Part 33 (1/2)

Of Thracian lineage are the steeds ye view, Whose hostile king the brave Tydides slew; Sleeping he died, with all his guards around, And twelve beside lay gasping on the ground

These other spoils from conquer'd Dolon came, A wretch, whose swiftness was his only fame; By Hector sent our forces to explore, He now lies headless on the sandy shore”

Then o'er the trench the bounding coursers flew; The joyful Greeks with loud acclaih pavilion borne, Thecoursers their new fellows greet, And the full racks are heap'd with generous wheat

But Dolon's arh on the painted stern Ulysses laid, A trophy destin'd to the blue-eyed uine stain They cleanse their bodies in the neighb'ring main: Then in the polished bath, refresh'd fro oil, In due repast indulge the genial hour, And first to Pallas the libations pour: They sit, rejoicing in her aid divine, And the crown'd goblet foams with floods of wine

BOOK XI

ARGUMENT

THE THIRD BATTLE, AND THE ACTS OF AGAMEMNON

Aga armed himself, leads the Grecians to battle; Hector prepares the Trojans to receive thenals of war Agamemnon bears all before him and Hector is commanded by Jupiter (who sends Iris for that purpose) to decline the engage shall be wounded and retire frohter of the enemy Ulysses and Dio wounded by Paris, is obliged to desert his companion, who is encoer, till Menelaus and Ajax rescue hiainst Ajax, but that hero alone opposes multitudes, and rallies the Greeks In theof the army, is pierced with an arrow by Paris, and carried froht in Nestor's chariot Achilles (who overlooked the action from his shi+p) sent Patroclus to inquire which of the Greeks ounded in that manner; Nestor entertains him in his tent with an account of the accidents of the day, and a long recital of so to put Patroclus upon persuading Achilles to fight for his countrymen, or at least to permit him to do it, clad in Achilles' armour Patroclus, on his return, meets Eurypylus also wounded, and assists hiht and-twentieth day of the poem, and the same day, with its various actions and adventures is extended through the twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, and part of the eighteenth books The scene lies in the field near the monument of Ilus

The saffron ent froht, And gild the courts of heaven with sacred light: When baleful Eris, sent by Jove's coh the red skies her bloody sign extends, And, wrapt in teh on Ulysses' bark her horrid stand She took, and thunder'd through the seas and land

Even Ajax and Achilles heard the sound, Whose shi+ps, reh the Grecian throng With horror sounds the loud Orthian song: The navy shakes, and at the dire alarms Each bosoh, inglorious to return, But breathe revenge, and for the combat burn

[Illustration: THE DESCENT OF DISCORD]

THE DESCENT OF DISCORD

The king of reat example fires!

Hihty limbs in radiant ars around In shi+ning greaves with silver buckles bound; The bea cuirass next adorn'd his breast, The sa Cinyras possess'd: (The fame of Greece and her assembled host Had reach'd that monarch on the Cyprian coast; 'Twas then, the friendshi+p of the chief to gain, This glorious gift he sent, nor sent in vain:) Ten rows of azure steel the work infold, Twice ten of tin, and twelve of ductile gold; Three glittering dragons to the gorget rise, Whose iht, and arching bow'd, Like colour'd rainbows o'er a showery cloud (Jove's wondrous bow, of three celestial dies, Placed as a sign to man amidst the skies)

A radiant baldric, o'er his shoulder tied, Sustain'd the sword that glitter'd at his side: Gold was the hilt, a silver sheath encased The shi+ning blade, and golden hangers graced

His buckler's hty orb was next display'd, That round the warrior cast a dreadful shade; Ten zones of brass its aht convex crown'd: Tre terrors fill'd the expressive shi+eld: Within its concave hung a silver thong, On which a th in easy waves extends, Till in three heads the embroider'd monster ends

Last o'er his brows his fourfold helraced; And in his hands two steely javelins wields, That blaze to heaven, and lighten all the fields

That instant Juno, and the h o'er the chief they clash'd their ar from the clouds, expect the war

Close to the limits of the trench and mound, The fiery coursers to their chariots bound The squires restrain'd: the foot, with those ield The lighter arms, rush forward to the field

To second these, in close array cos behind

Now shouts and tuht the warriors' toils begun

Even Jove, whose thunder spoke his wrath, distill'd Red drops of blood o'er all the fatal field;(220) The woes of hters that ed around, The Trojan lines possess'd the rising ground: There wise Polydauardian God; Bold Polybus, Agenor the divine; The brother-warriors of Antenor's line: With youthful Acamas, whose beauteous face And fair proportion match'd the ethereal race

Great Hector, cover'd with his spacious shi+eld, Plies all the troops, and orders all the field

As the red star nos his sanguine fires Through the dark clouds, and now in night retires, Thus through the ranks appear'd the Godlikein the van; While streahtning fro reapers in soed in two bands, their crooked weapons wield, Bear down the furrows, till their labours meet; Thick fall the heapy harvests at their feet: So Greece and Troy the field of war divide, And falling ranks are strow'd on every side

None stoop'd a thought to base inglorious flight;(221) But horse to horse, and ht, Not rabid wolves more fierce contest their prey; Each wounds, each bleeds, but none resign the day

Discord with joy the scene of death descries, And drinks large slaughter at her sanguine eyes: Discord alone, of all the immortal train, Swells the red horrors of this direful plain: The Gods in peace their golden ht order on the Olyriefs above, And each accused the partial will of Jove

Meanwhile apart, superior, and alone, The eternal Monarch, on his awful throne, Wrapt in the blaze of boundless glory sate; And fix'd, fulfill'd the just decrees of fate

On earth he turn'd his all-considering eyes, And mark'd the spot where Ilion's towers arise; The sea with shi+ps, the fields with ar, and the dead

Thus while the ht, O'er heaven's pure azure spread the glowing light, Coored with equal wounds