Eumelus' mares were foremost in the chace,
As eagles fleet, and of Pheretian race:
Bred where Pieria's fruitful fountains flow,
And train'd by him who bears the filver bow.
Fierce in the fight their noftrils breath'd a flame.
Their height, their colour, and their age the fame;
O'er fields of death they whirl the rapid car,
And break the ranks, and thunder through the war.
Ajax in arms the first renown acquir'd,
While ftern Achilles in his wrath retir'd
(His was the ftrength that mortal might exceeds,
And his, th' unrival'd race of heavenly steeds),
But Thetis' fon now fhines in arms no more;
His troops, neglected on the fandy shore,
In empty air their sportive javelins throw,
Or whirl the disk, or bend an idle bow:
Unftain'd with blood his cover'd chariots stand;
Th' immortal courfers graze along the strand;
But the brave chiefs th' inglorious life deplor'd,
And wandering o'er the camp, requir'd their lord. 945
Now, like a deluge, covering all around,
The fhining armies fwept along the ground;
Swift as a flood of fire, when storms arise,
Floats the wide field, and blazes to the skies.
Earth groan'd beneath them; as when angry Jove 950
Hurls down the forky light'ning from above,
On Arimè when he the thunder throws, -
And fires Typhæus with redoubled blows,
Where Typhon, preft beneath the burning load,
Still feels the fury of th' avenging God.
But various Iris, Jove's commands to bear,
Speeds on the wings of winds through liquid air;
In Priam's porch the Trojan chiefs the found,
The old confulting, and the youths around.
Polites' fhape, the monarch's fon, she chofe,
Who from Æsetes' tomb obferv'd the foes,
High on the mound; from whence in prospect lay
The fields, the tents, the navy, and the bay.
In this diffembled form, she hastes to bring
Th' unwelcome meffage to the Phrygian king:
Ceafe to confult, the time for action calls,
War, horrid war, approaches to your walls!
Affembled armies oft have I beheld;
But ne'er till now fuch numbers charg'd a field.
Thick as autumnal leaves or driving fand,
The moving fquadrons blacken all the ftrand.
Thou, godlike Hector! all thy force employ,
Affemble all th' united bands of Troy;
In just array let every leader call
The foreign troops; this day demands them all. 975.
The voice divine the mighty chief alarms;
The council breaks, the warriours rush to arms.
The gates unfolding pour forth all their train,
Nations on nations fill the dusky plain.
Men, fteeds, and chariots, shake the trembling ground;
The tumult thickens, and the skies refound.
Amidst the plain in fight of Ilion stands
A rifing mount, the work of human hands;
(This for Myrinne's tomb th' Immortals know,
Though call'd Bateïa in the world below)
Beneath their chiefs in martial order here,
Th' auxiliar troops and Trojan hosts appear.
The godlike Hector, high above the reft,
Shakes his huge spear, and nods his plumy creft:
In throngs around his native bands repair,
And groves of lances glitter in the air.
Divine Æneas brings the Dardan race,
Anchifes' fon by Venus' ftol'n embrace,
Born in the fhades of Ida's fecret grove,
(A mortal mixing with the Queen of Love) Archilochus and Acamas divide
The warriour's toils, and combat by his side.
Who fair Zeleia's wealthy valleys till,
Faft by the foot of Ida's facred hill ;
Or drink, Æsepus, of thy fable flood:
Were led by Pandarus, of royal blood.
To whom his art Apollo deign'd to show,
Grac'd with the presents of his fhafts and bow.
From rich Apæfus' and Adreftia's towers,
High Teree's fummits, and Pityea's bowers ;
From these the congregated troops obey
Young Amphius' and Adraftus' equal fway ♪
Old Merops' fons; whom, skill'd in fates to come,
The fire forewarn'd, and prophefy'd their doom:
Fate urg'd them on! the fire forewarn'd in vain, orờ
They rush to war, and perîfh'd on the plain.
From Practius' ftream, Percote's pafture lands,
And Seftos and Abydos' neigbouring strands,
From great Arisba's walls and Selle's coaft,
Afius Hyrtacides conducts his hoft:
High on his car he shakes. the flowing reins,
His fiery courfers thunder o'er the plains.
The fierce Pelafgi next, in war renown'd,
March from Lariffa's ever-fertile ground:
In equal arms their brother leaders shine
Hippothous bold, and Pyleus the divine.
Next Acamus and Pyrous lead their hofts,
In dread array, from Thracia's wintery coasts ;
Round the bleak realms where Hellefpontus roars,
And Boreas beats the hoarfe-refounding shores.
With great Euphemus the Ciconians move,
Sprung from Trazenian Ceus, lov'd by Jove.
Pyræchmus the Poonian troops attend,
Skill'd in the fight, their crooked bows to bend;
From Axius' ample bed he leads them on,
Axius, that laves the diftant Amydon.
Axius, that fwells with all his neighbouring rills,
And wide around the floating region fills.
The Paphlagonians Pyloemenes rules,
Where rich Henetia breeds her favage mules,
Where Erythinus' rifing clifts are seen,
Thy groves of box, Cytorus! ever green;
And where gyalus and Cromna lie.
And lofty Sesamus invades the sky;
And where Parthenius, roll'd through banks of flowers, Reflects her bordering palaces and bowers.
Here march'd in arms the Halizonian band,
Whom Odius and Epiftrophus command,
From those far regions where the fun refines
The ripening filver in Alybean mines..
There, mighty Chromis led the Myfian train,
And augur Ennomus, infpir'd in vain,
For ftern Achilles lopt his facred head,
Roll'd down Scamander with the vulgar dead.
Phorcis and brave Afcanius here unite
Th' Afcanian Phrygians, eager for the fight.
Of those who round Mæonia's realms refide,
Or whom the vales in fhades of Tmolus hide,
Meftles and Antiphus the charge partake;
Born on the banks of Gyges' filent lake,
There, from the fields where wild Mæander flows,
High Mycalè, and Latmos' fhady brows,
And proud Miletes, came the Carian throngs,
With mingled clamours, and with barbarous tongues.
Amphimachus and Nauftes guide the train,
Nauftes the bold, Amphimachus the vain,
Who, trick'd with gold, and glittering on his car,
Rode like a woman to the field of war,
Fool that he was! by fierce Achilles flain,
The river fwept him to the briny main
There whelm'd with waves the gaudy warriour lies;
The valiant victor feiz'd the golden prize.
The forces laft in fair array fucceed,
Which blameless Glaucus and Sarpedon lead;
The warlike bands that diftant Lycia yields,
Where gulphy Xanthus foams along the fields.
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