Those, where fair Elis and Buprasium join ; Whom Hyrmin, here, and Myrsinus confine, And bounded there where o'er the vallies rose The Olenian rock; and where Alisium flows; Beneath four chiefs (a numerous army) came: The strength and glory of th' Epean name. In separate squadrons these their train divide, Each leads ten vessels through th› yielding tide. One was Amphimachus, and Thalphius one (Eurytus' this, and that Teätus' son); Diores sprung from Amarynceus' line; And great Polyxenus, of force divine.

But those who view fair Elis o'er the seas From the blest islands of th' Echinades, In forty vessels under Meges move, Begot by Phyleus the belov'd of Jove. To strong Dulichium from his sire he fled, And thence to Troy his hardy warriors led. Ulysses followed through the watery road, A chief, in wisdom equal to a god. With those who Cephalenia's isle enclos'd, Or till their fields along the coast oppos'd; Or where fair Ithaca o'erlooks the floods, Where high Neritos shakes his waving woods, Where Egilipa's ragged sides are seen, Crocylia rocky, and Zacynthus green. These in twelve galleys with vermillion prores, Beneath his conduct sought the Phrygian shores. Thoas came next, Andræmon's valiant son, From Pleuron's walls, and chalky Calydon, And rough Pylenè, and th' Olenian steep, And Chalcis beaten by the rolling deep. He led the warriors from th' Etolian shore, For now the sons of Ocneus were no more! The glories of the mighty race were fled! Oeneus himself, and Meleager dead! To Thoas' care now trust the martial train, His forty vessels follow through the main.

Next eighty barks the Cretan king commands, Of Gnossus, Lyctus, and Gortyna's bands, And those who dwell where Rhytion's domes arise, Or white Lycastus glitters to the skies, Or where by Phastus silver Jardan runs ; Crete's hundred cities pour forth all her sons. These march'd, Idomeneus, beneath thy care, And Merion, dreadful as the god of war.

Tlepolemus, the son of Hercules, Led nine swift vessels through the foamy seas; From Rhodes with everlasting sunshine bright, Jalyssus, Lindus, and Camirus white. His captive mother fierce Alcides bore, From Ephyr's walls, and Selle's winding shore, Where mighty towns in ruins spread the plain, And saw their blooming warriors early slain. The hero, when to manly years he grew, Alcides' uncle, old Licymnius, slew; For this, constrain'd to quit his native place, And shun the vengeance of the Herculean race, A fleet he built, and with a numerous train Of willing exiles, wander'd o'er the main ; Where, many seas and many sufferings past, On happy Rhodes the chief arriv'd at last : There in three tribes divides his native band, And rules them peaceful in a foreign land; Increas'd and prosper'd in their new abodes, By mighty Jove, the sire of men and gods ; With joy they saw the growing empire rise, And showers of wealth descending from the skies. Three ships with Nireus sought the Trojan shore, Nireus, whom Aglaë to Charopus bore,

Nireus, in faultless shape and blooming grace,
The loveliest youth of all the Grecian race,
Pelides only match'd his early charms;
But few his troops, and small his strength in arms.
Next thirty galleys cleave the liquid plain,
Of those Calydnæ's sea girt isles contain;
With them the youth of Nysyrus repair,
Casus the strong, and Carpathus the fair;
Cos, where Eurypylus possest the sway,
Till great Alcides made the realms obey:
These Antiphus and bold Phidippus bring,
Sprung from the god by Thessalus the king,

Now, Muse, recount Pelasgic Argos' powers,
From Ales, Alopè, and Trechin's towers;
From Phthia's spacious vales; and Hella, blest
With female beauty far beyond the rest.
Full fifty ships beneath Achilles' care,

Th' Achaians, Myrmidons, Hellenians bear;
Thessalians all, though various in their name;
The same their nation, and their chief the same.
But now, inglorious, stretch'd along the shore,
They hear the brazen voice of war no more;
No more the foe they face in dire array;
Close in his fleet the angry leader lay;
Since fair Briseis from his arins was torn,
The noblest spoil from sack'd Lyrnessus borne,
Then, when the chief the Theban walls o'erthrew,
And the bold sons of great Evenus slew.
There mourn'd Achilles, plung'd in depth of care,
But soon to rise in slaughter, blood, and war.
To these the youth of Phylacè succeed,
Itona, famous for her fleecy breed,
And grassy Pteleon deck'd with cheerful greens,
The bowers of Ceres, and the sylvan scenes,
Sweet Pyrrhasus, with blooming flowrets crown'd,
And Antron's watery dens, and cavern'd ground.
These own'd as chief Protesilas the brave,
Who now lay silent in the gloomy grave:
The first who boldly touch'd the Trojan shore,
And dy'd a Phrygian lance with Grecian gore;
There lies, far distant from his native plain;
Unfinish'd, his proud palaces remain,
And his sad consort beats her breast in vain.
His troops in forty ships Podarces led,
Iphiclus' son, and brother to the dead;
Nor he unworthy to command the host;
Yet still they mourn'd their ancient leader lost.
The inen who Glaphrya's fair toil partake,
Where hills encircle Babe's lowly lake,
Where Phare hears the neighbouring waters fall,
Or proud löleus lifts her airy wall,

In ten black ships embark'd for Ilion's shore,
With bold Eumylus, whom Alcestè bore:
All Pelias' race Alcestè far outshin'd,
The grace and glory of the beauteous kind.

The troops Methonè or Thaumachia yields,
Olizon's rocks, or Meliboa's fields,
With Philoctetes sail'd, whose matchless art,
From the tough bow directs the feather'd dart.
Seven were his ships; each vessel fifty row,
Skill'd in his science of the dart and bow.
But he lay raging on the Lemnian ground,
A poisonous Hydra gave the burning wound;
There groan'd the chief in agonizing pain,
Whom Greece at length shall wish, nor wish in
vain.

His forces Medeon led from Lemnos' shore,
Oileus' son, whom beauteous Rhena bore.

Th' Echalian race, in those high towers contain'd, Where once Eurytus in proud triumph reign'd,

Round the bleak realms where Hellespontus roars,
And Boreas beats the hoarse-resounding shores.
With great Euphemus the Ciconians move,
Sprung from Træzenian Ceus, lov'd by Jove.
Pyrachmus the Pæonian troops attend,
Skill'd in the fight, their crooked bows to bend :
From Axius' ample bed he leads them on,
Axius, that laves the distant Amydon;
Axius, that swells with all his neighbouring rills,
And wide around the floating region fills.

The Paphlagonians Pylomenes rules,
Where rich Henetia breeds her savage mules,
Where Erythinus' rising clifts are seen,
Thy groves of box, Cytorus! ever green;
And where Egyalus and Cromna lie,
And lofty Sesamus invades the sky:
And where Parthenius, roll'd through banks of
Reflects her bordering palaces and bowers. [flowers,
Here march'd in arms the Halizonian band,
Whom Odius and Epistrophus command,
From those far regions where the Sun refines
The ripening silver in Alybean mines.

There mighty Chromis led the Mysian train, And angur Ennomus, inspir'd in vain; For stern Achilles lopt his sacred head, Roll'd down Seamander with the vulgar dead. Phorcis and brave Ascanius here unite The Ascanian Phrygians, eager for the fight.

Of those who round Mæonia's realms reside,
Or whom the vales in shades of Tmolus hide,
Mestles and Antiphus the charge partake;
Born on the banks of Gyges' silent lake.
There, from the fields where wild Mæander flows,
High Mycalè, and Latmos' shady brows,
And proud Miletes, came the Carian throngs,
With mingled clamours, and with barbarous
tongues.

Amphimachus and Naustes guide the train,
Naustes the bold, Amphimachus the vain,
Who, trick'd with gold, and glittering on his car,
Rode like a woman to the field of war,
Fool that he was; by fierce Achilles slain,
The river swept him to the briny main:
There wheim'd with waves the gaudy warrior lies;
The valiant victor seiz'd the golden prize.

The forces last in fair array succeed,
Which blameless Glaucus and Sarpedon lead;
The warlike bands that distant Lycia yields,
Where gulphy Xanthus foams along the fields.

THE ILIAD.

BOOK III.

ARGUMENT.

THE DUEL OF MENELAUS AND PARIS.

THE Armies being ready to engage, a single combat is agreed upon between Menelaus and Paris (by the intervention of Hector) for the determination of the war. Iris is sent to call Helena to behold the fight. She leads her to the walls of Troy, where Priam sat with his counsellors, observing the Grecian leaders on the plain below, to whom Helen gives an account of the chief of them. The kings on either part take the solemo oath

for the conditions of the combat. The duel en⚫ sues: wherein Paris being overcome, he is snatched away in a cloud by Venus, and transported to his apartment. She then calls Helen from the walls, and brings the lovers together. Agamemnon, on the part of the Grecians, demands the restoration of Helen, and the performance of the articles.

The three and twentieth day still continues throughout this book. The scene is sometimes in the fields before Troy, and sometimes in Troy, itself.

THUS by their leader's care each martial band
Moves into ranks, and stretches o'er the land.
With shouts the Trojans rushing from afar,
Proclaim'd their motions, and provok'd the war;
So when inclement winter vex the plain
With piercing frosts, or thick-descending rain,
To warmer seas, the cranes embody'd fly,
With noise, and order, through the mid-way
sky;

To pigmy nations wounds and death they bring,
And all the war descends upon the wing.
But silent, breathing rage, resolv'd and skill'd
By mutual aids to fix a doubtful field,
Swift march the Greeks: the rapid dust around
Darkening arises from the labour'd ground.
Thus from his flaggy wings when Notus sheds
A night of vapours round the mountain-heads,
Swift gliding mists the dusky fields invade,
To thieves more grateful than the midnight shade;
While scarce the swains their feeding flocks survey,
Lost and confus'd amidst the thicken'd day:
So, wrapt in gathering dust, the Grecian train,
A moving cloud, swept on, and hid the plain.
Now front to front the hostile armies stand,
Eager of fight, and only wait command:
When, to the van, before the sons of fame
Whom Troy sent forth, the beauteous Paris came,
In form a god! the panther's speckled bide
Flow'd o'er his armour with an easy pride,
His bended bow across his shoulders flung,
His sword beside him negligently hung,
Two pointed spears he shook with gallant grace,
And dar'd the bravest of the Grecian race.

As thus, with glorious air and proud disdain,
He boldly stalk'd, the foremost on the plain,
Him Menelaus, lov'd of Mars, espies,
With heart elated, and with joyful eyes:
So joys a lion, if the branching deer,
Or mountain goat, his bulky prize, appear;
Eager he seizes and devours the slain,
Prest by bold youths and baying dogs in vain.
Thus fond of vengeance, with a furious bound,
In clanging arms he leaps upon the ground
From his high chariot: him, approaching near,
The beauteous champion views with marks of fear;
Smit with a conscious sense, retires behind,
And shuns the fate he well deserv'd to find.
As when some shepherd, from the rustling trees
Shot forth to view, a scaly serpent sees;
Trembling and pale, he starts with wild affright,
And all confus'd precipitates his flight:
So from the king the shining warrior flies,
And plung'd amid the thickest Trojans lies.

As god-like Hector sees the prince retreat, He thus upbraids him with a generous heat:

The king the first; Thymates at his side;
Lampus and Clytius, long in council try'd;
Panthus, and Hicetaön, once the strong;
And next, the wisest of the reverend throng,
Antenor grave, and sage Ucalegon,
Lean'd on the walls, and bask'd before the Sun.
Chiefs, who no more in bloody fights engage,
But wise through time, and narrative with age,
In summer-days like grasshoppers rejoice,
A bloodless race, that send a feeble voice.
These, when the Spartan queen approach'd the
In secret own'd resistless beauty's power: [tower,
They cried, "No wonder such celestial charms
For nine long years have set the world in arms;
What winning graces! what majestic mien !
She moves a goddess, and she looks a queen!
Yet hence, oh Heaven! convey that fatal face,
And from destruction save the Trojan race."

The good old Priam welcom'd her, and cried,
"Approach, my child, and grace thy father's side.
See on the plain thy Grecian spouse appears,
The friends and kindred of thy former years.
No crime of thine our present sufferings draws,
Not thou, but Heaven's disposing will, the cause;
The gods these armies and this force employ,
The hostile gods conspire the fate of Troy.
But lift thy eyes, and say, what Greek is he
(Far as from hence these aged orbs can see)
Around whose brow such martial graces shine,
So tall, so awful, and almost divine!
Though some of larger stature tread the green,
None match his grandeur and exalted mien :
He seems a monarch, and his country's pride."
Thus ceas'd the king; and thus the fair replied:
"Before thy presence, father, I appear
With conscious shame and reverential fear.
Ah! had I died, ere to these walls I fled,
False to my country and my nuptial bed;
My brothers, friends, and daughter left behind,
False to them all, to Paris only kind?
For this I mourn, till grief or dire disease
Shall waste the form, whose crime it was to
please.

The king of kings, Atrides, you survey,
Great in the war, and great in arts of sway:
My brother once, before my days of shame;
And oh that still he bore a brother's name!"
With wonder Priam view'd the god-like man,
Extoll'd the happy prince, and thus began:
"O blest Atrides! born to prosperous fate,
Successful monarch of a mighty state!
How vast thy empire! Of yon matchless train
What numbers lost, what numbers yet remain ?
In Phrygia once were gallant armies known,
In ancient time, when Otricus fill'd the throne,
When godlike Mygdon led their troops of horse,
And I, to join them, rais'd the Trojan force:
Against the manlike Amazons we stood,
And Sangar's stream ran purple with their blood.
But far inferior those, in martial grace
And strength of numbers, to this Grecian race."
This said, once more he view'd the warrior-

train:

"What's he whose arms lie scatter'd on the plain?
Broad is his breast, his shoulders larger spread,
Though great Atrides overtops his head.
Nor yet appear his care and conduct small;
From rank to rank he moves, and orders all.
The stately ram thus measures o'er the ground,
And, master of the flock, surveys them round."

S

Then Helen thus: "Whom your discerning eye Have singled out, is Ithacus the wise: A barren island boasts his glorious birth: His fame for wisdom fills the spacious Earth." Antenor took the word, and thus began: "Myself, O king! have seen that wond'rous man: When, trusting Jove and hospitable laws, To Troy he came, to plead the Grecian cause; (Great Menelaus urg'd the same request) My house was honour'd with each royal guest: I knew their persons, and admir'd their parts, Both brave in arms, and both approv'd in arts. Erect, the Spartan most engag'd our view; Ulysses seated greater reverence drew. When Atreus' son harangu'd the listening train, Just was his sense, and his expression plain, His words succinct, yet full, without a fault; He spoke no more than just the thing he ought. But when Ulysses rose, in thought profound, His modest eyes he fixt upon the ground, As one unskill'd or dumb, he seem'd to stand, Nor rais'd his head, nor stretch his scepter'd hand; But when he speaks, what elocution flows! Soft as the fleeces of descending snows, The copious accents fall with easy art; Melting they fall, and sink into the heart! Wondering we hear, and fix'd in deep surprize; Our ears refute the censure of our eyes."

The king then ask'd (as yet the camp he view'd) "What chief is that, with giant strength endued; Whose brawny shoulders, and whose swelling chest, And lofty stature, far exceed the rest?"

Ajax the great," the beauteous queen replied; "Himself a host: the Grecian strength and pride. See! bold Idomeneus superior towers Amidst yon circle of his Cretan powers, Great as a god! I saw him once before, With Menelaus, on the Spartan shore. The rest I know, and could in order name; All valiant chiefs, and men of mighty fame. Yet two are wanting of the numerous train, Whom long my eyes have sought, but sought in

vain,

Castor and Pollux, first in martial force,
One bold on foot, and one renown'd for horse.
My brothers these; the same our native shore,
One house contain'd us, as one mother bore.
Perhaps the chiefs, from warlike toils at ease,
For distant Troy refus'd to sail the seas:
Perhaps their swords some nobler quarrel draws,
Asham'd to combat in their sister's cause."

So spoke the fair, nor knew her brothers' doom,
Wrapt in the cold embraces of the tomb;
Adorn'd with honours in their native shore.
Silent they slept, and heard of wars no more.

Meantime the heralds, through the crowded town, Bring the rich wine and destin'd victims down, Ideus' arms the golden goblets prest, Who thus the venerable king addrest: "Arise, father of the Trojan state! The nations call, thy joyful people wait, To seal the truce, and end the dire debate. Paris thy son, and Sparta's king, advance, In measur'd lists to toss the weighty lance; And who his rival shall its arms subdue His be the dame, and his the treasure too. Thus with the lasting league our toils may cease, And Troy possess her fertile fields in peace; So shall the Greeks review their native shore, Much fam'd for generous steeds, for beauty more."