390 Bold Hector and Ulyffes now dispose

395

The lifts of combate, and the ground inclofe;
Next to decide by facred lots prepare,
Who firft fhall launce his pointed fpear in air.
The people pray with elevated hands,

And words like thefe are heard thro' all the bands,
Immortal Jove! high heav'n's fuperior lord,

On lofty Ida's holy mount ador'd!

Whoe'er involv'd us in this dire debate,

Oh give that author of the war to fate 400 And fhades eternal! let divifion cease,

And joyful nations join in leagues of peace.
With eyes averted Hector hafts to turn

The lots of fight, and fhakes the brazen urn.

Then, Paris, thine leap'd forth, by fatal chance
415 Ordain'd the firft to whirl the weighty lance..
Both armies fate, the combate to furvey,
Befide each chief his azure armour lay,

And round the lifts the gen'rous courfers neigh.
The beauteous warrior now arrays for fight,..

410 In gilded arms magnificently bright;

The purple cuifhes clafp his thighs around,

With flow'rs adorn'd, with filver buckles bound:

Lycaon's cors'let his fair body drest,

Brac'd in, and fitted to his softer breast;
415 A radiant baldric, o'er his fhoulder ty'd,
Suftain'd the fword that glitter'd at his fide;
His youthful face a polish'd helm o'erspread;
The waving horfe-hair nodded on his head:

His figur'd fhield, a fhining orb, he takes, 420 And in his hand a pointed jav'lin fhakes.

With equal speed, and fir'd by equal charms,
The Spartan hero fheaths his limbs in arms.

Now round the lifts th' admiring armies ftand,
With jav'lins fix'd, the Greek and Trojan band.
425 Amidst the dreadful vale, the Chiefs advance,
All pale with rage, and shake the threat'ning lance.
The Trojan first his fhining jav'lin threw;

Full on Atrides ringing fhield it flew,

Nor pierc'd the brazen orb, but with a bound 430 Leap'd from the buckler blunted on the ground. Atrides then his maffy lance prepares,

In act to throw, but firft prefers his pray'rs.

Give me, great Jove! to punish lawless luft,
And lay the Trojan gasping in the duft:

Destroy

4. 433. Give me, great Jove J Homer puts a prayer in the mouth of Menelaus, but none in Paris's: Menelaus is the perfon

injur'd

435 Destroy th' aggreffor, aid my righteous cause, Avenge the breach of hofpitable laws!

Let this example future times reclaim,

And guard from wrong fair friendship's holy name. He faid, and poiz'd in air the jav'lin fent, 440 Thro' Paris' shield the forceful weapon went, His cors'let pierces, and his garment rends, And glancing downward, near his flank defcends. The wary Trojan bending from the blow, Eludes the death, and disappoints his foe: 445 But fierce Atrides wav'd his fword, and ftrook Full on his casque; the crefted helmet shook; The brittle steel, unfaithful to his hand,

Broke fhort: the fragments glitter'd on the fand. The raging warrior to the spacious skies 450Rais'd his upbraiding voice, and angry eyes:

injur'd and innocent, and may therefore apply to God for juftice; but Paris who is the criminal, remains filent. Spondanus.

. 447. The brittle steel, unfaithful to his hand, Broke fortThis verfe is cut, to exprefs the thing it describes, the fnapping fhort of the word. 'Tis the observation of Euftathius on this line of the original, that we do not only fee the action, but imagine we hear the found of the breaking sword in that of the words. Τριχθεί τε κ τελραχθά διατρυφὲν, ἔκπεσε χειρός. And that Homer defign'd it, may appear from his having twice put in the Ora (which was a letter unneceffary) to caufe this harshness in the verse. As this beauty could not be preferv'd in our language, it is endeavour'd in the tranflation to fupply it with fomething parallel,

Then

Then is it vain in Jove himself to trust?

And is it thus the Gods affift the juft?

When crimes provoke us, heav'n fuccefs denies;

The dart falls harmless, and the faulchion flies. 455 Furious he faid, and tow'rd the Grecian crew

(Seiz'd by the creft) th' unhappy warrior drew;
Struggling he follow'd, while th' embroider'd thong
That ty'd his helmet, dragg'd the chief along.
Then had his ruin crown'd Atrides' joy,

460 But Venus trembled for the Prince of Troy:
Unfeen the came, and burst the golden band;
And left an empty helmet in his hand.

The cafque, enrag'd, amidst the Greeks he threw; The Greeks with fmiles the polifh'd trophy view. 465 Then, as once more he lifts the deadly dart, In thirst of vengeance, at his rival's heart, The Queen of Love her favour'd champion fhrouds (For Gods can all things) in a veil of clouds. Rais'd from the field the panting youth fhe led, 470 And gently laid him on the bridal bed,

With pleafing fweets his fainting sense renews,-
And all the dome perfumes with heav'nly dews.
Meantime the brighteft of the female kind,
The matchlefs Helen o'er the walls reclin'd::

Τα

To her, befet with Trojan beauties, came
In borrow'd form, the *laughter-loving dame.
(She feem'd an ancient Maid, well-fkill'd to cull
The fnowy fleece, and wind the twisted wool.)
The Goddess foftly fhook her filken veft
That shed perfumes, and whifp'ring thus addreft.
Hafte, happy nymph! for thee thy Paris calls,
Safe from the fight, in yonder lofty walls,
Fair as a God! with odours round him spread
He lies, and waits thee on the well-known bed:
85 Not like a warrior parted from the foe,
But fome gay dancer in the publick show.

She fpoke, and Helen's fecret foul was mov'd;
She fcorn'd the champion, but the man she lov'd.
Fair

.479. The Goddess foftly shook, &c.] Venus having convey'd Paris in fafety to his chamber, goes to Helena, who had been Spectator of his defeat, in order to draw her to his love. The better to bring this about, fhe firft takes upon her the most proper form in the world, that of a favourite fervant-maid, and awakens her paffion by reprefenting to her the beautiful figure of his person. Next, affuming her own shape, the frightens her into a complyance, notwithstanding all the ftruggles of shame, fear, and anger, which break out in her Speech to the Goddefs. This machine is allegorical, and. means no more than the power of love triumphing over alle the confiderations of honour, eafe, and safery. It has an excellent effect as to the poem, in preferving ftill in fome degree our good opinion of Helena, whom we look upon with compaffion, as conftrain'd by a fuperior power, and whofe fpeech tends to juftify her in the eye of the reader.

487. She spoke, and Helen's fecret foul was mov'd.] Nothing