Pallas obeys, and from Olympus' height, Long had he lived the scorn of every Greek, Swift to the ships precipitates her flight : Vext when he spoke, yet still they heard him speak Ulysses, first in public cares, she found, Sharp was his voice ; which, in the shrillest tone For prudent council like the gods renown'd: Thus with injurious taunts attack'd the throne : Oppress'd with generous grief the hero stood, Amidst the glories of so bright a reign, Nor drew his sable vessels to the flood: What moves the great Atrides to complain ? And is it thus, divine Laertes' son ! "Tis thine whate'er the warrior's breast inflames, Thus fly the Greeks (the martial maid begun) 210 The golden spoil, and thine the lovely dames. Thus to their country bear their own disgrace, With all the wealth our wars and blood bestow And fame eternal leave to Priam's race ? Thy tents are crowded, and thy chests o'erflow. 280 Shall beauteous Helen still remain unfreed? Thus at full ease in' heaps of riches rollid, Sull unrevenged a thousand heroes bleed ? What grieves the monarch? Is it thirst for gold ? Haste, generous Ithacus' prevent the shame, Say, shall we march with our unconquer'd powers Recall your armies, and your chiefs reclaim. |(The Greeks and I,) to Lion's hostile towers, Your own resistless eloquence employ, And bring the race of royal bastards here And to the immortals trust the fall of Troy. For Troy to ransom at a price too dear ? The voice divine confess'd the warlike maid, But safer plunder thy own host supplies : Ulysses heard, nor uninspired obey'd : 220 Say, wouldst thou seize some valiant leader's prize ? Then meeting first Atrides, from his hand Or, if thy bicart to generous love be led, Received the imperial sceptre of command. Some captive fair, to bless thy kingly bed ? 290 Thus graced, attention and respect to gain, Whate'er our master craves, submit we must, He runs, he flies through all the Grecian train, Plagued with his pride, or punish'd for his lust. Each prince of name, or chief in arms approved, Oh womer of Achaia ! men no more! He fired with praise, or with persuasion moved. Hence let us fly, and let him waste his store Warriors like you, with strength and wisdom blest, In loves and pleasures on the Phrygian shore. By brave examples should confirm the rest. We may be wanted on some busy day, The monarch's will not yet reveal'd appears ; When Ilector comes : so great Achilles may: He tries our courage, but resents our fears. 230 From him he forced the prize we jointly gave, The unwary Greeks his fury may provoke; From hin the fierce, the fearless, and the brave : Not thus the king in secret council spoke. And durst he, as he ought, resent that wrong, 300 Jove loves our chief, from Jove his honour springs; This mighty tyrant were no tyrant long. Beware! for dreadful is the wrath of kings. Fierce from his seat at this Wysses springs, In generous vengeance of the king of kings. Peace, factious monster, born to vex the state, Have we not known thee, slave! of all our host, 310 To one sole monarch Jove commits the sway; The man who acts the least, upbraids the most ? His are the laws, and him let all obey. Think not the Greeks to shameful flight to bring, With words like these the troops Ulysses rul'd; Nor let those lips profane the name of king. The loudest silenced, and the fiercest cool'd. For our return we trust the heavenly powers ; Back to the assembly roll the thronging train, Be that their care ; to fight like men be ours. Desert the ships, and pour upon the plain. But grant the host with wealth the general load, Murmuring they move, as when old Ocean roars, Except detraction, what hast thou bestow'd ? And heaves huge surges to the trembling shores : 250 Suppose some hero should his spoils resign, The groaning banks are burst with bellowing sound, Art thou that hero ? could those spoils be thine ? The rocks remurmer and the deeps rebound. Gods ! let me perish on this hateful shore, 320 At length the tumult sinks, the noises cease, And let these eyes behold my son no more, And a still silence lulls the camp to peace. If, on thy next offence, this hand forbear Thersites only clamour'd in the throng, To strip those arms thou ill deservest to wear, Loquacious, loud, and turbulent of tongue : Expel the council where our princes mect, Awed by no shame, by no respect controllid, And send thee scourged and howling through the la scandal busy, in reproaches bold: fleet. With witty malice studious to defame: He said, and cowering as thg dastard bends; Scor all his joy, and laughter all his aim. The weighty sceptre on his back descends : Bat chief he gloried with licentious style, On the round bunch the bloody tumours rise ; To lash the great, and monarchs to revile. The tears spring starting from his baggard eyes : His figure such as might his soul proclaim; Trembling he sat, and shrunk in abj«et fears, 330 One eye was blinking, and one leg was lame : From his vile visage wiped the scalding tears. His mountain-shoulders half his breast o'eispread, While to his neighbour each express'd his thought. Thin hairs bestrew'd his long mis-shapen head. Ye gods! what wonders has Ulysses wrought! Spleen to mankind his envious heart possess'd, What fruits his conduct and his courage yield; And much he hated all, but most the best. Great in the council, glorious in the field ! Ulysses or Achilles still his theme: Generous he rises in the crown's defence, But royal scandal his delight supreme. 270 To curb the factious longue of insolence. Such just examples on offenders shown, Vow'd with libations and with victims then, Sedition silence, and assert the throne. Now vanish'd like their smoke: the faith of men! 'Twas thus the general voice the hero praised, While useless words consume the unactive hours, Who rising, high the imperial sceptre raised : 341 No wonder Troy so long resists our powers. The blue-eyed Pallas, his celestial friend, Rise, great Atrides! and with courage sway: 410 (In form a herald) bade the crowds attend. We march to war if thou direct the way. The expecting crowds in still attention hung, But leave the few that dare resist thy laws, To hear the wisdom of his heavenly tongue. The mean deserters of the Grecian cause, Then deeply thoughtful, pausing ere he spoke, To grudge the conquests mighty Jove prepares, His silenee thus the prudent hero broke : And view with envy our successful wars. Unhappy monarch! whom the Grecian race, On that great day when first the martial train, With shame deserting, heap with vile disgrace. Big with the fate of Bion, plough'd the main; Not such at Argos was their generous vow, 350 Jove, on the right, a prosperous signal sent, Once all their voice, but ah! forgotten now, And thunder rolling shook the firmament. Ne'er to return, was then the common cry, Encouraged hence, maintain the glorious strife, 420 Till Troy's proud structures should in ashes lie. Till every soldier grasp a Phrygian wife, Behold them weeping for their native shore ! Till Helen's woes at full revenged appear, What could their wives or helpless children more? And Troy's proud matrons render tear for tear. What heart but melts to leave the tender train, Before that day, if any Greek invite And, one short month, endure the wintry main? His country's troops to base, inglorious flight; Few leagues removed, we wish our peaceful seat, Stand forth that Greek! and hoist his sail to fly, When the ship tosses, and the tempests beat: And die the dastard first, who dreads to die. Then well may this long stay provoke their tears, But now, O monarch ! all thy chiefs advise : The tedious length of nine revolving years. 361 Nor what they offer, thou thyself despise. Not for their grief the Grecian host I blame; Among those counsels let not mine be vain; But vanquish'd! baffled! oh eternal shame! In tribes and nations to divide thy train; Expect the time to Troy's destruction given, His separate troops let every leader call, And try the fate of Calchas and of heaven. Each strengthen each, and all encourage all. What pass'd at Aulis, Greece can witness bear, What chief, or soldier, of the numerous band, And all who live to breathe this Phrygian air. Or bravely fights, or ill obeys command, Beside a fountain's sacred brink we raised When thus distinct they war, shall soon be known, Our verdant altars, and the victims blazed ; 369 And what the cause of lion not o'erthrown; ('Twas where the plane-tree spread its shades around,) If fate resists, or if our arms are slow, The altars heaved ; and from the crumbling ground If gods above prevent, or men below. A mighty dragon shot, of dire portent ; To him the king: How much thy years excel 440 From Jove himself the dreadful sign was sent. In arts of council, and in speaking well! Straight to the tree his sanguine spires he rollid, O would the gods, in love to Greece, decree And curl'd around in many a winding fold. But ten such sages as they grant in thee; The topmost branch a mother-bird possess'd; Such wisdom soon should Priam's force destroy, Eight callow infants fill'd the mossy nest; And soon should fall the haughty towers of Troy ! Herself the ninth ; the serpent as he hung, But Jove forbids, who plunges those he hates If e'er as friends we join, the Trojan wall And, well refresh'd, to bloody conflict haste. And Grecian fix his brazen shield; Let all excite the fiery steeds of war, No rest, no respite, till the shades descend, Let the war bleed, and let the mighty fall; As many birds as by that snake were slain, Till bathed in sweat be every manly breast, So many years the toils of Greece remain ; With the huge shield each brawny arm deprest, But wait the tenth, for lion's fall decreed; Each aching nerve refuse the lance to throw, Thus spoke the prophet, thus the fates succeed. And each spent courser at the chariot blow. Obey, ye Grecians: with subrnission wait, Who dare, inglorious, in his ships to stay, Nor let your flight avert the Trojan fate. Who dares to tremble on this signal day, He said : the shores with loud applauses sound, 400 That wretch, too mean to fall by martial power, The hollow ships each deafening shout rebound. The birds shall mangle, and the dogs devour. Then Nestor thus: these vain debates forbear, The monarch spoke; and straight a murmur rose, Ye talk like children, not like heroes dara. Loud as the surges when the tempest blows, 471 Where now are all your high resolves at last ? That dash'd on broken rocks tumultuous roar, Your leagues concluded, your engagements past ? And foam and thunder on the stony shore. 450 460 Straight to the tents the troops dispersing bend, That o'er the winding of Cäyster's springs, wings, To avert the dangers of the doubtful day. Now tower aloft, and course in airy rounds; A steer of five years' age, large limb'd and fed, Now light with noise : with noise the field resounds To Jove's high altars Agamemnon led ; Thus numerous and confused extending wide, There bade the noblest of the Grecian peers; 480 The legions croud Scamander's flowery side ; And Nestor first, as most advanced in years. With rushing troops the plains are cover'd o'er, Next came Idomenus, and Tydeus' son, And thundering footsteps shake the sounding shore. Ajax the less, and Ajax Telamon; Along the river's level meads they stand, 550 Then wise Ulysses in his rank was placed ; Thick as in spring the flowers adorn the land, And Menelaus came unbid, the last. Or leaves the trees; or thick as insects play, The chiefs surround the destined beast, and tako The wandering nation of a summer's day, The sacred offering of the salted cake: That, drawn by milky steams at evening hours, When thus the king prefers his solemn prayer: In gather'd swarms surround the rural bowers; Oh thou! whose thunder rends the clouded air, From pail to pail with busy murmur run Who in the heaven of heavens hast fix'd thy throne, The gilded legions, glittering in the sun. Supreme of gods ! unbounded and alone! 491 So throng'd, so close the Grecian squadrons stood Hear! and before the burning sun descends, In radiant arms, and thirst for Trojan blood. Before the night her gloomy veil extends, Each leader now his scatter'd force conjoins, 560 Low in the dust be laid yon hostile spires, In close array, and forms the deepening lines. Be Priam's palace sunk in Grecian fires, Not with more ease, the skilful shepherd swain Thus pray'd the chief: his unavailing prayer Towers o'er his armies, and outshines them all : Say, virgins, seated round the throne divine, Since earth's wide regions, heaven's unmeasured From the cleft wood the crackling flames aspire, height, While the fat victim feeds the sacred fire. And hell's abyss, hide nothing from your sight, The thighs thus sacrificed, and entrails dress'd, 510(We, wretched mortals ! fost in doubts below, The assistants part, transfix, and roast the rest; But guess by rumour, and but boast we know,) Then spread the tables, the repast prepare, Oh say what heroes, fired by thirst of fame, Each takes his seat and each receives his share. Or urged by wrongs, lo Troy's destruction came? Soon as the rage of hunger was suppress'd, To count them all, demands a thousand tongues, 580 The generous Nestor thus the prince address'd : A throat of brass, and adamantine lungs. Now bid thy heralds sound the loud alarms, Daughters of Jove, assist! inspired by you, The Catalogue of the Ships. Penelius, Leitus, Prothoënor led : These head the troops that rocky Aulis yields 590 Heleon and Hylè, which the springs o'erflow; Onchestus, Neptune's celebrated groves; 600 And Arnè rich, with purple harvests crown'd: In twelve black ships to Troy they steer their And Anthedon, Bæotia's utmost bound. course, Full fifty ships they send, and each conveys And with the great Athenians join their force. Twice sixty warriors through the foaming seas. Next move to war the generous Argive train, To these succeed Aspledon's martial train, 610 From high Trazeni, and Maseta's plain, And Epidaur with viny harvests crown'd; 680 Sons of Astyochè, the heavenly fair, And where fair Asinen and Hermion show Whose virgin charms subdued the god of war: Their clifis above, and ample bay below. (In Actor's court as she retired to rest, These by the brave Euryalus were led, The strength of Mars the blushing maid compress'd:) Great Sthenelus, and greater Diomed; Their troops in thirty sable vessels sweep, But chief Tydides bore the sovereign sway ; With equal oars, the hoarse-resounding deep. In fourscore barks they plough the watery way. The Phocians next in forty barks repair, 620 The proud Mycené arms her martial powers, Epistrophus and Schedius head the war. Cleonè, Corinth, with imperial towers, And those who dwell along the sandy shore, 690 Where Anemoria's stately turrets shine, And where Pellenè yields her fleecy store, Where Pytho, Daulis, Cyparissus, stood, Where Helice and Hypéresia lie, And Gonoëssa's spires salute the sky. A hundred vessels in long order stand, High on the deck the king of men appears, Skill'd to direct the flying dart aright; And his refulgent arms in triumph wears; Swift in pursuit, and active in the fight. Proud of his host, unrivall'd in his reign, Him, as their chief, the chosen troops attend, In silent pomp he moves along the main. 700 Which Bessa, Thronus, and rich Cynos send : His brother follows, and to vengeance warms Opus, Calliarus, and Scarphè's bands; The hardy Spartans, exercised in arms : Or Messe's towers for silver doves renown'd, In forty vessels cut the liquid tide. 610 Amyclæ, Lals, Augia's happy ground, Euboë next her martial sons prepares, And those whom Etylos' low walls contain, And sends the brave Abantes to the wars: And Helos, on the margin of the main : Breathing revenge, in arms they take their way These, o'er the bending ocean, Helen's cause, From Chalcis' walls, and strong Eretria; 710 In sixty ships with Menelaus draws: Revenge and fury flaming in his eyes; Full fifty more from Athens stem the main, And Dorion, famed for Thamyris' disgrace, Led by Menestheus through the liquid plain, Superior once of all the tuneful race, (Athens the fair, where great Erectheus sway'd, Till, vain of mortals' empty praise, he strove That owed his nurture to the blue-eyed maid, To match the seed of cloud-compelling Jove! But from the teeming furrow took his birth, Too daring bard! whose unsuccessful pride The mighty offspring of the foodful earth. 660 The immortal muses in their art detied. Him Pallas placed amidst her wealthy fane, The avenging Muses of the light of day Adored with sacrifice and oxen slain; Deprived his eyes, and snatch'd his voice away; Where, as the years revolve, her altars blaze, No more his heavenly voice was heard to sing, And all the tribes resound the goddess' praise.) 730 His hand no more awaked the silver string, No chief like thee, Menestheus! Greece could yield, Where under high Cyilenè, crowu'd with wood, To marshal arties in the dusty field, The shaded tomb of old xpytus stood; The extended wings of battle to display, From Ripè, Stratie, Tegea's bordering towns, Or close the embodied host in firm array. The Phenean fields, and Orchomenian downs, Nestor alone, improved by length of days, Where the fat herds in plenteous pasture rove, For martial conduct bore an equal praise. 670 And Stymphelus with her surrounding grove, With these appear the Salaminian bands, Parrhasia, on her snowy cliffs reclined, Whom the gigantic Telamon commands; And high Enispè shook by wintry wind, arms. And fair Mantinea's ever-pleasing site; Where many seas and many sufferings past, In sixty sail the Arcadian bands unite. 740 On happy Rhodes the chief arrived at last : Bold Agapenor, glorious at their head There in three tribes divides bis native band, (Ancæus' son,) the mighty squadron led. And rules them peaceful in a foreign land : 810 Their ships, supplied by Agamemnon's care, Increased and prosper'd in their new abodes, Through roaring seas the wondering warriors bear; By mighty Jove, the sire of men and gods, The first to battle on the appointed plain, With joy they saw the growing empire rise, But new to all the dangers of the main. And showers of wealth descending from the skies. Those, where fair Helis and Buprasium join; Three ships with Nireus sought the Trojan shore Whom Hyrmin here, and Myrsinus confine, Nireus, whom Aglie to Charopus bore; And bounded there, where o'er the valleys rose Nireus, in faultless shape and blooming grace, The Olenian rock; and where Alisium flows; 750 The loveliest youth of all the Grecian race; Beneath four chiefs (a numerous army) came; Pelides only match'd his early charms; The strength and glory of the Epean name. But few his troops, and small his strength in In 820 separate squadrons these their train divide, Each leads ten vessels through the yielding tide. Next thirty galleys cleave the liquid plain, One was Amphimacus, and Thalpius one; Of those Calydnæ's sea-girt isles contain ; (Eurytus' this, and that Teatus' son ;) With them the youth of Nisyrus repair, Diores sprung from Amarynceus' line; Casus the strong, and Crapathus the fair, And great Polyxenus, of force divine. Cos, where Eurypylus possess’d the sway, But those who view fair Elis o'er the seas Till great Alcides made the realms obey : From the bless'd islands of the Echinades, 760 These Antiphus and bold Phidippus bring, In forty vessels under Meges move, Sprung from the god by Thessalus the king. Begot by Phileus the beloved of Jove. Now, Muse, recount Pelasgic Argos' powers, 830 To strong Dulichium from his sire he fled, From Alos, Alopè, and Trechin's towers ; Full fifty ships beneath Achilles' care, The same their nation, and their chief the same. Where high Neritos shakes his waving woods, 770 But now inglorious, stretch'd along the shore, Where Ægilipa's rugged sides are seen, They hear the brazen voice of war no more; No more the foe they face in dire array: 840 Beneath his conduct sought the Phrygian shores. Since fair Briseis from his arms was torn, Thoas came next, Andræmon's valiant son, The noblest spoil from sack d Lyrnessus borne, From Pleuron's walls, and chalky Calydon, Then, when the chief the Theban walls o'erthrew, And rough Pylenè, and the Olenian steep, And the bold sons of great Evenus slew. And Chalcis beaten by the rolling deep. There mourn'd Achilles, plunged in depth of care, He led the warriors from the Etolian shore, But soon to rise in slaughter, blood, and war. For now the sons of neus were no more! 780 To these the youth of Phylacè succeed, The glories of the mighty race were fled ! Itona, famous for her fleecy breed, Eneus himself, and Meleager dead! And grassy Pteleon deck'd with cheerful greens, To Thoas' care now trust the martial train, The bowers of Ceres, and the sylvan scenes, 850 His forty vessels follow through the main. Sweet Pyrrhasus, with blooming flowrets crown'd, Next eighty barks the Cretan king commands, And Antron's watry ens, and cavern'd d. Of Gnossus, Lyctus, and Gortyna's bands, These own'd as chief Protesilas the brave, And those who dwell where Rhytion's domes arise, Who now lay silent in the gloomy grave : Or white Lycastus glitters to the skies, The first who boldly touch'd the Trojan shore, Or where by Phæstus silver Jardan runs ; And dyed a Phrygian lance with Grecian gore, Crete's hundred cities pour forth all her sons. 790 There lies, far distant from his native plain; These march'd, Idomeneus, beneath thy care, Unfinish'd, his proud palaces remain, And his sad consort beats her breast in vain. 860 Led nine swift vessels through the foamy seas; Iphiclus' son, and brother to the dead; From Rhodes with everlasting sunshine bright, Nor he unworthy to command the host; Jalyssus, Lindus, and Carmirus white. Yet still they mourn'd their ancient leader lost. His captive mother fierce Alcides bore, The men who Glaphyra's fair soil partake, From Ephyr's walls, and Sello's winding shore, Where hills encircle Bæbe's lowly lake, Where mighty towns in ruins spread the plain, Where Phære hears the neighbouring waters fall, And saw their blooming warriors early slain. 800|Or proud lölcus lifts her airy wall, The hero, when to manly years he grew, In ten black ships embark'd for lion's shore, Alcides' uncle, old Licymnius, slew; With bold Eumelus, whom Alceste bore : For this, constrain'd to quit his native place, All Pelias' race Alcestè far outshined, 870 And shun the vengeance of the Herculean race, The grace and glory of the beauteous kind. A fleet he built, and with a numerous train The troops Methome or Thaumacia yields, Of willing exiles, wander'd o'er the main; Tolizon's rocks, or Melibaa's fields, |