When now Minerva saw her Argives flain, From vaft Olympus to the gleaming plain Fierce the defcends: Apollo mark'd her flight, Nor fhot lefs fwift from Ilion's towery height: Radiant they met, beneath the beechen fhade; When thus Apollo to the Blue-ey'd Maid :
What cause, O Daughter of almighty Jove! Thus wings thy progress from the realms above?
Once more impetuous doft thou bend thy way,
To give to Greece the long-divided day?
Too much has Troy already felt thy hate,
Now breathe thy rage, and hufh the ftern debate:
This day, the business of the field fufpend;
War foon fhall kindle, and great Ilion bend:
Since vengeful Goddeffes confederate join
To raze her walls, though built by hands divine..
To whom the Progeny of Jove replies :
I left, for this, the council of the skies:
But who fhall bid conflicting hofsts forbear,
What art fhall calm the furious fons of war?
To her the God: Great Hector's foul incite
To dare the boldest Greek to single fight,
Till Greece, provok'd from all her numbers show,
A warriour worthy to be Hector's foe.
At this agreed, the heavenly powers withdrew;
Sage Helenus their fecret counfels knew:
Hector, infpir'd, he fought: fo him addreft,
Thus told the dictates of his facred breast:
O fon of Priam! let thy faithful ear
Receive my words; thy friend and brother hear!
Go forth perfuafive, and a while engage
The warring nations to fufpend their rage;
Then dare the boldeft of the hostile train
To mortal combat on the listed plain.
For not this day fhall end thy glorious date,
The Gods have spoke it, and their voice is fate.
He said: the warriour heard the word with joy;
Then with his spear restrain'd the youth of Troy,
Held by the midft athwart. On either hand
The fquadrons part; th' expecting Trojans stand :
Great Agamemnon bids the Greeks forbear;
They breathe, and hush the tumult of the war.
Th' Athenian Maid and glorious God of day
With filent joy the settling hosts survey :
In form of vultures, on the beech's height
They fit conceal'd, and wait the future fight.
The thronging troops obfcure the dusky fields, Horrid with briftling fpears, and gleaming fhields. 70 As when a general darkness veils the main,
(Soft Zephyr curling the wide watery plain)
The waves fcarce heave, the face of ocean fleeps,
And a ftill horrour faddens all the deeps:
Thus in thick orders fettling wide around,
At length compos'd they fit, and shake the ground.
Great Hector firft amidst both armies broke
The folemn filence, and their powers bespoke :
Hear, all ye Trojan, all ye Grecian bands,
What my foul prompts, and what fome God commands:
Great Jove, averfe our warfare to compofe,
O'erwhelms the nations with new toils and woes ;
War with a fiercer tide once more returns,
Till Ilion falls, or till yon navy burns.
You then, O princes of the Greeks! appear;
'Tis Hector speaks, and calls the Gods to hear:
From all your troops felect the boldest knight,
And him, the boldeft, Hector dares to fight.
Here if I fall, by chance of battle flain,
Be his my spoil, and his these arms remain;
But let my body, to my friends return'd,
By Trojan hands and Trojan flames be burn'd.
And if Apollo, in whofe aid I trust,
Shall stretch your daring champion in the dust:
If mine the glory to defpoil the foe;
On Phoebus' temple I'll his arms bestow;
The breathlefs carcass to your navy fent,
Greece on the fhore fhall raise a monument;
Which when fome future mariner surveys,
Wash'd by broad Hellefpont's refounding feas,
Thus fhall he say, " A valiant Greek lies there,
"By Hector flain, the mighty man of war."
The stone shall tell your vanquish'd hero's name,
And diftant ages learn the victor's fame.
This fierce defiance Greece aftonish'd heard,
Blush'd to refufe, and to accept it fear'd.
Stern Menelaus firft the filence broke,
And, inly groaning, thus opprobrious spoke:
Women of Greece! Oh fcandal of your race,
Whofe coward fouls your manly form difgrace!
How great the fhame, when every age shall know
That not a Grecian met this noble for !
Go then, refolve to earth, from whence ye grow,
A heartless, fpiritless, inglorious crew!
Be what ye feem, unanimated clay !
Myself will dare the danger of the day.
'Tis man's bold task the generous ftrife to try, But in the hands of God is victory.
Thefe words fcarce fpoke, with generous ardour preft,
His manly limbs in azure arms he dreft:
That day, Atrides! a fuperior hand
Had ftretch'd thee breathless on the hostile strand,
But all at once, thy fury to compose,
The kings of Greece, an awful band, arose:
Ev'n he their chief, great Agameinnon, prefs'd
Thy daring hand, and this advice address'd:
Whither, O Menelaüs! would'st thou run,
And tempt a fate, which prudence bids thee shun?
Griev'd though thou art, forbear the rash design;
Great Hector's arm is mightier far than thine..
Ev'n fierce Achilles learn'd its force to fear,
And trembling met this dreadful fon of war.
Sit thou fecure amidst thy social band;
Greece in our caufe fhall arm fome powerful hand.
The mightiest warriour of th' Achaian name,
Though bold, and burning with defire of feme,
Content, the doubtful honour might forego,
So great the danger, and so brave the foe.
He said, and turn'd his brother's vengeful mind; He ftoop'd to reason, and his rage refign'd, No longer bent to rush on certain harms ; His joyful friends unbrace his azure arms.
He, from whofe lips divine perfuafion flows,
Grave Neftor, then, in graceful act arose.
Thus to the kings he spoke: What grief, what shame,
Attend on Greece, and all the Grecian name !
How fhall, alas! her hoary herces mourn
Their fons degenerate, and their race a scorn?
What tears fhall down thy filver beard be roll'd,
Oh Peleus, old in arms, in wisdom old !
Once with what joy the generous prince would hear
Of every chief who fought this glorious war;
Participate their fame, and pleas'd enquire
Each name, each action, and each hero's fire!
Gods! fhould he fee our warriours trembling ftand,
And trembling all before one hostile hand;
How would he lift his aged arms on high,
Lament inglorious Greece, and beg to die!
Oh! would to all th' immortal powers above,
Minerva, Phoebus, and almighty Jove!
Years might again roll back, my youth renew,
And give this arm the spring which once it knew:
When, fierce in war, where Jardan's waters fall
I led my troops to Phea's trembling wall,
And with th' Arcadian fpears my prowefs try'd, 165
Where Celadon rolls down his rapid tide.
There Ereuthalion brav'd us in the field,
Proud, Areïthous' dreadful arms to wield;
Great Areïthous, known from flore to shore
By the huge, knotted, iron mace he bore;
No lance he shook, nor bent the twanging bow,
But broke, with this, the battle of the foe.
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