Then let me add what yet remains behind,
A thought unfinish'd in that generous mind;
Age bids me fpeak; nor fhall th' advice I bring
Diftaste the people, or offend the king:
Curs'd is the man, and void of law and right,
Unworthy property, unworthy light,
Unfit for public rule, or private care;
That wretch, that monster, who delights in war:
Whose luft is murder, and whose horrid joy,
To tear his country, and his kind destroy !
'This night, refresh and fortify thy train ;
Between the trench and wall let guards remain:
Be that the duty of the young and bold;
But thou, O king, to council call the old :
Great is thy fway, and weighty are thy cares:
Thy high commands must spirit all our wars.
With Thracian wines recruit thy honour'd guests,
For happy counfels flow from fober feasts.
Wife, weighty counsels aid a state distrest,
And fuch a monarch as can chufe the best.
See! what a blaze from hoftile tents afpires,
How near our fleet approach the Trojan fires!
Who can, unmov'd, behold the dreadful light ?
What eye beholds them, and can close to-night?
This dreadful interval determines all;
To-morrow, Troy must flame, or Greece must fall.
Thus fpoke the hoary fage: the rest obey;
Swift through the gates the guards direct their way.
His fon was first to pass the lofty mound,
The generous Thrafymed, in arms renown'd:
Next him, Ascalaphus, Iälmen, stood,
The double offspring of the Warriour-God.
Deïpyrus, Apharius, Merion, join,
And Lycomed, of Creon's noble line.
Seven were the leaders of the nightly bands;
And each bold chief a hundred spears commands.
The fires they light, to short repasts they fall;
Some line the trench, and others man the wall.
The king of men, on public counfels bent,
Conven'd the princes in his ample tent;
Each feiz'd a portion of the kingly feast,
But ftaid his hand when thirst and hunger ceas'd.
Then Neftor fpoke, for wisdom long approv'd,
And, flowly rifing, thus the council mov'd:
Monarch of nations! whose superior sway
Affembled ftates and lords of earth obey,
The laws and fceptres to thy hand are given,
And millions own the care of thee and Heaven.
O king! the counfels of my age attend;
With thee my cares begin, in thee must end;
Thee, prince! it fits alike to speak and hear,
Pronounce with judgment, with regard give ear,
To fee no wholesome motion be withstood,
And ratify the beft for public good.
Nor, though a meaner give advice, repine,
But follow it, and make the wisdom thine.
Hear then a thought, not now conceiv'd in hafte,
At once my present judgment, and my past:
When from Pelides' tent you forc'd the maid,.
1 first oppos'd, and faithful durst dissuade ;
But bold of foul, when headlong fury fir'd,
You wrong'd the man, by men and Gods admir'd:
Now feek fome means his fatal wrath to end,
With prayers to move him, or with gifts to bend.
To whom the king: With justice haft thou shown A prince's faults, and I with reafon own.
That happy man, whom Jove ftill honours moft,
Is more than armies, and himself an host.
Bleft in his love, this wondrous hero ftands;
Heaven fights his war, and humbles all our bands.
Fain would my heart, which err'd through frantic
The wrathful chief and angry Gods affuage.
If gifts immenfe his mighty foul can bow,
Hear, all ye Greeks, and witness what I vow:
Ten weighty talents of the pureft gold,
And twice ten vases of refulgent mold;
Seven facred tripods, whofe unfully'd frame
Yet knows no office, nor has felt the flame :
Twelve steeds unmatch'd in fleetnefs and in force,
And ftill victorious in the dusty course;
(Rich were the man whofe ample stores exceed
The prizes purchas'd by their winged speed).
Seven lovely captives of the Lesbian line,
Skill'd in each art, unmatch'd, in form divine ;
The fame I chose for more than vulgar charms,
When Lefbos funk beneath the hero's arms:
All these, to buy his friendship, shall be paid,
And, join'd with thefe, the long-contefted maid;
With all her charms, Brifeïs I refign,
And folemn fwear thofe charms were never mine;
Untouch'd she stay'd, uninjur'd she removes,
Pure from my arms, and guiltless of my
Thefe, inftant, fhall be his; and if the Powers
Give to our arms proud Ilion's hoftile towers,
Then fhall he store (when Greece the spoil divides)
With gold and brafs his loaded navy's fides.
Besides, full twenty nymphs of Trojan race
With copious love shall crown his warm embrace; 180
Such as himself will choofe; who yield to none,
Or yield to Helen's heavenly charms alone.
Yet hear me farther: when our wars are o'er,
If fafe we land on Argos' fruitful shore,
There fhall he live my fon, our honours share,
And with Oreftes' felf divide my care.
Yet more-three daughters in my court are bred,
And each well worthy of a royal bed;
Laodicé and Iphigenia fair,
And bright Chryfothemis with golden hair;
Her let him choose, whom moft his eyes approve;
I ask no prefents, no reward for love :
Myself will give the dower; fo vast a store
As never father gave a child before.
Seven ample cities fhall confefs his sway,
Him Enopé, and Phære him obey,
Cardamylé with ample turrets crown'd,
And facred Pedafus for vines renown'd;
pea fair, the pastures Hira yields,
And rich Antheia with her flowery fields:
The whole extent to Pylos' fandy plain,
Along the verdant margin of the main.
There heifers graze, and labouring oxen toil;
Bold are the men, and generous is the foil;
There fhall he reign with power and justice crown'd,
And rule the tributary realms around.
All this I give, his vengeance to control,
And fure all this may move his mighty foul.
Pluto, the grifly God, who never spares,›
Who feels no mercy, and who hears no prayers,
Lives dark and dreadful in deep hell's abodes,
And mortals hate him, as the worft of Gods.
Great though he be, it fits him to obey;
Since more than his my years, and more my sway.
The monarch thus. The reverend Neftor then: 215
Great Agamemnon! glorious king of men !
Such are thy offers as a prince may take,
And fuch as fits a generous king to make.
Let chofen delegates this hour be sent,
(Myfelf will name them) to Pelides' tent :
Let Phoenix lead, rever'd for hoary age,
Great Ajax next, and Ithacus the fage.
Yet more to fanctify the word you fend,
Let Hodius and Eurybates attend.
pray to Jove to grant what Greece demands; 225 Pray, in deep filence, and with pureft hands. He faid, and all approv'd. The heralds bring The cleanfing water from the living spring. The youth with wine the facred goblets crown'd, And large libations drench'd the fands around. The rite perform'd, the chiefs their thirst allay, Then from the royal tent they take their way;
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