HEN now the Thunderer on the fea-beat coaft
Had fix'd great Hector and his conquering host;
He left them to the Fates, in bloody fray
To toil and struggle through the well-fought day;
Then turn'd to Thracia from the field of fight
Thofe eyes that shed infufferable light:
To where the Myfians prove their martial force,
And hardy Thracians tame the favage horse;
And where the far-fam'd Hippemolgian strays,
Renown'd for justice and for length of days;
Thrice happy race! that, innocent of blood,
From milk, innoxious, feek their fimple food:
Jove fees delighted; and avoids the scene
Of guilty Troy, of arms, and dying men :
No aid, he deems, to either hoft is given,
While his high law fufpends the powers of Heaven.
Mean-time the Monarch of the watery main
Obferv'd the Thunderer, nor obferv'd in vain.
In Samothracia, on a mountain's brow,
Whose waving woods o'erhung the deeps below,
He fate; and round him caft his azure eyes,
Where Ida's mifty tops confus'dly rife;
Below, fair Ilion's glittering fpires were seen,
The crouded ships, and fable seas between.
There, from the cryftal chambers of the main
Emerg'd, he fate; and mourn'd his Argives slain.
At Jove incens'd, with grief and fury stung,
Prone down the rocky steep he rush'd along;
Fierce as he past, the lofty mountains nod,
The forest shakes! earth trembled as he trod,
And felt the footsteps of th' immortal God.
From realm to realm three ample strides he took,
And, at the fourth, the diftant Ægæ fhook.
Far in the bay his fhining palace stands,
Eternal frame! not rais'd by mortal hands:
This having reach'd, his brafs-hoof'd steeds he reins, Fleet as the winds, and deck'd with golden manes. Refulgent arms his mighty limbs infold,
Immortal arms of adamant and gold.
He mounts the car, the golden fcourge applies,
He fits fuperior, and the chariot flies:
His whirling wheels the glaffy surface sweep;
Th' enormous monsters, rolling o'er the deep,
Gambol around him on the watery way;
And heavy whales in aukward measures play :
The fea fubfiding spreads a level plain,
Exults, and owns the monarch of the main;
The parting waves before his courfers fly :
The wondering waters leave his axle dry.
Deep in the liquid regions lies a cave;
Between where Tenedos the furges lave,
And rocky Imbrus breaks the rolling wave :
There the great Ruler of the azure round
Stopp'd his fwift chariot, and his steeds unbound,
Fed with ambrofial herbage from his hand,
And link'd their fetlocks with a golden band,
Infrangible, immortal: there they stay,
The Father of the floods purfues his way;
Where, like a tempeft darkening heaven around,
Or fiery deluge that devours the ground,
Th' impatient Trojans, in a gloomy throng,
Embattled roll'd, as Hector rufh'd along :
To the loud tumult and the barbarous cry,
The heavens re-echo, and the fhores reply;
They vow deftruction to the Grecian name,
And in their hopes, the fleets already flame.
But Neptune, rifing from the feas profound,
The God whofe earthquakes rock the folid ground,
Now wears a mortal form; like Chalcas feen,
Such, his loud voice, and fuch his manly mien ;
His fhouts inceffant every Greek infpire,
But most th' Ajaces, adding fire to fire.
'Tis yours, O warriours, all our hopes to raise; Oh, recollect your ancient worth and praise : Tis yours to fave us, if you cease to fear ; Flight, more than shameful, is destructive, here. On other works though Troy with fury fall, And pour her armies o'er our batter'd wall; There, Greece has strength: but this, this part o'erthrown,
Her ftrength were vain; I dread for you alone.
Here Hector rages like the force of fire,
Vaunts of his Gods, and calls high Jove his fire.
If yet fome heavenly Power your breast excite,
◆ Breathe in your hearts, and string your arms to fight, Greece yet may live, her threaten'd fleet remain ; 85 And Hector's force, and Jove's own aid, be vain :
Then with his fceptre, that the deep controls,
He touch'd the chiefs, and steel'd their manly fouls:
Strength, not their own, the touch divine imparts,
Prompts their light limbs, and swells their daring hearts.
Then, as a falcon from the rocky height,
Her quarry seen, impetuous at the fight
Forth-fpringing instant, darts herself from high,
Shoots on the wing, and skims along the sky:
Such, and so swift, the power of Ocean flew ;
The wide horizon fhut him from their view.
Th' infpiring God, Oïleus' active fon
Perceiv'd the first, and thus to Telamon:
Some God, my friend, fome God in human form Favouring defcends, and wills to stand the storm. 100 Not Calchas this, the venerable feer;
Short as he turn'd, I faw the Power appear :
I mark'd his parting, and the fteps he trod ;
His own bright evidence reveals a God.
Ev'n now fome energy divine I share,
And feem to walk on wings, and tread in air!
With equal ardour (Telamon returns)
My foul is kindled, and my bofom burns :
New rifing fpirits all my force alarm,
Lift each impatient limb, and brace my arm.
This ready arm, unthinking, shakes the dart;
The blood pours back, and fortifies my heart;
Singly, methinks, yon towering chief I meet,
And ftretch the dreadful Hector at my feet.
Full of the God that urg'd their burning breaft, 113
The heroes thus their mutual warmth exprefs'd.
Neptune mean-while the routed Greeks inspir'd,
Who, breathlefs, pale, with length of labours tir'd,
Pant in the ships; while Troy to conquest calls,
And fwarms victorious o'er their yielding walls: 120
Trembling before th' impending storm they lie,
While tears of rage stand burning in their eye.
Greece funk they thought, and this their fatal hour
But breathe new courage as they feel the Power.
Teucer and Leitus firft his words excite;
Then stern Peneleus rifes to the fight;
Thoas, Deïpyrus, in arms renown'd,
And Merion next, th' impulfive fury found;
Last Nestor's son the fame bold ardour takes,
While thus the God the martial fire awakes:
Oh lasting infamy, oh dire disgrace
To chiefs of vigorous youth and manly race!
I trufted in the Gods, and you, to fee
Brave Greece victorious, and her navy free.
Ah no-the glorious combat you disclaim,
And one black day clouds all her former fame.
Heavens! what a prodigy these eyes furvey,
Unfeen, unthought, till this amazing day!
Fly we at length from Troy's oft-conquer'd bands?
And falls our fleet by fuch inglorious hands?
A rout undifciplin'd, a ftraggling train,
Not born to glories of the dusty plain;
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