315 From whom the pow'r of laws and justice springs:

(Tremendous oath inviolate to Kings)

By this I fwear, when bleeding Greece again

Shall call Achilles, fhe fhall call in vain.

When flush'd with flaughter, Hector comes to spread 320 The purpled fhore with mountains of the dead, Then fhalt thou mourn th'affront thy madness gave, Forc'd to deplore, when impotent to fave: Then rage in bitterness of foul, to know

325

This act has made the bravest Greek thy foe.

He fpoke; and furious, hurl'd against the ground
His fceptre ftarr'd with golden ftuds around.
Then sternly filent fate. With like difdain,"
The raging King return'd his frowns again.

To calm their paffion with the words of age,
330 Slow from his feat arofe the Pylian fage,
Experienc'd Neftor, in perfuafion skill'd,
Words, fweet as honey, from his lips diftill'd::

324: Thy rafhness made the bravest Greek thy foe.] If felf-praife had not been agreeable to the haughty nature of Achilles, yet Plutarch has mention'd a cafe, and with refpec to him, wherein it is allowable. He fays that Achilles has at other times afcrib'd his fuccefs to Jupiter, but it is permitted to a man of merit and figure who is injuriously dealt with, to Speak frankly of himself to those who are forgetful and unthankful.

Twe

Two generations now had paft away,
Wife by his rules, and happy by his fway;
Two ages.o'er his native realm he reign'd,
And now th' example of the third remain'd.
All view'd with awe the venerable man;
Who thus, with mild benevolence, began:

What shame, what woe is this to Greece! what joy! To Troy's proud monarch, and the friends of Troy! That

. 333. Two generations.] The Commentators make not Neftor to have liv'd three hundred years (according to Ovid's opinion; they take the word feed not to fignify a century or age of the world; but a generation or compass of time in which one fet of men flourish, which in the common computation is thirty yeats; and accordingly it is here tranflated as much the more probable.

It was

From what Neftor fays in this fpeech, Madam Dacier computes the age he was of at the end of the Trojan war. The fight of the Lapithe and Centaurs fell out fifty five or fifty fix years before the war of Troy: The quarrel of Agamemnon and Achil les happen'd in the tenth and laft year of that war. then fixty five or fixty fix years fince Neftor fought against the Centaurs; he was capable at that time of giving counsel, fo that one cannot imagine him to have been under twenty: From whence it will appear that he was now almoft arriv'd to the conclufion of his third age, and about fourfcore and five, or four core and fix years of age.

..339. What shame.] The quarrel having rifen to its higheft extravagance, Neft or the wifeft and most aged Greek is.raifed to quiet the Princes, whofe fpeech is therefore fram'd entirely with an oppofite air to all which has been hitherto faid, fedate and inoffenfive. He begins with a foft affectionate complaint which he oppofes to their threats and haughty language; he reconciles their attention in an awful manner, by putting them in mind that they hear 'one whom their fathers and the

greatest

That adverfe Gods commit to ftern debate

The beft, the braveft of the Grecian ftate.
Young as ye are, this youthful heat restrain,
Nor think your Neftor's years and wisdom vain.'
345 A Godlike race of Heroes once I knew,

Such, as no more thefe aged eyes fhall view!
Lives there a chief to match Pirithous' fame.
Dryas the bold, or Ceneas' deathlefs name.

greatest Heroes had heard with deference. He fides with
neither, that he might not anger any one, while he advises
them to the proper methods of reconciliation; and he appears
ro fide with both while he praifes each, that they may be in-
duc'd by the recollection of one another's worth to return
to that amity which would bring fuccefs to the caufe. It
was not however confiftent with the plan of the poem that
they should entirely be appeas'd, for then the anger would
be at an end which was propos'd as the fubject of the Po-
em. Homer has not therefore made this fpeech to have its
full fuccefs; and yet that the eloquence of his Neftor might
not be thrown out of character by its proving unavailable,
he takes care that the violence with which the difpute was
manag'd should abate immediately upon his fpeaking; Aga-
memnon confeffes that all he spoke was right, Achilles promi-
fes not to fight for Brifers if the fhould be fent for, and the
council diffolves.

It is to be obferv'd that this character of authority and wisdom in Neftor, is every where admirably used by Homer, and made to exert itself thro' all the great emergencies of the poem. As he quiets the Princes here, he proposes that expedient which reduces the army into their order after the Sedition in the second book. When the Greeks are in the utmoft diftreffes, 'tis he who advises the building the fortification before the fleet, which is the chief means of preferving them. And it is by his perfuafion that Patroclus puts on the armour of Achilles, which occafions the return of that Héroe, and the conquest of Troy.

Thefeus,

Thefeus, endu'd with more than mortal might,
Or Polyphemus like the Gods in fight?

With these of old to toils of battel bred,

In early youth my, hardy days I led;

Fir'd with the thirft which virtuous envy breeds, And fmit with love of honourable deeds.

Strongeft of Men, they pierc'd the mountain boar, Rang'd the wild defarts red with monsters gore, And from their hills the fhaggy Centaurs tore. Yet these with soft, perfuafive arts I sway'd; When Neftor fpoke, they liften'd and obey'd. If in my youth, ev'n thefe efteem'd me wife, 50 Do you, young warriors, hear my age advise.

Atrides, feize not on the beauteous flave;

That prize the Greeks by common fuffrage gave: Nor thou, Achilles, treat our Prince with pride; Let Kings be juft, and fov'reign pow'r prefide. 65 Thee, the first honours of the war adorn,

Like Gods in ftrength, and of a Goddess born;
Him, awful majefty exalts above

The pow'rs of earth, and fceptred fons of Jove.
Let both unite with well-confenting mind,

70 So fhall authority with ftrength be join'd.

Leave me, O King! to calm Achilles' rage;
Rule thou thy felf, as more advanc'd in age.

Forbid it Gods! Achilles fhould be loft,

375 The pride of Greece, and bulwark of our hoft.

This faid, he ceas'd: The King of Men replies;
Thy years are awful, and thy words are wife.
But that imperious, that unconquer'd foul,

No laws can limit, no respect controul.

380 Before his pride must his fuperiors fall,

His word the law, and he the Lord of all?
Him muft our hofts, our chiefs, our felf obey?
What King can bear a rival in his sway?

Grant that the Gods his matchless force has giv'a ; 385 Has foul reproach a privilege from heav'n?

Here on the Monarch's speech Achilles broke,
And furious, thus, and interrupting spoke.
Tyrant, I well deferv'd thy galling chain,
To live thy flave, and ftill to ferve in vain,
390 Should I fubmit to each unjust decree.:

Command thy vaffals, but command not me.
Seize on Brifeis, whom the Grecians doom'd
My prize of war, yet tamely fee refum'd;

And