yet no more was lost ).[4]
With sword and fire they vex’d for them their targes hugely round,
With ox-hides lin’d, and bucklers light; and many a ghastly wound
The stern steel gave for that one prise; whereof though some receiv’d
Their portions on their naked backs, yet others were bereav’d
Of brave lives, face-turn’d, through their shields; tow’rs, bulwarks, ev’rywhere
Were freckled with the blood of men. Nor yet the Greeks did bear
Base back-turn’d faces; nor their foes would therefore be out-fac’d.
But as a spinster poor and just, ye sometimes see, straight-lac’d
About the weighing of her web, who, careful, having charge
For which she would provide some means, is loth to be too large
In giving or in taking weight, but ever with her hand
Is doing with the weights and wool, till both in just paise stand;[5]
So ev’nly stood it with these foes, till Jove to Hector gave
The turning of the scales; who first against the rampire drave,
And spake so loud that all might hear: “O stand not at the pale,
Brave Trojan friends, but mend your hands; up, and break through the wall,
And make a bonfire of their fleet.” All heard, and all in heaps
Got scaling-ladders, and aloft. In mean space, Hector leaps
Upon the port, from whose out-part he tore a massy stone,
Thick downwards, upward edg’d; it was so huge an one
That two vast yeomen of most strength, such as these times beget,[6]
Could not from earth lift to a cart, yet he did brandish it
Alone, Saturnius made it light; and swinging it as nought,
He came before the planky gates, that all for strength were wrought,
And kept the port; two-fold they were, and with two rafters barr’d,
High, and strong-lock’d; he rais’d the stone, bent to the hurl so hard,
And made it with so main a strength, that all the gates did crack,
The rafters left them, and the folds one from another brake,
The hinges piecemeal flew, and through the fervent little rock
Thunder’d a passage; with his weight th’ inwall his breast did knock,
And in rush’d Hector, fierce and grim as any stormy night;
His brass arms round about his breast reflected terrible light;
Each arm held-up held each a dart; his presence call’d up all
The dreadful spirits his being held, that to the threaten’d wall
None but the Gods might check his way; his eyes were furnaces;
And thus he look’d back, call’d in all. All fir’d their courages,
And in they flow’d. The Grecians fled, their fleet now and their freight
Ask’d all their rescue. Greece went down; Tumult was at his height.