These, as my first essay of arms, I won; Old Neleus gloried in his conquering son.
Thus Elis forced, her long arrears restored, And shares were parted to each Pylian lord.
The state of Pyle was sunk to last despair, When the proud Elians first commenced the war: For Neleus" sons Alcides" rage had slain; Of twelve bold brothers, I alone remain!
Oppress"d, we arm"d; and now this conquest gain"d, My sire three hundred chosen sheep obtain"d.
(That large reprisal he might justly claim, For prize defrauded, and insulted fame, When Elis" monarch, at the public course, Detain"d his chariot, and victorious horse.) The rest the people shared; myself survey"d The just part.i.tion, and due victims paid.
Three days were past, when Elis rose to war, With many a courser, and with many a car; The sons of Actor at their army"s head (Young as they were) the vengeful squadrons led.
High on the rock fair Thryoessa stands, Our utmost frontier on the Pylian lands: Not far the streams of famed Alphaeus flow: The stream they pa.s.s"d, and pitch"d their tents below.
Pallas, descending in the shades of night, Alarms the Pylians and commands the fight.
Each burns for fame, and swells with martial pride, Myself the foremost; but my sire denied; Fear"d for my youth, exposed to stern alarms; And stopp"d my chariot, and detain"d my arms.
My sire denied in vain: on foot I fled Amidst our chariots; for the G.o.ddess led.
"Along fair Arene"s delightful plain Soft Minyas rolls his waters to the main: There, horse and foot, the Pylian troops unite, And sheathed in arms, expect the dawning light.
Thence, ere the sun advanced his noon-day flame, To great Alphaeus" sacred source we came.
There first to Jove our solemn rites were paid; An untamed heifer pleased the blue-eyed maid; A bull, Alphaeus; and a bull was slain To the blue monarch of the watery main.
In arms we slept, beside the winding flood, While round the town the fierce Epeians stood.
Soon as the sun, with all-revealing ray, Flamed in the front of Heaven, and gave the day.
Bright scenes of arms, and works of war appear; The nations meet; there Pylos, Elis here.
The first who fell, beneath my javelin bled; King Augias" son, and spouse of Agamede: (She that all simples" healing virtues knew, And every herb that drinks the morning dew:) I seized his car, the van of battle led; The Epeians saw, they trembled, and they fled.
The foe dispersed, their bravest warrior kill"d, Fierce as the whirlwind now I swept the field: Full fifty captive chariots graced my train; Two chiefs from each fell breathless to the plain.
Then Actor"s sons had died, but Neptune shrouds The youthful heroes in a veil of clouds.
O"er heapy shields, and o"er the prostrate throng, Collecting spoils, and slaughtering all along, Through wide Buprasian fields we forced the foes, Where o"er the vales the Olenian rocks arose; Till Pallas stopp"d us where Alisium flows.
Even there the hindmost of the rear I slay, And the same arm that led concludes the day; Then back to Pyle triumphant take my way.
There to high Jove were public thanks a.s.sign"d, As first of G.o.ds; to Nestor, of mankind.
Such then I was, impell"d by youthful blood; So proved my valour for my country"s good.
"Achilles with unactive fury glows, And gives to pa.s.sion what to Greece he owes.
How shall he grieve, when to the eternal shade Her hosts shall sink, nor his the power to aid!
0 friend! my memory recalls the day, When, gathering aids along the Grecian sea, I, and Ulysses, touch"d at Phthia"s port, And entered Peleus" hospitable court.
A bull to Jove he slew in sacrifice, And pour"d libations on the flaming thighs.
Thyself, Achilles, and thy reverend sire Menoetius, turn"d the fragments on the fire.
Achilles sees us, to the feast invites; Social we sit, and share the genial rites.
We then explained the cause on which we came, Urged you to arms, and found you fierce for fame.
Your ancient fathers generous precepts gave; Peleus said only this:--"My son! be brave."
Menoetius thus: "Though great Achilles shine In strength superior, and of race divine, Yet cooler thoughts thy elder years attend; Let thy just counsels aid, and rule thy friend."
Thus spoke your father at Thessalia"s court: Words now forgot, though now of vast import.
Ah! try the utmost that a friend can say: Such gentle force the fiercest minds obey; Some favouring G.o.d Achilles" heart may move; Though deaf to glory, he may yield to love.
If some dire oracle his breast alarm, If aught from Heaven withhold his saving arm, Some beam of comfort yet on Greece may shine, If thou but lead the Myrmidonian line; Clad in Achilles" arms, if thou appear, Proud Troy may tremble, and desist from war; Press"d by fresh forces, her o"er-labour"d train Shall seek their walls, and Greece respire again."
This touch"d his generous heart, and from the tent Along the sh.o.r.e with hasty strides he went; Soon as he came, where, on the crowded strand, The public mart and courts of justice stand, Where the tall fleet of great Ulysses lies, And altars to the guardian G.o.ds arise; There, sad, he met the brave Euaemon"s son, Large painful drops from all his members run; An arrow"s head yet rooted in his wound, The sable blood in circles mark"d the ground.
As faintly reeling he confess"d the smart, Weak was his pace, but dauntless was his heart.
Divine compa.s.sion touch"d Patroclus" breast, Who, sighing, thus his bleeding friend address"d:
"Ah, hapless leaders of the Grecian host!
Thus must ye perish on a barbarous coast?
Is this your fate, to glut the dogs with gore, Far from your friends, and from your native sh.o.r.e?
Say, great Eurypylus! shall Greece yet stand?
Resists she yet the raging Hector"s hand?
Or are her heroes doom"d to die with shame, And this the period of our wars and fame?"
Eurypylus replies: "No more, my friend; Greece is no more! this day her glories end; Even to the ships victorious Troy pursues, Her force increasing as her toil renews.
Those chiefs, that used her utmost rage to meet, Lie pierced with wounds, and bleeding in the fleet.
But, thou, Patroclus! act a friendly part, Lead to my ships, and draw this deadly dart; With lukewarm water wash the gore away; With healing balms the raging smart allay, Such as sage Chiron, sire of pharmacy, Once taught Achilles, and Achilles thee.
Of two famed surgeons, Podalirius stands This hour surrounded by the Trojan bands; And great Machaon, wounded in his tent, Now wants that succour which so oft he lent."
To him the chief: "What then remains to do?
The event of things the G.o.ds alone can view.
Charged by Achilles" great command I fly, And bear with haste the Pylian king"s reply: But thy distress this instant claims relief."
He said, and in his arms upheld the chief.
The slaves their master"s slow approach survey"d, And hides of oxen on the floor display"d: There stretch"d at length the wounded hero lay; Patroclus cut the forky steel away: Then in his hands a bitter root he bruised; The wound he wash"d, the styptic juice infused.
The closing flesh that instant ceased to glow, The wound to torture, and the blood to flow.
[Ill.u.s.tration: HERCULES.]
HERCULES.
BOOK XII.
ARGUMENT.
THE BATTLE AT THE GRECIAN WALL.
The Greeks having retired into their intrenchments, Hector attempts to force them; but it proving impossible to pa.s.s the ditch, Polydamas advises to quit their chariots, and manage the attack on foot. The Trojans follow his counsel; and having divided their army into five bodies of foot, begin the a.s.sault. But upon the signal of an eagle with a serpent in his talons, which appeared on the left hand of the Trojans, Polydamas endeavours to withdraw them again. This Hector opposes, and continues the attack; in which, after many actions, Sarpedon makes the first breach in the wall.
Hector also, casting a stone of vast size, forces open one of the gates, and enters at the head of his troops, who victoriously pursue the Grecians even to their ships.
While thus the hero"s pious cares attend The cure and safety of his wounded friend, Trojans and Greeks with clashing shields engage, And mutual deaths are dealt with mutual rage.
Nor long the trench or lofty walls oppose; With G.o.ds averse the ill-fated works arose; Their powers neglected, and no victim slain, The walls were raised, the trenches sunk in vain.
Without the G.o.ds, how short a period stands The proudest monument of mortal hands!
This stood while Hector and Achilles raged.
While sacred Troy the warring hosts engaged; But when her sons were slain, her city burn"d, And what survived of Greece to Greece return"d; Then Neptune and Apollo shook the sh.o.r.e, Then Ida"s summits pour"d their watery store; Rhesus and Rhodius then unite their rills, Caresus roaring down the stony hills, aesepus, Granicus, with mingled force, And Xanthus foaming from his fruitful source; And gulfy Simois, rolling to the main(224) Helmets, and shields, and G.o.dlike heroes slain: These, turn"d by Phoebus from their wonted ways, Deluged the rampire nine continual days; The weight of waters saps the yielding wall, And to the sea the floating bulwarks fall.
Incessant cataracts the Thunderer pours, And half the skies descend in sluicy showers.
The G.o.d of ocean, marching stern before, With his huge trident wounds the trembling sh.o.r.e, Vast stones and piles from their foundation heaves, And whelms the smoky ruin in the waves.
Now smooth"d with sand, and levell"d by the flood, No fragment tells where once the wonder stood; In their old bounds the rivers roll again, Shine "twixt the hills, or wander o"er the plain.(225)
But this the G.o.ds in later times perform; As yet the bulwark stood, and braved the storm; The strokes yet echoed of contending powers; War thunder"d at the gates, and blood distain"d the towers.
Smote by the arm of Jove with dire dismay, Close by their hollow ships the Grecians lay: Hector"s approach in every wind they hear, And Hector"s fury every moment fear.
He, like a whirlwind, toss"d the scattering throng, Mingled the troops, and drove the field along.
So "midst the dogs and hunters" daring bands, Fierce of his might, a boar or lion stands; Arm"d foes around a dreadful circle form, And hissing javelins rain an iron storm: His powers untamed, their bold a.s.sault defy, And where he turns the rout disperse or die: He foams, he glares, he bounds against them all, And if he falls, his courage makes him fall.
With equal rage encompa.s.s"d Hector glows; Exhorts his armies, and the trenches shows.
The panting steeds impatient fury breathe, And snort and tremble at the gulf beneath; Just at the brink they neigh, and paw the ground, And the turf trembles, and the skies resound.
Eager they view"d the prospect dark and deep, Vast was the leap, and headlong hung the steep; The bottom bare, (a formidable show!) And bristled thick with sharpen"d stakes below.
The foot alone this strong defence could force, And try the pa.s.s impervious to the horse.
This saw Polydamas; who, wisely brave, Restrain"d great Hector, and this counsel gave:
"O thou, bold leader of the Trojan bands!