Part 44 (1/2)
[Illustration: GREEK shi+ELD]
GREEK shi+ELD
The troops assent; their ions range
The kings, though wounded, and oppress'd with pain, With helpful hands the and cuhter shi+eld
Thus sheath'd in shi+ning brass, in bright array The legions march, and Neptune leads the way: His brandish'd falchion flah the frighted skies
Clad in hispower appears; Pale reat defender stands alone unawed, Arms his proud host, and dares oppose a God: And lo! the God, and wondrous man, appear: The sea's stern ruler there, and Hector here
The roaring e ranks, and for o'er the shores, Both armies join: earth thunders, ocean roars
Not half so loud the bellowing deeps resound, When stormy winds disclose the dark profound; Less loud the winds that froh the woods, and make whole forests fall; Less loud the woods, when flames in torrents pour, Catch the dryhosts are driven, And such a cla heaven
The first bold javelin, urged by Hector's force, Direct at Ajax' boso belts afford, (One braced his shi+eld, and one sustain'd his sword) Then back the disappointed Trojan drew, And cursed the lance that unavailing flew: But 'scaped not Ajax; his te from the sand, (Where heaps laid loose beneath the warrior's feet, Or served to ballast, or to prop the fleet,) Toss'd round and round, the s; On the razed shi+eld the fallen ruin rings, Full on his breast and throat with force descends; Nor deaden'd there its giddy fury spends, But whirling on, with round
As when the bolt, red-hissing from above, Darts on the consecrated plant of Jove, Theruin lies, Black from the blow, and smokes of sulphur rise; Stiff with amaze the pale beholders stand, And own the terrors of the alreat Hector prostrate on the shore; His slacken'd hand deserts the lance it bore; His following shi+eld the fallen chief o'erspread; Beneath his hel to the ground, Clanks on the field, a dead and hollow sound
Loud shouts of triureat defender slain: All spring to seize him; storms of arrows fly, And thicker javelins intercept the sky
In vain an iron tempest hisses round; He lies protected, and without a wound(238) Polydaenor the divine, The pious warrior of Anchises' line, And each bold leader of the Lycian band, With covering shi+elds (a friendly circle) stand, Hishero to his chariot bear; His foa coursers, swifter than the wind, Speed to the town, and leave the war behind
When now they touch'd the entle Xanthus rolls his easy tide, With watery drops the chief they sprinkle round, Placed on the round
Raised on his knees, he now ejects the gore; Now faints ane-sinking on the shore; By fits he breathes, half views the fleeting skies, And seals again, by fits, his swi eyes
Soon as the Greeks the chief's retreat beheld, With double fury each invades the field
Oilean Ajax first his javelin sped, Pierced by whose point the son of Enops bled; (Satnius the brave, whom beauteous Neis bore Ah the belly's rim, the warrior lies Supine, and shades eternal veil his eyes
An arduous battle rose around the dead; By turns the Greeks, by turns the Trojans bled
Fired with revenge, Polyda spear; The driving javelin through his shoulder thrust, He sinks to earth, and grasps the bloody dust
”Lo thus (the victor cries) we rule the field, And thus their ar hand there flies no dart But bathes its point within a Grecian heart
Propp'd on that spear to which thou owest thy fall, Go, guide thy darksome steps to Pluto's dreary hall”
He said, and sorrow touch'd each Argive breast: The soul of Ajax burn'd above the rest
As by his side the groaning warrior fell, At the fierce foe he launch'd his piercing steel; The foe, reclining, shunn'd the flying death; But fate, Archilochus, demands thy breath: Thy lofty birth no succour could is of death o'ertook thee on the dart; Swift to perform heaven's fatal will, it fled Full on the juncture of the neck and head, And took the joint, and cut the nerves in twain: The dropping head first tumbled on the plain
So just the stroke, that yet the body stood Erect, then roll'd along the sands in blood
”Here, proud Polyda Ajax loud-insulting cries:) Say, is this chief extended on the plain A worthy vengeance for Prothoenor slain?
Mark well his port! his figure and his face Nor speak hiar race; Soe known, Antenor's brother, or perhaps his son”
He spake, and s youth: Troy sadden'd at the view
But furious Acahtered brother draws, He pierced his heart--”Such fate attends you all, Proud Argives! destined by our arhty Greece, shall share The toils, the sorrows, and the wounds of war
Behold your Promachus deprived of breath, A victim owed to my brave brother's death
Not unappeased he enters Pluto's gate, Who leaves a brother to revenge his fate”