Part 46 (1/2)
Inspire thy warriors then with manly force, And to the shi+ps impel thy rapid horse: Even I willto the sea”
Thus to bold Hector spoke the son of Jove, And breathed immortal ardour from above
As when the pamper'd steed, with reins unbound, Breaks froround; With ample strokes he rushes to the flood, To bathe his sides, and cool his fiery blood; His head, now freed, he tosses to the skies; His mane dishevell'd o'er his shoulders flies: He snuffs the fe, to his fields again: Urged by the voice divine, thus Hector flew, Full of the God; and all his hosts pursue
As when the force ofhind; Far froe secure they lie Close in the rock, (not fated yet to die) When lo! a lion shoots across the way!
They fly: at once the chasers and the prey
So Greece, that late in conquering troops pursued, And h the ranks in blood, Soon as they see the furious chief appear, Forget to vanquish, and consent to fear
Thoas with grief observed his dreadful course, Thoas, the bravest of the aetolian force; Skill'd to direct the javelin's distant flight, And bold to coht, Notwords and heavenly eloquence
”Gods! what portent (he cried) these eyes invades?
Lo! Hector rises fro Ajax kill'd: What God restores hihted field; And not content that half of Greece lie slain, Pours new destruction on her sons again?
He comes not, Jove! without thy powerful will; Lo! still he lives, pursues, and conquers still!
Yet hear my counsel, and his worst withstand: The Greeks' main body to the fleet command; But let the fehom brisker spirits warm, Stand the first onset, and provoke the storm
Thus point your arms; and when such foes appear, Fierce as he is, let Hector learn to fear”
The warrior spoke; the listening Greeks obey, Thickening their ranks, and forave comes: these the chiefs excite, Approach the foe, and ht
Behind, unnumber'd multitudes attend, To flank the navy, and the shores defend
Full on the front the pressing Trojans bear, And Hector first ca battle led; A veil of clouds involved his radiant head: High held before him, Jove's enormous shi+eld Portentous shone, and shaded all the field; Vulcan to Jove the in'd, To scatter hosts and terrify mankind, The Greeks expect the shock, the clale in the skies
Dire was the hiss of darts, by heroes flung, And arrows leaping froenerous warriors slain: Those guiltless fall, and thirst for blood in vain
As long as Phoebus bore un o'er the field; But when aloft he shakes it in the skies, Shouts in their ears, and lightens in their eyes, Deep horror seizes every Grecian breast, Their force is humbled, and their fear confess'd
So flies a herd of oxen, scatter'd wide, No swain to guard theuide, When two fell lions froh the shady gloo Phoebus pours around them fear, And Troy and Hector thunder in the rear
Heaps fall on heaps: the slaughter Hector leads, First great Arcesilas, then Stichius bleeds; One to the bold Boeotians ever dear, And one Menestheus' friend and fa from Phelus, and the Athenians led; But hapless Medon froh born of lawless love: from home expell'd, A banish'd ry wife; Troy ends at last his labours and his life
Mecystes next Polydaenor slew
By Paris, Deiochus inglorious dies, Pierced through the shoulder as he basely flies
Polites' arm laid Echius on the plain; Stretch'd on one heap, the victors spoil the slain
The Greeks dismay'd, confused, disperse or fall, Some seek the trench, so, others pant for breath, And o'er the slaughter stalks gigantic death
On rush'd bold Hector, glooht, Points to the fleet: ”For, by the Gods! who flies,(240) Who dares but linger, by this hand he dies; No weeping sister his cold eye shall close, No friendly hand his funeral pyre conal hour, The birds shall tear hi scourge resounds; The coursers fly; the s chariot bounds; The hosts rush on; loud clamours shake the shore; The horses thunder, earth and ocean roar!
Apollo, planted at the trench's bound, Push'd at the bank: down sank the enormous mound: Roll'd in the ditch the heapy ruin lay; A sudden road! a long and ample way
O'er the dread fosse (a late impervious space) Now steeds, andcrowds the doard level trod; Before them flamed the shi+eld, and hty wall; And lo! the turrets nod, the bulwarks fall: Easy as when ashore an infant stands, And draws iined houses in the sands; The sportive wanton, pleased with soht works and fashi+on'd domes away: Thus vanish'd at thy touch, the towers and walls; The toil of thousands in a aze around ild despair, Confused, and weary all the poith prayer: Exhort their e the Gods, with voices, eyes, and hands
Experienced Nestor chief obtests the skies, And weeps his country with a father's eyes
”O Jove! if ever, on his native shore, One Greek enrich'd thy shrine with offer'd gore; If e'er, in hope our country to behold, We paid the fattest firstlings of the fold; If e'er thou sign'st our wishes with thy nod: Perforracious God!
This day preserve our navies from the flame, And save the relics of the Grecian naave consent, And peals of thunder shook the firn, And catch'd new fury at the voice divine
As, when black te deeps in watery mountains rise, Above the sides of soe, and its ribs they rend: Thus loudly roaring, and o'erpowering all, Mount the thick Trojans up the Grecian wall; Legions on legions from each side arise: Thick sound the keels; the storm of arrows flies
Fierce on the shi+ps above, the cars below, These wield the mace, and those the javelin throw