The Iliad Part 38

So press'd with hunger, from the mountain's brow Descends a lion on the flocks below; So stalks the lordly savage o'er the plain, In sullen majesty, and stern disdain: In vain loud mastiffs bay him from afar, And shepherds gall him with an iron war; Regardless, furious, he pursues his way; He foams, he roars, he rends the panting prey.

Resolved alike, divine Sarpedon glows With generous rage that drives him on the foes.

He views the towers, and meditates their fall, To sure destruction dooms the aspiring wall; Then casting on his friend an ardent look, Fired with the thirst of glory, thus he spoke:

"Why boast we, Glaucus! our extended reign,(226) Where Xanthus' streams enrich the Lycian plain, Our numerous herds that range the fruitful field, And hills where vines their purple harvest yield, Our foaming bowls with purer nectar crown'd, Our feasts enhanced with music's sprightly sound?

Why on those sh.o.r.es are we with joy survey'd, Admired as heroes, and as G.o.ds obey'd, Unless great acts superior merit prove, And vindicate the bounteous powers above?

'Tis ours, the dignity they give to grace; The first in valour, as the first in place; That when with wondering eyes our martial bands Behold our deeds transcending our commands, Such, they may cry, deserve the sovereign state, Whom those that envy dare not imitate!

Could all our care elude the gloomy grave, Which claims no less the fearful and the brave, For l.u.s.t of fame I should not vainly dare In fighting fields, nor urge thy soul to war.

But since, alas! ign.o.ble age must come, Disease, and death's inexorable doom The life, which others pay, let us bestow, And give to fame what we to nature owe; Brave though we fall, and honour'd if we live, Or let us glory gain, or glory give!"

He said; his words the listening chief inspire With equal warmth, and rouse the warrior's fire; The troops pursue their leaders with delight, Rush to the foe, and claim the promised fight.

Menestheus from on high the storm beheld Threatening the fort, and blackening in the field: Around the walls he gazed, to view from far What aid appear'd to avert the approaching war, And saw where Teucer with the Ajaces stood, Of fight insatiate, prodigal of blood.

In vain he calls; the din of helms and shields Rings to the skies, and echoes through the fields, The brazen hinges fly, the walls resound, Heaven trembles, roar the mountains, thunders all the ground Then thus to Thoos: "Hence with speed (he said), And urge the bold Ajaces to our aid; Their strength, united, best may help to bear The b.l.o.o.d.y labours of the doubtful war: Hither the Lycian princes bend their course, The best and bravest of the hostile force.

But if too fiercely there the foes contend, Let Telamon, at least, our towers defend, And Teucer haste with his unerring bow To share the danger, and repel the foe."

Swift, at the word, the herald speeds along The lofty ramparts, through the martial throng, And finds the heroes bathed in sweat and gore, Opposed in combat on the dusty sh.o.r.e.

"Ye valiant leaders of our warlike bands!

Your aid (said Thoos) Peteus' son demands; Your strength, united, best may help to bear The b.l.o.o.d.y labours of the doubtful war: Thither the Lycian princes bend their course, The best and bravest of the hostile force.

But if too fiercely, here, the foes contend, At least, let Telamon those towers defend, And Teucer haste with his unerring bow To share the danger, and repel the foe."

Straight to the fort great Ajax turn'd his care, And thus bespoke his brothers of the war: "Now, valiant Lycomede! exert your might, And, brave Oileus, prove your force in fight; To you I trust the fortune of the field, Till by this arm the foe shall be repell'd: That done, expect me to complete the day Then with his sevenfold shield he strode away.

With equal steps bold Teucer press'd the sh.o.r.e, Whose fatal bow the strong Pandion bore.

High on the walls appear'd the Lycian powers, Like some black tempest gathering round the towers: The Greeks, oppress'd, their utmost force unite, Prepared to labour in the unequal fight: The war renews, mix'd shouts and groans arise; Tumultuous clamour mounts, and thickens in the skies.

Fierce Ajax first the advancing host invades, And sends the brave Epicles to the shades, Sarpedon's friend. Across the warrior's way, Rent from the walls, a rocky fragment lay; In modern ages not the strongest swain Could heave the unwieldy burden from the plain: He poised, and swung it round; then toss'd on high, It flew with force, and labour'd up the sky; Full on the Lycian's helmet thundering down, The ponderous ruin crush'd his batter'd crown.

As skilful divers from some airy steep Headlong descend, and shoot into the deep, So falls Epicles; then in groans expires, And murmuring to the shades the soul retires.

While to the ramparts daring Glaucus drew, From Teucer's hand a winged arrow flew; The bearded shaft the destined pa.s.sage found, And on his naked arm inflicts a wound.

The chief, who fear'd some foe's insulting boast Might stop the progress of his warlike host, Conceal'd the wound, and, leaping from his height Retired reluctant from the unfinish'd fight.

Divine Sarpedon with regret beheld Disabled Glaucus slowly quit the field; His beating breast with generous ardour glows, He springs to fight, and flies upon the foes.

Alcmaon first was doom'd his force to feel; Deep in his breast he plunged the pointed steel; Then from the yawning wound with fury tore The spear, pursued by gushing streams of gore: Down sinks the warrior with a thundering sound, His brazen armour rings against the ground.

Swift to the battlement the victor flies, Tugs with full force, and every nerve applies: It shakes; the ponderous stones disjointed yield; The rolling ruins smoke along the field.

A mighty breach appears; the walls lie bare; And, like a deluge, rushes in the war.

At once bold Teucer draws the tw.a.n.ging bow, And Ajax sends his javelin at the foe; Fix'd in his belt the feather'd weapon stood, And through his buckler drove the trembling wood; But Jove was present in the dire debate, To shield his offspring, and avert his fate.

The prince gave back, not meditating flight, But urging vengeance, and severer fight; Then raised with hope, and fired with glory's charms, His fainting squadrons to new fury warms.

"O where, ye Lycians, is the strength you boast?

Your former fame and ancient virtue lost!

The breach lies open, but your chief in vain Attempts alone the guarded pa.s.s to gain: Unite, and soon that hostile fleet shall fall: The force of powerful union conquers all."

This just rebuke inflamed the Lycian crew; They join, they thicken, and the a.s.sault renew: Unmoved the embodied Greeks their fury dare, And fix'd support the weight of all the war; Nor could the Greeks repel the Lycian powers, Nor the bold Lycians force the Grecian towers.

As on the confines of adjoining grounds, Two stubborn swains with blows dispute their bounds; They tug, they sweat; but neither gain, nor yield, One foot, one inch, of the contended field; Thus obstinate to death, they fight, they fall; Nor these can keep, nor those can win the wall.

Their manly b.r.e.a.s.t.s are pierced with many a wound, Loud strokes are heard, and rattling arms resound; The copious slaughter covers all the sh.o.r.e, And the high ramparts drip with human gore.

As when two scales are charged with doubtful loads, From side to side the trembling balance nods, (While some laborious matron, just and poor, With nice exactness weighs her woolly store,) Till poised aloft, the resting beam suspends Each equal weight; nor this, nor that, descends:(227) So stood the war, till Hector's matchless might, With fates prevailing, turn'd the scale of fight.

Fierce as a whirlwind up the walls he flies, And fires his host with loud repeated cries.

"Advance, ye Trojans! lend your valiant hands, Haste to the fleet, and toss the blazing brands!"

They hear, they run; and, gathering at his call, Raise scaling engines, and ascend the wall: Around the works a wood of glittering spears Shoots up, and all the rising host appears.

A ponderous stone bold Hector heaved to throw, Pointed above, and rough and gross below: Not two strong men the enormous weight could raise, Such men as live in these degenerate days: Yet this, as easy as a swain could bear The snowy fleece, he toss'd, and shook in air; For Jove upheld, and lighten'd of its load The unwieldy rock, the labour of a G.o.d.

Thus arm'd, before the folded gates he came, Of ma.s.sy substance, and stupendous frame; With iron bars and brazen hinges strong, On lofty beams of solid timber hung: Then thundering through the planks with forceful sway, Drives the sharp rock; the solid beams give way, The folds are shatter'd; from the crackling door Leap the resounding bars, the flying hinges roar.

Now rushing in, the furious chief appears, Gloomy as night! and shakes two shining spears:(228) A dreadful gleam from his bright armour came, And from his eye-b.a.l.l.s flash'd the living flame.

He moves a G.o.d, resistless in his course, And seems a match for more than mortal force.

Then pouring after, through the gaping s.p.a.ce, A tide of Trojans flows, and fills the place; The Greeks behold, they tremble, and they fly; The sh.o.r.e is heap'd with death, and tumult rends the sky.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GREEK ALTAR.]

GREEK ALTAR.

BOOK XIII.

ARGUMENT.

THE FOURTH BATTLE CONTINUED, IN WHICH NEPTUNE a.s.sISTS THE GREEKS: THE ACTS OF IDOMENEUS.

Neptune, concerned for the loss of the Grecians, upon seeing the fortification forced by Hector, (who had entered the gate near the station of the Ajaces,) a.s.sumes the shape of Calchas, and inspires those heroes to oppose him: then, in the form of one of the generals, encourages the other Greeks who had retired to their vessels. The Ajaces form their troops in a close phalanx, and put a stop to Hector and the Trojans. Several deeds of valour are performed; Meriones, losing his spear in the encounter, repairs to seek another at the tent of Idomeneus: this occasions a conversation between those two warriors, who return together to the battle. Idomeneus signalizes his courage above the rest; he kills Othryoneus, Asius, and Alcathous: Deiphobus and aeneas march against him, and at length Idomeneus retires. Menelaus wounds Helenus, and kills Pisander. The Trojans are repulsed on the left wing; Hector still keeps his ground against the Ajaces, till, being galled by the Locrian slingers and archers, Polydamas advises to call a council of war: Hector approves of his advice, but goes first to rally the Trojans; upbraids Paris, rejoins Polydamas, meets Ajax again, and renews the attack.

The eight-and-twentieth day still continues. The scene is between the Grecian wall and the sea-sh.o.r.e.

When now the Thunderer on the sea-beat coast Had fix'd great Hector and his conquering host, He left them to the fates, in b.l.o.o.d.y fray To toil and struggle through the well-fought day.

Then turn'd to Thracia from the field of fight Those eyes that shed insufferable light, To where the Mysians prove their martial force, And hardy Thracians tame the savage horse; And where the far-famed Hippomolgian strays, Renown'd for justice and for length of days;(229) Thrice happy race! that, innocent of blood, From milk, innoxious, seek their simple food: Jove sees delighted; and avoids the scene Of guilty Troy, of arms, and dying men: No aid, he deems, to either host is given, While his high law suspends the powers of Heaven.

Meantime the monarch of the watery main Observed the Thunderer, nor observed in vain.

In Samothracia, on a mountain's brow, Whose waving woods o'erhung the deeps below, He sat; and round him cast his azure eyes Where Ida's misty tops confusedly rise; Below, fair Ilion's glittering spires were seen; The crowded ships and sable seas between.

There, from the crystal chambers of the main Emerged, he sat, and mourn'd his Argives slain.

At Jove incensed, with grief and fury stung, p.r.o.ne down the rocky steep he rush'd along; Fierce as he pa.s.s'd, the lofty mountains nod, The forest shakes; earth trembled as he trod, And felt the footsteps of the immortal G.o.d.

From realm to realm three ample strides he took, And, at the fourth, the distant aegae shook.

Far in the bay his shining palace stands, Eternal frame! not raised by mortal hands: This having reach'd, his bra.s.s-hoof'd steeds he reins, Fleet as the winds, and deck'd with golden manes.

Refulgent arms his mighty limbs infold, Immortal arms of adamant and gold.

He mounts the car, the golden scourge applies, He sits superior, and the chariot flies: His whirling wheels the gla.s.sy surface sweep; The enormous monsters rolling o'er the deep Gambol around him on the watery way, And heavy whales in awkward measures play; The sea subsiding spreads a level plain, Exults, and owns the monarch of the main; The parting waves before his coursers fly; The wondering waters leave his axle dry.

Deep in the liquid regions lies a cave, Between where Tenedos the surges lave, And rocky Imbrus breaks the rolling wave: There the great ruler of the azure round Stopp'd his swift chariot, and his steeds unbound, Fed with ambrosial herbage from his hand, And link'd their fetlocks with a golden band, Infrangible, immortal: there they stay: The father of the floods pursues his way: Where, like a tempest, darkening heaven around, Or fiery deluge that devours the ground, The impatient Trojans, in a gloomy throng, Embattled roll'd, as Hector rush'd along: To the loud tumult and the barbarous cry The heavens re-echo, and the sh.o.r.es reply: They vow destruction to the Grecian name, And in their hopes the fleets already flame.

But Neptune, rising from the seas profound, The G.o.d whose earthquakes rock the solid ground, Now wears a mortal form; like Calchas seen, Such his loud voice, and such his manly mien; His shouts incessant every Greek inspire, But most the Ajaces, adding fire to fire.

[Ill.u.s.tration: NEPTUNE RISING FROM THE SEA.]

NEPTUNE RISING FROM THE SEA.

"'Tis yours, O warriors, all our hopes to raise: Oh recollect your ancient worth and praise!

'Tis yours to save us, if you cease to fear; Flight, more than shameful, is destructive here.

On other works though Troy with fury fall, And pour her armies o'er our batter'd wall: There Greece has strength: but this, this part o'erthrown, Her strength were vain; I dread for you alone: Here Hector rages like the force of fire, Vaunts of his G.o.ds, and calls high Jove his sire: If yet some heavenly power your breast excite, Breathe in your hearts, and string your arms to fight, Greece yet may live, her threaten'd fleet maintain: And Hector's force, and Jove's own aid, be vain."