B. 1.]

PROMISE OF THETIS TO ACHILLES.

15

This, goddess, this to his rememb'rance call,
Embrace his knees, at his tribunal fall;
Conjure him far to drive the Grecian train,
To hurl them headlong to their fleet and main,

530

To heap the shores with copious death, and bring

'The Greeks to know the curse of such a king:
'Let Agamemnon lift his haughty head
'O'er all his wide dominion of the dead,

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'And mourn in blood, that e'er he durst disgrace 'The boldest warrior of the Grecian race.'

'Unhappy son!' (fair Thetis thus replies, While tears celestial trickle from her eyes,)

Why have I borne thee with a mother's throes,
'To fates averse, and nurs'd for future woes?
So short a space the light of heav'n to view!
So short a space! and fill'd with sorrow too!
O might a parent's careful wish prevail,
Far, far from Ilion should thy vessels sail,

And thou, from camps remote, the danger shun,
Which now, alas! too nearly threats my son.
Yet (what I can) to move thy suit I'll go

'To great Olympus crown'd with fleecy snow.
Meantime, secure within thy ships from far
'Behold the field, nor mingle in the war.

The sire of gods, and all th' etherial train,

On the warm limits of the farthest main, 'Now mix with mortals, nor disdain to grace 'The feasts of Ethiopia's blameless race :23

Twelve days the pow'rs indulge the genial rite,
Returning with the twelfth revolving light.

Then will I mount the brazen dome, and move

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The high tribunal of immortal Jove.'

The goddess spoke: the rolling waves unclose;

Then down the deep she plunged, from whence she rose,

And left him sorrowing on the lonely coast

In wild resentment for the fair he lost.

565

In Chrysa's port now sage Ulysses rode;

Beneath the deck the destin'd victims stow'd:

The sails they furl'd, they lash'd the mast aside,
And dropp'd their anchors, and the pinnace tied.
Next on the shore their hecatomb they land,
Chryseïs last descending on the strand.

570

23 The Ethiopians, says Diodorus, 1. iii., are said to be the inventors of pomps, sacrifices, solemn meetings, and other honours paid to the gods. From hence arose their character of piety which is here celebrated. Pop'.

Her, thus returning from the furrow'd main,
Ulysses led to Phoebus' sacred fane;
Where at his solemn altar, as the maid

He gave to Chryses, thus the hero said:

Hail, reverend priest! to Phoebus' awful dome

'A suppliant I from great Atrides come:
'Unransom'd here receive the spotless fair;
Accept the hecatomb the Greeks prepare ;

And may thy god, who scatters darts around,
Aton'd by sacrifice, desist to wound.'

At this the sire embraced the maid again,
So sadly lost, so lately sought in vain.
Then near the altar of the darting king,
Dispos'd in rank their hecatomb they bring:
With water purify their hands, and take
The sacred offering of the salted cake ;21
While thus with arms devoutly raised in air,
And solemn voice, the priest directs his prayer:
'God of the silver bow, thy ear incline,
'Whose power encircles Cilla the divine;
'Whose sacred eye thy Tenedos surveys,
And gilds fair Chrysa with distinguish'd rays!
'If, fir'd to vengeance at thy priest's request,
'Thy direful darts inflict the raging pest;
'Once more attend! avert the wasteful woe,
And smile propitious, and unbend thy bow.'
So Chryses pray'd, Apollo heard his prayer:
And now the Greeks their hecatomb prepare;
Between their horns the salted barley threw,

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And with their heads to heaven the victims slew :24*

The limbs they sever from th' inclosing hide;

The thighs, selected to the gods, divide:

On these, in double cauls involved with art,
The choicest morsels lay from every part.25
The priest himself before his altar stands,
And burns the offering with his holy hands,
Pours the black wine, and sees the flame aspire;
The youths with instruments surround the fire:

605

24 Comp. ver. 600. The salted cake, mola salsa, made usually of barleymeal, was an ordinary portion of a sacrifice.

24 Their heads were turned to heaven, as being offered to the celestial gods; such as were offered to the infernal deities were sacrificed with their heads turned downwards.

25 They spread the caul double on the thighs, and placed pieces of the desh upon it.

B. I.]
The thighs thus sacrificed, and entrails drest,
Th' assistants part, transfix, and roast the rest:
Then spread the tables, the repast prepare,
Each takes his seat, and each receives his share.
When now the rage of hunger was repress'd,
With pure libations they conclude the feast;
The youths with wine the copious goblets crown'd,"
And, pleas'd, dispense the flowing bowls around.
With hymns divine the joyous banquet ends,
The Pæans lengthen'd till the sun descends:

RETURN OF JUPITER TO OLYMPUS.

The Greeks, restor'd, the grateful notes prolong :
Apollo listens, and approves the song.

'Twas night; the chiefs beside their vessel lie.
Till rosy morn had purpled o'er the sky:
Then launch, and hoist the mast; indulgent gales
Supplied by Phoebus, fill the swelling sails;
The milk-white canvas bellying as they blow,
The parted ocean foams and roars below:
Above the bounding billows swift they flew,
Till now the Grecian camp appear'd in view.
Far on the beach they haul their barks to land,
(The crooked keel divides the yellow sand,)
Then part, where stretch'd along the winding bay
The ships and tents in mingled prospect lay.
But, raging still, amidst his navy sat

26

The stern Achilles, steadfast in his hate;

635

Nor mix'd in combat, nor in council join'd;
But wasting cares lay heavy on his mind :

In his black thoughts revenge and slaughter roll,

And scenes of blood rise dreadful in his soul.

Twelve days were past, and now the dawning light The gods had summon'd to th' Olympian height :

640

Jove, first ascending from the watery bowers,27
Leads the long order of ethereal powers.
When like the morning mist, in early day,
Rose from the flood the daughter of the sea;
And to the seats divine her flight address'd.
There, far apart, and high above the rest,

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26 That is, filled to the brim. 27 An error. Homer only says that the gods returned to Olympus, with Jupiter at their head. Pope, says Wakefield, "was led into this mistake by Dryden's version :

Jove at their head ascending from the sea:

whereas Homer had only said that Jupiter was gone towards the ocean on a visit to the Ethiopians, who are said in the Odyssey, I. 22, to be the renotest of mankind."

C

The Thunderer sat; where old Olympus shrouds
His hundred heads in heaven, and props the clouds.
Suppliant the goddess stood: one hand she placed
Beneath his beard, and one his knees embraced.
'If e'er, O father of the gods!' she said,
'My words could please thee, or my actions aid;
'Some marks of honour on thy son bestow,
'And pay in glory what in life you owe.

Fame is at least by heavenly promise due

To life so short, and now dishonour'd too. Avenge this wrong, oh ever just and wise! 'Let Greece be humbled, and the Trojans rise; 'Till the proud king, and all th' Achaian race 'Shall heap with honours him they now disgrace.' Thus Thetis spoke, but Jove in silence held The sacred councils of his breast conceal'd. Not so repuls'd, the goddess closer press'd,

Still grasp'd his knees, and urged the dear request.
O sire of gods and men! thy suppliant hear,
'Refuse, or grant; for what has Jove to fear?
'Or, oh! declare, of all the powers above,
'Is wretched Thetis least the care of Jove ?'

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She said, and sighing thus the god replies,

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Who rolls the thunder o'er the vaulted skies:

'What hast thou ask'd? Ah why should Jove engage

'In foreign contests, and domestic rage,

The gods' complaints, and Juno's fierce alarms,

'While I, too partial, aid the Trojan arms?

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Go, lest the haughty partner of my sway

With jealous eyes thy close access survey;

But part in peace, secure thy prayer is sped: "Witness the sacred honours of our head, "The nod that ratifies the will divine,

The faithful, fix'd, irrevocable sign;

This seals thy suit, and this fulfils thy vows-' He spoke, and awful bends his sable brows;28 Shakes his ambrosial curls, and gives the nod; The stamp of fate, and sanction of the god:

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High heaven with trembling the dread signal took,
And all Olympus to the centre shook.

Swift to the seas profound the goddess flies,

Jove to his starry mansion in the skies.

28 This description of the majesty of Jupiter has something exceedingly grand and venerable. Macrobius reports, that Phidias having made his Olympian Jupiter, which passed for one of the greatest miracles of art, was asked from what pattern he framed so divine a figure, and answered, it was from that archetype which he found in these lines. Pope.