2. XVIII.] THETIS VISITS HER SON. She said, and left the caverns of the main. 'Why mourns my son? thy late-preferr'd request He, deeply groaning, 'To this cureless grief 'Not e'en the Thunderer's favour brings relief. 'Patroclus-Ah! say, goddess, can I boast A pleasure now? Revenge itself is lost; 'Patroclus, lov'd of all my martial train, 'Beyond mankind, beyond myself, is slain! Lost are those arms the gods themselves bestow'd 'On Peleus; Hector bears the glorious load. Curs'd be that day, when all the powers above Thy charms submitted to a mortal love : 'Pursued the pleasures of the watery reign; 331 85 . 00 95 100 105 110 "A mortal beauty to his equal bed! Ere the sad fruit of thy unhappy womb Had caused such sorrows past, and woes to come. "For soon, alas! that wretched offspring slain, 115 New woes, new sorrows, shall create again. 'Tis not in fate th' alternate now to give; 'Patroclus dead, Achilles hates to live. Let me revenge it on proud Hector's heart, 'Let his last spirit smoke upon my dart; 'On these conditions will I breathe: till then, 'I blush to walk among the race of men.' 120 A flood of tears, at this, the goddess shed: 'Ah then, I see thee dying, see thee dead! 'When Hector falls, thou diest.'-'Let Hector die, He fell, and, falling, wish'd my aid in vain. Since, unrevenged, a hundred ghosts demand Since here, for brutal courage far renown'd, 'I live an idle burden to the ground; '(Others in council fam'd for nobler skill, 135 'More useful to preserve than I to kill ;) 'Let me. 'Wrath and revenge from men and gods remove : 'Far, far too dear to every mortal breast, 'Sweet to the soul, as honey to the taste; 140 145 6 'The stroke of fate the bravest cannot shun : The great Alcides, Jove's unequall'd son, To Juno's hate at length resign'd his breath, And sunk the victim of all-conquering death. 'So shall Achilles fall! stretch'd pale and dead, No more the Grecian hope, or Trojan dread! Let me, this instant, rush into the fields, And reap what glory life's short harvest yields. 'Shall I not force some widow'd dame to tear, 'With frantic hands, her long dishevell❜d hair? 'Shall I not force her breast to heave with sighs, 'And the soft tears to trickle from her eyes? 'Yes, I shall give the fair those mournful charms— In vain you hold me-Hence! my arms, my arms! 'Soon shall the sanguine torrent spread so wide, 'That all shall know Achilles swells the tide.' 'My son,' (coerulean Thetis made reply, To fate submitting with a secret sigh,) The host to succour and thy friends to save, Charged with refulgent arms, (a glorious load,) Then turning to the daughters of the main, 150 155 160 165 170 175 B. XVIII.] 6 SECRET MESSAGE OF JUNO. 333 Ye sister Nereids! to your deeps descend; 'Haste, and our father's sacred seat attend; I go to find the architect divine, 'Where vast Olympus' starry summits shine: 180 And now the Greeks, from furious Hector's force, But check’d, he turns; repuls'd, attacks again. Rise, son of Peleus! rise, divinely brave! 185 190 195 200 205 210 'A prey to dogs he dooms the corse to lie, 215 And marks the place to fix his head on high. Rise, and prevent (if yet you think of fame) Thy friend's disgrace; thy own eternal shame!' Who sends thee, goddess! from th 'ethereal skies ?' 220 Achilles thus: and Iris thus replies: I come, Pelides, from the queen of Jove, 'Th' immortal empress of the realms above: |