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The victors keep the field; and Hector calls A martial council near the navy walls: These to Scamander's banks apart he led, Where, thinly scatter'd, lay the heaps of dead, Th' affembled chiefs, defcending on the ground, Attend his order, and their prince furround. A maffy fpear he bore of mighty strength, Of full ten cub ts was the lance's length; The point was brass, refulgent to behold, Fix'd to the wood with circling rings of gold: The noble Hector on this lance reclin'd, And, bending forward, thus reveal'd his mind:

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And warn their children from a Trojan war.
Now through the circuit of our Ilion wall,
Let facred heralds found the folemn call;
To bid the fires with hoary honours crown'd,
And beardless youths, our battlements furround.
Firm be the guard, while distant lie our powers,
And let the matrons hang with lights the towers:
Left, under cover of the midnight shade,
Th' infidious foe the naked town invade.
Suffice, to-night, these orders to obey;
A nobler charge fhall rouze the dawning day.
The Gods, I trust, shall give to Hector's hand,
From these detefted foes to free the land,
Who plow'd, with fates averse, the watery way;

For Trojan vultures a predeftin'd prey.
Our common fafety must be now the care;
But foon as morning paints the fields of air,

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Sheath'd in bright arms let every troop engage,
And the fir'd fleet behold the battle rage,
Then, then shall Hector and Tydides prove,
Whofe fates are heavieft in the scales of Jove:
To-morrow's light (oh hafte the glorious morn!)
Shall fee his bloody fpoils in triumph borne;
With this keen javelin fhall his breast be gor'd,
655

And proftrate heroes bleed around their lord.
Certain as this, oh! might my days endure,
From age inglorious, and black death fccure;
So might my life and glory know no bound,
Like Pallas worthipp'd, like the fun renown'd!
670

As the next dawn, the laft they fhall enjoy,
Shall crush the Greeks, and end the woes of Troy.
The leader fpoke. From all his hoft around
Shouts of applaufe along the fhores refound.
Each from the yoke the fmoking fteeds unty'd,
675

And fix'd their headstalls to his chariot fide.
Fat fheep and oxen from the town are led,
With generous wine, and all-fattaining bread.
Full hecatombs lay burning on the shore ;
The winds to heaven the curling vapours bore.
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685

Ungrateful offering to th' immortal powers!
Whofe wrath hung heavy o'er the Trojan towers;
Nor Priam nor his fons obtain'd their grace;
Proud Troy they hated, and her guilty race.
The troops exulting fat in order round,
And beaming fires illumin'd all the ground;
As when the moon, refulgent lamp of night!
O'er heaven's clear azure fpreads her facred light,
When not a breath disturbs the deep ferene,
And not a cloud o'ercats the folemn fcene; 690
Around her throne the vivid planets roll,
And ftars unnumber'd gild the glowing pole;
O'er the dark trees a yellower vendure shed,
And tip with filver every mountain's head;
Then thine the vales, the rocks in profpect rife,
A flood of glory bursts from all the skies:
The confcious fwains, rejoicing in the fight,
Eye the blue vault, and bless the useful light:
So many flames before proud Ilion blaze,
And lighten glimmering Xanthus with their rays:
The long reflections of the diftant fires
Gleam on the walls, and tremble on the fpires.
A thoufand piles the dufky horrours gild,
And shoot a shady luftre o'er the field.
Full fifty guards each flaming pile attend,
Whose umber'd arms, by fits, thick flashes send;
705
Loud neigh the courfers o'er their heaps of corn;
And ardent warriours wait the rifing morn.

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If I oppofe thee, prince, thy wrath with-hold, 45
The laws of council bid my tongue be bold.
Thou first, and thou alone, in fields of fight,
Durst brand my courage, and defame my might:
Nor from a friend th' unkind reproach appear'd,
The Greeks stood witnefs, all our army heard. 50
The Gods, O chief! from whom our honours
spring,

The Gods have made thee but by halves a king.
They gave thee fceptres, and a wide command,
They gave dominion o'er the seas and land;
The noblest power that might the world controul
55

They gave thee not-a brave and virtuous foul.
Is this a general's voice, that would suggest
Fears like his own to every Grecian breaft?
Confiding in our want of worth, he ftands;
And if we fly, 'tis what our king commands. 60
Go thou, inglorious! from th' embattled plain;
Ships thou haft ftore, and nearest to the main ;
A nob'er care the Grecians fhall employ,
To combat, conquer, and extirpate Troy.
Here Greece shall stay; or, if all Greece retire,

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Myfelf will stay, till Troy or I expire;
Myfelf and Sthenelus will fight for fame;
God bade us fight, and 'twas with God we came.
He ceas'd; the Greeks loud acclamations raife,
And voice to voice refounds Tydides praife.
Wife Neftor then his reverend figure rear'd;
He spoke; the host in still attention heard:
O truly great! in whom the Gods have join'd
Such ftrength of body with fuch force of mind;
In conduct, as in courage, you excel,
Still first to act what you advise so well.
Those wholesome counfels which thy wisdom

moves,

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135

O king the counfels of my age attend;
With thee my cares begin, in thee must end;
Thee, prince! it fits alike to speak and hear,
Pronounce with judgment, with regard give ear,
To fee no wholesome motion be withstood,
And ratify the best for public good.
Nor, though a meaner give advice, repine,
But follow it, and make the wisdom thine.
Hear then a thought, not now conceiv'd in haste,
At once my present judgment, and my paft: 140
When from Pelides' tent you forc'd the maid,
I first oppos'd, and faithful durft diffuade;
But bold of foul, when headlong fury fir'd,
You wrong'd the man, by men and Gods ad-
mir'd:

Now feek fome means his fatal wrath to end, 145
With prayers to move him, or with gifts to bend.
To whom the king: With juftice haft thou
shown

A prince's faults, and I with reafon own..
That happy man, whom Jove ftill honours moɔst,
Is more than armies, and himself an hoft.
150
Bleft in his love, this wond'rous hero ftands;
Heaven fights his war, and humbles all our bands.
Fain would my heart, which err'd through fran-

tic rage,

155

The wrathful chief and angry Gods affuage.
If gifts immenfe his mighty foul can bow,
Hear, all ye Greeks, and witness what I vow:

Ten weighty talents of the pureft gold,
And twice ten vafes of refulgent mold;
Seven facred tripods, whofe unfully'd frame
Yet knows no office, nor has felt the flame: 160
Twelve steeds unmatch'd in fleetnefs and in force,
And ftill victorious in the dufty courfe;
(Rich were the man whofe ample ftores exceed
The prizes purchas'd by their winged speed).
Seven lovely captives of the Lesbian line,
Skill'd in each art, unmatch'd, in form divine;
The fime I chofe for more than vulgar charms,
When Lefbos funk beneath the hero's arms:
All thefe, to buy his friendship, fhall be paid,
And, join'd with thefe, the long-contefted maid;

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With all her charms, Brifeis I refign,
And folemn fwear thofe charms were never mine:
Untouch'd the stay'd, uninjur'd the removes,
Pure from my arms, and guiltlefs of my loves.
Thefe, instant, fhall be his; and if the Powers 175
Give to our arms proud Ilion's hoftile towers,
Then fhall be ftore (when Greece the fpoil di-
vides)

With gold and brafs his loaded navy's fides,
Befides, full twenty nymphs of Trojan race
With copious love fhall crown his warm em-
brace;
180
Such as himself will choofe; who yield to none,
Or yield to Helen's heavenly charms alone.
Yet hear me farther: when our wars are o'er,
If fafe we land on Argos' fruitful thore,
There fhall he live my fon, our honours fhare, 185
And with Oreftes' felf divide my care.
Yet more-three daughters in my court are bred,
And each well worthy of a royal bed;
Laodicé and Iphigenia fair,

And bright Chryfothemis with golden hair; 190
Her let him choofe, whoin most his eyes approve;
I afk no prefents, no reward for love:
My felf will give the dower; fo vaft a ftore
As never father gave a child before.
Seven ample cities fhall confefs his fway,
Him Enopé, and Phære him obey,
Cardamylé with ample turrets crown'd,
And facred Pedafus for vines renown'd;

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200

pea fair, the paftures Hira yields,
And rich Antheia with her flowery fields:
The whole extent to Pylos' fandy plain,
Along the verdant margin of the main.
There heifers graze, and labouring oxen toil;
Bold are the men, and generous is the foil;
There shall he reign with power and juftice
crown'd,

And rule the tributary realms around.
All this I give, his vengeance to controul,
And fure all this may move his mighty foul.
Pluto, the grifly God, who never spares,
Who feels no mercy, and who hears no prayers,

Now pray to Jove to grant what Greece demands;

Pray, in deep filence, and with pureft hands.

225

He faid, and all approv'd. The heralds bring
The cleaning water from the living spring.
The youth with wine the facred goblets crown'd,
And large libations drench'd the fands around.
230

The rite perform'd, the chiefs their thirst allay,
Then from the royal tent they take their way;
Wife Neftor turns on each his careful eye,
Forbids t' offend, inftructs them to apply,
Much he advis'd them all, Ulyffes moft,
To deprecate the chief, and fave the host.
Through the still night they march, and hear the

roar

235

Of polish'd filver was its coftly frame) :
With this he fooths his angry foul, and fings
Th' immortal deeds of heroes and of kings. 20
Patroclus only of the royal train,

255

Plac'd in his tent, attends the lofty strain :
Full oppofite he fate, and liften'd long,
In filence waiting till he ceas'd the song,
Unfeen the Grecian embaffy proceeds
To his high tent; the great Ulyffes leads,
Achilles, ftarting, as the chiefs he 'spy'd,
Leap'd from his feat, and laid the harp afide.
With like furprize arofe Menoetius' fon :
Pelides grafp'd their hands, and thus begun : 260
Princes, all hail! whatever brought you here,
Or ftrong neceffity, or urgent fear;
Welcome, though Greeks! for not as foes ye

came;

To me more dear than all that bear the name.

With that, the chiefs beneath his roof he led,

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tains: