The first to battle on th' appointed plain,
But new to all the dangers of the main.
Thofe, where fair Elis and Buprafium join;
Whom Hyrmin, here, and Myrfinus confine,
And bounded there where o'er the valleys rofe
Th' Olenian rock; and where Alisium flows;
Beneath four chiefs (a numerous army) came:
The ftrength and glory of th' Epean name.
In feparate fquadrons these their train divide,
Each leads ten veffels through the yielding tide.
One was Amphimachus, and Thalphius one
(Eurytus' this, and that Teätus' fon);
Diores fprung from Amarynceus' line;
And great Polyxenus, of force divine.
But those who view fair Elis o'er the feas
From the bleft islands of th' Echinades,
In forty veffels under Meges move,
Begot by Phyleus the belov'd of Jove.
To ftrong Dulichium from his fire he fled,
And thence to Troy his hardy warriours led.
Ulyffes follow'd through the watery road,
A chief, in wisdom equal to a God.
With those whom Cephalenia's ifle inclos'd,
Or till their fields along the coaft oppos'd;
Or where fair Ithaca o'erlooks the floods,
Where high Neritos fhakes his waving woods,
Where Ægilipa's rugged fides are seen,
Crocylia rocky, and Zacynthus green.
Thefe in twelve galleys with vermilion prores,
Beneath his conduct, fought the Phrygian fhores.
Thoas came next, Andræmon's valiant fon,
From Pleuron's walls, and chalky Calydon,
And rough Pylenè, and th' Olenian steep,
And Chalcis beaten by the rolling deep.
He led the warriours from th' Ætolian fhore,
For now the fons of Oeneus were no more!
The glories of the mighty race were fled !
Oeneus himself, and Meleager dead!
To Thoas' care now truft the martial train,
His forty veffels follow through the main.
Next eighty barks the Cretan king commands, 785 Of Gnoffus, Lyctus, and Gortyna's bands,
And those who dwell where Rhytion's domes arise,
Or white Lycaftus glitters to the skies,
Or where by Phoeftus filver Jardan runs ;
Crete's hundred cities pour forth all her fons.
These march'd, Idomeneus, beneath thy care,
And Merion, dreadful as the God of war.
Tlepolemus, the fon of Hercules,
Led nine swift veffels through the foamy feas;
From Rhodes with everlasting sunshine bright,
Jalyffus, Lindus, and Camirus white.
His captive mother fierce Alcides bore,
From Ephyr's walls, and Selle's winding shore,
Where mighty towns in ruins spread the plain,
And faw their blooming warriours early flain.
The hero, when to manly years he grew,
Alcides' uncle, old Licymnius, slew;
For this, constrain'd to quit his native place,
And thun the vengeance of th' Herculean race,
A fleet he built, and with a numerous train
Of willing exiles, wander'd o'er the main ;
Where, many feas and many fufferings past,
On happy Rhodes the chief arriv'd at last:
There in three tribes divides his native band,
And rules them peaceful in a foreign land;
Encreas'd and profper'd in their new abodes,
By mighty Jove, the fire of men and Gods ;
With joy they saw the growing empire rife,
And showers of wealth defcending from the skies.
Three ships with Nireus fought the Trojan shore,
Nireus, whom Agläe to Charopus bore,
Nireus, in faultlefs fhape and blooming grace,
The lovelieft youth of all the Grecian race;
Pelides only match'd his early charms;
But few his troops, and fmall his ftrength in arms. 820
Next thirty galleys cleave the liquid plain,
Of thofe Calydna's fea-girt ifles contain;
With them the youth of Nyfyrus repair,
Cafus the ftrong, and Crapathus the fair;
Cos, where Eurypylus poffeft the fway,
Till great Alcides made the realms obey :
Thefe Antiphus and bold Phidippus bring,
Sprung from the God by Thessalus the king.
Now, Mufe, recount Pelafgic Argos' powers,
From Alos, Alopè, and Trechin's towers;
From Phthia's fpacious vales; and Hella, bleft
With female beauty far beyond the rest.
Full fifty fhips beneath Achilles' care,
Th' Achaians, Myrmidons, Hellenians bear;
Theffalians all, though various in their name;
The fame their nation, and their chief the fame.
But now, inglorious, ftretch'd along the fhore,
They hear the brazen voice of war no more;
No more the foe they face in dire array :
Clofe in his fleet the angry leader lay;
Since fair Brifeïs from his arms was torn,
The nobleft spoil from fack'd Lyrneffus borne.
Then, when the chief the Theban walls o'erthrew,
And the bold fons of great Evenus flew.
There mourn'd Achilles, plung'd in depth of care, 845
But foon to rife in flaughter, blood, and war.
To these the youth of Phylacè fucceed,
Itona, famous for her fleecy breed,
And graffy Pteleon deck'd with cheerful greens,
The bowers of Ceres, and the filvan fcenes,
Sweet Pyrrhafus, with blooming flowrets crown'd,
And Antron's watery dens, and cavern'd ground.
Thefe own'd as chief Protefilas the brave,
Who now lay filent in the gloomy grave:
The first who boldly touch'd the Trojan fhore,
And dy'd a Phrygian lance with Grecian gore;
There lies, far distant from his native plain;
Unfinish'd, his proud palaces remain,
And his fad confort beats her breast in vain.
His troops in forty fhips Podarces led,
Iphiclus' fon, and brother to the dead
Nor he unworthy to command the host;
Yet ftill they mourn'd their ancient leader loft.
The men who Glaphyra's fair foil partake,
Where hills encircle Boebe's lowly lake.
Where Phare hears the neighbouring waters fall,
Or proud Iölcus lifts her airy wall,
In ten black fhips embark'd for Ilion's fhore,
With bold Eumylus, whom Alcefte bore:
All Pelias' race Alceftè far outshin'd,
The grace and glory of the beauteous kind.
The troops Methonè or Thaumachia yields,
Olizon's rocks, or Meliboa's fields,
With Philoctetes fail'd, whofe matchless art,
From the tough bow directs the feather'd dart.
Seven were his fhips; each veffel fifty row,
Skill'd in his fcience of the dart and bow.
But he lay raging on the Lemnian ground,
A poisonous Hydra gave the burning wound;
There groan'd the chief in agonizing pain,
Whom Greece at length shall wish, nor with in vain. His forces Medon led from Lemnos' fhore,
Oïleus' fon, whom beauteous Rhena bore.
Th' Oechalian race, in those high towers contain'd, Where once Eurytus in proud triumph reign'd, Or where her humbler turrets Tricca rears, Or where Ithomè, rough with rocks, appears ; In thirty fail the sparkling waves divide, Which Podalirius and Machaon guide. To these his fkill their Parent-God imparts, Divine profeffors of the healing arts.
The bold Ormenian and Afterian bands
In forty barks Eurypylus commands,
Where Titan hides his hoary head in fnow,
And where Hyperia's filver fountains flow.
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