No more those coursers with triumphant joy
Restore their master to the gates of Troy; 130
Black death attends behind the Grecian wall,
And great Idomeneus shall boast thy fall;
Fierce to the left he drives, where from the plain,
The flying Grecians strove their ships to gain;
Swift thro' the wall their horse and chariots pass
The gates half-open'd to receive the last.
Thither, exulting in his force, he flies;
His following host with clamours rend the skies!
To plunge the Grecians headlong in the main, 139
Such their proud hopes, but all their hopes were rain!

136

To guard the gates, two mighty chiefs attend,
Who from the Lapiths' warlike race descend;
This Polypotes, great Perithous' heir,
And that Leonteus, like the god of war.
As two tall oaks, before the wall they rise; 145
Their roots in earth, their heads amidst the skies:
Whose spreading arms with leafy honors crown'd,
Forbid the tempest, and protect the ground;
High on the hills appear their stately form,
And their deep roots for ever brave the storm.
So graceful these, and so the shock they stand
Of raging Asius, and his furious band.
Orestes, Acamas in front appear,

And nomaus and Thoon close the rear;
In vain their clamours shake the ambient fields, 1
In vain around them beat their hollow shields;
The fearless brothers on the Grecians call,
To guard their navies, and defend the wall.

150

165

Ev'n when they saw Troy's sable troops impend, And Greece tumultuous from her tow'rs descend, Forth from the portals rush'd th' intrepid pair, 161 Oppos'd their breasts, and stood themselves the war. o two wild boars spring furious from their den, Couz'd with the cries of dogs and voice of men; 'n ev'ry side the crackling trees they tear, and root the shrubs, and lay the forest bare; hey gnash their tusks, with fire their eye-balls roll, ill some wide wound lets out their mighty soul. _round their heads the whistling jav❜lins sung, With sounding strokes their brazen targets rung; 170 ierce was the fight, while yet the Grecian pow'rs aintain'd the walls, and mann'd the lofty tow'rs: o save their fleet, the last efforts they try, nd stones and darts in mingled tempests fly. 174 As when sharp Boreas blows abroad, and brings he dreary winter on his frozen wings;

eneath the low-hung clouds the sheets of snow escend, and whiten all the fields below: fast the darts on either army pour,

down the rampires rolls the rocky show'r; 180 eavy and thick resound the batter'd shields, d the deaf echo rattles round the fields. With shame repuls'd, with grief and fury driv'n, e frantic Asius thus accuses heav'n:

pow'rs immortal who shall now believe? 185 Fan those too flatter, and can Jove deceive? What man could doubt but Troy's victorious pow'r hould humble Greece; and this her fatal hour?

But look how wasps from hollow crannies drive, 'To guard the entrance of their common hive, 190 'Dark'ning the rock, while with unweary'd wings · They strike th' assailants, and infix their stings; "A race determin'd, that to death contend:

'So fierce these Greeks their last retreats defend. 'Gods! shall two warriors only guard their gates,195 'Repel an army, and defraud the fates!"

200

These empty accents, mingled with the wind, Nor mov❜d great Jove's unalterable mind: To godlike Hector and his matchless might Was ow'd the glory of the destin'd fight. Like deeds of arms through all the forts were try'd, And all the gates sustain'd an equal tide; Thro' the long walls the stony show'rs were heard, The blaze of flames, the flash of arms appear'd. The spirit of a god my breast inspire, To raise each act to life, and sing with fire! While Greece unconquer'd kept alive the war, Secure of death, confiding in despair; And all her guardian gods, in deep dismay, With unassisting arms deplor'd the day.

205

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Ev'n yet the dauntless Lapithæ maintain The dreadful pass, and round them heap the slain First Damasus, by Polypœtes' steel,

Pierc'd through his helmet's brazen vizor, fell; The weapon drank the mingled brains and gore; £1 The warrior sinks, tremendous now no more! Next Ormenus and Pilon yield their breath: Nor less Leonteus strews the field with death;

First through the belt Hippomachus he gor'd,
Then sudden wav'd his unresisting sword;
Antiphatès, as through the ranks he broke,

220

The faulchion struck, and fate pursu'd the stroke; Jamenus, Orestes, Menon, bled;

And round him rose a monument of dead.

Meantime the bravest of the Trojan crew 225 Bold Hector and Polydamas pursue; Fierce with impatience on the works to fall, And wrap in rolling flames the fleet and wall. These on the farther bank now stood and gaz'd, By heav'n alarm'd, by prodigies amaz'd: A signal omen stopp'd the passing host, Their martial fury in their wonder lost. Jove's bird on sounding pinions beat the skies; A bleeding serpent, of enormous size,

230

His talons truss'd; alive, and curling round, 235 He stung the bird, whose throat receiv'd the wound: Mad with the smart, he drops the fatal prey,

In airy circles wings his painful way, [cries: Floats on the winds, and rends the heav'ns with Amidst the host the fallen serpent lies.

240

They, pale with terror, mark its spires unroll'd,
And Jove's portent with beating hearts behold.
Then first Polydamas the silence broke,
Long weigh'd the signal, and to Hector spoke:

How oft, my brother! thy reproach | bear, 245
For words well meant, and sentiments sincere;
True to those counsels which I judge the best,
I tell the faithful dictates of my breast

To speak his thoughts, is every freeman's right, In peace and war, in council and in fight; 250 And all I move, deferring to thy sway,

255

But tends to raise that pow'r which I obey. Then hear my words, nor may my words be vain; 'Seek not, this day, the Grecian ships to gain; For sure to warn us Jove his omen sent, And thus my mind explains its clear event. The victor eagle, whose sinister flight 'Retards our host, and fills our hearts with fright, 'Dismiss'd his conquest in the middle skies, "Allow'd to seize, but not possess the prize; 260 'Thus though we gird with fires the Grecian fleet, 'Though these proud bulwarks tumble at our feet, 'Toils unforeseen, and fiercer, are decreed; 'More woes shall follow, and more heroes bleed. So bodes my soul, and bids me thus advise: 265 For thus a skilful seer would read the skies.' To him then Hector with disdain return'd: (Fierce as he spoke, his eyes with fury burn'd;) Are these the faithful counsels of thy tongue? Thy will is partial, not thy reason wrong: 'Or if the purpose of thy heart thou vent, 'Sure heav'n resumes the little sense it lent.

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• What coward counsels would thy madness move, Against the word, the will reveal'd of Jove?

The leading sign, th' irrevocable nod,

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"And happy thunders of the fav'ring god. 'These shall I slight? and guide my wav'ring mind

By wand'ring birds, that flit with ev'ry wind?