AND now Olympus' shining gates unfold;

The gods, with Jove, assume their thrones ofgold:
Immortal Hebě, fresh with bloom divine,
The golden goblet crowns with purple wine :
While the full bowls flow round, the powers employ
Their careful eyes on long-contended Troy.

When Jove, dispos'd to tempt Saturnia's spleen,
Thus wak'd the fury of his partial queen :
"Two powers divine the son of Atreus aid,
Imperial Juno, and the martial maid;

But high in Heaven they sit, and gaze from far,
The tame spectators of his deeds of war.
Not thus fair Venus helps her favour'd knight,
The queen of pleasures shares the toils of fight,
Each danger wards, and, constant in her care,
Saves in the moment of the last despair.
Her act has rescu'd Paris' forfeit life,
Though great Atrides gain'd the glorious strife.
Then say, ye powers! what signal issue waits
To crown this deed, and finish all the fates?
Shall Heaven by peace the bleeding kingdoms

spare,

Or rouse the Furies, and awake the war?

Yet, would the gods for human good provide,
Atrides soon might gain his beauteous bride,
Still Priam's walls in peaceful honours grow,
And through his gates the crowding nations flow."
Thus while he spoke, the queen of Heaven en-
rag'd

And queen of war in close consult engag'd:
Apart they sit, their deep designs employ,
And meditate the future woes of Troy.
Though secret anger swell'd Minerva's breast,
The prudent goddess yet her wrath supprest;
But Juno, impotent of passion, broke
Her sullen silence, and with fury spoke:

"Shall then, O tyrant of th' ethereal reign!
My schemes, my labours, and my hopes, be vain?
Have I, for this, shook Ilion with alarms,
Assembled nations, set two worlds in arms?
To spread the war, 1 flew from shore to shore;
Th'immortal coursers scarce the labour bore.
At length ripe vengeance o'er their heads impends,
But Jove himself the faithless race defends :
Loth as thou art to punish lawless lust,
Not all the gods are partial and unjust."

The sire whose thunder shakes the cloudy skies
Sighs from his inmost soul, and thus replies:
Oh lasting rancour! oh insatiate hate
To Phrygia's monarch, and the Phrygian state!
What high offence has fir'd the wife of Jove,
Can wretched mortals harm the powers above?
That Troy and Troy's whole race thou would'st
confound.

And yon fair structures level with the ground?
Haste, leave the skies, fulfil thy stern desire,
Burst all her gates, and wrap her walls in fire!
Let Priam bleed! If yet thou thirst for more,
Bleed all his sons, and Ilion float with gore,
To boundless vengeance the wide realm be given,
Till vast destruction glut the queen of Heaven!
So let it be, and Jove his peace enjoy,
When Heaven no longer hears the name of Troy :

Presume not thou the lifted bolt to stay;
Remember Troy, and give the vengeance way.
For know, of all the numerous towns that rise
Beneath the rolling Sun and starry skies,
Which gods have rais'd, or earth-born men
enjoy,

None stands so dear to Jove as sacred Troy.
No mortals merit more distinguish'd grace
Than godlike Priam, or than Priam's race,
Still to our name their hetacombs expire,
And altars blaze with unextinguish'd fire."

At this the goddess roll'd her radiant eyes,
Then on the thunderer fix'd them, and replies:
"Three towns are Juno's on the Grecian plains,
More dear than all th' extended Earth contains,
Mycenæ, Argos, and the Spartan wall;
These thou may'st raze, nor I forbid their fall :
'Tis not in me the vengeance to remove;
The crime's sufficient, that they share my love.
Of power superior why should I complain?
Resent I may, but must resent in vain.
Yet some distinction Juno might require,
Sprung with thyself from one celestial sire,
A goddess born to share the realms above,
And styl'd the consort of the thundering Jove;
Nor thou a wife and sister's right deny;
Let both consent, and both by turns comply;
So shall the gods our joint decrees obey,
And Heaven shall act as we direct the way.
See ready Pallas waits thy high commands,
To raise in arms the Greek and Phrygian bands;
Their sudden friendship by her arts may cease,
And the proud Trojans first infringe the peace."

The sire of men and monarch of the sky, Th' advice approv'd, and bade Minerva fly, Dissolve the league, and all her arts employ To make the breach the faithless act of Troy. Fir'd with the charge, she headlong urg'd her

flight,

And shot like lightning from Olympus' height.
As the red comet, from Saturnius sent
To fright the nations with a dire portent
(A fatal sign to armies on the plain,
Or trembling sailors on the wintery main)
With sweeping glories glides along in air,
And shakes the sparkles from its blazing hair:
Between both armies thus, in open sight,
Shot the bright goddess in a trail of light.
With eyes erect the gazing hosts admire
The power descending, and the Heavens on fire!
"The gods" (they cried) "the gods this signal sent,
And fate now labours with some vast event:
Jove seals the league, or bloodier scenes prepares;
Jove, the great arbiter of peace and wars!"

They said, while Pallas through the Trojan
(In shape a mortal) pass'd disguis'd along. [throng
Like bold Laodocus, her course she bent,
Who from Antenor trac'd his high descent.
Amidst the ranks Lycaon's son she found,
The warlike Pandarus, for strength renown'd;
Whose squadrons, led from black Esopus' flood,
With flaming shields in martial circle stood.

To him the goddess: "Phrygian! can'st thou A well-tim'd counsel with a willing ear? [hear What praise were thine, could'st thou direct thy dart,

Amidst his triumph, to the Spartan's heart!

On foot through all the martial ranks he moves, And these encourages, and those reproves. "Brave men!" he cries (to such who boldly dare Urge their swift steeds to face the coming war) "Your ancient valour on the foes approve; Jove is with Greece, and let us trust in Jove. "Tis not for us, but guilty Troy to dread, Whose crimes sit heavy on her perjur'd head; Her sons and matrons Greece shall lead in chains, And her dead warriors strew the mournful plains."

Thus with new ardour he the brave inspires; Or thus the fearful with reproaches fires: "Shame to your country, scandal of your kind! Born to the fate ye well deserve to find Why stand ye gazing round the dreadful plain, Prepar'd for flight, but doom'd to fly in vain? Confus'd and panting thus, the hunted deer Falls as he flies, a victim to his fear. Still must ye wait the foes, and still retire, Till yon tall vessels blaze with Trojan fire? Or trust ye, Jove a valiant foe shall chase, To save a trembling, heartless, dastard race?"

This said, he stalk'd with ample strides along, To Crete's brave monarch and his martial throng; High at their head he saw the chief appear, And bold Meriones excite the rear. At this the king his generous joy exprest, And clasp'd the warrior to his armed breast: "Divine Idomeneus! what thanks we owe To worth like thine! what praise shall we bestow? To thee the foremost honours are decreed, First in the fight, and every graceful deed. For this, in banquets, when the generous bowls Restore our blood, and raise the warriors' souls, Though all the rest with stated rules we bound, Unmix'd, unmeasur'd, are thy goblets crown'd. Be still thyself; in arms a mighty name; Maintain thy honours, and enlarge thy fame."

To whom the Cretan thus his speech addrest: "Secure of me, O king! exhort the rest: Fix'd to thy side, in every toil I share, Thy firm associate in the day of war. But let the signal be this moment given; To mix in fight is all I ask of Heaven. The field shall prove how perjuries succeed, And chains or death avenge their impious deed."

Charm'd with this heat, the king his course And next the troops of either Ajax views:[pursues, In one firm orb the bands were rang'd around A cloud of heroes blacken'd all the ground. Thus from the lofty promontory's brow A swain surveys the gathering storm below; Slow from the main the heavy vapours rise, Spread in dim streams, and sail along the skies, Till black at night the swelling tempest shows, The cloud condensing as the west-wind blows: He dreads th' impending storm, and drives his To the close covert of an arching rock.

[flock

Then to the next the general bends his course (His heart exults, and glories in his force ;) There reverend Nestor ranks his Pylian bands, And with inspiring cloquence commands; With strictest order set his train in arms, The chiefs advises, and the soldiers warms, Alastor, Chromius, Hæmon round him wait, Bias the good, and Pelagon the great. The horse and chariots to the front assign'd, The foot (the strength of war) he rang'd behind; The middle space suspected troops supply, Enclos'd by both, nor left the power to fly; He gives command to curb the fiery steed, Nor cause confusion, nor the ranks exceed; Before the rest let none too rashly ride; No strength nor skill, but just in time, be try'd; The charge once made, no warrior turn the But fight, or fall; a firm embody'd train. He whom the fortune of the field shall cast From forth his chariot, mount the next in haste; Nor seek unpractis'd to direct the car, Content with javelins to provoke the war. Our great forefathers held this prudent course, Thus rul'd their ardour, thus preserv'd their force, By laws like these immortal conquest made, And Earth's proud tyrants low in ashes laid." So spoke the master of the martial art, And touch'd with transport great Atrides' heart! "Oh! had'st thou strength to match thy brave desires,

[rein,

And nerves to second what thy soul inspires!
But wasting years, that wither human race,
Exhaust thy spirits, and thy arms unbrace.
What once thou wert, oh ever might'st thou be !
And age the lot of any chief but thee."

Thus to th' experienc'd prince Atrides cry'd;
He shook his hoary locks, and thus reply'd:
"Well might I wish, could mortal wish renew
That strength which once in boiling youth I knew;
Such as I was, when Ereuthalion slain
Beneath this arm fell prostrate on the plain.
But Heaven its gifts not all at once bestows,
These years with wisdom crowns, with action

those;

The field of combat fits the young and bold,
The solemn council best becomes the old :
Το you the glorious conflict I resign,

Let sage advice, the palm of age, be mine."
He said. With joy the monarch march'd before,
And found Menestheus on the dusty shore,
With whom the firm Athenian phalanx stands,
And next Ulysses with his subject bands.
Remote their forces lay, nor knew so far
The peace infring'd, nor heard the sound of war;
The tumult late begun, they stood intent
To watch the motion, dubious of th' event.
The king, who saw their squadrons yet unmov'd,
With hasty ardour thus the chiefs reprov'd:

"Can Peleus' son forget a warrior's part,
And fears Ulysses, skill'd in every art?
Why stand you distant, and the rest expect
To mix in combat which yourselves neglect ?
From you 'twas hop'd among the first to dare
The shocks of armies, and commence the war.
For this your names are call'd before the rest,
To share the pleasures of the genial feast:
And can you, chiefs! without a blush survey
Whole troops before you labouring in the fray?
Say, is it thus those honours you requite:
The first in banquets, but the last in fight?"

Ulysses heard: the hero's warmth o'erspread His cheek with blushes: and severe, he said: "Take back th' unjust reproach! Behold, we stand Sheath'd in bright arms, and but expect command. If glorious deeds afford thy soul delight, Behold me plunging in the thickest fight. Then give thy warrior chief a warrior's due, Who dares to act whate'er thou dar'st to view." Struck with his generous wrath the king replies; “Oh great in action, and in council wise! With ours thy care and ardour are the same, Nor need I to command, nor ought to blame. Sage as thou art, and learn'd in human kind, Forgive the transport of a martial mind. Haste to the fight, secure of just amends;[friends." The gods that make, shall keep the worthy, He said, and pass'd where great Tydides lay, His steeds and chariots wedg'd in firm array: (The warlike Sthenelus attends his side)

To whom with stern reproach the monarch cry'd ; "Oh son of Tydeus! (he, whose strength could

tame

The bounding steed, in arms a mighty name)
Can'st thou, remote, the mingling hosts descry,
With hands unactive, and a careless eye?
Not thus thy sire the fierce encounter fear'd;
Still first in front the matchless prince appear'd;
What glorious toils, what wonders they recite,
Who view'd him labouring through the ranks of
fight!

I saw him once, when, gathering martial power,
A peaceful guest, he sought Mycena's tower ;
Armies he ask'd, and armies had been given,
Not we deny'd, but Jove forbade from Heaven;
While dreadful comets glaring from afar
Forewarn'd the horrours of the Theban war.
Next, sent by Greece from where Asopus flows,
A fearless envoy, he approach'd the foes;
Thebe's hostile walls, unguarded and alone,
Dauntless he enters, and demands the throne.
The tyrant feasting with his chiefs he found,
And dar'd to combat all those chiefs around ;
Dar'd and subdued, before their haughty lord;
For Pallas strung his arm, and edg'd his sword.
Stung with the shame, within the winding way,
To bar his passage fifty warriors lay;
Two heroes led the secret squadron on,
Maon the fierce, and hardy Lycophon;
Those fifty slaughter'd in the gloomy vale,
He spar'd but one to bear the dreadful tale.
Such Tydeus was, and such his martial fire,
Gods! how the son degenerates from the sire!"
No words the god-like Diomed return'd,
But heard respectful, and in secret burn'd:
Not so fierce Capaneus' undaunted son,
Stern as his sire, the boaster thus begun:
"What needs, O monarch, this invidious
Ourselves to lessen, while our sires you raise?
Dare to be just, Atrides! and confess
Our valour equal, though our fury less:
With fewer troops we storm'd the Theban wall,
And happier saw the sevenfold city fall.
In impious acts the guilty fathers dy'd;
The sons subdued, for Heaven was on their side.
Far more than heirs of all our parents' fame,
Our glories darken their diminish'd name.'

[praise,

To him Tydides thus: "My friend, forbear, Suppress thy passion, and the king revere: H's high concern may well excuse this rage, Whose cause we follow, and whose war we wage ;

His the first praise, were lion's towers o'erthrown,
And, if we fail, the chief disgrace his own.
Let him the Greeks to hardy toils excite,
'Tis ours to labour in the glorious fight."

He spoke, and ardent on the trembling ground
Sprung from his car; his ringing arms resound.
Dire was the clang, and dreadful from afar,
Of arm'd Tydides rushing to the war.
As when the winds, ascending by degrees,
First move the whitening surface of the seas,
The billows float in order to the shore,
The wave behind rolls on the wave before;
Till with the growing storm, the deeps arise,
Foam o'er the rocks and thunder to the skies.
So to the fight the thick battalions throng,
Shields urg'd on shields, and men drove men along.
Sedate and silent move the numerous bands;
No sound, no whisper, but the chief's commands,
Those only heard; with awe the rest obey,
As if some god had snatch'd their voice away.
Not so the Trojans; from their host ascends
A general shout that all the region rends.
As when the fleecy flocks unnumber'd stand
In wealthy folds, and wait the milker's hand,
The hollow vales incessant bleating fills,
The lambs reply from all the neighbouring hills:
Such clamours rose from various nations round,
Mix'd was the murmur, and confus'd the sound.
Each host now joins, and each a god inspires,
These Mars incites, and those Minerva fires.
Pale flight around, and dreadful terrour reign;
And discord raging bathes the purple plain;
Discord! dire sister of the slaughtering power,
Small at her birth, but rising every hour,
While scarce the skies her horrid head can bound,
She stalks on Earth, and shakes the world around;
The nations bleed, where'er her steps she turns,
The groan still deepens, and the combat burns.

Now shield with shield, with helmet helmet To armour armour, lance to lance oppos'd, [clos'd, Host against host with shadowy squadrons drew, The sounding darts in iron tempests flew, Victors and vanquish'd join promiscuous cries, And shrilling shouts and dying groans arise; With streaming blood the slippery fields are dy'd, And slaughter'd heroes swell the dreadful tide.

As torrents roll, increas'd by numerous rills, With rage impetuous down their echoing hills; Rush to the vales, and, pour'd along the plain, Roar through a thousand channels to the main; The distant shepherd trembling hears the sound: So mix both hosts, and so their cries rebound. The bold Antilochus the slaughter led, The first who struck a valiant Trojan dead: At great Echepolus the lance arrives; Raz'd his high crest, and through his helmet drives; Warm'd in the brain the brazen weapon lies, And shades eternal settle o'er his eyes. So sinks a tower, that long assaults had stood Of force and fire; its walls besmear'd with blood. Him, the bold leader' of th' Abantian throng Seiz'd to despoil, and dragg'd the corpse along! But while he strove to tug th' inserted dart, Agenor's javelin reach'd the hero's heart. His flank, unguarded by his ample shield, Admits the lance: he falls, and spurns the field; The nerves, unbrac'd, support his limbs no The soul comes floating in a tide of gore. [more;

1 Elphenor,

Trojans and Grecks now gather round the slain ;
The war renews, the warriors bleed again;
As o'er their prey rapacious wolves engage,
Man dies on man, and all is blood and rage.
In blooming youth fair Simoïsius fell,
Sent by great Ajax to the shades of Hell:
Fair Simoisius, whom his mother bore,
Amid the flocks on silver Simois' shore:
The nymph descending from the hills of Ide,
To seek her parents on his flowery side, [joy,
Brought forth the babe, their common care and
And thence from Simois nam'd the lovely boy.
Short was his date! by dreadful Ajax slain
He falls, and renders all their cares in vain!
So falls a poplar, that in watery ground
Rais'd high the head, with stately branches
crown'd,

(Fell'd by some artist with his shining steel,
To shape the circle of the bending wheel)
Cut down it lies, tall, smooth, and largely spread,
With all its beauteous honours on its head;
There, left a subject to the wind and rain,
And scorch'd by suns, it withers on the plain.
Thus pierc'd by Ajax, Simiosius lies
Stretch'd on the shore, and thus neglected dies.
At Ajax Antiphus his javelin threw;
The pointed lance with erring fury flew,
And Leucus, lov'd by wise Ulysses, slew.
He drops the corpse of Simoïsius slain,
And sinks a breathless carcase on the plain.
This saw Ulysses, and with grief enrag'd
Strode where the foremost of the foes engag'd;
Arm'd with his spear, he meditates the wound,
In act to throw; but, cautious, look'd around.
Struck at his sight, the Trojans backward drew,
And trembling heard the javelin as it flew.
A chief stood nigh, who from Abydos came,
Old Priam's son, Democoon was his name;
The weapon enter'd close above his ear,

Cold through his temples glides the whizzing spear;
With piercing shrieks the youth resigns his breath,
His eye-balls darken with the shades of death;
Ponderous he falls; his clanging arms resound;
And his broad buckler rings against the ground.
Seiz'd with affright the boldest foes appear;
Ev'n god-like Hector seems himself to fear;
Slow he gave way, the rest tumultuous fled;
The Greeks with shouts press on, and spoil the

dead:

But Phoebus now from Ilion's towering height
Shines forth reveal'd, and animates the fight.
"Trojans, be bold, and force with force oppose;
Your foaming steeds urge headlong on the foes!
Nor are their bodies rocks, nor ribb'd with steel;
Your weapons enter, and your strokes they feel.
Have ye forgot what seem'd your dread before?
The great, the fierce Achilles fights no more."

Apollo thus from Ilion's lofty towers
Array'd in terrours, rous'd the Trojan powers:
While war's fierce goddess fires the Grecian foe,
And shouts and thunders in the fields below.
Then great Diores fell, by doom divine,
In vain his valour, and illustrious line.
A broken rock the force of Pirus threw
(Who from cold Enus led the Thracian crew;)
Full on his ankle dropt the ponderous stone,
Burst the strong nerves, and crash'd the solid
bone.

Supine he tumbles on the crimson sands,
Before his helpless friends and native bands

And spreads for aid his unavailing hands.
The foe rush'd furious as he pants for breath,
And through his navel drove the pointed death:
His gushing entrails smok'd upon the ground,
And the warm life came issuing from the wound.
His lance bold Thoas at the conqueror sent,
Deep in his breast above the pap it went.
Amid the lungs was fix'd the winged wood,
And quivering in his heaving bosom stood:
Till from the dying chief, approaching near,
Th' Etolian warrior tugg'd his weighty spear:
Then sudden wav'd his flaming falchion round,
And gash'd his belly with a ghastly wound.
The corpse now breathless on the bloody plain,
To spoil his arms the victor strove in vain;
The Thracian bands against the victor prest;
A grove of lances glitter'd at his breast.
Stern Thoas, glaring with revengeful eyes,
In sullen fury slowly quits the prize.
Thus fell two heroes; one the pride of Thrace,
And one the leader of the Epian race:
Death's sable shade at once o'ercast their eyes,
In dust the vanquish'd, and the victor lies.
With copious slaughter all the fields are red,
And heap'd with growing mountains of the dead.

Had some brave chief this martial scene beheld,
By Pallas guarded through the dreadful field;
Might darts be bid to turn their points away,
And swords around him innocently play;
The war's whole art with wonder had he seen,
And counted heroes where he counted men.

So fought each host with thirst of glory fir'd, And crowds on crowds triumphantly expir'd.

THE ILIAD.

BOOK V.

ARGUMENT.

THE ACTS OF D.OMED.

DIOMED, assisted by Pallas, performs wonders in this day's battle. Pandarus wounds him with an arrow, but the goddess cures him, enables him to discern gods from mortals, and prohibits him from contending with any of the former, excepting Venus. Æneas joins Pandarus to oppose him: Pandarus is killed, and Eneas in great danger, but for the assistance of Venus; who, as she is removing her son from the fight, is wounded in the hand by Diomed. Apollo seconds her in his rescue, and at length carries off Æneas to Troy, where he is healed in the temple of Pergamus. Mars rallies the Trojans, and assists Hector to make a stand. In the mean

time Æneas is restored to the field, and they overthrow several of the Greeks; among the rest Tlepolemus is slain by Sarpedon. Juno and Minerva descend to resist Mars; the latter incites Diomed to go against that god; he wounds him, and sends him groaning to Heaven.