The field shall prove how perjuries succeed, And chains or death avenge the 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; 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.
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 G.o.dlike virtue we but urge in vain, (Exclaim"d the king), who raise your eager bands With great examples, more than loud commands.
Ah! would the G.o.ds but breathe in all the rest 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; With strictest order sets his train in arms, The chiefs advises, and the soldiers warms.
Alastor, Chromius, Haemon, round him wait, Bias the good, and Pelagon the great.
The horse and chariots to the front a.s.sign"d, The foot (the strength of war) he ranged behind; The middle s.p.a.ce suspected troops supply, Inclosed by both, nor left the power to fly; He gives command to "curb the fiery steed, Nor cause confusion, nor the ranks exceed: Before the rest let none too rashly ride; No strength nor skill, but just in time, be tried: The charge once made, no warrior turn the rein, But fight, or fall; a firm embodied train.
He whom the fortune of the field shall cast 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; By laws like these immortal conquests made, And earth"s proud tyrants low in ashes laid."
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 mightst thou be!
And age the lot of any chief but thee."
Thus to the experienced prince Atrides cried; He shook his h.o.a.ry locks, and thus replied: "Well might I wish, could mortal wish renew(134) 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, Let sage advice, the palm of age, be mine."
He said. With joy the monarch march"d before, And found Menestheus on the dusty sh.o.r.e, 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."
Ulysses heard: the hero"s warmth o"erspread His cheek with blushes: and severe, he said: "Take back the unjust reproach! Behold we stand Sheathed 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 dar"st to view."
Struck with his generous wrath, the king replies:
"O great in action, and in council wise!
With ours, thy care and ardour are the same, Nor need I to commend, nor aught 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 G.o.ds that make, shall keep the worthy, friends."
He said, and pa.s.s"d where great Tydides lay, His steeds and chariots wedged in firm array; (The warlike Sthenelus attends his side;)(135) To whom with stern reproach the monarch cried: "O 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, A peaceful guest, he sought Mycenae"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.(136) Next, sent by Greece from where Asopus flows, A fearless envoy, he approach"d the foes; Thebes" hostile walls unguarded and alone, Dauntless he enters, and demands the throne.
The tyrant feasting with his chiefs he found, And dared 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 pa.s.sage fifty warriors lay; Two heroes led the secret squadron on, Mason 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; G.o.ds! how the son degenerates from the sire!"
No words the G.o.dlike 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 sire you raise?
Dare to be just, Atrides! and confess Our value equal, though our fury less.
With fewer troops we storm"d the Theban wall, And happier saw the sevenfold city fall,(137) 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 Tydides thus: "My friend, forbear; Suppress thy pa.s.sion, 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."
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,(138) First move the whitening surface of the seas, The billows float in order to the sh.o.r.e, 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 the chief"s commands, Those only heard; with awe the rest obey, As if some G.o.d had s.n.a.t.c.h"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 G.o.d inspires, These Mars incites, and those Minerva fires, Pale flight around, and dreadful terror reign; 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;(139) 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, The sounding darts in iron tempests flew, Victors and vanquish"d join"d 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 Rush to the vales, and pour"d along the plain.
Roar through a thousand channels to the main: The distant shepherd trembling hears the sound; So mix both hosts, and so their cries rebound.
The bold Antilochus the slaughter led, The first who struck a valiant Trojan dead: At great Echepolus the lance arrives, Razed his high crest, and through his helmet drives; Warm"d in the brain the brazen weapon lies, And shades eternal settle o"er his eyes.
So sinks a tower, that long a.s.saults had stood Of force and fire, its walls besmear"d with blood.
Him, the bold leader of the Abantian throng,(140) Seized to despoil, and dragg"d the corpse along: But while he strove to tug the inserted dart, Agenor"s javelin reach"d the hero"s heart.
His flank, unguarded by his ample shield, Admits the lance: he falls, and spurns the field; The nerves, unbraced, support his limbs no more; The soul comes floating in a tide of gore.
Trojans and Greeks now gather round the slain; The war renews, the warriors bleed again: As o"er their prey rapacious wolves engage, Man dies on man, and all is blood and rage.
In blooming youth fair Simoisius fell, Sent by great Ajax to the shades of h.e.l.l; Fair Simoisius, whom his mother bore Amid the flocks on silver Simois" sh.o.r.e: The nymph descending from the hills of Ide, To seek her parents on his flowery side, Brought forth the babe, their common care and joy, And thence from Simois named the lovely boy.
Short was his date! by dreadful Ajax slain, He falls, and renders all their cares in vain!
So falls a poplar, that in watery ground Raised high the head, with stately branches crown"d, (Fell"d by some artist with his shining steel, To shape the circle of the bending wheel,) Cut down it lies, tall, smooth, and largely spread, With all its beauteous honours on its head There, left a subject to the wind and rain, And scorch"d by suns, it withers on the plain Thus pierced by Ajax, Simoisius lies Stretch"d on the sh.o.r.e, and thus neglected dies.
At Ajax, Antiphus his javelin threw; The pointed lance with erring fury flew, And Leucus, loved by wise Ulysses, slew.
He drops the corpse of Simoisius slain, And sinks a breathless carcase on the plain.
This saw Ulysses, and with grief enraged, Strode where the foremost of the foes engaged; Arm"d with his spear, he meditates the wound, In act to throw; but cautious look"d around, Struck at his sight the Trojans backward drew, And trembling heard the javelin as it flew.
A chief stood nigh, who from Abydos came, Old Priam"s son, Democ.o.o.n was his name.
The weapon entered close above his ear, Cold through his temples glides the whizzing spear;(141) With piercing shrieks the youth resigns his breath, His eye-b.a.l.l.s darken with the shades of death; Ponderous he falls; his clanging arms resound, And his broad buckler rings against the ground.
Seized with affright the boldest foes appear; E"en G.o.dlike Hector seems himself to fear; Slow he gave way, the rest tumultuous fled; The Greeks with shouts press on, and spoil the dead: But Phoebus now from Ilion"s towering height Shines forth reveal"d, and animates the fight.
"Trojans, be bold, and force with force oppose; Your foaming steeds urge headlong on the foes!
Nor are their bodies rocks, nor ribb"d with steel; Your weapons enter, and your strokes they feel.
Have ye forgot what seem"d your dread before?
The great, the fierce Achilles fights no more."
Apollo thus from Ilion"s lofty towers, Array"d in terrors, roused the Trojan powers: While war"s fierce G.o.ddess fires the Grecian foe, And shouts and thunders in the fields below.
Then great Diores fell, by doom divine, In vain his valour and ill.u.s.trious line.