Beheld him mourning on the naked shores,
And thus the forrows of his foul explores.
Why grieves my fon? Thy anguish let me share,
Reveal the cause, and truft a parent's care.
He deeply fighing said: To tell my woe,
Is but to mention what too well you know.
From Thebè facred to Apollo's name,
(Aëtion's realm) our conquering army came,
With treasure loaded and triumphant spoils,
Whofe juft divifion crown'd the foldier's toils;
But bright Chryfeïs, heavenly prize! was led,
By vote felected, to the general's bed.
The priest of Phoebus fought by gifts to gain
His beauteous daughter from the victor's chain; 485
The fleet he reach'd, and lowly bending down,
Held forth the fceptre and the laurel crown,
Entreating all but chief implor'd for grace
The brother-kings of Atreus' royal race:
The generous Greeks their joint confent declare, 490
The priest to reverence, and release the fair;
Not fo Atrides: He, with wonted pride,
The fire infulted, and his gifts deny'd:
Th' infulted fire (his God's peculiar care)
To Phoebus pray'd, and Phœbus heard the prayer:
A dreadful plague enfues; th' avenging darts
Inceffant fly, and pierce the Grecian hearts.
A prophet then, infpir'd by Heaven arofe,
And points the crime, and thence derives the woes.'
Myself the first th' affembled chiefs incline
T'avert the vengeance of the power divine;
Then rifing in his wrath, the monarch storm'd;
Incens'd he threaten'd, and his threats perform'd:
The fair Chryfeïs to her fire was fent,
With offer'd gifts to make the God relent;
But now, he feiz'd Brifeïs' heavenly charms,
And of my valour's prize defrauds my arms,
Defrauds the votes of all the Grecian train;
And fervice, faith, and justice, plead in vain.
But, Goddefs! thou thy fuppliant fon attend,
To high Olympus' fhining court afcend,
Urge all the ties to former service ow'd,
And fue for vengeance to the thundering God.
Oft ha thou triumph'd in the glorious boast,
That thou ftood'st forth of all th' æthereal hoft,
When bold rebellion fhook the realms above,
Th' undaunted guard of cloud-compelling Jove.
When the bright partner of his awful reign,
The warlike maid, and monarch of the main,
The traitor-gods, by mad ambition driven,
Durft threat with chains th' omnipotence of Heaven.
Then call'd by thee, the monster Titan came,
(Whom Gods Briareus, Men Egeon name)
Through wondering fkies enormous stalk'd along;
Not he that flakes the folid earth fo ftrong:
With giant-pride at Jove's high throne he stands,
And brandish'd round him all his hundred hands;
Th' affrighted Gods confefs'd their awful lord,
They dropt the fetters, trembled, and ador'd.
This, Goddess, this to his remembrance call
Embrace his knees, at his tribunal fall;
Conjure him far to drive the Grecian train,
To hurl them headlong to their fleet and main,
To heap the shores with copious death, and bring
The Greeks to know the curse of such a king:
Let Agamemnon lift his haughty head
O'er all his wide dominion of the dead,
And mourn in blood, that e'er he durst disgrace
The boldeft warriour of the Grecian race.
Unhappy fon! (fair Thetis thus replies,
While tears celestial trickle from her eyes)
Why have I borne thee with a mother's throes,
To fates averse, and nurs'd for future woes?
So fhort a space the light of heaven to view !
So fhort a space! and fill'd with forrow too!
O might a parent's careful with prevail,
Far, far from Ilion fhould thy vessels fail,
And thou, from camps remote, the danger fhun,
Which now, alas! too nearly threats my fon.
Yet (what I can) to move thy fuit I'll go
To great Olympus crown'd with fleecy fnow.
Mean time, fecure within thy fhips, from far
Behold the field, nor mingle in the war.
The fire of Gods and all th' æthereal train,
On the warm limits of the fartheft main,
Now mix with mortals, nor difdain to grace
The feasts of Æthiopia's blameless race;
Twelve days the powers indulge the genial rite,
Returning with the twelfth revolving light.
Then will I mount the brazen dome, and move 560 The high tribunal of immortal Jove.
The Goddess spoke: the rolling waves unclofe; Then down the deep she plung'd from whence the rofe, And left him forrowing on the lonely coaft,
In wild refentment for the fair he loft.
In Chryfa's port now fage Ulyffes rode ;
Beneath the deck the deftin'd victims ftow'd;
The fails they furl'd, they lafh'd the mast aside,
And drop'd their anchors, and the pinnace ty'd.
Next on the fhore their hecatomb they land,
Chryfeïs laft defcending on the ftrand.
Her, thus returning from the furrow'd main,
Ulyffes led to Phoebus' facred fane;
Where at his folemn altar as the maid
He gave to Chryfes, thus the Hero faid.
Hail reverend prieft! to Phoebus' awful dome
A fuppliant I from great Atrides come :
Unranfom'd here receive the fpotlefs fair;
Accept the hecatombs the Greeks prepare ;
And may thy God who fcatters darts around,
Aton'd by facrifice, defift to wound.
At this, the fire embrac'd the maid again,
So fadly loft, fo lately fought in vain.
Then near the altar of the darting king,
Difpos'd in rank their hecatomb they bring :
With water purify their hands, and take
The facred offering of the falted cake;
While thus with arms devoutly rais'd in air,
And folemn volce, the prieft directs his prayer:
God of the filver bow, thy ear incline,
Whose power incircles Cilla the divine;
Whofe facred eye thy Tenedos furveys,
And gilds fair Chryfa with diftinguish'd rays!
If, fir'd to vengeance at thy priest's request,
Thy direful darts inflict the raging peft;
Once more attend! avert the wafteful woe,
And smile propitious, and unbend thy bow.
So Chryfes pray'd, Apollo heard his prayer :
And now the Greeks their hecatomb prepare;
Between their horns the falted barley threw,
And with their heads to heaven the victims flew:
The limbs they fever from th' inclosing hide;
The thighs, felected to the Gods, divide:
On these, in double cawls involv'd with art,
The choicest morfels lay from every part.
The priest himself before his altar stands,
And burns the offering with his holy hands,
Pours the black wine, and fees the flames afpire ;
The youth with inftruments furround the fire
The thighs thus facrific'd, and entrails dreft,
Th' affistants part, transfix, and roast the rest :
Then spread the tables, the repaft prepare,
Each takes his feat, and each receives his fhare.
When now the rage of hunger was repreft,
With pure libations they conclude the feaft;
The youths with wine the copious goblets crown'd,
And, pleas'd, dispense the flowing bowls around.
With hymns divine the joyous banquet ends,
The Peans lengthen'd till the fun descends :
|