From hence nor ask the neighbouring city's aid,

For ploughfhares, wheels, and all the rural trade. 990
Stern Polypotes ftept before the throng,

And great Leonteus, more than mortal ftrong;
Whofe force with rival forces to oppose,

Up rofe great Ajax; up Epëus rofe.

Each stood in order: firft Epëus threw;

995

High o'er the wondering crouds the whirling circle flew.
Leontes next a little space surpaft,

And third, the ftrength of God-like Ajax caft.
O'er both their marks it flew; till fiercely flung
From Polypates' arm, the difcus fung:
Far as a fwain his whirling fheephook throws,
That distant falls among the grazing cows,
So paft them all the rapid circle flies:

His friends (while loud applauses shake the skies)
With force conjoin'd heave off the weighty prize.
Those who in skilful archery contend,

He next invites the twanging how to bend :
And twice ten axes cafts amidst the round
Ten double-edg'd, and ten that singly wound).
The mast, which late a first-rate galiey bore,
The hero fixes in the fandy fhore ;

To the tall top a milk-white dove they tie,

The trembling mark at which their arrows fly.

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Whose weapon ftrikes yon fluttering bird, fhall bear
These two-edg'd axes, terrible in war;

The fingle, he, whofe fhaft divides the cord.
He faid experienc'd Merion took the word;
And skilful Teucer: in the helm they threw
Their lots infcrib'd, and forth the latter flew.

Swift

1920

Swift from the ftring the founding arrow flies;
But flies unbleft! No grateful facrifice,
No firftling lambs, unheedful! didft thou vow
To Phoebus, patron of the fhaft and bow.
For this, thy well-aim'd arrow, turn'd afide,
Err'd from the dove, yet cut the cord that ty'd: 1025
A-down the main-maft fell the parted ftring,

3030

And the free bird to heaven difplays her wing:
Seas, shores, and skies, with loud applaufe refound,
And Merion eager meditates the wound:
He takes the bow, directs the shaft above,
And, following with his eye the foaring dove,
Implores the God to speed it through the skies,
With vows of firstling lambs, and grateful facrifice.
The dove, in airy circles as she wheels,

[s;

Amid the clouds, the piercing arrow feels

1035

Quite through and through the point its paffage found,
And at his feet fell bloody to the ground.
The wounded bird, ere yet she breath'd her lait,
With flagging wings alighted on the maft;
A moment hung, and spread her pinions there,
Then fudden dropt, and left her life in air.
From the pleas'd croud new peals of thunder rife,
And to the fhips brave Merion bears the prize.

To close the funeral games, Achilles laft

A maffy fpear amid the circle plac'd,
And ample charger of unfullied frame,

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With flowers high-wrought, not blacken'd yet by flame.
For thefe he bids the heroes prove their art,
Whofe dextrous fkill directs the flying dart,

Here too great Merion hopes the noble prize ;
Nor here difdain'd the king of men to rife.
With joy Pelides faw the honour paid,
Rofe to the monarch, and respectful said:
Thee firft in virtue, as in power fupreme,
O king of nations! all thy Greeks proclaims-
In every martial game thy worth attest,

And know thee both their greatest, and their best.
Take then the prize, but let brave Merion bear.
This beamy javelin in thy brother's war.

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Pleas'd from the hero's lips his praise to hear, 1062 The king to Merion gives the brazen spear : But, fet apart for facred ufe, commands › The glittering charger to Talthybius' hands.

THE

ARGUMENT.

The Redemption of the Body of Hector.

THE Gods deliberate about the redemption of Hector's body. Jupiter fends Thetis to Achilles, to dif pofe him for the reftoring it; and Iris to Priam, to encourage him to go in perfon, and treat for it. The old king, notwithstanding the remonftrances of his queen, makes ready for the journey, to which he is encouraged by an omen from Jupiter. He fets forth in his chariot, with a waggon loaded with prefents, under the charge of Idæus, the herald. Mercury defcends in the shape of a young man, and conducts him to the pavilion of Achilles. Their converfation on the way. Priam finds Achilles at his table, cafts himfelf at his feet, and begs for the body of his fon; Achilles, moved with compaffion, grants his requeft, detains him one night in his tent, and the next morning fends him home with the body. The Trojans run out to meet him. The lamentations of Andromache, Hecuba, and Helen; with the folemnities of the funeral.

The time of twelve days is employed in this book,. while the body of Hector lies in the tent of Achilles : and as many more are spent in the truce allowed for his interment. The fcene is partly in Achilles's camp, and partly in Troy.