Oh women of Achaia! men no more!
Hence let us fly, and let him waste his store
In loves and pleasures on the Phrygian fhore. 295
We may be wanted on some bufy day,
When Hector comes: fo great Achilles may :
From him he forc'd the prize we jointly gave,
From him, the fierce, the fearless, and the brave :
And durst he, as he ought, resent that wrong,
This mighty tyrant were no tyrant long.
Fierce from his feat at this Ulyffes springs,
In generous vengeance of the king of kings;
With indignation sparkling in his eyes,
He views the wretch, and sternly thus replies:
Peace, factious monster, born to vex the state,
With wrangling talents form'd for foul debate:
Curb that impetuous tongue, nor, rashly vain
And fingly mad, afperfe the fovereign reign.
Have we not known thee, flave! of all our hoft,
The man who acts the leaft, upbraids the most?
Think not the Greeks to fhameful flight to bring,
Nor let thofe lips profane the name of king.
For our return we trust the heavenly Powers;
Be that their care; to fight like men be ours.
But grant the hoft with wealth the general load,
Except detraction, what hast thou bestow'd ?
Suppose fome hero should his spoils refign,
Art thou that hero, could those spoils be thine ?
Gods! let me perish on this hateful shore,
And let these eyes behold my son no more;
If, on thy next offence, this hand forbear
To ftrip thofe arms thou ill deserv'st to wear,
Expel the council where our princes meet,
And fend thee fcourg'd and howling through the fleet. 325
He said, and cowering as the daftard bends,
The weighty fceptre on his back descends:
On the round bunch the bloody tumours rife
The tears spring starting from his haggard eyes:
Trembling he fat, and, fhrunk in abject fears,
From his vile vifage wip'd the fcalding tears.
While to his neighbour each exprefs'd his thought:
Ye Gods! what wonders has Ulyffes wrought!
What fruits his conduct and his courage yield;
Great in the council, glorious in the field!
Generous he rifes in the crown's defence,
To curb the factious tongue of infolence..
Such just examples on offenders fhown,
Sedition filence, and affert the throne.
'Twas thus the general voice the hero prais'd, 340 Who, rifing high th' imperial fceptre rais'd: The blue-ey'd Pallas, his celeftial friend, (In form a herald) bade the crowds attend. Th' expecting crowds in still attention hung, To hear the wisdom of his heavenly tongue. Then deeply thoughtful, paufing ere he spoke,. His filence thus the prudent hero broke :
Unhappy monarch! whom the Grecian race,
With shame deserting, heap with vile disgrace.
Not fuch at Argos was their generous vow,
Once all their voice, but ah! forgotten now:
Ne'er to return, was then the common cry,
Till Troy's proud ftructures should in ashes lie.
Behold them weeping for their native shore !
What could their wives or helpless children more? 355
What heart but melts to leave the tender train,
And, one short month, endure the wintery main ?
Few leagues remov'd, we wish our peaceful seat,
When the fhip toffes, and the tempests beat:
Then well may this long stay provoke their tears, 360
The tedious length of nine revolving years.
Not for their grief the Grecian host I blame;
But vanquish'd! baffled ! oh eternal shame!
Expect the time to Troy's deftruction given,
And try the faith of Chalcas and of Heaven.
What pafs'd at Aulis, Greece can witness bear,
And all who live to breathe this Phrygian air.
Befide a fountain's facred brink we rais'd
Our verdant altars, and the victims blaz'd;
(Twas where the plane-tree spreads its fhades around).
The altars heav'd; and from the crumbling ground
A mighty dragon fhot, of dire portent;
From Jove himself the dreadful fign was fent.
Strait to the tree his fanguine spire he roll'd,
And curl'd around in many a winding fold.
The topmost branch a mother-bird poffeft;
Eight callow infants fill'd the moffy nett;
Herself the ninth; the ferpent, as he hung,
Stretch'd his black jaws, and crafh'd the crying young;: While hovering near, with miferable moan,
The drooping mother wail'd her children gone.
The mother laft as round the neft the flew,
Seiz'd by the beating wing, the monster flew:
Nor long furviv'd; to marble turn'd, he stands
A lasting prodigy on Aulis' fands.
Such was the will of Jove; and hence we dare
Truft in his omen, and support the war.
For while around we gaze with wondering eyes,
And trembling fought the powers with facrifice,
Full of his God, the reverend Chalcas cried,
Ye Grecian warriours! lay your fears aside.
This wondrous fignal Jove himself displays,
Of long, long labours, but eternal praise.
As many birds as by the fnake were flain,
So many years the toils of Greece remain ;
But wait the tenth, for Ilion's fall decreed:
Thus spoke the prophet, thus the fates fucceed.
Obey, ye Grecians! with fubmiffion wait,
Nor let your flight avert the Trojan fate.
He said: the shores with loud applauses found, 400 The hollow ships each deafening fhout rebound. Then Neftor thus-Thefe vain debates forbear, Ye talk like children, not like heroes dare. Where now are all your high resolves at last ? Your leagues concluded, your engagements past? 405 Vow'd with libations and with victims then, Now vanish'd like their smoke: the faith of men! While useless words confume th' unactive hours, No wonder Troy fo long refifts our powers. Rife, great Atrides! and with courage sway; We march to war if thou direct the way. But leave the few that dare refift thy laws,
The mean deferters of the Grecian caufe,
To grudge the conquefts mighty Jove prepares...
And view with envy our fuccefsful wars.
On that great day when first the martial train,.
Big with the fate of Ilion, plow'd the main
Jove, on the right, a prosperous fignal sent,
And thunder rolling shook the firmament.
Encourag'd hence, maintain the glorious. ftrife, 420
Till every foldier grafp a Phrygian wife,
Till Helen's woes at full reveng'd appear,
And Troy's proud matrons render tear for tear.
Before that day, if any Greek invite
His country's troops to base, inglorious flight;
Stand forth that Greek! and hoift his fail to fly,'
And die the daftard first, who dreads to die.
But now, O monarch! all thy chiefs advise:
Nor what they offer, thou thyfelf despise.
Among thofe councils, let not mine be vain;
In tribes and nations to divide thy train ;
His feparate troops let every leader call,
Each strengthen each, and all encourage all.
What chief, or foldier, of the numerous band,
Or bravely fights, or ill obeys command,
When thus diftinct they war, shall foon be known,
And what the caufe of Illion not o'er-thrown ;
If fate refifts, or if our arms are flow,
If Gods above prevent, or men below.
To him the king: How much thy years excel
In arts of council, and in speaking well!
O would the Gods, in love to Greece, decree
But ten fuch fages as they grant in thee;
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