And you, confederate chiefs from foreign lands!
What entrance here can c.u.mbrous chariots find, The stakes beneath, the Grecian walls behind?
No pa.s.s through those, without a thousand wounds, No s.p.a.ce for combat in yon narrow bounds.
Proud of the favours mighty Jove has shown, On certain dangers we too rashly run: If "tis will our haughty foes to tame, Oh may this instant end the Grecian name!
Here, far from Argos, let their heroes fall, And one great day destroy and bury all!
But should they turn, and here oppress our train, What hopes, what methods of retreat remain?
Wedged in the trench, by our own troops confused, In one promiscuous carnage crush"d and bruised, All Troy must perish, if their arms prevail, Nor shall a Trojan live to tell the tale.
Hear then, ye warriors! and obey with speed; Back from the trenches let your steeds be led; Then all alighting, wedged in firm array, Proceed on foot, and Hector lead the way.
So Greece shall stoop before our conquering power, And this (if Jove consent) her fatal hour."
[Ill.u.s.tration: POLYDAMAS ADVISING HECTOR.]
POLYDAMAS ADVISING HECTOR.
This counsel pleased: the G.o.dlike Hector sprung Swift from his seat; his clanging armour rung.
The chief"s example follow"d by his train, Each quits his car, and issues on the plain, By orders strict the charioteers enjoin"d Compel the coursers to their ranks behind.
The forces part in five distinguish"d bands, And all obey their several chiefs" commands.
The best and bravest in the first conspire, Pant for the fight, and threat the fleet with fire: Great Hector glorious in the van of these, Polydamas, and brave Cebriones.
Before the next the graceful Paris shines, And bold Alcathous, and Agenor joins.
The sons of Priam with the third appear, Deiphobus, and Helenas the seer; In arms with these the mighty Asius stood, Who drew from Hyrtacus his n.o.ble blood, And whom Arisba"s yellow coursers bore, The coursers fed on Selle"s winding sh.o.r.e.
Antenor"s sons the fourth battalion guide, And great aeneas, born on fountful Ide.
Divine Sarpedon the last band obey"d, Whom Glaucus and Asteropaeus aid.
Next him, the bravest, at their army"s head, But he more brave than all the hosts he led.
Now with compacted shields in close array, The moving legions speed their headlong way: Already in their hopes they fire the fleet, And see the Grecians gasping at their feet.
While every Trojan thus, and every aid, The advice of wise Polydamas obey"d, Asius alone, confiding in his car, His vaunted coursers urged to meet the war.
Unhappy hero! and advised in vain; Those wheels returning ne"er shall mark the plain; No more those coursers with triumphant joy Restore their master to the gates of Troy!
Black death attends behind the Grecian wall, And great Idomeneus shall boast thy fall!
Fierce to the left he drives, where from the plain The flying Grecians strove their ships to gain; Swift through the wall their horse and chariots pa.s.s"d, The gates half-open"d to receive the last.
Thither, exulting in his force, he flies: His following host with clamours rend the skies: To plunge the Grecians headlong in the main, Such their proud hopes; but all their hopes were vain!
To guard the gates, two mighty chiefs attend, Who from the Lapiths" warlike race descend; This Polypoetes, great Perithous" heir, And that Leonteus, like the G.o.d of war.
As two tall oaks, before the wall they rise; Their roots in earth, their heads amidst the skies: Whose spreading arms with leafy honours crown"d, Forbid the tempest, and protect the ground; High on the hills appears their stately form, And their deep roots for ever brave the storm.
So graceful these, and so the shock they stand Of raging Asius, and his furious band.
Orestes, Acamas, in front appear, And OEnomaus and Thoon close the rear: In vain their clamours shake the ambient fields, In vain around them beat their hollow shields; The fearless brothers on the Grecians call, To guard their navies, and defend the wall.
Even when they saw Troy"s sable troops impend, And Greece tumultuous from her towers descend, Forth from the portals rush"d the intrepid pair, Opposed their b.r.e.a.s.t.s, and stood themselves the war.
So two wild boars spring furious from their den, Roused with the cries of dogs and voice of men; On every side the crackling trees they tear, And root the shrubs, and lay the forest bare; They gnash their tusks, with fire their eye-b.a.l.l.s roll, Till some wide wound lets out their mighty soul.
Around their heads the whistling javelins sung, With sounding strokes their brazen targets rung; Fierce was the fight, while yet the Grecian powers Maintain"d the walls, and mann"d the lofty towers: To save their fleet their last efforts they try, And stones and darts in mingled tempests fly.
As when sharp Boreas blows abroad, and brings The dreary winter on his frozen wings; Beneath the low-hung clouds the sheets of snow Descend, and whiten all the fields below: So fast the darts on either army pour, So down the rampires rolls the rocky shower: Heavy, and thick, resound the batter"d shields, And the deaf echo rattles round the fields.
With shame repulsed, with grief and fury driven, The frantic Asius thus accuses Heaven: "In powers immortal who shall now believe?
Can those too flatter, and can Jove deceive?
What man could doubt but Troy"s victorious power Should humble Greece, and this her fatal hour?
But like when wasps from hollow crannies drive, To guard the entrance of their common hive, Darkening the rock, while with unwearied wings They strike the a.s.sailants, and infix their stings; A race determined, that to death contend: So fierce these Greeks their last retreats defend.
G.o.ds! shall two warriors only guard their gates, Repel an army, and defraud the fates?"
These empty accents mingled with the wind, Nor moved great Jove"s unalterable mind; To G.o.dlike Hector and his matchless might Was owed the glory of the destined fight.
Like deeds of arms through all the forts were tried, And all the gates sustain"d an equal tide; Through the long walls the stony showers were heard, The blaze of flames, the flash of arms appear"d.
The spirit of a G.o.d my breast inspire, To raise each act to life, and sing with fire!
While Greece unconquer"d kept alive the war, Secure of death, confiding in despair; And all her guardian G.o.ds, in deep dismay, With una.s.sisting arms deplored the day.
Even yet the dauntless Lapithae maintain The dreadful pa.s.s, and round them heap the slain.
First Damasus, by Polypoetes" steel, Pierced through his helmet"s brazen visor, fell; The weapon drank the mingled brains and gore!
The warrior sinks, tremendous now no more!
Next Ormenus and Pylon yield their breath: Nor less Leonteus strews the field with death; First through the belt Hippomachus he gored, Then sudden waved his unresisted sword: Antiphates, as through the ranks he broke, The falchion struck, and fate pursued the stroke: Iamenus, Orestes, Menon, bled; And round him rose a monument of dead.
Meantime, the bravest of the Trojan crew, Bold Hector and Polydamas, pursue; Fierce with impatience on the works to fall, And wrap in rolling flames the fleet and wall.
These on the farther bank now stood and gazed, By Heaven alarm"d, by prodigies amazed: A signal omen stopp"d the pa.s.sing host, Their martial fury in their wonder lost.
Jove"s bird on sounding pinions beat the skies; A bleeding serpent of enormous size, His talons truss"d; alive, and curling round, He stung the bird, whose throat received the wound: Mad with the smart, he drops the fatal prey, In airy circles wings his painful way, Floats on the winds, and rends the heaven with cries: Amidst the host the fallen serpent lies.
They, pale with terror, mark its spires unroll"d, And Jove"s portent with beating hearts behold.
Then first Polydamas the silence broke, Long weigh"d the signal, and to Hector spoke:
"How oft, my brother, thy reproach I bear, For words well meant, and sentiments sincere?
True to those counsels which I judge the best, I tell the faithful dictates of my breast.
To speak his thoughts is every freeman"s right, In peace, in war, in council, and in fight; And all I move, deferring to thy sway, But tends to raise that power which I obey.
Then hear my words, nor may my words be vain!
Seek not this day the Grecian ships to gain; For sure, to warn us, Jove his omen sent, And thus my mind explains its clear event: The victor eagle, whose sinister flight r.e.t.a.r.ds our host, and fills our hearts with fright, Dismiss"d his conquest in the middle skies, Allow"d to seize, but not possess the prize; Thus, though we gird with fires the Grecian fleet, Though these proud bulwalks tumble at our feet, Toils unforeseen, and fiercer, are decreed; More woes shall follow, and more heroes bleed.
So bodes my soul, and bids me thus advise; For thus a skilful seer would read the skies."
To him then Hector with disdain return"d: (Fierce as he spoke, his eyes with fury burn"d:) "Are these the faithful counsels of thy tongue?
Thy will is partial, not thy reason wrong: Or if the purpose of thy heart thou vent, Sure heaven resumes the little sense it lent.
What coward counsels would thy madness move Against the word, the will reveal"d of Jove?
The leading sign, the irrevocable nod, And happy thunders of the favouring G.o.d, These shall I slight, and guide my wavering mind By wandering birds that flit with every wind?
Ye vagrants of the sky! your wings extend, Or where the suns arise, or where descend; To right, to left, unheeded take your way, While I the dictates of high heaven obey.
Without a sign his sword the brave man draws, And asks no omen but his country"s cause.
But why should"st thou suspect the war"s success?
None fears it more, as none promotes it less: Though all our chiefs amidst yon ships expire, Trust thy own cowardice to escape their fire.
Troy and her sons may find a general grave, But thou canst live, for thou canst be a slave.
Yet should the fears that wary mind suggests Spread their cold poison through our soldiers" b.r.e.a.s.t.s, My javelin can revenge so base a part, And free the soul that quivers in thy heart."
Furious he spoke, and, rushing to the wall, Calls on his host; his host obey the call; With ardour follow where their leader flies: Redoubling clamours thunder in the skies.
Jove breathes a whirlwind from the hills of Ide, And drifts of dust the clouded navy hide; He fills the Greeks with terror and dismay, And gives great Hector the predestined day.
Strong in themselves, but stronger in his aid, Close to the works their rigid siege they laid.
In vain the mounds and ma.s.sy beams defend, While these they undermine, and those they rend; Upheaved the piles that prop the solid wall; And heaps on heaps the smoky ruins fall.
Greece on her ramparts stands the fierce alarms; The crowded bulwarks blaze with waving arms, Shield touching shield, a long refulgent row; Whence hissing darts, incessant, rain below.
The bold Ajaces fly from tower to tower, And rouse, with flame divine, the Grecian power.
The generous impulse every Greek obeys; Threats urge the fearful; and the valiant, praise.
"Fellows in arms! whose deeds are known to fame, And you, whose ardour hopes an equal name!
Since not alike endued with force or art; Behold a day when each may act his part!
A day to fire the brave, and warm the cold, To gain new glories, or augment the old.
Urge those who stand, and those who faint, excite; Drown Hector"s vaunts in loud exhorts of fight; Conquest, not safety, fill the thoughts of all; Seek not your fleet, but sally from the wall; So Jove once more may drive their routed train, And Troy lie trembling in her walls again."
Their ardour kindles all the Grecian powers; And now the stones descend in heavier showers.
As when high Jove his sharp artillery forms, And opes his cloudy magazine of storms; In winter"s bleak un comfortable reign, A snowy inundation hides the plain; He stills the winds, and bids the skies to sleep; Then pours the silent tempest thick and deep; And first the mountain-tops are cover"d o"er, Then the green fields, and then the sandy sh.o.r.e; Bent with the weight, the nodding woods are seen, And one bright waste hides all the works of men: The circling seas, alone absorbing all, Drink the dissolving fleeces as they fall: So from each side increased the stony rain, And the white ruin rises o"er the plain.
Thus G.o.dlike Hector and his troops contend To force the ramparts, and the gates to rend: Nor Troy could conquer, nor the Greeks would yield, Till great Sarpedon tower"d amid the field; For mighty Jove inspired with martial flame His matchless son, and urged him on to fame.
In arms he shines, conspicuous from afar, And bears aloft his ample shield in air; Within whose orb the thick bull-hides were roll"d, Ponderous with bra.s.s, and bound with ductile gold: And while two pointed javelins arm his hands, Majestic moves along, and leads his Lycian bands.