The Metamorphoses of Publius Ovidus Naso in English blank verse Part 26

"I, if my deeds thou seek'st, the foe betray'd "By subtilty; girt us with trenches round; "Inspirited our soldiers; made them bear, "With mind unmurmuring, all the tedious war; "Taught where to find the means to gain supplies "Of food and arms; wherever need me call'd, "There always was I sent. Lo! when the king, "From Jove's deceptive dream, gave word to quit "Th' unfinish'd war, he might the deed defend "Through him who bade. But Ajax disapproves "The flight; insists Troy shall in ruins lie, "a.s.serts our power may do it! No! our troops "Embarking, he not stay'd. Why seiz'd he not "His arms? Why somewhat to the wavering crowd "Said not, to fix? no weighty task to him "Who ne'er harangues, except on mighty themes.

"Why? but that Ajax fled himself! I saw, "But blush'd to see thee, when thy back thou turn'dst "Hasting, thy coward sails to hoist; I spoke "Instant--O fellow soldiers! whither now?

"What voice insane now urges you to leave "Already-captur'd Troy? What will you bear "Homeward, a lengthen'd ten years' shame besides?-- "With words like these back from the flying fleet "I brought them; eloquence had sorrow's aid.

"Atrides call'd the council, all with dread "Trembling were dumb; nor there dar'd Ajax gape: "But there Thersites durst with galling words "The king provoke; vengeance he met from me.

"I rose, our panic-stricken friends, once more "Rous'd 'gainst the foe: I, by my words recall'd "Departed valor. Hence, whoever boasts "Since then of valiant deeds, those deeds are mine, "Who back recall'd him, as he turn'd for flight.

"Last, tell me which of all the Greeks applauds, "Or as a comrade seeks thee. All his acts "With me Tydides shares, allows me praise: "Ulysses still his confidential friend.

"Sure from such thousands of the Argive ranks "By Diomed' selected, I may boast.

"Nor lot me bade to go, when void of fear, "Through double danger of the foe and night, "I went; and Phrygian Dolon slew, who dar'd "On our adventure come; but slew him not "Till made to utter all; the wiles betray "Perfidious Troy intended. All I learnt; "Nor ought for further search remain'd. Now I, "The camp with fame sufficient might have gain'd; "But not content, for Rhesus' tents I push; "Him, and his guard surrounding, in his camp "I slay. Victorious so, possess'd of all "My hopes design'd, the car I mount, and proud "A glad triumpher ride. Now me deny "The arms of him, whose steeds the spy had hop'd "Meed of his bold excursion. Ajax say "More worthy. Why Sarpedon's Lycian troop "Vanquish'd, should I with boastful tongue relate?

"I vanquish'd Ceranos, Iphitus' son; "Alastor, Chromius, and Alcander stout; "Halius, Noemon, Prytanis, with crowds "Slaughter'd beside. Thoon to h.e.l.l I sent, "Chersidamas, and Charops; and to fates "Unpitying, Ennomus dispatch'd: with these "Beneath yon' walls whole heaps of meaner rank "This hand has slain. And, fellow soldiers, lo!

"My wounds are honorable all in place: "Believe not empty words, yourselves behold."-- Then stript his robe, exclaiming--"Here the breast "Still for your good employ'd. No drop of blood "Has Ajax shed since first our host he join'd: "In all these years, his body still remains "Unwounded. Yet on this why should I dwell, "If he must boast, that for the Argive fleet "He fought alone 'gainst Jupiter and Troy?

"He fought, I grant it; no malignant spite "Shall move detraction from his valiant deeds.

"But let him not the common rites of more "Monopolize; let him to each allow "The honor which they claim. Patroclus, fear'd "In great Pelides' semblance, backward drove "All Troy and Troy's protector from the ships, "Then burning. Next his vanity would boast "He only in the field of Mars durst strive "With Hector; of the king, the chiefs, and me "Forgetful; in the list the ninth alone, "Solely by lot preferr'd. Yet, warrior brave, "What was the issue of this daring fight?

"Hector unwounded left you. Mournful theme!

"With what deep sorrow I the time recal, "When, bulwark of the Greeks, Achilles fell!

"Nor tears, vain lamentations, nor pale fear "Me check'd; the prostrate body from the ground "I rais'd. Upon those shoulders--yes, I swear, "These very shoulders, I Pelides bore, "With all his arms. The arms I now require.

"Strength I must have to bear with such a load: "As sure your votes will meet a grateful mind.

"Was it because the bright celestial gift "Might clothe the limbs of one without a soul, "Stupidly dull, that all her anxious care "The green-hair'd mother on her son employ'd; "Arms wrought with art so great? Knows he the least "The shield's engravings? Ocean, or the land: "The lofty sky; the planets; Pleiads bright; "Hyads; the bear, ne'er plung'd beneath the main; "Orion's glittering sword, or various towns?

"Arms he demands he cannot understand.

"But how a.s.serts he I the toils of war "Evaded; joining late the fighting host, "Nor sees he scandalizes too the fame "Of great Pelides? If indeed a crime "Dissembling must be call'd,--dissembled both.

"If faulty all delay, the first I came.

"A tender wife me kept; a tender tie, "A mother, kept Achilles. Our life's spring "To them was given, the rest reserv'd for you.

"Nor should I fear, even were this crime, I share "With such a man, of all defence deny'd.

"Yet his disguise Ulysses' cunning found: "Ajax ne'er found Ulysses. Needs surprize "To hear th' abusing of his b.o.o.by tongue, "When with like guilt he stigmatizes you?

"Shames most that I this Palamedes brought, "Falsely accus'd your sentence to receive, "Or that you doom'd him so accus'd to die?

"But Nauplius' son not ev'n defence could urge, "So plain his crime appear'd; nor did you trust "The accusation heard: obvious you saw "The bribe for which you doom'd him. Nor of blame "Deserve I ought, that Philoctetes stays "In Vulcan's Lemnos. You the deed excuse: "All to the deed a.s.sented. Yet my voice, "Persuasive, will I not deny, I us'd; "That spar'd from travel, and from war's fatigue, "In rest he might his cruel pains a.s.suage: "He lik'd my words, and lives. My counsel here "Not merely faithful (though our faith the whole "Our promise can insure) but happy prov'd.

"His presence since the seers prophetic ask "T' atchieve the fall of Troy, dispatch not me; "Ajax will better go, will better soothe "With eloquence of tongue, a man who burns "With raging choler, and with smarting pains: "Or with some stratagem him thence allure.

"But Simos' stream shall sooner backward flow; "Ida unwooded stand: Achaa aid "The Trojan power, than Ajax' stupid soul "Shall help the Greeks, when first my anxious mind "Striving to aid you, has been found to fail.

"O, stubborn Philoctetes! though enrag'd "Against thy comrades, 'gainst the king, and me; "Though thou may'st curse me, and my head devote "Through endless days; though in thy grief thou ask'st "To meet me, and to glut thee with my blood, "Still will I try thee, and if fortune smiles, "So will I gain thy arrows, as I gain'd "The Trojan prophet, whom I captive made; "As I the oracles of heaven laid ope; "And all the fate of Troy: as from its room "Close-hidden, I the form of Pallas brought, "The charm of Troy, through ranks of hostile foes.

"Mates Ajax here with me? Fate had deny'd "Of Troy the capture till that prize obtain'd.

"Where then the mighty Ajax? Where the boasts "Of this brave hero? Why this risk evade?

"Why dar'd Ulysses through the watchful guards "Steal 'mid the darkling night? and find his way, "Not merely past the Trojan walls, but high "Through raging swords their loftiest turrets scale; "Bear off the G.o.ddess from her sacred fane, "And with the prize again repa.s.s the foe?

"This deed not done, Ajax had bore in vain "On his huge arm the sevenfold oxen hide.

"From that night's deeds I Ilium's conquest share.

"Then Troy I conquer'd, when the fact was done, "Which made Troy vincible. Cease thou to mark "With looks and mutterings Diomed' my friend; "His share in all was glorious. Nor wast thou "Single, when with thy buckler thou didst guard "The general fleet; crowds aided, I was one.

"He, but he knows too well that less esteem "Valor demands than wisdom; that the prize, "A mere unconquer'd arm not justly claims, "Had also sought: thy milder namesake too; "Or fierce Eurypilus; or Thoas, son "Of bold Andraemon. Equal right to hope, "Idomeneus, Meriones, might boast, "Each Cretan born; and who the sovereign king "His brother claims; but all their valorous b.r.e.a.s.t.s "(Nor does their martial prowess stoop to thine) "Yield to my wisdom. In the fight thy arm "Is mighty; prudence boast I, which that arm "Directs. To thee a force immense is given, "Without a brain; foresight is given to me.

"Well, thou canst wage the war; the time that war "To wage, Atrides oft with me resolves.

"Thou aidest with thy body, I with mind: "And as the guider of the ship transcends "Him who but plies the oar: as soars above "The soldier, he who leads him, so must I "Thee far surpa.s.s; for far the mental powers "In me surpa.s.s the merits of my arm: "In mind my vigor lies. Ye n.o.bles, speak; "Give to your watchful guardian this reward, "For the long annual care with anxious mind "He gave you. This reward at length bestow, "To his deserts but due: his labor done.

"Th' obstructing destinies by me remov'd, "High Troy by me is captur'd; since by me "The means high Troy to overthrow are given.

"Now beg I by our hopes conjoin'd; the walls "Of Troy already tottering; by the G.o.ds "Gain'd from the foe so lately; by what more "Through wisdom may be done, if aught remains; "Or aught of boldness, which through peril sought, "Wanting, you still may deem to fill Troy's fate.

"If mindful of my merits you would rest, "The arms award to this, if not to me:"

And pointed to Minerva's fateful form.

Mov'd were the band of n.o.bles. Plainly shewn What eloquence could do:--persuasion gain'd The valiant warrior's arms. Then he who stood 'Gainst steel, and fire, and the whole force of Jove, So oft, his own vexation now o'ercame: Grief conquer'd his unconquerable soul.

He seiz'd his sword,--"And surely this"--he cry'd-- "Still is my own! or claims Ulysses this?

"Against myself this steel must now be us'd: "This stain'd so oft with Phrygian blood, be stain'd "With his who owns it; lest another hand "Than Ajax' own should Ajax overcome."-- No more; but where his breast unguarded lay, Pervious at length to wounds, his deadly blade He plung'd, nor could his hand the blade withdraw; The gushing blood expell'd it. Straight there sprung Through the green turf, form'd by the blood-soak'd earth, A purple flower, like that which sprung before From Hyacinthus' wound. Amid the leaves Of each the self-same letters are inscrib'd; The boy's complainings, and the hero's name.

Victorious Ithacus his sails unfurls, To seek the land Hypsipyle once rul'd, And Thoas fam'd. An isle of old disgrac'd By slaughter of its males, to bring the darts, The weapons of Tyrinthius. These obtain'd To Greece, and with their owner brought, at length The furious war was finish'd. Priam falls With Troy; and Priam's more unhappy spouse, To crown her losses, loses human shape; With new-heard barkings shaking foreign climes.

Where the long h.e.l.lespont's contracted bounds Are seen, Troy blaz'd: nor yet the fires were quench'd.

The scanty drops of blood Jove's altar soak'd, Which flow'd from aged Priam. By her locks Dragg'd on, Apollo's priestess vainly stretch'd To lofty heaven her arms. The victor Greeks Tear off the Trojan mothers as they clasp Their country's imag'd G.o.ds; and as they cling To flaming temples--an invidious prey.

Astyanax is from those turrets flung, Whence erst he wont to view his sire, whose arm Him guarding, and his ancestorial realm In fight, his mother shew'd. And Boreas now Departure urg'd. Swol'n by a favoring breeze The rattling canvas warn'd the sailor crew.

"O, Troy! farewel!"--The Trojan matrons cry-- "Hence are we borne."--They kiss their natal soil; And leave the smoking ruins of their domes.

Last--mournful object! Hecuba, descry'd Amid her children's graves, the bark ascends.

Ulysses' hand her dragg'd, as close she grasp'd Their tombs, and kiss'd their bones which still remain'd.

Yet s.n.a.t.c.h'd she hastily, and bore away Of Hector's ashes some, and in her breast Hugg'd them; and on the top of Hector's tomb Left her grey hairs; her hairs, and flowing tears.

Oblation fruitless to his last remains.

Oppos'd to Phrygia, where Troy once was seen, A country stands, where live Bistonia's race: Where Polymnestor, wealthy monarch, rul'd, To whom, O, Polydore! thy cautious sire Thee sent; from Ilium's battles far remov'd, For safe protection. Wisdom sway'd the king; Save that he sent him store of treasure too, Reward of wickedness; and tempting much His greedy soul. Soon as Troy's fortune sank, Impious the Thracian monarch plung'd his sword In his young charge's throat: as if his crime And body from his sight at once 'twere given To move, he flung him in the dashing main.

Now on the Thracian coast, Atrides moor'd His fleet, till placid were the waves again, And favoring more, the winds. Achilles here, Out from the earth, by sudden rupture rent, Appear'd in 'semblance of his living form: Threatening his brow appear'd, as when so fierce He Agamemnon with rebellious sword Sought to a.s.sail.--"Depart ye then, O, Greeks!"

He cry'd--"of me unmindful? Is the fame "Of all my yaliant acts with me interr'd?

"Treat me not thus. That honors due my tomb "May want not, let Polyxena be given "In sacrifice to soothe Achilles' ghost."

He said; his fellows with the ruthless shade Complying, from the mother's bosom tore Her whom she sole had left to cherish. Brave Than female more, the hapless maid was led To the dire tomb in sacrificial pomp.

She, of her state still mindful, when before The cruel altar brought; when all prepar'd The savage-urg'd oblation of herself She saw; and Neoptolemus beheld There stand, the steel there grasping; on his face Her eyes firm-fixing, spoke.--"My n.o.ble blood "This instant spill. Delay not--plunge thy blade "Or in my throat, or bosom;"--and her throat And bosom, as she spoke she bar'd--"for ne'er "Polyxena, a slavish life had borne.

"Yet grateful is this victim to no G.o.d!

"My only wish, that from my mother dear "May be my death conceal'd: my mother clogs "My final pa.s.sage; damps the joys of death.

"Yet should she wail my death not, but my life.

"But distant stand ye all, that to the shades "Inviolate I sink; if what I ask "Be just, let every hand of man avoid "A virgin's touch. Whoe'er your steel prepares "To move propitiatory with my blood, "A victim quite untainted best must please.

"And should the final accents that I speak, "(King Priam's daughter, not a captive sues) "My corse unransom'd to my mother give.

"Let her not buy the sad sepulchral rites "With gold, but tears. Yet time has been, with gold "I might have been redeem'd."--The princess ceas'd, And save her own no cheek unwet was seen.

And ev'n the priest reluctant, and in tears, Op'd by a sudden plunge the offer'd breast.

She, to earth sinking, 'neath her tottering limbs, Wore to the last a face unmov'd; ev'n then Her final care was in her fall to veil Limbs that a veil demanded, as she sank; And decent pride of modesty preserve.

The Trojan dames receive her, and recount The woes of Priam's house, the streams of blood That single stock has spent. Thee too, O, maid!

They weep; and thee, a royal spouse so late, And royal parent stil'd; pride of the realm Of glorious Asia; now a mournful lot Amid the spoil; whom Ithacus would scorn To own, great Hector hadst thou not brought forth: The name of Hector scarce a master finds, To claim his mother. She, the lifeless trunk Embracing, which had held a soul so brave, Tears pour'd; tears often had she pour'd before, For country, husband, children--now for her Those tears gush'd in the wound; lips press'd to lips; And beat that breast which oft with grievous blows Was punish'd. Sweeping 'mid the clotted blood Her silver'd tresses; all these plaints, and more She utter'd, as she still her bosom rent.

"My child, thy mother's last afflicting grief "(For who is spar'd me?) low, my child, thou ly'st; "And in thy wound, I all my wounds behold.

"Yes, lest a single remnant of my race "Unslaughter'd should expire, thou too must bleed.

"A female, thee, safe from the sword I thought: "A female, thee the sword has stretch'd in death.

"The same Achilles, ruiner of Troy, "Bereaver of my offspring, all destroy'd,-- "Yes, all thy brethren, he, now murders thee!

"Yet when by Paris' and Apollo's darts "He fell,--now, surely,--said I,--now no more "Pelides need be dreaded! Yet ev'n now, "Dreadful to me he proves. Inurned, rage "His ashes 'gainst our hapless race; we feel "Ev'n in his grave the anger of this foe.

"I fruitful only for Pelides prov'd.

"Low lies proud Ilium, and the public woe, "The heavy ruin ends: if ended yet: "For Troy to me still stands; my sufferings still "Roll endless on. I, late in power so high, "Great in my children, in my husband great, "Am now dragg'd forth in poverty; exil'd "From all my children's tombs; a gift to please "Penelope; who, while my daily task "She gives to Ithaca's proud dames, will taunt, "And cry;--of Hector, the fam'd mother see!

"Lo! Priam's spouse!--And thou who sole wast spar'd "To soothe maternal pangs, so many lost, "Now bleed'st, atonement to an hostile shade: "And funeral victims has my womb produc'd "T' appease a foe. Why holds this stubborn heart?

"Why still delay I? What to me avails "This loath'd, this long-protracted life? Why spin, "O, cruel deities! the lengthen'd thread "Of an old wretch, save that she yet may see "More deaths? Who e'er could Priam happy deem, "Ilium o'erthrown? Yet happy was his death, "Thy sacrifice, my daughter! not to see; "At once of life and realm bereft. Yet sure "O, royal maid! funereal rites await "Thy last remains; thy corse will be inhum'd "In ancestorial sepulchres. Ah, no!

"Such fortune smiles not on our house; the tears "A mother can bestow, are all thy gifts; "Sprinkled with foreign dust. All have I lost.

"Of the whole stock I could as parent boast, "To tempt me now still longer to sustain "This life, my Polydore alone is left; "Once least of all my manly sons, erst given "To Thracia's monarch's care, upon these sh.o.r.es.

"But why delay to cleanse that ghastly wound "With water, and that face, with spouting blood "Besmear'd."--She ceas'd, and bent her tottering steps, With torn and scatter'd locks down to the sh.o.r.e.

And as the hapless wretch--"O, Trojans!"--cry'd, "An urn supply to draw the liquid waves;"-- The corse of Polydore, flung on the beach She saw, pierc'd deep with wounds of Thracian steel.

Loud shriek'd the Trojan matrons; she by grief Dumb-stricken stood. Affliction keen suppress'd Her rising moans, and ready-springing tears: Stupid, and like a rigid stone she stood.

Now on the earth her eyes are fixt; and now To heaven her furious countenance she lifts: Now dwells she on his face, now on the wounds Her son receiv'd, and on the wounds the most: And now her bosom with collected rage Furiously burning, all on vengeance fierce Her soul is bent, as still in power a queen.

As storms a lioness robb'd of her cub, The track pursuing of her flying foe, Whom yet she sees not: rage and grief were mixt Just so in Hecuba; of her old years Regardless, mindful of her ire alone.

She Polymnestor seeks, of the dire deed The perpetrator, and his ear demands-- That more of gold, intended for her boy, Her wish was to disclose. The Thracian king Heard credulous; lur'd by his wonted love Of gain, with her withdrew, and wily thus; With coaxing words;--"quick, Hecuba!"--exclaim'd, "Give for thy son the treasure. By the G.o.ds!

"I swear, all shall be his; what more thou giv'st, "And what thou gav'st before."--Him, speaking so, And falsely swearing, savagely she view'd, And her fierce bosom swell'd with double rage.

Then instant on him, by the captive dames Fast held, she flies; in his perfidious face Digs deep; her fingers (rage all strength supply'd) Tear from their orbs his eyes; bury'd her hands, Streaming with blood, where once the eyes had been; Widening the wounds, for eyes no more remain'd.

Fir'd at their monarch's fate the Thracian crowd With stones and darts t'attack the queen began.

The queen with harsher voice, as they pursue, Bites at th' a.s.sailing stones, and, trying words, Barkings her jaws produce. The place remains Nam'd from the change. She, of her ancient woes Long mindful, grieving still, Sithonia's fields With howlings fill'd. Her fate with pity mov'd Her fellow Trojans; and the hostile Greeks; Nay, all the G.o.ds above; and all deny, (Ev'n she, the sister-wife of mighty Jove) That Hecuba so harsh a lot deserv'd.

Nor leisure now Aurora had to mourn (Though strong their cause she favor'd) the sad fall, And mournful fate of Hecuba, and Troy.