Now heaven forsakes the fight: the' immortals yield,
To human force and human skill, the field:
Dark showers of javelins fly from foes to foes;
Now here, now there, the tide of combat flows;
While Troy's fam'd streams, that bound the deathful
On either side run purple to the main.
Great Ajax first to conquest led the way, Broke the thick ranks, and turn'd the doubtful day. The Thracian Acamas his falchion found, And hew'd the' enormous giant to the ground; His thundering arm a deadly stroke impress'd Where the black horse-hair nodded o'er his crest; Fix'd in his front the brazen weapon lies, And seals in endless shades his swimming eyes. Next Teuthras' son distain'd the sands with blood, Axylus, hospitable, rich and good:
In fair Arisbe's walls (his native place)
He held his seat! a friend to human race,
Fast by the road, his ever-open door
Oblig'd the wealthy, and reliev'd the poor.
To stern Tydides now he falls a prey,
No friend to guard him in the dreadful day!
Breathless the good man fell, and by his side
His faithful servant, old Calesius died.
By great Euryalus was Dresus slain,
And next he laid Opheltius on the plain.
Two twins were near, bold, beautiful, and young,
From a fair naiad and Bucolion sprung:
(Laomedon's white flocks Bucolion fed,
That monarch's first-born by a foreign bed;
In secret woods he won the naiad's grace,
And two fair infants crown'd his strong embrace.)
Here dead they lay in all their youthful charms;
The ruthless victor stripp'd their shining arms.
Astyalus by Polypotes fell;
Ulysses' spear Pidytes sent to hell;
By Teucer's shaft brave Aretaön bled,
And Nestor's son laid stern Ablerus dead;
Great Agamemnon, leader of the brave,
The mortal wound of rich Elatus gave,
Who held in Pedasus his proud abode,
And till'd the banks where silver Satnio flow'd.
Melanthius by Eurypylus was slain;
And Phylacus from Leitus flies in vain.
Unbless'd Adrastus next at mercy lies
Beneath the Spartan spear, a living prize,
Scar'd with the din and tumult of the fight,
His headlong steeds, precipitate in flight,
Rush'd on a tamarisk's strong trunk, and broke
The shatter'd chariot from the crooked yoke ;
Wide o'er the field, resistless as the wind,
For Troy they fly, and leave their lord behind.
Prone on his face he sinks beside the wheel:
Atrides o'er him shakes his vengeful steel;
The fallen chief in suppliant posture press'd
The victor's knees, and thus his prayer address'd :
'O spare my youth, and for the life I owe
Large gifts of price my father shall bestow.
When fame shall tell, that, not in battle slain,
Thy hollow ships his captive son detain :
Rich heaps of brass shall in thy tent be told,
And steel well-temper'd, and persuasive gold.'
He said: compassion touch'd the hero's heart;
He stood, suspended, with the lifted dart :
As pity pleaded for his vanquish'd prize,
Stern Agamemnon swift to vengeance flies,
And furious, thus: Oh impotent of mind!
Shall these, shall these Atrides' mercy find?
Well hast thou known proud Troy's perfidious land,
And well her natives merit at thy hand!
Not one of all the race, nor sex, nor age,
Shall save a Trojan from our boundless rage:
Ilion shall perish whole, and bury all;
Her babes, her infants at the breast, shall fall:
A dreadful lesson of exampled fate,
To warn the nations, and to curb the great!'
The monarch spoke; the words, with warmth
address'd,
To rigid justice steel'd his brother's breast.
Fierce from his knees the hapless chief he thrust;
The monarch's javelin stretch'd him in the dust,
Then pressing with his foot his panting heart,
Forth from the slain he tugg'd the reeking dart.
Old Nestor saw, and rous'd the warrior's rage;
Thus, heroes! thus the vigorous combat wage!
No son of Mars descend, for servile gains,
To touch the booty, while a foe remains.
Behold yon glittering host, your future spoil!
First gain the conquest, then reward the toil.'
And now had Greece eternal fame acquir'd,
And frighted Troy within her walls retir'd,
Had not sage Helenus her state redress'd, Taught by the gods that mov'd his sacred breast. Where Hector stood, with great Æneas join'd, The seer reveal'd the counsels of his mind.
'Ye generous chiefs! on whom the' immortals lay
The cares and glories of this doubtful day;
On whom your aids, your country's hopes depend;
Wise to consult, and active to defend!
Here, at our gates, your brave efforts unite,
Turn back the routed, and forbid the flight,
Ere yet their wives' soft arms the cowards gain,
The sport and insult of the hostile train.
When your commands have hearten'd every band,
Ourselves, here fix'd, will make the dangerous stand;
Press'd as we are, and sore of former fight,
These straits demand our last remains of might.
Meanwhile, thou, Hector, to the town retire,
And teach our mother what the gods require :
Direct the queen to lead the' assembled train
Of Troy's chief matrons to Minerva's fane ;
Unbar the sacred gates, and seek the power
With offer'd vows, in Ilion's topmost tower.
The largest mantle her rich wardrobes hold,
Most priz'd for art, and labour'd o'er with gold,
Before the goddess' honour'd knees be spread,
And twelve young heifers to her altars led :
If so the power, aton'd by fervent prayer,
Our wives, our infants, and our city spare,
And far avert Tydides' wasteful ire,
That mows whole troops, and makes all Troy retire:
Not thus Achilles taught our hosts to dread,
Sprung though he was from more than mortal bed;
Not thus resistless rul'd the stream of fight,
In rage unbounded, and unmatch'd in might.'
Hector obedient heard: and, with a bound, Leap'd from his trembling chariot to the ground; Through all his host, inspiring force, he flies, And bids the thunder of the battle rise, With rage recruited the bold Trojans glow, And turn the tide of conflict on the foe: Fierce in the front he shakes two dazzling spears : All Greece recedes, and 'midst her triumphs fears Some god, they thought, who rul'd the fate of wars, Shot down avenging from the vault of stars.
Then thus aloud: 'Ye dauntless Dardans, hear!
And you whom distant nations send to war!
Be mindful of the strength your fathers bore;
Be still yourselves, and Hector asks no more.
One hour demands me in the Trojan wall,
To bid our altars flame, and victims fall:
Nor shall, I trust, the matron's holy train,
And reverend elders, seek the gods in vain.'
This said, with ample strides the hero past;
The shield's large orb behind his shoulder cast,
His neck o'ershading, to his ankle hung;
And as he march'd, the brazen buckler rung.
Now paus'd the battle (godlike Hector gone), Where daring Glaucus and great Tydeus' son Between both armies met: the chiefs from far Observ'd each other, and had mark'd for war. Near as they drew, Tydides thus began:
'What art thou, boldest of the race of man? Our eyes, till now, that aspect ne'er beheld, Where fame is reap'd amid the' embattled field; Yet far before the troops thou dar'st appear, And meet a lance the fiercest heroes fear. Unhappy they, and born of luckless sires, Who tempt our fury when Minerva fires!
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