Th' unwearied fun, the moon completely round;
The ftarry lights that heaven's high convex
crown'd;
560

The Pleiads, Hyads, with the northern team;
And great Orion's more refulgent beam;
To which, around the axle of the sky,
The Bear revolving points his golden eye,
Still fhines exalted on th' æthereal plain,
Nor bathes his blazing forehead in the main.
Two cities radiant on the fhield appear,
The image one of peace, and one of war.
Here facred pomp and genial feaft delight,
And folemn dance, and Hymenæal rite;
Along the street the new-made brides are led,
With torches flaming, to the nuptial ted:
The youthful dancers in a circle bound

565

570

To the foft flute, and cittern's filver found: [575
Through the fair ftreets, the matrons in a row
Stand in their porches, and enjoy the fhow.

580

585

There, in the forum fwarm a numerous train,
The fubject of debate, a townfman flain:
One pleads the fine difcharg'd, which one deny'd,
And bade the public and the laws decide :
The witnefs is produc'd on either hand:
For this, or that, the partial people fland:
Th' appointed heralds still the noify bands,
And form a ring, with fceptres in their hands
On feats of stone, within the facred place,
The reverend elders nodded o'er the cafe ;
Alternate, each th' attefting feeptre took,
And rifing, folemn, each his sentence spoke.
Two golden talents lay amidst, in fight,
The prize of hint who beft adjudg'd the right, 590
Another part (a profpect differing far)
Glow'd with refulgent arms, and horrid war.
Two mighty hosts a leaguer'd town embrace,
And one would pillage, one would burn the
place.
[595
Mean time the townfmen, arm'd with filent care,
A fecret ambush on the foe prepare: [band
Their wives, their children, and the watchful
Of trembling parents, on the turrets ftand.
They march, by Pallas and by Mars made bold:[600
Gold were the Gods, their radiant garments gold,
And gold their armour: these the fquadron led,
Auguft, divine, fuperior by the head!

610

A place for ambush fit, they found, and flood
Cover'd with fhields, befide a filver flood.
Two fpies at diftance lurk, and watchful feem 605
If theep or oxen feek the winding stream.
Soon the white flocks proceeded o'er the plains,
And steers flow moving, and two fhepherd fwains:
Behind them, piping on their reeds, they go,
Nor fear an ambuth, nor fufpect a foe.
In arms the glittering squadron rifing round,
Ruth fudden; hills of flaughter heap the ground;
Whole flocks and herds lie bleeding on the plains,
And, all amidst them, dead, the fhepherd fwains!
The bellowing oxen the besiegers hear; [war;615
They rife, take horfe, approach, and meet the
They fight, they fall, befide the filver flood;
The waving filver feem'd to blush with blood.
There tumult, there contention, stood confeft;
One rear'd a dagger at a captive's breast;
One held a living foe, that freshly bled
With new-made wounds; another dragg'd a dead.
Now here, now there, the carcafes they tore
Fate ftalk'd amidst them, grim with human gore.

620

And the whole war came out, and met the eye; 625
And each hold figure feem'd to live, or die.

A field deep-furrow'd next, the God defign'd,
The third time labour'd by the fweating hind;
The fhining fhares full many ploughmen guide,
And turn their crooked yokes on every fide; 630'
Still as at either end they whicel around,
The mafter meets them with his goblet crown'd;
The hearty draught rewards, renews their toil,
Then back the turning plough-fhares cleave the
foil:

(635

Behind, the rifing earth, in ridges roll'd:
And fable look'd, though form'd of molten gold.
Another field rofe high with waving grain;
With bended fickles ftand the reaper-train :
Here, fretch'd in ranks, the level'd fwarths are
found,
640

Sheaves heap'd on fheaves here thicken up the
ground.

With fweeping ftroke the mowers ftrow the lands;
The gatherers follow, and collect in bands;
And laft the children, in whofe arms are borne
(Too fhort to gripe them) the brown fheaves of
The ruftic manarch of the field defcries, [corn. 645
With filent glee, the heaps around him rife.

659

A ready banquet on the turf is laid,
Beneath an ample oak's expanded fhade.
The victim ox the fturdy youth prepare;
The reaper's due repast, the women's care.
Next, ripe in yellow gold, a vineyard fhines,
Bent with the ponderous harvest of its vines;
A deeper dye the dangling clusters fhow,
And, curi'd on filver props, in order glow:
A darker metal mixt, intrench'd the place; 655
And pales of glittering tin th' enclosure grace.
To this, one path-way gently-winding leads,
Where march a train with baskets on their heads
(Fair maids, and blooming youths) that smiling
bear
660

The purple product of th' autumnal year.
To thefe a youth awakes the warbling strings,
Whofe tender lay the fate of Linus tings:
In meafur'd dance behind him move the train,
Tune foft the voice, and anfwer to the ftrain, i

Here herds of oxen march, erect and bold, 665
Rear high their horns, and feem to low in gold,
And speed to meadows, on whofe founding fhores
A rapid torrent through the rushes roars:

| Four golden herdimen as their guardians stand,
And nine four dogs complete the ruftic band. 670
Two lions rufhing from the wood appear'd,
And seiz'd a bull, the mafter of the herd:
He roar'd; in vain the dogs, the men, withstood
They tore his flesh, and drank the fable blood.
The dogs (oft cheer'd in vain) defert the prey 675
Dread the grim terrors, and at distance bay.

Next this, the eye the art of Vulcan leads
Deep through fair forests, and a length of meads
And stalls, and folds, and scatter'd cots between ; `-
Ane fleecy flocks, that whiten all the scene. 690

A figur'd dance fucceeds: fuch once was feen
In lofty Gnoffus, for the Cretan queen,
Form'd by Dedalean art: a comely band
Of youths and maidens, bounding hand in hand.
The maids in foft cymars of linen dreft;
638
The youths all graceful in the glossy weit :-
Of thofe the locks with Rowery wreaths inroll &
Of these the sides adorn'd with swords of geld,

Thus the broad fhield complete the artist
crown'd

With his laft hand, and pour'd the ocean round:
In living filver feem'd the waves to roll, [whole.
And beat the buckler's verge, and bound the

This done, whate'er a warrior's use requires, 705
He forg'd; the cuirafs that outfhines the fires.
The greaves of ductile tin, the helm imprest
With various fculpture, and the golden creft.
At Thetis' feet the finish'd labour lay:
She, as a falcon, cuts th' aerial way,
Swift from Olympus' fnowy fummit flies,
And bears the blazing prefent through the fkies.

710

BOOK XIX.

THE ARGUMENT.

The Reconciliation of Achilles and Agamemnon.

Thetis brings to her fon the armour made by Vulcan. She preferves the body of his friend from corruption, and commands bim to affemble the army, to declare his refentment at an end. Agamemnon and Achilles are folemnly reconciled: the speeches, prefents, and ceremonies, on that occafion. Achilles is with great difficulty perfuaded to refrain from the battle till the troops have refrefbed themselves, by the advice of Ulyffes. The prefents are conveyed to the tent of Achilles; robere Brifeïs laments over the body of Patroclus. The bero bflinately refufes all repaft, and gives himself up to lamentation for bis friend. Minerva defcends to frengthen bim, by the order of Jupiter. He arms for the fight bis appearance defcribed. He addrefes Limfelf to his borfes, and reproaches them with the death of Patroclus. One of them is miraculously endued with wvice, and infpired to prophefy bis fate; bat the hero, not aflonified by that prodigy, rubes with fury to

the combat.

Supprefs (my fon) this rage of grief, and know
It was not man, but Heaven, that gave the blow;
Behold what arms by Vuican are bestow'd?
Arms worthy thee, or fit to grace a God.

Then drops the radiant burden on the ground; 15 Clang the strong arine, and ring the fhores a!round:

Back fhrink the Myrmidons with dread furprife,
And from the broad eflulgence turn'd their eyes.
Unmov'd, the hero kindles at the show,
And feels with rage divine his hofom glow;
From his fierce eye-balls living flames expire,
And flash incefloat like a ftream of fire:
He turns the radiant gift, and feeds his mind
On all th' immortal artist had defign'd.
Goddess! (he cry'd) these glorious arms
fhine

With matchlefs art, confefs the hand divine.
Now to the bloody battle let me bend :-
But ah! the relicks of a flaughter'd friend!

In thofe wide wounds through which his fpirit
fled,

Shall flies and worms obfcene pollute the dead? 30
That unavailing care be laid afide,
(The azure Goddess to her fon reply'd)
Whole years untouch'd, uninjur'd, fhall remain,
Fresh as in life, the carcafe of the flain.
But go, Achilles (as affairs require)
Before the Grecian peers renounce thine ire;
Then uncontrolled in boundleis war engage,
And Heaven with itrength fupply the mighty

rage!

35

Then in the noftrils of the flain the pour'd
Nectareous drops, and rich ambrofia fhower'd 40
O'er all the corpfe. The flies forbid their prey,
Untouch'd it refts, and facred from decay.
Achilles to the ftrand obedient went: ..
The thores refounded with the voice he fent,
The heroes heard, and all the naval train
That tend the fhips, or guide them o'er the main,
Alarm'd, tranfported, at the well-known found,
Frequent and full, the great aflembly crown'd;
Studious to fee that terror of the plain,

45

Long loft to battle, thine in arms again.
Tydides and Ulyfies first appear,

50

[Spear

that

25

Lame with their wounds, and leaning on the
Thefe on the facred feats of council plac'd,
The king of men, Atrides, came the lait :
He too fore wounded by Agenor's fon.

Achilles (rifing in the midft) begun :

60

Oh monarch! better far had been the fate
Of thee, of me, of all the Grecian state,
If, (ere the day when by mad paffion fway'd,
Rash we contended for the black-ey'd maid)
Preventing Dim had dispatch'd her dart,
And shot the fhining mifchief to the heart!
Then many a hero had not prefs'd the fhore,
Nor Troy's glad fields been fatten'd with our
göre:

Long, long fhall Greece the woes we caus'd be-
wail,
65

And fad pofterity repeat the tale.
But this, no more the fubject of debate,
Is paft, forgotten, and refign'd to fate :
Why should, alas! a mortal man, as I,
Burn with a fury that can never die?
Here then my anger ends; let war succeed,
And ev'n as Greece has bled, let Ilion bleed.
Now call the hofts, and try, if in our fight
Troy yet fhall dare to camp a fecond night? [75
I deem their mightieft, when this arm he knows,
Shall 'fcape with transport, and with joy repofe.
He faid: his finifh'd wrath with loud acclaim
The Greeks accept, and fhout Pelides' name.
When thus, not rifing from his lofty throne,
In ffate unmov'd, the king of men begun :
Hear me, ye fons of Greece! with filence
hear!

80

"Is this day born; from Sthenelus he Iprings,
"And claims thy promife to be king of kings."
Grief feiz'd the Thunderer, by his oath engag g'd;
Stung to the foul, he forrow'd, and he rag'd.
From his ambrofial head, where perch'd the fate,
He fnatch'd the Fury-Goddefs of debate,
126
The dread, th' irrevocable oath he swore,
Th' immortal feats fhould ne'er behold her more;
And whirl'd her headlong down, for ever driven
From bright Olympus and the ftarry heaven: 130
Thence on the nether world the Fury fell;
Ordain'd with man's contentious race to dwell.
Full oft the God his fon's hard toils bemoan'd,
Curs'd the dire Fury, and in fecret groan'd.
Ev'n thus, like Jove himfelf, was I mified,
While raging Hector heap'd our camps with
dead.

What can the errors of my rage atone?
My martial troops, my treasures, are thy own:
This inftant from the navy fhall be fent
Whate'er Ulyffes promis'd at thy tent:
But thou! appeas'd, propitious to our prayer,
Refume thy armis, and fhine again in war.

135

140

145

O king of nations! whofe fuperior sway
(Returns Achilles all our hofts obey!
To keep or fend the prefents, be thy care;
To us, 'tis equal: all we ask is war.
While yet we talk, or but an instant fhun
The fight, our glorious work remains undone.
Let every Greek, who fees my fpear confound
The Trojan ranks, and deal destruction round, 150
85With emulation what I act survey,

90

And grant your monarch an impartial ear;
A while your loud, untimely joy fufpend,
And let your rafh, injurious clamours end:
Unruly murmurs, or ill-tim'd applaufe
Wrong the belt fpeaker, and the jufteft caufe.
Nor charge on me, ye Greeks, the dire debate:
Know, angry Jove, and all-compelling Fate,
With fell Erinnys, urg'd my wrath that day
When from Achilles' arms I forc'd the prey.
What then could I against the will of Heaven?
Not by myfelf, but vengeful Até driven;
She, Jove's dread daughter, fated to infest
The wrath of mortals, enter'd in my breast.
Not on the ground that haughty Fury treads, 95
But prints her lofty footsteps on the heads
Of mighty men; inflicting as he goes
Long feftering wounds, inextricable woes!
Of old, the flalk'd amid the bright abodes;
And Jove himfelf, the Sire of men and Gods, roo
The world's great ruler, felt her venom'd dart;
Deceiv'd by Juno's wiles, and female art.
For when Alcmena's nine long months
run,

And learn from thence the bufinefs of the day.
The fon of Peleus thus: and thus replies
The great in councils, Ithacus the wife:
Though, godlike, thou art by no toils oppreft, 155
| At Icall our armies claim repaft and reft:
Long and laborious muft the combat be,
When by the Gods infpir'd, and led by thee.
Strength is deriv'd from spirits and from blood,
And thofe augment by generous wine and

160

food:
What boastful fon of war, without that stay,
Can laft a hero through a fingle day?
Courage may prompt; but, ebbing out his ftrength
Mere unfupported man muft yield at length; 166
Shrunk with dry famine, and with toils declin'd,
The drooping body will defert the mind:
But built anew with ftrength-conferring fare,
were With limbs and foul untam'd, he tires a war.
Difmifs the people then, and give command,
With strong repaft to hearten every band; 170
But let the prefents to Achilles made
In full affembly of all Greece be laid.
The king of men fhall rife in public fight,
And folenin fwear (obfervant of the rite)
That, fpotlefs as he came, the mall removes, 175
Pure from his arms, and guiltles of his loves.
That done, a fumptuous banquet fhall be made,
And the full price of injur'd honour paid.
Stretch not henceforth, O prince! thy fovereign.
might

105

And Jove expected his immortal fon:
To Gods and Goddesses th' unruly joy
He show'd, and vaunted of his matchlefs boy:
From us (he faid) this day an infant fprings,
Fated to rule, and born a king of kings.
Saturnia afk'd an oath, to vouch the truth,
And fix'd dominion on the favour'd youth.
The Thunderer, unfufpicious of the fraud,
Pronounc'd thofe folemn words that bind a God.
The joyful Goddess from Olympus' height,
Swift to Achaian Argos bent her flight;
Scarce feven moons gone, lay Stheneleus's
She pufh'd her lingering infant into life;
Her charms Alcmena's coming labours flay,
And stop the babe, just issuing to the day.
Then bids Saturnius bear his oath in mind;

wife;
116

Beyond the bounds of reafon and of right;
'Tis the chief praife that e'er to kings belong'd,
To right with juftice whom with power they

180

wrong'd.

To him the monarch: Juft is thy decree,

“A youth (faidhe) of Jove's immortal kind 120| Thy words give joy, and wifdom breathes in thee,

185

Each due atonement gladly I prepare;
And Heaven regard me as I justly swear!
Here then a while let Greece affembled stay,
Nor great Achilles grudge this short delay:
Till from the fleet our prefents be convey'd,
And, Jove attesting, the firm compact made. 190
A train of noble youths the charge fhall bear
These to select, Ulyffes, be thy care:
In order rank'd let all our gifts appear,
And the fair train of captives close the rear :
Talthybius fhall the victim boar convey,
Sacred to Jove, and yon bright orb of day."
For this (the ftern acides replies)

Some lefs important feafon may fuffice,
When the ftern fury of the war is o'er,

195

201

A row of fix fair tripods then fucceeds:
And twice the number of high-bounding steeds:
Seven captives next a lovely line compose;
The eighth Brifeïs, like the blooming rofe,
Clos'd the bright band: great Ithacus, before, 255
First of the train, the golden talents bore:
The reft in public view the chiefs dispose,
A fplendid fcene! then Agamemnon rose :
The boar Talthybius held: the Grecian lord
Drew the broad cutlafs, fheath'd beside his fword
The stubborn briftles from the victim's brow 261
He crops, and offering meditates his vow.
His hands uplifted to th' attesting skies,

On heaven's broad marble roof were fix'd his eyes;
The folemn words a deep attention drew,

265

Witnefs, thou firft! thou greatest Power above!
All-good, all-wife, and all-furviving Jove!
And Mother-earth, and Heaven's revolving
light,

And wrath extinguish'd burns my breast no more. And Greece around fat thrill'd with facred awe.
By Hector flain, their faces to the sky,
All grim with gaping wounds our heroes lie:
Those call to war! and, might my voice incite,
Now, now, this inftant fhould commence the
fight:

Then, when the day's complete, let generous bowls,

205

210

And copious banquets, glad your weary fouls.
Let not my palate know the taste of food,
Till my infatiate rage be cloy'd with blood:
Pale lies my friend with wounds disfigur'd o'er,
And his cold feet are pointed to the door.
Revenge is all my foul! no meaner care,
Intereft, or thought, has room to harbour there;
Deftruction be my feast, and mortal wounds,
And fcenes of blood, and agonizing founds.
O first of Greeks (Ulyffes thus rejoin'd)
The best and braveft of the warrior-kind!
Thy praife it is in dreadful camps to fhine,
But old experience and calm wisdom, mine.
Then hear my counfel, and to reafon yield,
The braveft foon are fatiate of the field;
Though vaft the heaps that ftrow the crimion
plain,

215

220

230

The bloody harveft brings but little gain:
The fcale of conqueft ever wavering lies,
Great Jove but turns it, and the victor dies!
The great, the bold, by thousands daily fall, 225
And endless were the grief, to weep for all.
Eternal forrows what avails to fhed?
Greece honours not with folemn fafts the dead:
Enough, when death demands the brave, to pay
The tribute of a melancholy day.
One chief with patience to the grave refign'd,
Our care devolves on others left behind.
Let generous food fupplies of strength produce,
Let rifing fpirits flow from fprightly juice,
Let their warm heads with fcenes of battle glow,
And pour new furies on the feebler foe.
Yet a fhort interval, and none fhall dare
Expect a fecond fummons to the war;
Who waits for that, the dire effect shall find,
If trembling in the fhips he lags behind.
Embodied, to the battle let us bend,
And all at once on haughty Troy defcend.
And now the delegates Ulyffes fent,
To bear the prefents from the royal tent.
The fons of Neftor, Phyleus' valiant heir,
Thias and Merion, thunderbolts of war,
With Lycomedes of Creontian strain,
And Melanippus, form'd the chofen train.
Swift as the word was given, the youths obey'd;
Twice ten bright vafea in the midst they laid; 250

236

270

And ye, fell Furies of the realms of night,
Who rule the dead, and horrid woes prepare
For perjur'd kings, and all who falfely fwear!
The black-ey'd maid inviolate removes,
Pure and unconscious of my manly loves.
If this be falfe, Heaven all its vengeance fhed,
And level'd thunder ftrike my guilty head! 276
With that, his weapon deep inflicts the wound;
The bleeding favage tumbles to the ground;
The facred herald rolls the victim flain
(A feast for fish) into the foaming main.

280

Then thus Achilies: Hear, ye Greeks! and know
Whate'er we feel, 'tis Jove inflicts the woe:
Not elfe Atrides could our rage inflame,
Nor from my arms, unwilling, force the dame.
'Twas Jove's high will alone, o'erruling all, 285
That doom'd our ftrife, and doom'd the Greeks
to fall.

Go then, ye chiefs! indulge the genial rite!
Achilles waits you, and expects the fight.

he speedy council at his word adjourn' d :
To their black veffels all the Greeks return'd. 290
Achilles fought his tent. His train before
March'd onward, bending with the gifts they

bore.

Thofe in the tents the 'fquires industrious spread:
The foaming courfers to the stalls they led;
To their new feats the female captives move: 295
Brifeïs, radiant as the Queen of Love,
Slow as fhe paft, beheld with sad survey,
Where, gafh'd with cruel wounds, Patroclus lay.
Prone on the body fell the heavenly fair,
Beat her fad breaft, and tore her golden hair; 300
All beautiful in grief her humid eyes
Shining with tears the lifts, and thus the cries:
Ah, youth for ever dear, for ever kind,
Once tender friend of my distracted mind!
I left thee fresh in life, in beauty gay!
Now find thee cold, inanimated clay!
What woès my wretched race of life attend!
Sorrows on forrows, never doom'd to end!
The first lov'd confort of my virgin-bed
Before these eyes in fatal battle bled!
245 My three brave brothers in one mournful day,
All trod the dark irremeable way:
Thy friendly hand uprear'd me from the plain,
And dry'd my forrows for a husband flain;
Achilles' care you promis'd I should prove,
The first, the dearest partner of his love;

240

305

310

315.

He fpoke, and from the warriors turn'd his face :
Yet ftill the brother-kings of Atreus' race,
Neftor, Idomeneus, Ulyffes fage,

330

And Phoenix, ftrive to calm his grief and rage:
His rage they calm not, nor his grief control;
He groans, he raves, he forrows from his foul.
Thou too, Patroclus! (thus his heart he vents) 335
Once fpread th' inviting banquet in our tents;
Thy fweet fociety, thy winning care,
Once staid Achilles, rufhing to the war.
But now, alas! to death's cold arms refign'd,
What banquets but revenge can glad my mind? 340
What greater forrow could afflict my breast,
What more, if hoary Peleus were deceas'd?
Who now, perhaps, in Phthia dreads to hear
His fon's fad fate, and drops a tender tear.
What more, fhould Neoptolemus the brave
(My only offspring) fink into the grave?
If yet that offspring lives (I diftant far,
Of all neglectful, wage a hateful war).

I could not this, this cruel ftroke attend;

345

So helms fucceeding helms, so shields from shields
Catch the quick beams,and brighten all the fields;385
Broad-glittering breast-plates, fpears with pointed
rays,

Mix in one stream, reflecting blaze on blaze;
Thick beats the centre as the courfers bound,
With fplendour flame the fkies, and laugh the
fields around.

Full in the midft, high-towering o'er the reft, 390
His limbs in arms divine Achilles dreft;
Arms, which the Father of the Fire bestow'd,
Forg'd on th' eternal anvils of the God.
Grief and revenge his furious heart inspire;
His glowing eye-balls roll with living fire;
He grinds his teeth; and, furious with delay,
O'erlooks th' embattled hoft, and hopes the bloody
day.

395

400

The filver cuifhes first his thighs infold:
Then o'er his breast was brac'd the hollow gold :
The brazen fword a various baldrick ty'd,
That, ftarr'd with genis, hung glittering at his fide;
And, like the moon, the broad refulgent shield
Blaz'd with long rays, and gleam'd athwart the
field.

So to night-wandering failors, pale with fears,
Wide o'er the watery wafte, a light appears, 405
Which, on the far-seen mountain blazing high,
Streams from fome lonely watch-tower to the fky;
With mournful eyes they gaze, and gaze again;
Loud howls the ftorm, and drives them o'er the

main

Next, his high head the helmet grac'd; behind 410
The fweepy creft, hung floating in the wind:

Fate claim'd Achilles, but might fpare his friend. 350 Like the red ftar, that from his flaming hair

355$

I hop'd Patroclus might furvive, to rear
My tender orphan with a parent's care.
From Scyros ifle conduct him o'er the main,
And glad his eyes with his paternal reign,
The lofty palace, and the large domain;
For Peleus breathes no more the vital air,
Or drags a wretched life of age and care,
But till the news of my fad fate invades
His haftening foul, and finks him to the fhades.
Sighing he faid. His grief the heroes join'd; 360
Each flole a tear for what he left behind.
Their mingled grief the Sire of Heaven furvey'd;
And thus, with pity, to his blue-ey'd Maid:
Is then Achilles now no more thy care,
And doft thou thus defert the great in war
Lo, where yon fails their canvas wings extend,
All comfortless he fits, and wails his friend :'
Ere thirst and want his forces have oppreft,
Hafte, and infufe ambrofia in his breast.

365

Shakes down difeafes, peftilence, and war;
So ftream'd the golden honours from his head,
Trembled the fparkling plumes, and the loose glo-

ries fhed.

415

The chief beholds himself with wondering eyes;
His arms he poifes, and his motions tries;
Buoy'd by fome inward force, he feems to fwim,
And feels a pinion lifting every limb.

And now he shakes his great paternal spear, 420
Ponderous and huge! which not a Greek could

rear.

From Pelion's cloudy top an afh entire
Old Chiron fell'd, and fhap'd it for his fire;
A fpear which stern Achilles only wields,
The death of heroes, and the dread of fields. 425
Automedon and Alcimus prepare

439

Th' immortal courfers and the radiant car
(The filver traces fweeping at their fide);
Their fiery mouths refplendent bridles ty'd,
The ivory-studded reins, return'd behind,
Wav'd o'er their backs, and to the chariot join'd.
The charioteer then whirl'd the lash around,
And swift afcended at one active bound.
All bright in heavenly arms, above his squire
375 Achilles mounts, and fets the field on fire;
Not brighter Phabus, in th' etherial way,
Flames from his chariot, and restores the day
High o'er the host all terrible he stands,
And thunders to his fteeds thefe dread commands:
Xanthus and Balius! of Podarges' ftrain 440
(Unless ye boat that heavenly race in vain)
Be fwift, be mindful of the load ye bear,
And learn to make your mater more your care,

He (poke: and sudden, at the word of Jove, 370
Shot the defcending Goddess from above.
So fwift through æther the fhrill Harpy fprings,
The wide air floating to her ample wings.
To great Achilles the her flight addrest,
And pour'd divine ambrofia in his breast,
With nectar fweet (refection of the Gods!)
Then, fwift afcending, fought the bright abodes.
Now iffued from the fhips, the warrior-train,
And, like a deluge, pour'd upon the plain.
As when the piercing blafts of Boreas blow, 380
And fcatter o'er the fields the driving fnow;
From dusky clouds the fleecy winter flies,
Wnofe dazzling luftre whitens all the fkies:

435