Ill suits it now the joys of love to know,
Too deep my anguish, and too wild my woe.
Then thus, incensed, the Paphian queen replies:
450 Obey the power from whom thy glories rise:
Should Venus leave thee, every charm must fly,
Fade from thy cheek, and languish in thy eye.
Cease to provoke me, lest I make thee more
The world's aversion, than their love before;
Now the bright prize for which mankind engage,
Then the sad victim of the public rage.
At this, the fairest of her sex obey'd,
And veil'd her blushes in a silken shade:
Unseen, and silent, from the train she moves,
Led by the goddess of the Smiles and Loves.
Arrived, and enter'd at the palace-gate,
The maids officious round their mistress wait;
Then all dispersing, various tasks attend;
The queen and goddess to the prince ascend.
Full in her Paris' sight, the queen of love
Had placed the beauteous progeny of Jove;
Where, as he view'd her charms, she turn'd away
Her glowing eyes, and thus began to say.

But seeks in vain along the troops of Troy : 500 Even those had yielded to a foe so brave The recreant warrior, hateful as the grave. Then speaking thus, the king of kings arose : Ye Trojans, Dardans, all our generous foes! Hear, and attest! from heaven, with conquest crown'd,

Our brother's arms the just success have found: 570
Be therefore now the Spartan wealth restored,
Let Argive Helen own her lawful lord;
The appointed fine let Ilion justly pay,

And keen reproach from every Phrygian dame: 510 And age to age record this signal day.

BOOK IV.

ARGUMENT.

The Breach of the Truce, and the first Battle.
The gods deliberate in council concerning the Trojan

war: they agree upon the continuation of it, and Ju

piter sends down Minerva to break the truce. She per

suades Pandarus to aim an arrow at Menelaus, who is wounded, but cured by Machaon. In the mean time some of the Trojan troops attack the Greeks. Agamemnon is distinguished in all the parts of a good general: he reviews the troops, and exhorts the leaders, some by praises, and others by reproofs. Nestor is particularly celebrated for his military discipline. The battle joins, and great numbers are slain on both The same day continues through this, as through the last book (as it does also through the two following, and almost to the end of the seventh book.) The scene is wholly in the field before Troy.

sides.

BOOK IV.

AND now Olympus' shining gates unfold!
The gods, with Jove, assume their thrones of gold:
Immortal Hebé, fresh with bloom divine,
The golden goblet crowns with purple wine:
While the full bowls flow round, the powers employ
Their careful eyes on long-contended Troy.

When Jove, disposed to tempt Saturnia's spleen,
Thus waked the fury of his partial queen.
Two powers divine the son of Atreus aid,
Imperial Juno, and the martial maid;

Oh lasting rancour! oh insatiate hate
To Phrygia's monarch, and the Phrygian state!
What high offence has fired the wife of Jove?
Can wretched mortals harm the powers above,
That Troy and Troy's whole race thou wouldst con-
found,

50

And yon fair structures level with the ground?
Haste, leave the skies, fulfil thy stern desire,
Burst all her gates, and wrap her walls in fire!
Let Priam bleed! if yet thou thirst for more,
Bleed all his sons, and Ilion float with gore;
To boundless vengeance the wide realm be given,
Till vast destruction glut the queen of heaven!
So let it be, and Jove his peace enjoy,
When heaven no longer hears the name of Troy. 60
But should this arm prepare to wreak our hate
On thy loved realms, whose guilt demands their fate,
Presume not thou the lifted bolt to stay:
Remember Troy, and give the vengeance way.
For know, of all the numerous towns that rise
Beneath the rolling sun and starry skies,
Which gods have raised, or earth-born men enjoy
None stands so near to Jove as sacred Troy.
No mortals merit more distinguish'd grace
Than godlike Priam, or than Priam's race!
Still to our name their hecatombs expire,
And altars blaze with unextinguish'd fire.

At this the goddess roll'd her radiant eyes,
Then on the Thunderer fix'd them, and replies:
Three towns are Juno's on the Grecian plains,
More dear than all the extended earth contains,
10 Mycena, Argos, and the Spartan wall:

20

But high in heaven they sit, and gaze from far
The tame spectators of his deeds of war.
Not thus fair Venus helps her favour'd knight;
The queen of pleasures shares the toils of fight,
Each danger wards, and constant in her care,
Saves in the moment of the last despair.
Her act has rescued Paris' forfeit life,
Though great Atrides gain'd the glorious strife.
Then say, ye powers! what signal issue waits
To crown this deed, and finish all the Fates?
Shall heaven by peace the bleeding kingdoms spare,
Or rouse the Furies, and awake the war?
Yet, would the gods for human good provide,
Atrides soon might gain his beauteous bride,
Still Priam's walls in peaceful honours grow,
And through his gates the crowding nations flow.
Thus while he spoke, the queen of heaven, enraged,
And queen of war in close consult engaged:
Apart they sit, their deep designs employ,
And meditate the future woes of Troy.
Though secret anger swell'd Minerva's breast,
The prudent goddess yet her wrath suppress'd;
But Juno, impotent of passion, broke
Her sullen silence, and with fury spoke:
Shall then, O tyrant of the ethereal reign!
My schernes, my labours, and my hopes, be vain?
Have I, for this, shook Ilion with alarms,
Assembled nations, set two worlds in arms?
To spread the war, I flew from shore to shore;
The immortal coursers scarce the labour bore.
At length ripe vengeance o'er their heads impends,
But Jove himself the faithless race defends :
Loath as thou art to punish lawless lust,
Not all the gods are partial and unjust.
The sire, whose thunder shakes the cloudy skies,
Sighs from his inmost soul, and thus replies:

These thou may'st rase, nor I forbid their fall:
'Tis not in me the vengeance to remove;
The crime 's sufficient that they share my love.
Of power superior why should I complain?
Resent I may, but must resent in vain.
Yet some distinction Juno might require,
Sprung with thyself from one celestial sire;
A goddess born to share the realms above,
And styled the consort of the thundering Jove:
Nor thou a wife and sister's right deny;
Let both consent, and both by turns comply;
So shall the gods our joint decrees obey,
And heaven shall act as we direct the way.
See ready Pallas waits thy high commands,
To raise in arms the Greek and Phrygian bands;
Their sudden friendship by her arts may cease.
And the proud Trojans first infringe the peace.

The sire of men and monarch of the sky
The advice approved, and bade Minerva fly,
30 Dissolve the league, and all her arts employ

40

To make the breach the faithless act of Troy. Fired with the charge, she headlong urged her flight,

70

80

90

And shot like lightning from Olympus' height. 100
As the red comet, from Saturnius sent,
To fright the nations with a dire portent,
(A fatal sign to armies on the plain,
Or trembling sailors on the wintry main,)
With sweeping glories glides along in air,
And shakes the sparkles from its blazing hair;
Between both armies thus, in open sight,
Shot the bright goddess in a trail of light.
With eyes erect the gazing hosts admire
The power descending, and the heavens on fire! 110
The gods (they cried) the gods this signal sent,
And fate now labours with some vast event:

Jove seals the league, or bloodier scenes prepares,
Jove, the great arbiter of peace and wars!

Nor less the Spartan fear'd, before he found
The shining barb appear above the wound.

They said, while Pallas through the Trojan throng Then, with a sigh that heaved his manly breast,

(In shape a mortal) pass'd disguised along.
Like bold Laödocus, her course she bent,
Who from Antenor traced his high descent,
Amidst the ranks Lycaon's son she found,
The warlike Pandarus, for strength renown'd;
Whose squadrons, led from black Æsepus' flood,
With flaming shields in martial circle stood.

The royal brother thus his grief express'd,

180

And grasp'd his hand; while all the Greeks around
With answering sighs return'd the plaintive sound.
Oh dear as life! did I for this agree

120 The solemn truce, a fatal truce to thee!
Wert thou exposed to all the hostile train,
To fight for Greece, and conquer to be slain?
The race of Trojans in thy ruin join,

And faith is scorn'd by all the perjured line.

190

To him the goddess: Phrygian! canst thou hear A well-timed counsel with a willing ear? What praise were thine, couldst thou direct thy dart, Not thus our vows, confirm'd with wine and gore: Amidst this triumph to the Spartan's heart!

Those hands we plighted, and those oaths we swore

What gifts from Troy, from Paris wouldst thou gain, Shall all be vain: when heaven's revenge is slow,

'Twas form'd of horn, and smooth'd with artful toil, Such mighty woes on perjured princes wait;

140

A mountain goat resign'd the shining spoil,
Who pierced long since beneath his arrows bled;
The stately quarry on the cliffs lay dead,
And sixteen palms his brow's large honours spread:
The workman join'd, and shaped the bended horns,
And beaten gold each taper point adorns.
This, by the Greeks unseen, the warrior bends,
Screen'd by the shields of his surrounding friends.
There meditates the mark: and couching low,
Fits the sharp arrow to the well-strung bow.
One from a hundred feather'd deaths he chose,
Fated to wound, and cause of future woes:
Then offers vows with hecatombs to crown
Apollo's altars in his native town.

Such are the trophies Greece from Ilion brings,
And such the conquests of her king of kings.
Lo, his proud vessels scatter'd o'er the main,
150 And unrevenged his mighty brother slain.'
Oh! ere that dire disgrace shall blast my fame,
O'erwhelm me, earth! and hide a monarch's shame.
He said: a leader's and a brother's fears
Possess his soul, which thus the Spartan cheers;
Let not thy words the warmth of Greece abate;
The feeble dart is guiltless of my fate:
Stiff with the rich embroider'd work around,
My varied belt repell'd the flying wound.

Now with full force the yielding horn he bends,
Drawn to an arch, and joins the doubling ends;
Close to his breast he strains the nerve below,
Till the barb'd point approach the circling bow;
The impatient weapon whizzes on the wing:
Sounds the tough horn, and twangs the quivering
string.

To whom the king: My brother and my friend,
Thus, always thus, may heaven thy life defend!
160 Now seek some skilful hand, whose powerful art
May staunch the effusion, and extract the dart.
Herald, be swift, and bid Machaön bring
His speedy succour to the Spartan king;
Pierced with a winged shaft (the deed of Troy,)
The Grecian's sorrow, and the Dardan's joy.

But thee, Atrides! in that dangerous hour,
The gods forgot not, nor thy guardian power.
Pallas assists, and (weaken'd in its force)
Diverts the weapon from its destined course:
So from her babe, when slumber seals his eye,
The watchful mother wafts the envenom'd fly.
Just where his belt with golden buckles join'd,
Where linen folds the double corslet lined,
She turn'd the shaft, which hissing from above,
Pass'd the broad belt, and through the corslet drove;
The folds it pierced, the plaited linen tore,
And raised the skin, and drew the purple gore.
As when some stately trappings are decreed
To grace a monarch on his bounding steed,
A nymph in Caria or Mæonia bred,
Stains the pure ivory with a lively red;
With equal lustre various colours vie,
The shining whiteness, and the Tyrian dye :
So, great Atrides! show'd thy sacred blood,
As down thy snowy thigh distill'd the streaming flood.
With horror seized, the king of men descried
The shaft infix'd, and saw the gushing tide:

220

230

With hasty zeal the swift Talthybius flies;
Through the thick files he darts his searching eyes,
And finds Machaön, where sublime he stands
In arms encircled with his native bands.
170 Then thus: Machaon, to the king repair,
His wounded brother claims thy timely care;
Pierced by some Lycian or Dardanian bow,
A grief to us, a triumph to the foe.

The heavy tidings grieved the godlike man;
Swift to his succour through the ranks he ran;
The dauntless king yet standing firm he found,
And all the chiefs in deep concern around.
Where to the steely point the recd was join'd
The shaft he drew, but left the head behind.

240

Slow from the main the heavy vapours rise,
Spread in dim streams, and sail along the skies,
Till black as night the swelling tempest shows,
The cloud condensing as the west wind blows:
He dreads the impending storm, and drives his flock
To the close covert of an arching rock.
321
Such, and so thick, the embattled squadrons stood,
With spears erect, a moving iron wood;
A shady light was shot from glimmering shields,
And their brown arms obscured the dusky fields.
O heroes! worthy such a dauntless train,
Whose godlike virtue we but urge in vain
260 (Exclaim'd the king ;) who raise your eager bands
With great examples, more than loud commands.
Ah! would the gods but breathe in all the rest, 330
Such souls as burn in your exalted breast,
Soon should our arms with just success be crown'd,
And Troy's proud walls lie smoking on the ground.
Then to the next the general bends his course
(His heart exults, and glories in his force;)
There reverend Nestor ranks his Pylian bands,
And with inspiring eloquence commands;
270 With strictest order sets his train in arms,
The chiefs advises, and the soldiers warms.
Alastor, Chromius, Hæmon round him wait,
Bias the good, and Pelagon the great.
The horse and chariots to the front assign'd,
The foot (the strength of war) he ranged behind;
The middle space suspected troops supply,
Enclosed by both, nor left the power to fly;
He gives command to curb the fiery steed,
Nor cause confusion, nor the ranks exceed;
280 Before the rest let none too rashly ride;

Straight the broad belt with gay embroidery graced,
He loosed; the corselet from his breast unbraced;
Then suck'd the blood, and sovereign balm infused,
Which Chiron gave, and Esculapius used. 251
While round the prince the Greeks employ their care,
The Trojans rush tumultuous to the war;
Once more they glitter in refulgent arms.
Once more the fields are fill'd with dire alarms.
Nor had you seen the king of men appear
Confused, unactive, or surprised with fear;
But fond of glory with severe delight,
His beating bosom claim'd the rising fight.
No longer with his warlike steeds he stay'd,
Or press'd the car with polish'd brass inlaid :
But left Eurymedon the reins to guide:
The fiery coursers snorted at his side.
On foot through all the martial ranks he moves,
And these encourages, and those reproves.
Brave men! he cries, (to such who boldly dare
Urge your swift steeds to face the coming war,)
Your ancient valour on the foes approve;
Jove is with Greece, and let us trust in Jove.
"Tis not for us, but guilty Troy to dread,
Whose crimes sit heavy on her perjured head;
Her sons and matrons Greece shall lead in chains,
And her dead warriors strew the mournful plains.
Thus with new ardour he the brave inspires;
Or thus the fearful with reproaches fires:
Shame to your country, scandal of your kind!
Born to the fate ye well deserve to find!
Why stand ye gazing round the dreadful plain,
Prepared for flight, but doom'd to fly in vain?
Confused and panting thus, the hunted deer
Falls as he flies, a victim to his fear.
Still must ye wait the foes, and still retire,
Till yon tall vessels blaze with Trojan fire?
Or trust ye, Jove a valiant foe shall chase,
To save a trembling, heartless, dastard race?

340

No strength nor skill, but just in time, be tried:
The charge once made, no warrior turn the rein, 350
But fight, or fall; a firm, embodied train.
He whom the fortune of the field shall cist
From forth his chariot, mount the next in haste;
Nor seek unpractised to direct the car,
Content with javelins to provoke the war.
Our great forefathers held this prudent course,
Thus ruled their ardour, thus preserved their force;
290 By laws like these immortal conquest made,
And earth's proud tyrants low in ashes laid.

This said, he stalk'd with ample strides along,
To Crete's brave monarch and his martial throng!
High at their head he saw the chief appear,
And bold Meriones excite the rear.
At this the king his generous joy express'd,
And clasp'd the warrior to his armed breast.
Divine Idomeneus! what thanks we owe
To worth like thine! what praise shall we bestow?
To thee the foremost honours are decreed,
First in the fight, and every graceful deed.
For this, in banquets, when the generous bowls
Restore our blood, and raise the warriors' souls,
Though all the rest with stated rules we bound,
Unmix'd, unmeasured, are thy goblets crown'd.
Be still thyself; in arms a mighty name;
Maintain thy honours, and enlarge thy fame.

300

To whom the Cretan thus his speech address'd:
Secure of me, O king! exhort the rest:
Fix'd to thy side, in every toil I share,
Thy firm associate in the day of war.
But let the signal be this moment given;
To mix in fight is all I ask of heaven.
The field shall prove how perjuries succeed,
And chains or death avenge their impious deed.
Charm'd with this heat, the king his course pursues,
And next the troops of either Ajax views:
In one firm orb the bands were ranged around,
A cloud of heroes blacken'd all the ground.
Thus from the lofty promontory's brow

A swain surveys the gathering storm below:

360

So spoke the master of the martial art,
And touch'd with transport great Atrides' heart.
Oh! hadst thou strength to match thy brave desires,
And nerves to second what thy soul inspires!
But wasting years, that wither human race,
Exhaust thy spirits, and thy arms unbrace.
What once thou wert, oh ever might'st thou be!
And age
the lot of any chief but thee.

370

Thus to the experienced prince Atrides cried;
He shook his hoary locks, and thus replied:
Well might I wish, could mortal wish renew
That strength which once in boiling youth I knew;
Such as I was, when Ereuthalion slain
Beneath this arm fell prostrate on the plain.
But heaven its gifts not all at once bestows,

These years with wisdom crowns, with action those:
The field of combat fits the young and bold,
The solemn council best becomes the old :
To you the glorious conflict I resign,
311 Let sage advice, the palm of age, be mine..

He said. With joy the monarch march'd before,
And found Menestheus on the dusty shore,
381
With whom the firm Athenian phalanx stands:
And next Ulysses, with his subject bands.

Remote their forces lay, nor knew so far
The peace infringed, nor heard the sounds of war;
The tumult late begun, they stood intent
To watch the motion, dubious of the event.
The king, who saw their squadrons yet unmoved,
With hasty ardour thus the chiefs reproved:

Can Peleus' son forget a warrior's part;
And fears Ulysses, skill'd in every art?
Why stand you distant, and the rest expect
To mix in combat which yourselves neglect?
From you 'twas hoped among the first to dare
The shock of armies, and commence the war;
For this your names are call'd, before the rest,
To share the pleasures of the genial feast:
And can you, chiefs! without a blush survey
Whole troops before you labouring in the fray?
Say, is it thus those honours you requite;
The first in banquets, but the last in fight?

No words the godlike Diomed return'd,
But heard respectful, and in secret burn'd.
Not so fierce Capaneus' undaunted son,
Stern as his sire, the boaster thus begun:
What needs, O monarch, this invidious praise,
Ourselves to lessen, while our sires you raise?
390 Dare to be just, Atrides! and confess

400

411

Our valour equal, though our fury less.

With fewer troops we storm'd the Theban wall, 460
And happier saw the sevenfold city fall.

In impious acts the guilty father died;
The sons subdued, for heaven was on their side.
Far more than heirs of all our parents' fame,
Our glories darken their diminish'd name.

To him Ty-lides thus: My friend, forbear,
Suppress thy passion, and the king revere:
His high concern may well excuse this rage,
Whose cause we follow, and whose war we wage;
His the first praise, were Ilion's towers o'erthrown,
And, if we fail, the chief disgrace his own.
Let him the Greeks to hardy toils excite,
'Tis ours to labour in the glorious fight.

471

480

He spoke, and ardent on the trembling ground
Sprung from his car; his ringing arms resound.
Dire was the clang, and dreadful from afar,
Of arm'd Tydides rushing to the war.
As when the winds, ascending by degrees,
First move the whitening surface of the seas,
The billows float in order to the shore,
The wave behind rolls on the wave before:
Till, with the growing storm, the deeps arise,
Foam o'er the rocks, and thunder to the skies:
So to the fight the thick battalions throng,
Shields urged on shields, and men drove men along.
Sedate and silent move the numerous bands;
No sound, no whisper, but their chief's commands,
420 Those only heard; with awe the rest obey,

Ulysses heard: the hero's warmth o'erspread
His cheek with blushes; and severe, he said:
Take back the unjust reproach! Behold we stand
Sheath'd in bright arms, and but expect command.
If glorious deeds afford thy soul delight,
Behold me plunging in the thickest fight.
Then give thy warrior-chief a warrior's due,
Who dares to act whate'er thou darest to view.
Struck with his generous wrath, the king replies:
Oh great in action, and in council wise!
With ours, thy care and ardour are the same,
Nor need I to command, nor ought to blame.
Sage as thou art, and learn'd in human kind,
Forgive the transport of a martial mind.
Haste to the fight, secure of just amends;
The gods that make, shall keep the worthy friends.
He said, and pass'd where great Tydides lay,
His steeds and chariots wedged in firm array,
(The warlike Sthenelus attends his side :)
To whom with stern reproach the monarch cried:
Oh son of Tydeus! (he, whose strength could tame
The bounding steed, in arms a mighty name.)
Canst thou, remote, the mingling hosts descry,
With hands unactive, and a careless eye?
Not thus thy sire the fierce encounter fear'd;
Still first in front the matchless prince appear'd:
What glorious toils, what wonders they recite,
Who view'd him labouring through the ranks of fight!
I saw him once, when, gathering martial powers, 430
A peaceful guest, he sought Mycena's towers ;
Armies he ask'd, and armies had been given,
Not we denied, but Jove forbade from heaven;
While dreadful comets glaring from afar
Forewarn'd the horrors of the Theban war.
Next, sent by Greece from where Asopus flows,
A fearless envoy, he approach'd the foes;
Thebe's hostile walls, unguarded and alone,
Dauntless he enters, and demands the throne.
The tyrant feasting with his chiefs he found,
And dares to combat all those chiefs around;
Dared and subdued, before their haughty lord;
For Pallas strung his arm, and edged his sword.
Stung with the shame, within the winding way,
To bar his passage fifty warriors lay;

Two heroes led the secret squadron on,
Mæon the fierce, and hardy Lycophon;
Those fifty slaughter'd in the gloomy vale,
He spared but one to bear the dreadful tale.
Such Tydeus was, and such his martial fire,
Gods! how the son degenerates from the sire.

440

490

As if some god had snatch'd their voice away.
Not so the Trojans; from their host ascends
A general shout that all the region rends.
As when the fleecy flocks unnumber'd stand
In wealthy folds, and wait the milker's hand,
The hollow vales incessant bleating fills,
The lambs reply from all the neighbouring hills:
Such clamours rose from various nations round,
Mix'd was the murmur, and confused the sound.
Each host now joins, and each a god inspires,
These Mars incites, and those Minerva fires.
Pale Flight around, and dreadful Terror reign, 500
And Discord raging bathes the purple plain;
Discord! dire sister of the slaughtering power,
Small at her birth, but rising every hour,
While scarce the skies her horrid head can bound,
She stalks on earth and shakes the world around;
The nations bleed, where'er her steps she turns,
The groan still deepens and the combat burns.
Now shield with shield, with helmet helmet closed,
To armour armour, lance to lance opposed,
Host against host with shadowy squadrons drew, 510
The sounding darts in iron tempests flew;
Victors and vanquish'd join promiscuous cries,
And shrilling shouts and dying groans arise;
With streaming blood the slippery fields are dyed,
And slaughter'd heroes swell the dreadful tide.

As torrents roll, increased by numerous rills, With rage impetuous down their echoing hills; 450 Rush to the vales, and, pour'd along the plain,

Roar through a thousand channels to the main;