* But given by Jove the sons of men to awe,
• Now (ways the nations, and confirms the law)
' A day shall come, when for this hour's disdain
6 The Greeks shall with for me, and wish in vain;
* Nor thou, though griev'd, the wanted aid afford,
• When heaps on heaps shall fall by Hector's sword:
• Too late with anguish shall thy heart be torn,
• That the first Greek was made the public scorn.'

He said. And, mounting with a furious bound,
He dash'd his studded sceptre on the ground;
Then sat. Atrides, eager to reply,
On the fierce champion glanc'd a vengeful eye.

'Twas then, the madding monarchs to compose,
The Pylian prince, the fmooth-speech'd Nestor rose.
His tongue dropp'd honey. Full of days was he;
Two ages past, he liv'd the third to fee :
And, his first race of subjects long decay'd,
O’er their sons fons a peaceful sceptre sway'd.

• Alas for Greece ! he cries, and what with joy • Shall Priam hear, and every son of Troy! " That you, the first in wisdom as in wars, " Waste your great fouls in poor ignoble jars ! • Go to! you both are young. Yet oft rever'd • Greater than you have the wife Nestor heard. · Their equals never shall these eyes behold: ' Cæneus the just, Pirithous the bold,

Exadius, Dryas, born to high command,

Shepherds of men, and rulers of the land, « Theseus unrival'd in his fire's abodes, And mighty Polypheme, a match for gods.

They,

• They, greatest names that ancient story knows,
6 In mortal conflict met as dreadful foes :
- Fearless through rocks and wilds their prey pursued,
• And the huge double Centaur race fubdued.
6 With them my early youth was pleas’d to roam
» Through regions, far from my sweet native home;
« They calld me to the wars. No living hand
6 Could match their valour, or their strength withstand;
6 Yet wont they oft my sage advice to hear.

Then listen both, with an attentive ear.
Seize not thou, king of men, the beauteouis slave,

Th’ allotted prize the Grecian voices gave. « Nor thou, Pelides, in a threatening tone

Urge him to wrath, who fills that sacred throne, - The king of forty kings, and honour'd more • By mighty Jove, than e'er was king before. < Brave though thou art, and of a race divine, • Thou must obey a power more great than thine.

And thou, O king, forbear. Myself will sue • Great Thetis' son his vengeance to subdue : • Great Thetis' valiant son, our country's boalt, - The shield and bulwark of the Grecian host.'

• Wise are thy words, O fire, the king began,

But what can satiate this aspiring man? • Unbounded power he claims o'er human-kind,

And hopes for slaves, I trust he ne'er shall find. • Shall we, because the gods have form’d him strong, • Bear the lewd language of his lawless tongue !

• If aw'd by thee, the Greeks might well despise • My name,' the prince, precipitate, replies.

* In vain thou nodd it from thy imperial throne. • Thy vafials feek elsewhere : for I am none. • But break we here. The fair, though jufily mine, • With sword undrawn I purpose to resign. . On aught beside, I once for all command, • Lay not, I charge thee, thy presumptuous hand. • Come not within my reach. Nor dare advance. • Or thy heart's blood shall reek upon my lance.'

Thus both in foul debate prolong'd the day. The council broke, each takes his separate way. Achilles seeks his tent with restless mind; Patroclus and his train niove flow behind.

Mean time, a bark was haul'd along the sand,
Tivice ten selected Greeks, a brawny band,
Tug the tough oars, at the great king's command.
The gifts, the hecatomb, the captive fair,
Are all intrusted to Ulysses' care.
They mount the deck. The vessel takes its flight,
Bounds o'er the surge, and leffens to the sight.

Next he ordains along the winding coast
By hallow'd rites to purify the host.
A herd of chosen vi&tims they provide,
And cast their offals on the briny tide.
Fat bulls and goats to great Apollo die.
In clouds the favory steam ascends the sky.

The Greeks to heaven their folemn vows addrest; But dire revenge roll'd in the monarch's breast. Obfequious at his call two heralds stand : To them in frowns he gives this harsh command. « Ye heralds, to Achilles' tent repair; * Thence swift the female slave Briseïs bear.

• With arms, if disobey'd, myself will come.
* Bid him resign her, or he tempts his doom.'

The heralds, though unwillingly, obey.
Along the fea-heat shore they speed their way :
And, now the Myrmidonian quarter past,
At his tent-door they find the hero plac’d.
Diffurb’d the folemn messengers he saw :
They too stood filent, with respectful awe,
Before the royal youth, they neither spoke.
He guefs’d their message, and the filence broke:

• Ye ministers of gods and men, draw near, • Not you, but him whose heralds ye appear, • Robb’d of my right I blame. Patroclus, bring “ The damsel forth for this disdainful king. • But ye, my wrongs, O heralds, bear in mind, • And clear me to the gods and all mankind, « Ev’n to your thoughtless king; if ever more • My aid be wanted on the hostile shore.

Thoughtless he is, nor knows his certain doom,

Blind to the past, nor sees the woes to come, - His best defence thus rafhly to forgo,

And leave a naked army to the foe.

He ceas'd. Patroclus his dear friend obeyd,
And ulher'd in the lovely weeping maid.
Sore figh'd me, as the heralds took her hand,
And oft look'd back slow-moving o'er the strand.

The widow'd hero, when the fair was gone,
Far from his friends fat bath'd in tears alone.
On the cold beach he fat, and fix'd his eyes
Where black with storms the curling billows rise,

And

And as the sea wide-rolling he survey'd,
With out-stretch'd arms to his fond mother pray'd :

• Since to short life thy hapless fon was born, • Great Jove stands bound by promise to adorn 46 His stinted course, with an immortal name.

• Is this the great amends? the promis'd fame? .. The son of Atreus, proud of lawless sway, - Demands, poffefses, and enjoys my prey.'

Near her old fire enthron'd, she heard him weep From the low filent caverns of the deep : Then in a morning mift her head fhe rears, Sits by her son, and mingles tears with tears ; Close grasps her darling's hand. • My fon, the cries, " Why heaves thy heart? and why o’erflow thy eyes ? « Oh tell me, tell thy mother all thy care, 's That both may know it, and that both

niay

share.' • Oh! goddefs !' cry'd he, with an inward groan, « Thou know it it all: to thee are all things known. • Eëtian Thebes we fack'd, their ransackid towers, :56 The plunder of a people, all was ours. "We food agreed the booty: to divide. • Chryfers rofy-cheek'd, and glofly-ey'd, .6 Fell to the king; but holy Chryfes bore - Vast gifts of ransom, to the tented shore :

His sceptre stretching forth (the golden rod - Hung round with hallow'd garlands of his god) .. Of all the host, of every princely chief, * But first of Atreus' fons, he begg'd relief. 6 Throughout the host consenting murmurs ran, To yield her to the venerable man;

* But

N