He faid; Saturnia, ardent to obey,
Lash'd her white fteeds along th' aërial way.
Swift down the steep of heaven the chariot rolls,
Between th' expanded earth and starry poles.
Far as a shepherd, from fome point on high,
O'er the wide main extends his boundless eye;
Through fuch a space of air, with thundering found,
At every leap th' immortal courfers bound:
Troy now they reach'd, and touch'd those banks divine Where filver Simoïs and Scamander join.
There Juno stopp'd, (and her fair steeds unloos’d)
Of air condens'd a vapour circumfus'd:
For thefe, impregnate with celestial dew
On Simoïs' brink ambrofial herbage grew.
Thence to relieve the fainting Argive throng,
Smooth as the failing doves, they glide along.
The best and braveft of the Grecian band
(A warlike circle) round Tydides stand :
Such was their look as lions bath'd in blood,
Or foaming boars, the terrour of the wood.
Heaven's empress mingles with the mortal croud,
And shouts, in Stentor's founding voice, aloud :
Stentor the strong, endued with brazen lungs,
Whose throat furpafs'd the force of fifty tongues.
Inglorious Argives! to your race a shame,
And only men in figure and in name!
Once from the walls your timorous foes engag'd,
While fierce in war divine Achilles rag'd;
Now iffuing fearless they poffefs the plain,
Now win the shores, and fcarce the feas remain.
Her fpeech new fury to their hearts convey'd';
While near Tydides ftood th' Athenian maid;
The king beside his panting steeds she found,
O'erfpent with toil, repofing on the ground:
To cool his glowing wound he fat apart
(The wound inflicted by the Lycian dart);
Large drops of sweat from all his limbs defcend;
Beneath his ponderous shield his finews bend,
Whofe ample belt, that o'er his shoulders lay,
He eas'd, and wash'd the clotted gore away.
The Goddess leaning o'er the bending yoke,
Befide his courfers, thus her filence broke:
Degenerate prince! and not of Tydeus' kind,
Whose little body lodg'd a mighty mind;
Foremost he prefs'd in glorious toils to share,
And scarce refrain'd when I forbade the war.
Alone, unguarded, once he dar'd to go
And feast, encircled by the Theban foe;
There bray'd, and vanquish'd, many a hardy knight;
Such nerves I gave him, and fuch force in fight. 1005
Thou too no lefs haft been my conftant care;
Thy hands I arm'd, and sent thee forth to war:
But thee or fear deters, or floth detains;
No drop of all thy father warms thy veins.
The chief thus anfwer'd mild: Immortal maid!
I own thy prefence, and confefs thy aid.
Not fear, thou know'ft, withholds me from the plains, Nor floth hath feiz'd me, but thy word restrains : From warring Gods thou bad'ft me turn my spear, And Venus only found resistance here.
Hence, Goddess! heedful of thy high commands,
Loth I gave way, and warn'd our Argive bands:
For Mars, the homicide, these eyes beheld,
With flaughter red, and raging round the field.
Then thus Minerva. Brave Tydides, hear! 1020
Not Mars himself, nor aught immortal, fear..
Full on the God impel thy foaming horse :
Pallas commands, and Pallas lends thee force.
Rafh, furious, blind, from these to thofe he flies,
And
every fide of wavering combat tries;
1025
Large promife makes, and breaks the promise made;
Now gives the Grecians, now the Trojans aid.
She said, and to the fteeds approaching near,
Drew from his feat the martial charioteer,
The vigorous power the trembling car afcends, 1030 Fierce for revenge, and Diomed attends.
The groaning axle bent beneath the load;
So great a Hero, and fo great a God.
She fnatch'd the reins, the lath'd with all her force,
And full on Mars impell'd the foaming horse:
But first to hide her heavenly visage spread
Black Orcus' helmet o'er her radiant head.
Juft then gigantic Periphas lay flain,
The ftrongest warriour of th' Ætolian train;
The God, who flew him, leaves his proftrate prize
Stretch'd where he fell, and at Tydides flies.
Now, rushing fierce, in equal arms appear,
The daring Greek; the dreadful God of war !
Full at the chief, above his courfer's head,
From Mars's arm th' enormous weapon fled :
Pallas oppos'd her hand, and caus'd to glance,
Far from the car, the ftrong immortal lance.
Then threw the force of Tydeus' warlike fon;
The javelin hiss'd; the Goddefs urg'd it on :
Where the broad cincture girt his armour round, 1050
It pierc'd the God: his groin receiv'd the wound.
From the rent fkin the warriour tugs again
The fmoaking steel. Mars bellows with the pain:
Loud as the roar encountering armies yield,
When fhouting millions shake the thundering field.
Both armies ftart, and trembling gaze around;
And earth and heaven rebellow to the found.
As vapours blown by Aufter's fultry breath,
Pregnant with plagues, and shedding feeds of death,
Beneath the rage of burning Sirius rise,
1060
Choke the parch'd earth, and blacken all the skies;
In fuch a cloud the God from combat driven,
High o'er the dufty whirlwind fcales the heaven.
Wild with his pain, he fought the bright abodes,
There fullen fate beneath the Sire of Gods,
Show'd the celeftial blood, and with a groan
Thus pour'd his plaints before th' immortal throne:
Can Jove, fupine, flagitious facts furvey,
And brook the furies of this daring day?
For mortal men celeftial powers engage,
And Gods on Gods exert eternal rage.
From thee, O father! all thefe ills we bear,
And thy fell daughter with the fhield and fpear:
Thou gav'ft that fury to the realms of light,
Pernicious, wild, regardless of the right.
All heaven befide reveres thy fovereign fway,
Thy voice we hear, and thy behests obey:
'Tis hers t' offend, and ev'n offending share
Thy breast, thy counfels, thy distinguish'd care :
So boundless fhe, and thou fo partial grown,
Well may we deem the wondrous birth thy own.
Now frantic Diomed, at her command,
Against th' Immortals lifts his raging hand:
The heavenly Venus first his fury found,
Me next encountering, me he dar'd to wound; 1085
Vanquish'd I fled: ev'n I the God of fight,
From mortal madness fcarce was fav'd by flight.
Elfe hadft thou feen me fink on yonder plain,
Heap'd round, and heaving under loads of flain!
Or, pierc'd with Grecian darts, for ages lie,
Condemn'd to pain, though fated not to die.
Him thus upbraiding, with a wrathful look
The Lord of thunders view'd, and stern bespoke :
To me, perfidious! this lamenting strain ?
Of lawless force fhall lawless Mars complain?
Of all the Gods who tread the spangled skies,
Thou moft unjust, most odious in our eyes!
Inhuman difcord is thy dire delight,
The waste of flaughter, and the rage of fight.
No bound, no law, thy fiery temper quells,
And all thy mother in thy soul rebels.
In vain our threats, in vain our power we ufe;
She gives th' example, and her fon pursues.
Yet long th' inflicted pangs thou shalt not mourn,
Sprung fince thou art from Jove, and heavenly born.
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