Our common safety must be now the care;
But soon as morning paints the fields of air,
Sheath'd in bright arms let every troop engage,
And the fir'd fleet behold the battle rage,
Then, then shall Hector and Tydides prove,
Whose fates are heaviest in the scales of Joye:
Tomorrow's light (oh haste the glorious morn!)..
Shall see his bloody spoils in triumph borne;
With this keen javelin shall his breast be gor'd,
And prostrate heroes bleed around their lord.
Certain as this, oh! might my days endure,
From age inglorious, and black death secure ;
So might my life and glory know no bound,
Like Pallas worshipp'd, like the Sun renown'd!
As the next dawn, the last they shall enjoy,
Shall crush the Greeks, and end the woes of Troy."
The leader spoke. From all his host around
Shouts of applause along the shores resound.
Each from the yoke the smoking steeds unty'd,
And fix'd their headstalls to his chariot side.
Fat sheep and oxen from the town are led,
With generous wine, and all-sustaining bread.
Full hecatombs lay burning on the shore;
The winds to Heaven the curling vapours bore.
Ungrateful offering to th' immortal powers!
Whose wrath hung heavy o'er the Trojan towers;
Nor Priam nor his sons obtain'd their grace:
Proud Troy they hated, and her guilty race.
The troops exulting sat in order round,
And beaming fires illumin'd all the ground;
As when the Moon, refulgent lamp of night!
O'er Heaven's clear azure spreads her sacred light,
When not a breath disturbs the deep screne,
And not a cloud o'ercasts the solemn scene;
Around her throne the vivid planets roll,
And stars unnumber'd gild the glowing pole;
O'er the dark trees a yellower verdure shed,
And tip with silver every mountain's head;
Then shine the vales, the rocks in prospect rise,
A flood of glory bursts from all the skies:
The conscious swains, rejoicing in the sight,
Eye the blue vault, and bless the useful light:
So many flames before proud Ilion blaze,
And lighten glimmering Xanthus with their rays:
The long reflections of the distant fires
Gleam on the walls, and tremble on the spires.
A thousand piles the dusky horrours gild,
And shoot a shady lustre o'er the field.
Full fifty guards each flaming pile attend,
Whose umber'd arms, by fits, thick flashes send;
Loud neigh the coursers o'er their heaps of corn;
And ardent warriors wait the rising morn.

THE ILIAD.

BOOK IX.

ARGUMENT.

THE EMBASSY TO ACHILLES.

AGAMEMNON, after the last day's defeat, proposes to the Greeks to quit the siege, and return to their country. Diomed opposes this; and Nestor seconds him, praising his wisdom and resolution:

he orders the guard to be strengthened, and a council summoned to deliberate what measures are to be followed in this emergency. Agamemnon pursues this advice: and Nestor farther prevails upon him to send ambassadors to Achilles, in order to move him to a reconciliation. Ulysses and Ajax are made choice of, who are accompanied by old Phoenix. They make, each of them, very moving and pressing speeches; but are rejected, with roughness, by Achilles, who, notwithstanding, retains Phoenix in his tent. The ambassadors return unsuccessfully to the camp; and the troops betake themselves to sleep. This book, and the next following, take up the space of one night, which is the twenty-seventh from the beginning of the poem. The scene lies on the sea-shore, the station of the Grecian ships.

THUS joyful Troy maintain'd the watch of night;
While fear, pale comrade of inglorious flight,
And heaven-bred horrour, on the Grecian part,
Sat on each face, and sadden'd every heart.
As, from its cloudy dungeon issuing forth,
A double tempest of the west and north
Swells o'er the sea, from Thracia's frozen shore,
Heaps waves on waves, and bids the gean roar;
This way and that, the boiling docps are tost;
Such various passions urge the troubled host.
Great Agamemnon griev'd above the rest;
Superior sorrows swell'd his royal breast;
Himself his orders to the heralds bears,
To bid to council all the Grecian peers;
But bid in, whispers: these surround the chief,
In solemn sadness, and majestic grief.
The king amidst the mournful circle rose;
Down his wan cheek a briny torrent flows:
So silent fountains, from a rock's tall head, -
In sable streams soft-trickling waters shed.
With more than vulgar grief he stood opprest,
Words, mix'd with sighs, thus bursting from his
breast:

"Ye sons of Greece! partake your leader's care;
Fellows in arms, and princes of the war!
Of partial Jove too justly we complain,
And heavenly oracles believ'd in vain.
A safe return was promis'd to our toils,
With conquest honour'd, and enrich'd with spoils:
Now shameful flight alone can save the host;
Our wealth, our people, and our glory lost.
So Jove decrees. Almighty lord of all!
Jove, at whose nod whole empires rise or fall,
Who shakes the feeble props of human trust,
And towers and armies humbles to the dust.
Haste then, for ever quit these fatal fields,
Haste to the joys our native country yields;
Spread all your canvass, all your oars employ ;
Nor hope the fall of heaven-defended Troy."

He said; deep silence held the Grecian band, Silent, unmov'd, in dire dismay they stand, A pensive scene! till Tydeus' warlike son Roll'd on the king his eyes, and thus begun: "When kings advise us to renounce our fame, First let him speak, who first has suffer'd shame. If I oppose thee, prince, thy wrath withhold, The laws of council bid my tongue be bold. Thou first, and thou alone, in fields of fight, Durst brand my courage, and defame my might:

Nor from a friend th' unkind reproach appear'd, The Greeks stood witness, all our army heard. The gods, O chief! from whom our honours spring, The gods have made thee but by halves a king. They gave thee sceptres, and a wide command, They gave dominion o'er the seas and land; The noblest power that might the world control They gave thee not-a brave and virtuous soul. Is this a general's voice, that would suggest Fears like his own to every Grecian breast? Confiding in our want of worth, he stands; And if we fly, 'tis what our king commands. Go thou, inglorious! from th' embattled plain; Ships thou hast store, and nearest to the main; A nobler care the Grecians shall employ, To combat, conquer, and extirpate Troy. Here Greece shall stay; or, if all Greece retire, Myself will stay, till Troy or I expire; Myself and Sthenelus will fight for fame; God bade us fight, and 'twas with God we came." He ceas'd; the Greeks loud acclamations raise, And voice to voice resounds Tydides' praise. Wise Nestor then his reverend figure rear'd; He spoke; the host in still attention heard : "O truly great! in whom the gods have join'd Such strength of body with such force of mind; In conduct, as in courage, you excel, Still first to act what you advise so well. Those wholesome counsels which thy wisdom moves, Applauding Greece, with common voice, approves. Kings thou canst blame: a bold, but prudent youth; And blame ev'n kings with praise, because with

truth.

And yet those years that since thy birth have run,
Would hardly style thee Nestor's youngest son.
Then let me add what yet remains behind,
A thought unfinish'd in that generous mind;
Age bids me speak; nor shall th' advice I bring
Distaste the people, or offend the king:
"Curs'd is the man, and void of law and right,
Unworthy property, unworthy light,
Unfit for public rule, or private care;

That wretch, that monster, who delights in war:
Whose lust is murder, and whose horrid joy,
To tear his country, and his kind destroy!
This night, refresh and fortify thy train;
Between the trench and wall let guards remain:
Be that the duty of the young and bold;
But thou, O king! to council call the old:
Great is thy sway, and weighty are thy cares;
Thy high commands must spirit all our wars.
With Thracian wines recruit thy honour'd guests,
For happy counsels flow from sober feasts.
Wise, weighty counsels, aid a state distrest,
And such a monarch as can choose the best.
See! what a blaze from hostile tents aspires,
How near our fleet approach the Trojan fires!
Who can, unmov'd, behold the dreadful light?
What eye beholds them, and can close to night?
This dreadful interval determines all;
Tomorrow, Troy must flame, or Greece must

fall."

Thus spoke the hoary sage: the rest obey; Swift through the gates the guards direct their way. His son was first to pass the lofty mound, The generous Thrasymed, in arms renown'd: Next him, Ascalaphus, lälmen, stood, The double offspring of the warrior god. Deipyrus, Apharius, Merion, join, And Lycomed, of Creon's noble line.

Seven were the leaders of the nightly bands;
And each bold chief a hundred spears commands.
The fires they light, to short repasts they fall;
Some line the trench, and others man the wall.
The king of men, on public counsels bent,
Conven'd the princes in his ample tent;
Each seiz'd a portion of the kingly feast,
But staid his hand when thirst and hunger ceas'd.
Then Nestor spoke, for wisdom long approv'd,
And, slowly rising, thus the council mov'd:

"Monarch of nations! whose superior sway
Assembled states and lords of Earth obey,
The laws and sceptres to thy hand are given,
And millions own the care of thee and Heaven.
O king the counsels of my age attend;
With thee my cares begin, in thee must end;
Thee, prince! it fits alike to speak and hear,
Pronounce with judgment, with regard give ear,
To see no wholesome motion be withstood,
And ratify the best for public good.

Nor, though a meaner give advice, repine,
But follow it, and make the wisdom thine.
Hear then a thought, not now conceiv'd in haste,
At once my present judgment, and my past :
When from Pelides' tent you fore'd the maid,
I first oppos'd, and faithful durst dissuade;
But bold of soul, when headlong fury fir'd,
You wrong'd the man, by men and gods admir'd:
Now seek some means his fatal wrath to end,
With prayers to move him, or with gifts to bend."
To whom the king: "With justice hast thou
A prince's faults, and I with reason own. [shown
That happy man, whom Jove still honours most,
Is more than armies, and himself an host.
Blest in his love, this wond'rous hero stands;
Heaven fights his war, and humbles all our bands,
Fain would my heart, which err'd thro' frantic rage,
The wrathful chief and angry gods assuage.
If gifts immense his mighty soul can bow,
Hear, all ye Greeks, and witness what I vow:
Ten weighty talents of the purest gold,
And twice ten vases of refulgent mould;
Seven sacred tripods, whose unsully'd frame
Yet knows no office, nor has felt the flame;
Twelve steeds unmatch'd in fleetness and in force,
And still victorious in the dusty course;
(Rich were the man whose ample stores exceed
The prizes purchas'd by their winged speed).
Seven lovely captives of the Lesbian line,
Skif'd in each art, unmatch'd, in form divine;
The same 1 chose for more than vulgar charms,
When Lesbos sunk beneath the hero's arms:
All these, to buy his friendship, shall be paid,
And, join'd with these, the long-contested maid;
With all her charms, Briseis I resign,
And solemu swear those charms were never mine:
Untouch'd she stay'd, uninjur'd she removes,
Pure from my arms, and guiltless of my loves.
These, instant, shall be his; and if the powers
Give to our arms proud Ilion's hostile towers,
Then shall be store (when Greece the spoil divides)
With gold and brass his loaded navy's sides.
Besides, full twenty nymphs, of Trojan race,
With copious love shall crown his warm embrace;
Such as himself will choose who yield to none,
Or yield to Helen's heavenly charms alone.
Yet hear me farther: when our wars are o'er,
If safe we land on Argos' fruitful shore,
There shall he live my son, our honours share,
And with Orestes' self divide my care.

Yet more-three daughters in my court are bred,
And each well worthy of a royal bed;
Laodicè and Iphigenia fair,

And bright Chrysothemis with golden hair;

Her let him choose, whom most his eyes approve;
I ask no presents, no reward, for love:
Myself will give the dower; so vast a store
As never father gave a child before.
Seven ample cities shall confess his sway,
Him Enopè, and Pheræ him obey,
Cardamyle with ample turrets crown'd,
And sacred Pedasus for vines renown'd;
Æpea fair, the pastures Hira yields,
And rich Antheia with her flowery fields:
The whole extent to Pylos' sandy plain,
Along the verdant margin of the main.
There heifers graze, and labouring oxen toil;
Bold are the men, and generous is the soil;
There shall he reign with power and justice crown'd,
And rule the tributary realms around.
All this I give, his vengeance to control,
And sure all this may move his mighty soul.
Pluto, the grisly god, who never spares,
Who feels no mercy, and who hears no prayers,"
Lives dark and dreadful in deep liell's abodes,
And mortals hate him, as t! worst of gods.
Great though he be, it fits him to obey;
Since more than his my years, and more my sway."
The monarch thus. The reverend Nestor then:
"Great Agamemnon! glorious king of men!
Such are thy offers as a prince may take,
And such as fits a generous king to make.
Let chosen delegates this hour be sent
(Myself will name them) to Pelides' tent:
Let Phoenix lead, rever'd for hoary age,
Great Ajax next, and Ithacus the sage.
Yet more to sanctify the word you send,
Let Hodius and Eurybates attend.

Now pray to Jove to grant what Greece demands;
Pray, in deep silence, and with purest hands."

He said, and all approv'd. The heralds bring The cleansing water from the living spring. The youth with wine the sacred goblets crown'd, And large libations drench'd the sands around. The rite perform'd, the chiefs their thirst allay, Then from the royal tent they take their way; Wise Nestor turns on each his careful eye, Forbids t' offend, instructs them to apply: Much he advis'd them all, Ulysses most, To deprecate the chief, and save the host. V Thro' the still night they march, and hear the roar Of murmuring billows on the sounding shore. To Neptune, ruler of the seas profound, Whose liquid arms the mighty globe surround, They pour forth vows, their embassy to bless, And calm the rage of stern Æacides. And now, arriv'd where on the sandy bay The Myrmidonian tents and vessels lay, Amus'd at ease, the godlike man they found Pleas'd with the solemn harp's harmonious sound: (The well-wrought harp from conquer'd Theba Of polish'd silver was its costly frame) : With this he soothes his angry soul, and sings Th' immortal deeds of heroes and of kings. Patroclus only of the royal train, Plac'd in his tent, attends the lofty strain: Full opposite he sate, aud listen'd long, In silence waiting till he ceas'd the song. Unseen the Grecian embassy proceeds To his high tent; the great Ulysses leads.

[came,

Welcome, though Greeks! for not as foes ye came; To me more dear than all that bear the name." With that, the chiefs beneath his roof he led, And plac'd in seats with purple carpets spread. Then thus-" Patroclus, crown a larger bowl, Mix purer wine, and open every soul.

Of all the warriors yonder host can send, Thy friend most honours these, and these thy friend."

He said; Patroclus o'er the blazing fire, Heaps in a brazen vase three chines entire : The brazen vase Automedon sustains, Which desh of porket, sheep, and goat, contains: Achilles at the genial feast presides, The parts transfixes, and with skill divides. Meanwhile Patroclus sweats the fire to raise; The tent is brighten'd with the rising blaze: Then, when the languid flames at length subside, He strows a bed of glowing embers wide, Above the coals the smoking fragments turns, And sprinkles sacred salt from lifted urns; With bread the glittering cannisters they load, Which round the board Menoetius' son bestow'd; Himself, oppos'd t' Ulysses full in sight, Each portion parts, and orders every rite. The first fat offerings, to th' immortals due, Amidst the greedy flames Patroclus threw; Then each, indulging in the social feast, His thirst and hunger soberly represt. That done, to Phoenix Ajax gave the sign, Not unperceiv'd; Ulysses crown'd with wine The foaming bowl, and instant thus began, His speech addressing to the godlike man:

"Health to Achilles! happy are thy guests! Not those more honour'd whom Atrides feasts: Though generous plenty crown thy loaded boards, That Agamemnon's regal tent affords; But greater cares sit heavy on our souls, Not eas'd by banquets, or by flowing bowls. What scenes of slaughter in yon fields appear! The dead we mourn, and for the living fear; Greece on the brink of fate all doubtful stands, And owns no help but from thy saving hands: Troy, and her aids, for ready vengeance call; Their threatening tents already shade our wall: Hear how with shouts their conquest they proclaim, And point at every ship their vengeful flame! For them the father of the gods declares, Theirs are his omens, and his thunder theirs. See, full of Jove, avenging Hector rise! See, Heaven and Earth the raging chief defies; What fury in his breast, what lightning in his eyes He waits but for the morn, to sink in flame The ships, the Greeks, and all the Grecian name. Heavens! how my country's woes distract my mind, Lest fate accomplish all his rage design'd. And must we, gods! our heads inglorious lay In Trojan dust, and this the fatal day? Return, Achilles! oh return, though late, To save thy Greeks, and stop the course of fate; If in that heart or grief or courage lies, Rise to redeem; ah yet, to conquer, rise! The day may come, when, all our warriors slain, That heart shall inelt, that courage rise in vain.