But to resume whate'er thy avarice craves,

(That trick of tyrants) may be borne by slaves.
Yet if our chief for plunder only fight,
The spoils of Ilion shall thy loss requite,

164

Whene'er by Jove's decree our conquering powers
Shall humble to the dust her lofty towers.
Then thus the king. Shall I my prize resign
With tame content, and thou possest of thine?
Great as thou art, and like a God in fight,
Think not to rob me of a soldier's right.
At thy demand shall I restore the maid?
First let the just equivalent be paid;
Such as a king might ask; and let it be
A treasure worthy her, and worthy me.

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185

Or grant me this, or with a monarch's claim, 175
This hand shall seize some other captive dame.
The mighty Ajax shall his prize resign,
Ulysses' spoils, or ev'n thy own be mine.
The man who suffers, loudly may complain;
And rage he may, but he shall rage in vain.
But this when time requires-It now remains
We launch a bark to plough the watery plains,
And waft the sacrifice to Chrysa's shores,
With chosen pilots, and with laboring oars.
Soon shall the fair the sable ship ascend,
And some deputed prince the charge attend;
This Creta's king, or Ajax shall fulfil,
Or wise Ulysses see perform'd our will;
Or, if our royal pleasure shall ordain,
Achilles' self conduct her o'er the main ;
Let fierce Achilles, dreadful in his rage,
The God propitiate, and the pest assuage.
At this, Pelides, frowning stern, reply'd:
O tyrant, arm'd with insolence and pride!
Inglorious slave to interest, ever join'd
With fraud, unworthy of a royal mind!
What generous Greek, obedient to thy word,
Shall form an ambush, or shall lift the sword?
What cause have I to war at thy decree?
The distant Trojans never injur'd me :
To Phthia's realms no hostile troops they led,
Safe in her vales my warlike coursers fed;
Far hence remov'd, the hoarse-resounding main,
And walls of rocks, secure my native reign,

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Whose fruitful soil luxuriant harvests grace, Rich in her fruits, and in her martial race. Hither we sail'd, a voluntary throng, Tavenge a private, not a public wrong: What else to Troy th' assembled nations draws, But thine, ungrateful, and thy brother's cause? 210 Is this the pay our blood and toils deserve; Disgrac'd and injur'd by the man we serve ?' And dar'st thou threat to snatch my prize away, Due to the deeds of many a dreadful day? A prize as small, O tyrant! match'd with thine, As thy own actions if compar'd to mine. Thine in each conquest is the wealthy prey, Though mine the sweat and danger of the day. Some trivial presents to my ships I bear, Or barren praises pay the wounds of war. But know, proud monarch, I'm thy slave no more; My fleet shall waft me to Thessalia's shore. Left by Achilles on the Trojan plain, What spoils, what conquests, shall Atrides gain? To this the king: Fly, mighty warrior! fly, Thy aid we need not, and thy threats defy. There want not chiefs in such a cause to fight, And Jove himself shall guard a monarch's right. Of all the kings (the God's distinguish'd care) To power superior none such hatred bear: Strife and debate thy restless soul employ, And wars and horrors are thy savage joy.

220

225

230

If thou hast strength, 'twas heav'n that strength bestow'd, i
For know, vain man! thy valor is from God.
Haste, launch thy vessels, fly with speed away, 235
Rufe thy own realins with arbitrary sway:
I heed thee not, but prize at equal rate
Thy short-liv'd friendship, and thy groundless hate.
Go, threat thy earth-born Myrmidons; but here
'Tis mine to threaten, prince, and thine to fear, 240
Know, if the God the beauteous dame demand,
My bark shall waft her to her native land;
But then prepare, imperious prince! prepare,
Fierce as thou art, to yield thy captive fair:
Ev'n in thy tent I'll seize the blooming prize, 245
Thy lov'd Briseïs with the radiant eyes.

Hence shalt thou prove my might, and curse the hour,
Thou stood'st a rival of imperial power pads you

And hence to all our host it shall be known, and # That kings are subject to the Gods alone. ni 250

Achilles heard, with grief and rage opprestabil His heart swell'd high, and labor'd in his breast. 1 Distracting thoughts by turns his bosom rul'd, Now fir'd by wrath, and now by reason cool'da That prompts his hand to draw the deadly sword,255 Force thro'the Greeks and pierce their haughty lord This whispers soft, his vengeance to control, And calm the rising tempest of his soul. Just as in anguish of suspense he stay'd,

A

ཕྱན་།

261

* While half unsheath'd appear'd the glittering blade,
Minerva swift descended from above, i
Sent by the sister and the wife of Jove
(For both the princes claim'd her equal care);
Behind she stood, and by the golden hairsyad
Achilles seiz'd; to him alone confest;

A sable cloud conceal'd her from the rest.
He sees, and sudden to the Goddess cries,
Known by the lames that sparkle from her eyes.
Descends Minerva in her guardian care,

270

A heavenly witness of the wrongs I bear
From Atreus' son: then let those eyes that view
The daring crime, behold the vengeance too. Le
Forbear! (the progeny of Jove replies)

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To calm thy fury I forsake the skies:
Let great Achilles, to the Gods resign'd,
To reason yield the empire o'er his mind.
By awful Juno this command is given
The king and you are both the care of heaven.
The force of keen reproaches let him feel,
But sheathe, obedient, thy revenging steel.
For I pronounce (and trust a heavenly power)
Thy injur'd honor has its fated hour, bivi Frode vill
When the proud monarch shall thy arms implore,
And bribe thy friendship with a boundless store.
Then let revenge no longer bear the sway, 1į 1285
Command thy passions, and the Gods obeyud Ja
To her Pelides. With regardful eargentasch Jud
Tis just, O Goddess! I thy dictates heart 2595
Hard as it is, my vengeance I suppress: qt at
Those who revere the Gods, the Gods will bless. 2001
He said, observant of the blue-ey'd maid ja panne (5
Then in the sheath return'd the shining blade, godi

The Goddess swift to high Olympus flies,
And joins the sacred senate of the skies.

Nor yet the rage his boiling breast forsook, 295 Which thus redoubling on Atrides broke.

O monster! mix'd of insolence and fear,
Thou dog in forehead, but in heart a deer!

When wert thou known in ambush'd fights to dare,
Or nobly face the horrid front of war?
'Tis ours, the chance of fighting fields to try,
Thine to look on, and bid the valiant die.

300

So much 'tis safer through the camp to go,
And rob a subject, than despoil a foe.
Scourge of thy people, violent and base!
Sent in Jove's anger on a slavish race,

305

Who, lost to sense of generous freedom past,
Are tam'd to wrongs, or this had been thy last.
Now by this sacred sceptre hear me swear,
Which never more shall leaves or blossoms bear, 310
Which sever'd from the trunk (as I from thee)
On the bare mountains left its parent tree;
This sceptre, form'd by temper'd steel to prove
An ensign of the delegates of Jove,

From whom the power of laws and justice springs 315 (Tremendous oath! inviolate to kings):

By this I swear, when bleeding Greece again
Shall call Achilles, she shall call in vain.

When, flush'd with slaughter, Hector comes to spread
The purpled shore with mountains of the dead, 320
Then shalt thon mourn th' affront thy madness gave,
Forc'd to deplore, when impotent to save:
Then rage in bitterness of soul, to know
This act has made the bravest Greek thy foe. 324
He spoke; and furious hurl'd against the ground
His sceptre starr'd with golden studs around.
Then sternly silent sat. With like disdain,
The raging king return'd his frowns again.

To calm their passions with the words of age,
Slow from his seat arose the Pylian sage,
Experienc'd Nestor, in persuasion skill'd,
Words sweet as honey from his lips distill'd;
Two generations now had pass'd away,
Wise by his rules, and happy by his sway;
Two ages o'er his native realm he reign'd,
And now th' example of the third remain'd.

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335

All view'd with awe the venerable man;
Who thus with mild benevolence began:

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345

What shame, what woe is this to Greece! what joy To Troy's proud monarch, and the friends of Troy! That adverse Gods commit to stern debate The best, the bravest of the Grecian state, Young as ye are, this youthful heat restrain, Nor think your Nestor's years and wisdom vain. A godlike race of heroes once I knew, Such, as no more these aged eyes shall view! Lives there a chief to match Pirithous' fame, Dryas the bold, or Ceneus' deathless name; Theseus, endued with more than mortal might, Or Polyphemus, like the Gods in fight? With these of old to toils of battle bred, In early youth my hardy days I led;

350

Fir'd with the thirst which virtuous envy breeds,
And smit with love of honorable deeds.
354
Strongest of men, they pierc'd the mountain boar,
Rang'd the wild deserts red with monsters gore,
And from their hills the shaggy Centaurs tore.
Yet these with soft, persuasive arts I sway'd;
When Nestor spoke, they listen'd and obey'd.
If in my youth, ev'n these esteem'd me wise; 360
Do you, young warriors, here my age advise.
Atrides, seize not on the beauteous slave;
That prize the Greeks by common suffrage gave:
Nor thou, Achilles, treat our prince with pride;
Let kings be just, and sovereign power preside. 365
Thee, the first honors of the war adorn,
Like Gods in strength, and of a Goddess born;
Him, awful majesty exalts above

370

The powers of earth, and scepter'd sons of Jove.
Let both unite with well-consenting mind,
So shall authority with strength be join'd.
Leave me, O king! to calm Achilles' rage;
Rule thou thyself, as more advanc'd in age.
Forbid it Gods! Achilles should be lost,

The pride of Greece, and bulwark of our host, 375
This said, he ceas'd; the king of men replies:

Thy years are awful, and thy words are wise.
But that imperious, that unconquer'd soul,
No laws can limit, no respect control.