The LAST PARTING of

HECTOR AND ANDROMACHE.

From the Sixth Book of the ILIAD.

THE ARGUMENT.

Hector, returning from the field of battle, to vifit Helen his fifter-in-law, and his brother Paris, who had fought unfuccefsfully band in hand with Menelaus, from thence goes to his own palace to fee his wife Andromache, and bis infant fon Afyanax. The defcription of that interview is the fubject of this tranflation.

THUS having faid, brave Hector went to fee

His virtuous wife, the fair Andromache.

He found her not at home; for fhe was gone,
Attended by her maid and infant son,

To climb the fteepy tower of Ilion:

From whence, with heavy heart, fhe might furvey
The bloody business of the dreadful day.
Her mournful eyes the caft around the plain,
And fought the lord of her defires in vain.

But he, who thought his peopled palace bare,
When the, his only comfort, was not there,
Stood in the gate, and ask'd of every one,
Which way she took, and whither fhe was gone;
If to the court, or, with his mother's train,
In long proceffion to Minerva's fane?

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The

The fervants anfwer'd, Neither to the court,
Where Priam's fons and daughters did refort,
Nor to the temple was fhe gone, to move
With prayers the blue-ey'd progeny of Jove;
But, more folicitous for him alone,

Than all their fafety, to the tower was gone,
There to furvey the labours of the field,

Where the Greeks conquer, and the Trojans yield;
Swiftly the pafs'd, with fear and fury wild;
The nurse went lagging after with the child.
This heard, the noble Hector made no stay;
Th' admiring throng divide, to give him way;
He pafs'd through every street, by which he came,
And at the gate he met the mournful dame.

His wife beheld him, and with eager pace
Flew to his arms, to meet a dear embrace :
His wife, who brought in dower Cilicia's crown,
And, in herself, a greater dower alone :
Aetion's heir, who on the woody plain
Of Hippoplacus did in Thebe reign.
Breathlefs fhe flew, with joy and paffion wild
The nurfe came lagging after with her child.

The royal babe upon her breaft was laid;
Who, like the morning star, his beams display'd,
Scamandrius was his name, which Hector gave,
From that fair flood which Ilion's wall did lave:
But him Aftyanax the Trojans call,
From his great father, who defends the wall.

Hector beheld him with a filent fmile:
His tender wife ftood weeping by the while:

Prefs'd

Prefs'd in her own, his warlike hand fhe took,
Then figh'd, and thus prophetically spoke :

Thy dauntless heart (which I foresee too late)
Too daring man, will urge thee to thy fate :
Nor doft thou pity, with a parent's mind,
This helpless orphan, whom thou leav'ft behind;
Nor me, th' unhappy partner of thy bed;
Who must in triumph by the Greeks be led:
They feek thy life, and, in unequal fight

With many,

will opprefs thy single might:

Better it were for miferable me

To die, before the fate which I foresee.
For ah! what comfort can the world bequeath
To Hector's widow, after Hector's death?
Eternal forrow and perpetual tears

Began my youth, and will conclude my years:
I have no parents, friends, nor brothers left;
By stern Achilles all of life bereft.

Then when the walls of Thebes he overthrew,
His fatal hand my royal father slew;
He flew Action, but defpoil'd him not;
Nor in his hate the funeral rites forgot;
Arm'd as he was he sent him whole below,
And reverenc'd thus the manes of his foe:
A tomb he rais'd; the mountain nymphs around
Inclos'd with planted elms the holy ground.
My feven brave brothers in one fatal day
To death's dark mansions took the mournful way;
Slain by the fame Achilles, while they keep
The bellowing oxen and the bleating sheep.

My

This when they fay, thy forrows will increase
With anxious thoughts of former happiness;
That he is dead who could thy wrongs redress.
But I, opprefs'd with iron fleep before;

Shall hear thy unavailing cries no more.

He faid

Then, holding forth his arms, he took his boy,
The pledge of love and other hope of Troy.
The fearful infant turn'd his head away,
And on his nurse's neck reclining lay,
His unknown father fhunning with affright,
And looking back on fo uncouth a fight;
Daunted to fee a face with steel o'er-spread,
And his high plume that nodded o'er his head.
His fire and mother fmil'd with filent joy;
And Hector haften'd to relieve his boy;
Difmifs'd his burnish'd helm, that fhone afar,
The pride of warriors, and the pomp of war:
Th'illuftrious babe, thus reconcil'd, he took:
Hugg'd in his arms, and kiss'd, and thus he spoke:
Parent of Gods and Men, propitious Jove,
And you bright fynod of the Powers above';
On this my fon your gracious gifts bestow;
Grant him to live, and great in arms to grow,
To reign in Troy, to govern with renown,
To shield the people, and affert the crown :
That, when hereafter he from war fhall come,
And bring his Trojans peace and triumph home,
Some aged man, who lives this act to fee,
And who in former times remember'd me,

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May

The Grecian fwords and lances I can bear:

But lofs of honour is my only fear.

Shall Hector, born to war, his birth-right yield, Belye his courage, and forfake the field?

Early in rugged arms I took delight,

And still have been the foremost in the fight:
With dangers dearly have I bought renown,
And am the champion of my father's crown.
And yet my mind forebodes, with sure presage,
That Troy fhall perish by the Grecian rage.
The fatal day draws on, when I must fall;
And univerfal ruin cover all.

Not Troy itself, though built by hands divine,
Nor Priam, nor his people, nor his line,
My mother, nor my brothers of renown,
Whofe valour yet defends th' unhappy town;
Not thefe, nor all their fates which I foresee,
Are half of that concern I have for thee.
I fee, I fee thee, in that fatal hour,
Subjected to the victor's cruel power;
Led hence a flave to fome infulting fword,
Forlorn, and trembling at a foreign lord;
A spectacle in Argos, at the loom,
Gracing with Trojan fights a Grecian room;
Or from deep wells the living stream to take,
And on thy weary shoulders bring it back.
While, groaning under this laborious life,
They infolently call thee Hector's wife;
Upbraid thy bondage with thy husband's name;
And from my glory propagate thy fhame.