305

Enough is given to fame. Afcend thy car;
And fave a life, the bulwark of our war.
At this the hero caft a gloomy look,
Fix'd on the chief with fcorn; and thus he
spoke :

Me doft thou bid to fhun the coming fight?

310 Me would'ft thou move to base, inglorious flight? Know, 'tis not honeft in my foul to fear, Nor was Tydides born to tremble here. I hate the cumbrous chariot's flow advance, And the long distance of the flying lance; But while my nerves are ftrong, my force entire,

Thus front the foe, and emulate my fire.

1

315

For ravish'd Ganymede on Tros bestow'd,
The best that e'er on earth's broad furface run,

Beneath the rifing or the setting fun.

He faid, then fhook the ponderous lance, and

flung;

355

Till the bright point look'd out beneath the chin.
Headlong he falls, his helmet knocks the ground;
Earth groans beneath him, and his arms refound;
The starting courfers tremble with affright;
The foul indignant feeks the realms of night, 360
To guard his flaughter'd friend, Æneas flies,
His fpear extending where the carcafe lies;
Watchful he wheels, protects it every way,
As the grim lion ftalks around his prey,
O'er the fall'n trunk his ample fhield difplay'd,
365

He hides the hero with the mighty fhade,
And threats aloud: the Greeks with longing eyes
Behold at diftance, but forbear the prize.
Then fierce Tydides ftoops; and from the fields,
Heav'd with vaft force, a rocky fragment wields,
Not two ftrong men th' enormous weight could
raife,

Such men as live in thefe degenerate days.
He fwung it round; and gathering ftrength to
throw,

375

380

Difcharg'd the ponderous ruin at the foe.
Where to the hip th' inferted thigh unites,
Full on the bone the pointed marble lights;
Through both the tendons broke the rugged ftone,
And stripp'd the fkin, and crack'd the folid bone,
Sunk on his knees, and ftaggering with the pains,
His falling bulk his bended arm fuftains;
Loft in a dizzy mift the warriour lies;
A fudden cloud comes fwimming o'er his eyes.
There the brave chief who mighty numbers (way'd,
Opprefs'd had funk to death's eternal fhade;
But heavenly Venus, mindful of the love
She bore Anchifes in th' Idæan grove,
His danger views with anguish and despair,
And guards her offspring with a mother's care.
About her much-lov'd fon her arms the throws,
Her arms whofe whitenefs match the falling
fnows.

385

Screen'd from the foe behind her shining veil,
The fwords wave harmless, and the javelins fail:
Safe through the rufhing horfe, and feather'd
flight

395
Of founding fhafts, the bears him from the fight.
Nor Sthenelus, with unaffifting hands,
Remain'd unheedful of his lord's commands:
His panting steeds, remov'd from out the war,
He fix'd with traiten'd traces to the car,

Next rushing to the Dardan fpoil, detains
The heavenly courfers with the flowing manes :

400

Thefe, in proud triumph to the fleet convey'd, No longer now a Trojan lord obey'd, That charge to bold Deipylus he gave, (Whom most he lov'd, as brave men love the brave)

Then mounting on his car, refum'd the rein, 415 And follow'd where Tydides swept the plain.

410

Meanwhile (his conqueft ravifh'd from his eyes)
The raging chief in chace of Venus flies:
No Goddess fre commiffion'd to the field,
Like Pallas dreadful with her fable shield,
Or fierce Bellona thundering at the wall,
While flames afcend, and mighty ruins fall;
He knew soft combats fuit the tender dame,
New to the field, and ftill a foe to fame.
Through breaking ranks his furious course he
bends,

And at the Goddefs his broad lance extends;
Through her bright veil the daring weapon drove,
Th' ambrofial veil, which all the Graces wove;
Her fnowy hand the razing steel profan'd,
And the tranfparent fkin with crimson ftain'd,

420

From the clear vein a stream immortal flow'd,
Such stream as iffues from a wounded God:
Pure emanation! uncorrupted flood;
Unlike our grofs, difeas'd, terrestrial blood:
(For not the bread of man their life fuftains, 425
Nor wine's inflaming juice fupplies their veins.)
With tender fhrieks the Goddess fill'd the place,
And dropp'd her offspring from her weak em-
brace.

Him Phoebus took: he caft a cloud around
The fainting chief, and wards the mortal wound.
430
Then with a voice that shook the vaulted skies,
The king infults the Goddess as the flies.
Ill with Jove's daughter bloody fights agree,
The field of combat is no scene for thee:
Go, let thy own foft fex employ thy care,
'Go, lull the coward, or delude the fair.
Taught by this ftroke, renounce the war's alarms,
And learn to tremble at the name of arms,

435

Tydides thus: The Goddess feiz'd with dread, Confus'd, diftracted, from the conflict fled, 440 To aid her, fwift the winged It is flew, Wrapt in a mist above the warring crew. The Queen of Love with faded charms fhe found, Pale was her cheek, and livid look'd the wound. To Mars, who fat remote, they bent their way, 445

Far on the left, with clouds involv'd he lay ; Befide him ftood his lance, diftain'd with gore, And, rein'd with gold, his foaming steeds before.

Low at his knee, fhe begg'd, with ftreaming eyes,

Her brother's car, to mount the diftant skies, 450
And fhew'd the wound by fierce Tydides given,
A mortal man who dares encounter Heaven.
Stern Mars attentive hears the queen complain,
And to her hand commits the golden rein;

470

475

Dione then: Thy wrongs with patience bear,
And share thofe gifts inferior powers must share:
Unnumber'd woes mankind from us fuftain,
And men with woes afflict the Gods again.
The mighty Mars in mortal fetters bound,
And lodg'd in brazen dungeons under ground,
Full thirteen moons imprifon'd roar'd in vain;
Otus and Ephialtes held the chain:
Perhaps had perish'd; had not Hermes' care
Reftor'd the groaning God to upper air.
480
Great Juno's felf has borne her weight of pain,
Th' imperial partner of the heavenly reign;
Amphitryon's fon infix'd the deadly dart,
And fill'd with anguish her immortal heart.
Ev'n hell's grim king Alcides' power confefs'd,
485

The fhaft found entrance in his iron breast;
To Jove's high palace for a cure he fled,
Pierc'd in his own dominions of the dead;
Where Pæon, fprinkling heavenly balm around,
Affuag'd the glowing pangs, and clos'd the wound.

490

Rafh, impious man! to stain the bleft abodes,
And drench his arrows in the blood of Gods!
But thou (though Pallas urg'd thy frantic deed)
Whofe fpear ill-fated makes a Goddess bleed,
Know thou, whoe'er with heavenly power con-
tends,

Short is his date, and foon his glory ends;
From fields of death when late he thall retire,
No infant on his knees fhall call him Sire.
Strong as thou art, fome God may yet be found,
To ftretch thee pale and gasping on the ground;
500

Thy diftant wife, Ægiale the fair,
Starting from fleep with a distracted air,
Shall rouze thy flaves, and her loft lord deplore,
The brave, the great, the glorious, now no more!
This faid, the wip'd from Venus' wounded
palm

505

The facred ichor, and infus'd the balm.
Juno and Pallas with a fmile furvey'd,
And thus to Jove began the blue-ey'd Maid;
Permit thy daughter, gracious Jove! to tell
How this mifchance the Cyprian Queen befell.

Mars hovers o'er them with his fable fhield,
And adds new horrours to the darken'd field:
Fleas'd with his charge, and ardent to fulfil,
In Troy's defence, Apollo's heavenly will:
Soon as from fight the blue-ey'd Maid retires, 625
Each Trojan bofom with new warnth he fires.
And now the God, from forth his facred fane,
Produc'd Eneas to the fhouting train;
Alive, unharm'd, with al his peers around,
Erect he stood, and vigorous from his wound: 630
Enquiries none they made; the dreadful day
No paufe of words admits, no dull delay;
Fierce difcord forms, Apollo loud exclaims,
Fame calls, Mars thunders, and the field's in
flames,

635

640

Stern Diomed with either Ajax stood, And great Ulyffes, bath'd in hostile blood. Embodied clofe, the labouring Grecian train The fierceft fhock of charging hotts fuftain. Unmoy'd and filent, the whole war they wait, Serenely dreadful, and as fix'd as fate. So when th' embattled clouds in dark array, Along the skies their gloomy lines difplay; When now the north his boisterous rage has fpent, And peaceful fleeps the liquid element: The low-hung vapours motionless and ftill, Reft on the fummits of the shaded hill; Till the mafs fc tters as the winds arife, Difpers'd and broken through the ruffled skies. Nor was the general wanting to his train, From troop to troop he toils through all the plain. 650

645

655

Ye Greeks, be men! the charge of battle bear;
Your brave affociates and yourfelves revere !
Let glorious acts more glorious acts inspire,
And catch from breast to breaft the noble fire!
On valour's fide the odds of combat lie,
The brave live glorious, or lamented die:
The wretch who trembles in the field of fame,
Meets death, and, worse than death, eternal thame.
These words he feconds with his flying lance,
To meet whofe point was ftrong Deicoon's chance,

Rufh fearless to the plains, and uncontroul'd
Depopulate the ftalls, and waste the fold;
Till pierc'd at diftance from their native den, 685
O'erpower'd they fall beneath the force of men.
Proftrate on earth their beauteous bodies lay,
Like mountain firs, as tall and straight as they.
Great Menelaus views with pitying eyes,
Lifts his bright lance, and at the victor flies; 690
Mars urg'd him on; yet, ruthless in his hate,
The God but urg'd him to provoke his fate.
He thus advancing, Neftor's valiant fon
Shakes for his danger, and neglects his own;
Struck with the thought, fhould Helen's lord be
flain,

And all his country's glorious labours vain.
Already met the threatening heroes ftand;
The fpears already tremble in their hand:
In ruth'd Antilochus, his aid to bring,
And fall or conquer by the Spartan king,
These feen, the Dardan backward turn'd his
courfe,

700

705

710

Brave as he was, and fhun'd enequal force,
The breathless bodies to the Greeks they drew,
Then mix in combat, and their toils renew.
Firft Pylamenes, great in battle, bled,
Who fheath'd in brafs the Paphlagonians led.
Atrides mark'd him where fublime he stood;
Fix'd in his throat, the javelin drank his blood.
The faithful Mydon, as he turn'd from fight
His flying couriers, funk to endless night:
A broken rock by Neftor's fon was thrown;
His bended arm receiv'd the falling stone.
From: his numb'd hands the ivory-studded reins,
Dropt in the duft, are trail'd along the plains:
Meanwhile his temples feel a deadly wound: 715
He groans in death, and ponderous finks to ground;
Deep drove his helmet in the fands, and there
The head ftood fix'd, the quivering legs in air,
Till trampled flat beneath the courfer's feet: 720
The youthful victor mounts his empty feat,
And bears the prize in triumph to the fleet.

725

Great Hector faw, then raging at the view, Pours on the Greeks; the Trojan troops pursue; He fires his hoft with animating cries, And brings along the furies of the fkies. Mars, ftern deftroyer! and Bellona dread, Flame in the front, and thunder at their head: This fwells the tumult and the rage of fight; That thakes a fpear that cafts a dreadful light, Where Hector march'd, the God of battles fhin'd,

739

Now ftorm'd before him, and now rag'd behind.
Tydides paus'd amidst his full career;
Then firft the hero's manly breaft knew fear.
As when fome fimple fwain his cot forfakes,
And wide through fens an unknown journey
takes;

If chance a fwelling brook his passage stay,
And foam impervious crofs the wanderer's way,
Confus'd he ftops, a length of country past,
Eye the rough waves, and, tir'd, returns at last.
Amaz'd no less the great Tydides ftands: 740
He flay'd, and, turning, thus addrefs'd his bands:
No wonder, Greeks! that all to Hector yield,
Secure of favouring Gods, he takes the field:

o spoil his glittering arms and plumy pride. ow foes on foes came pouring on the field, With bristling lances, and compacted shields ill, in the steely circle ftraiten'd round, orc'd he gives way, and fternly quits the ground. While thus they ftrive, Tlepolemus the great, 'rg'd by the force of unrefifted fate,

urns with defire Sarpedon's ftrength to prove ; Alcides' offspring meets the son of Jove. heath'd in bright arms each adverfe chief came on,

730

785

jove's great defcendant, and his greater fon.
Prepar'd for combat ere the lance he tofs'd,
The daring Rhodian vents his haughty boast:
What brings this Lycian counsellor fo far,
To tremble at our arms, not mix in war?
Know thy vain felf; nor let their flattery move,
Who ftyle thee fon of cloud-compelling Jove.
How far unlike thofe chiefs of race divine,
How vaft the difference of their deeds and thine!
Jove got fuch heroes as my fire, whofe foul
790
No fear could daunt, nor earth nor hell controul.
Troy felt his arm, and yon proud ramparts ftand
Rais'd on the ruins of his vengeful hand :
With fix small ships, and but a flender train,
He left the town a wide-deferted plain.
But what art thou? who deedlefs look'ft around,
While unreveng'd thy Lycians bite the ground:
Small aid to Troy thy feeble force can be ;
But, wert thou greater, thou must yield to me.
Perc'd by my spear, to endless darkness go! 800
I make this present to the fhades below,

795

The fon of Hercules, the Rhodian guide, Thus haughty spoke. The Lycian king reply'd ;

Thy.fire, O prince! o'erturn'd the Trojan

ftate,

Whofe perjur'd monarch well deferv'd his fate; 805

Thofe heavenly fteeds the hero fought fo far,
Falfe he detain'd, the juft reward of war.
Nor fo content, the generous chief defy'd,
With bafe reproaches and unmasly pride.
But you, unworthy the high race you boast, 810
Shall raife my glory when thy own is loft:
Now meet thy fate, and, by Sarpedon flain,
Add one more ghoft to Pluto's gloomy reign.
He faid: both javelins at an instant flew ;
Both ftruck, both wounded; but Sarpedon's
flew:
815

Full in the boafter's neck the weapon ftood.
Transfix'd his throat, and drank the vital blood
The foul difdainful feeks the caves of night,
And his feal'd eyes for ever lofe the light.

Yet not in vain, Tlepolemus, was thrown 820
Thy angry lance; which, piercing to the bone
Sarpedon's thigh, had robb'd the chief of breath;
But Jove was prefent, and forbade the d. ath.
Born from the conflict by the Lycian throng,
The wounded hero dragg'd the lance along. 825
(His friends, each bufied in his feveral part,
Through hafte, or danger, had not drawn the
dart.)

The Greeks with flain Tlepolemus retir'd;
Whofe fall Ulyffes view'd, with fury fir'd;
Doubtful if Jove's great fon he fhould purfue, 830
Or pour his vengeance on th. Lycian crew.
But Heaven and Fate the first defign withstand,
Nor this great death must grace Ulyffes' hand.
Minerva drives him on the Lycian train;
Alaftor, Cromius, Helius, ftrow'd the plain, 835
Alcander, Prytanis, Noëmon fell:

And numbers more his fword had fent to hell,
But Hector fary; and, furious at the fight,
Rufh'd terrible amidft the ranks of fight.
With joy Sarpedon view'd the wifh'd relief, 840
And, faint, lamenting, thus implor'd the chief:
Oh fuffer not the foe to bear away

My helpless corpfe, an unaffisted prey;
If I, unbleft, muft fee my fon no more,
My much-lov'd confort, and my native shore,
845

Yet let me die in Ilion's facred wall;
Troy, in whofe caufe I fell, fhall mourn my fall.
He faid, nor Hector to the chief replies,
But thakes his plume, and fierce to combat flies;
Swift as a whirlwind, drives the fcattering foes;
850

And dyes the ground with purple as he goes.
Beneath a beech, Jove's confecrated fhade,
His mournful friends divine Sarpedon laid:
Brave Pelagon, his favourite chief, was nigh,
Who wrench'd the javelin from his finewy thigh.