Just, as responsive to his thought, the frame
Stood prompt to move, the azure goddess came:
Charis, his spouse, a grace divinely fair,
(With purple fillets round her braided hair,)
Observed her entering; her soft hand she press'd,
And, smiling, thus the watery queen address'd:
What, goddess! this unusual favour draws?
All hail, and welcome! whatsoe'er the cause:
'Till now a stranger, in a happy hour
'Approach, and taste the dainties of the bower.'
High on a throne, with stars of silver graced,
And various artifice, the queen she placed;
A footstool at her feet: then, calling, said,
Vulcan, draw near, 'tis Thetis asks your aid.'
Thetis,' (replied the god,) ' our powers may claim
'An ever-dear, an ever-honour'd name!
'When my proud mother hurl'd me from the sky,
'(My awkward form, it seems, displeas'd her eye.) She, and Eurynome, my griefs redress'd,
And soft receiv'd me on their silver breast.
'E'en then, these arts employ'd my infant thought; Chains, bracelets, pendants, all their toys I wrought. Nine years kept secret in the dark abode,
'Secure I lay, conceal'd from man and god:
Deep in a cavern'd rock my days were led;
The rushing ocean murmur'd o'er my head.
Now since her presence glads our mansion, say,
"For such desert what service can I pay?
Vouchsafe, O Thetis! at our board to share
The genial rites, and hospitable fare;
While I the labours of the forge forego,
‘And bid the roaring bellows cease to blow.'
Then from his anvil the lame artist rose;
Wide with distorted legs oblique he goes,
And stills the bellows, and (in order laid)
Locks in their chests his instruments of trade:
Then with a sponge the sooty workman dress'd
His brawny arms imbrown'd, and hairy breast.
With his huge sceptre grac'd, and red attire,
Came halting forth the sovereign of the fire:
The monarch's steps two female forms uphold,
That mov'd, and breath'd, in animated gold;
To whom was voice, and sense, and science given
Of works divine: (such wonders are in heaven!)
On these supported, with unequal gait,
He reach'd the throne where pensive Thetis sat;
There placed beside her on the shining frame,
He thus address'd the silver-footed dame:
'Thee, welcome goddess! what occasion calls
(So long a stranger) to these honour'd walls?
'Tis thine, fair Thetis, the command to lay,
'And Vulcan's joy and duty to obey.'
To whom the mournful mother thus replies: (The crystal drops stood trembling in her eyes ;) Oh Vulcan! say, was ever breast divine
'So pierc'd with sorrows, so o'erwhelm'd as mine?
"Of all the goddesses, did Jove prepare
For Thetis only such a weight of care?
I, only I, of all the watery race,
By force subjected to a man's embrace,
Who, sinking now with age and sorrow, pays
The mighty fine impos'd on length of days. Sprung from my bed, a godlike hero came, The bravest sure that ever bore the name; 'Like some fair plant, beneath my careful hand, 'He grew, he flourish'd, and he grac'd the land: 'To Troy I sent him; but his native shore 'Never, ah never, shall receive him more ! 'E'en while he lives, he wastes with secret woe, 'Nor I, a goddess, can retard the blow! 'Robb'd of the prize the Grecian suffrage gave, 'The king of nations forc'd his royal slave:
For this he griev'd; and, till the Greeks oppress'd
Requir'd his arm, he sorrow'd unredress'd."
'Large gifts they promise, and their elders send;
‘In vain—he arms not, but permits his friend
'His arms, his steeds, his forces, to employ ;
He marches, combats, almost conquers Troy :
Then slain by Phoebus, (Hector had the name,) 'At once resigns his armour, life, and fame. 'But thou, in pity, by my prayer be won;
Grace with immortal arms this short-liv'd son,
And to the field in martial pomp restore,
'To shine with glory, till he shines no more!'
To her the artist-god: Thy griefs resign,
'Secure, what Vulcan can, is ever thine.
O could I hide him from the fates as well,
'Or with these hands the cruel stroke repel,
As I shall forge most envied arms, the gaze
'Of wondering ages, and the world's amaze!'
Thus having said, the father of the fires
To the black labours of his forge retires.
ARMOUR MADE FOR ACHILLES.
Soon as he bade them blow, the bellows turn'd
Their iron mouths, and, where the furnace burn'd,
Resounding breathed at once the blast expires,
And twenty forges catch at once the fires;
Just as the god directs, now loud, now low,
They raise a tempest, or they gently blow.
In hissing flames huge silver bars are roll'd,
And stubborn brass, and tin, and solid gold:
Before, deep fix'd, th' eternal anvils stand;
The ponderous hammer loads his better hand,
His left with tongs turns the vex'd metal round;
And thick strong strokes the doubling vaults rebound.
Then first he form'd th' immense and solid shield;
Rich various artifice emblaz'd the field;
Its utmost verge a threefold circle bound;
A silver chain suspends the massy round:
Five ample plates the broad expanse compose,
And godlike labours on the surface rose.
There shone th' image of the master-mind:
There earth, there heaven, there ocean, he design'd;
Th' unwearied sun, the moon completely round;
The starry lights that heaven's high convex crown'd;
The Pleiads, Hyads, with the northern team;
And great Orion's more refulgent beam;
To which, around the axle of the sky,
The Bear revolving points his golden eye;
Still shines exalted on th' ethereal plain,
Nor bathes his blazing forehead in the main.
Two cities radiant on the shield appear,
The image one of peace, and one of war.
Here sacred pomp and genial feast delight,
And solemn dance, and Hymeneal rite;
Along the street the new-made brides are led,
With torches flaming, to the nuptial bed:
The youthful dancers in a circle bound
To the soft flute, and cittern's silver sound:
Through the fair streets, the matrons in a row
Stand in their porches, and enjoy the show.
There, in the Forum swarm a numerous train;
The subject of debate, a townsman slain :
One pleads the fine discharg'd, which one denied,
And bade the public and the laws decide:
2 "Chain" is not the proper word for the original. Cowper's versiou
And loop'd it with a silver brace behind.
The witness is produced on either hand;
For this, or that, the partial people stand:
Th' appointed heralds still the noisy bands,
And form a ring, with sceptres in their hands
On seats of stone, within the sacred place,
The reverend elders nodded o'er the case;
Alternate, each th' attending sceptre took,
And, rising solemn, each his sentence spoke.
Two golden talents lay amidst, in sight,
The prize of him who best adjudged the right.
Another part (a prospect differing far)
Glow'd with refulgent arms, and horrid war.
Two mighty hosts a leaguer'd town embrace,
And one would pillage, one would burn, the place.
Meantime the townsmen, arm'd with silent care,
A secret ambush on the foe prepare:
Their wives, their children, and the watchful band
Of trembling parents, on the turrets stand.
They march, by Pallas and by Mars made bold;
Gold were the gods, their radiant garments gold,
And gold their armour; these the squadron led,
August, divine, superior by the head!
A place for ambush fit they found, and stood
Cover'd with shields, beside a silver flood.
Two spies at distance lurk, and watchful seem
If sheep or oxen seek the winding stream.
Soon the white flocks proceeded o'er the plains,
And steers slow-moving, and two shepherd swains;
Behind them, piping on their reeds, they go,
Nor fear an ambush, nor suspect a foe.
In arms the glittering squadron rising round,
Rush sudden; hills of slaughter heap the ground:
Whole flocks and herds lie bleeding on the plains,
And, all amidst them, dead, the shepherd swains!
The bellowing oxen the besiegers hear ;
They rise, take horse, approach, and meet the war;
They fight, they fall, beside the silver flood;
The waving silver seem'd to blush with blood.
There tumult, there contention, stood confess'd;
One rear'd a dagger at a captive's breast,
One held a living foe, that freshly bled
With new-made wounds; another dragg'd a dead;
Now here, now there, the carcasses they tore :
Fate stalk'd amidst them, grim with human gore.
And the whole war came out, and met the eye;
And each bold figure seem'd to live, or die
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