Then rifing in his wrath, the monarch storm'd;
Incens'd he threaten'd, and his threats perform'd:
The fair Chryfeïs to her fire was fent,
With offer'd gifts to make the God relent;
But now, he feiz'd Brifeïs' heavenly charms,
And of my valour's prize defrauds my arms,
Defrauds the votes of all the Grecian train ;
And service, faith, and justice, plead in vain.
But, Goddess! thou thy fuppliant fon attend,
To high Olympus' fhining court afcend,
Urge all the ties to former service ow'd,
And fue for vengeance to the thundering God.
Oft haft thou triumph'd in the glorious boast,
That thou ftood'st forth of all th' æthereal hoft,
When bold rebellion fhook the realms above,
Th' undaunted guard of cloud-compelling Jove.
When the bright partner of his awful reign,
The warlike maid, and monarch of the main,
The traitor-gods, by mad ambition driven,
Durft threat with chains th' omnipotence of Heaven.
Then call'd by thee, the monster Titan came,
(Whom Gods Briareus, Men Ægeon name)
Through wondering skies enormous stalk'd along;
Not he that fhakes the folid earth fo ftrong:
With giant-pride at Jove's high throne he stands,
And brandifh'd round him all his hundred hands
Th' affrighted Gods confefs'd their awful lord,
They dropt the fetters, trembled, and ador'd.
This, Goddefs, this to his remembrance call
Embrace his knees, at his tribunal fall;
Conjure him far to drive the Grecian train,
To hurl them headlong to their fleet and main,
To heap the fhores with copious death, and bring
The Greeks to know the curfe of fuch a king:
Let Agamemnon lift his haughty head
O'er all his wide dominion of the dead,
And mourn in blood, that e'er he durft disgrace
The boldest warriour of the Grecian race.
Unhappy fon! (fair Thetis thus replies, While tears celestial trickle from her eyes)
Why have I borne thee with a mother's throes,
To fates averfe, and nurs'd for future woes?
So fhort a space the light of heaven to view!
So fhort a space! and fill'd with forrow too!
O might a parent's careful with prevail,
Far, far from Ilion should thy vessels fail,
And thou, from camps remote, the danger fhun,
Which now, alas! too nearly threats my son.
Yet (what I can) to move thy fuit I'll
go
To great Olympus crown'd with fleecy fnow.
Mean time, secure within thy fhips, from far
Behold the field, nor mingle in the war.
The fire of Gods and all th' æthereal train,
On the warm limits of the farthest main,
Now mix with mortals, nor difdain to grace
The feasts of Æthiopia's blameless race;
Twelve days the powers indulge the genial rite,
Returning with the twelfth revolving light.
Then will I mount the brazen dome, and move
The high tribunal of immortal Jove.
The Goddess fpoke: the rolling waves unclofe; Then down the deep the plung'd from whence fhe rofe, And left him forrowing on the lonely coast,
In wild refentment for the fair he loft.
In Chryfa's port now fage Ulyffes rode; Beneath the deck the deftin'd victims ftow'd; The fails they furl'd, they lafh'd the maft afide, And drop'd their anchors, and the pinnace ty’d. Next on the shore their hecatomb they land,
Chryfeïs last descending on the strand.
Her, thus returning from the furrow'd main,
Ulyffes led to Phoebus' facred fane;
Where at his folemn altar as the maid
He gave to Chryfes, thus the Hero faid.
Hail reverend prieft! to Phoebus' awful dome
A fuppliant I from great Atrides come :
Unranfom'd here receive the spotless fair ;
Accept the hecatombs the Greeks prepare;
And may thy God who fcatters darts around,
Aton'd by facrifice, desist to wound.
At this, the fire embrac'd the maid again,
So fadly loft, fo lately fought in vain.
'Then near the altar of the darting king,
Difpos'd in rank their hecatomb they bring :
With water purify their hands, and take
The facred offering of the falted cake;
While thus with arms devoutly rais'd in air,
And folemn voice, the priest directs his prayer :
God of the filver bow, thy ear incline,
Whose power incircles Cilla the divine;
Whofe facred eye thy Tenedos furveys,
And gilds fair Chryfa with distinguish'd rays!
If, fir'd to vengeance at thy priest's request,
Thy direful darts inflict the raging pest;
Once more attend! avert the wasteful woe,
And smile propitious, and unbend thy bow.
So Chryfes pray'd, Apollo heard his prayer
And now the Greeks their hecatomb prepare ;
Between their horns the falted barley threw,
And with their heads to heaven the victims flew:
The limbs they fever from th' inclosing hide;
The thighs, felected to the Gods, divide:
On thefe, in double cawls involv'd with art,
The choicest morfels lay from every part. \
The priest himself before his altar stands,
And burns the offering with his holy hands,
Pours the black wine, and fees the flames afpire;
The youth with inftruments surround the fire :
The thighs thus facrific'd, and entrails drest,
Th' affiftants part, transfix, and roast the rest:
Then spread the tables, the repast prepare,
Each takes his seat, and each receives his fhare.
When now the rage of hunger was repreft,
With pure libations they conclude the feast ;
The youths with wine the copious goblets crown'd,
And, pleas'd, difpenfe the flowing bowls around.
With hymns divine the joyous banquet ends,
The Peans lengthen'd till the fun defcends:
The Greeks, reftor'd, the grateful notes prolong; 620 Apollo liftens, and approves the fong.
'Twas night; the chiefs beside their vessel lie, Till rofy morn had purpled o'er the sky :
Then launch, and hoist the maft; indulgent gales,
Supply'd by Phœbus, fill the swelling fails;
The milk-white canvass bellying as they blow,
The parted ocean foams and roars below:
Above the bounding billows swift they flew,
Till now the Grecian camp appear'd in view.
Far on the beach they haul their bark to land
(The crooked keel divides the yellow fand);
Then part, where stretch'd along the winding bay
The ships and tents in mingled profpect lay.
But raging ftill, amidst his navy fate
The ftern Achilles, ftedfaft in his hate;
Nor mix'd in combat, nor in council join'd;
But wafting cares lay heavy on his mind.
In his black thoughts revenge and flaughter roll,
And scenes of blood rife dreadful in his foul.
Twelve days were paft, and now the dawning light
The Gods had fummon'd to th' Olympian height:.
Jove first afcending from the watery bowers,
Leads the long order of æthereal powers.
When like the morning mist. in early day,.
Rose from the flood the Daughter of the Sea;
And to the feats divine her flight addrest.
There, far apart, and high above the rest,
The Thunderer fat; where old Olympus shrouds
His hundred heads in heaven, and props the clouds.
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