by Homer
This grace she slacked not, but her horse scourged, that in nature flew
Betwixt the cope of stars and earth; and how far at a view
A man into the purple sea may from a hill descry,
So far a high-neighing horse of heaven at every jump would fly.
Arrived at Troy, where, broke in curls, the two floods mix their force,
Scamander and bright Simois, Saturnia stayed her horse,
Took them from chariot, and a cloud of mighty depth diffused
About them; and the verdant banks of Simois produced
In nature what they eat in heaven. Then both the Goddesses
Marched, like a pair of timorous doves, in hasting their access
To th' Argive succour. Being arrived where both the most and best
Were heaped together (showing all, like lions at a feast
Of new slain carcasses, or boars, beyond encounter strong)
There found they Diomed; and there, midst all th' admiring throng,
Saturnia put on Stentor's shape, that had a brazen voice,
And spake as loud as fifty men, like whom she made a noise,
And chid the Argives : " O ye Greeks, in name and outward rite
But princes only, not in act, what scandal, what despite;
Use ye to honour! All the time the great Aeacides
Was conversant in arms, your foes durst not a foot address
Without their ports, so much they feared his lance that all controlled,
And now they out-ray to your fleet." This did with shame make bold
The general spirit and power of Greece; when, with particular note
Of their disgrace, Athenia made Tydeus' issue hot.
She found him at his chariot, refreshing of his wound
Inflicted by slain Pandarus; his sweat did so abound,
It much annoyed him underneath the broad belt of his shield;
With which, and tired with his toil, his soul could hardly yield
His body motion. With his hand he lifted up the belt,
And wiped away that clotter'd blood the fervent wound did melt.
Minerva leaned against his horse, and near their withers laid
Her sacred hand, then spake to him : " Believe me, Diomed,
Tydeus exampled not himself in thee his son; not great,
But yet he was a soldier: a man of so much heat,
That in his embassy for Thebes, when I forbad his mind
To be too vent'rous, and when feasts his heart might have declined,
With which they welcomed him, he made a challenge to the best,
And foiled the best; I gave him aid, because the rust of rest,
That would have seized another mind, he suffered not, but used
The trial I made like a man, and their soft feasts refused.
Yet, when I set thee on, thou faint'st; I guard thee, charge, exhort
That, I abetting thee, thou shouldst be to the Greeks a fort,
And a dismay to Ilion, yet thou obey'st in nought,
Afraid or slothful, or else both; henceforth renounce all thought
That ever thou wert Tydeus' son." He answered her: " I know
Thou art Jove's daughter, and, for that, in all just duty owe
Thy speeches reverence, yet affirm ingenuously that fear
Doth neither hold me spiritless, nor sloth. I only bear
Thy charge in zealous memory, that I should never war
With any blessed Deity, unless, exceeding far
The limits of her rule, the Queen, that governs chamber sport,
Should press to field; and her thy will enjoined my lance to hurt,
But, He whose power hath right in arms, I knew in person here,
Besides the Cyprian Deity, and therefore did forbear,
And here have gathered in retreat these other Greeks you see,
With note and reverence of your charge." "My dearest mind,'' said she,
“What then was fit is changed. 'Tis true, Mars hath just rule in war,
But just war; otherwise he raves, not fights. He's altered far.
He vowed to Juno, and myself, that his aid should be used
Against the Trojans, whom it guards; and therein he abused
His rule in arms, infringed his word, and made his war unjust.
He is inconstant, impious, mad. Resolve then; firmly trust
My aid of thee against his worst, or any Deity;
Add scourge to thy free horse, charge home; he fights perfidiously."
This said; as that brave king, her knight, with his horse-guiding friend,
Were set before the chariot, for sign he should descend
That she might serve for waggoness, she plucked the waggoner back,
And up into his seat she mounts; the beechen tree did crack
Beneath the burthen, and good cause, it bore so huge a thing,
A Goddess so replete with power, and such a jpuissant king.
She snatched the scourge up and the reins, and shut her heavenly look
In Hell's vast helm from Mars's eyes; and full career she took
At him, who then had newly slain the mighty Periphas,
Renowned son to Ochesius, and far the strongest was
Of all the ^Etolians; to whose spoil the bloody God was run.
But when this man-plague saw th' approach of god-like Tydeus' son,
He let his mighty Periphas lie, and in full charge he ran
At Diomed; and he at him. Both near, the God began,
And, thirsty of his blood, he throws a brazen lance that bears
Full on the breast of Diomed, above the reins and gears;
But Pallas took it on her hand, and struck the eager lance
Beneath the chariot. Then the knight of Pallas doth advance,
And cast a javelin off at Mars, Minerva sent it on,
That, where his arming girdle girt, his belly grazed upon,
Just at the rim, and ranched the flesh; the lance again he got,
But left the wound, that stung him so, he laid out such a throat
As if nine or ten thousand men had brayed out all their breaths
In one confusion, having felt as many sudden deaths.
The roar made both the hosts amazed. Up flew the God to heaven;
And with him was through all the air as black a tincture driven
To Diomed's eyes, as when the earth half choked with smoking heat
Of gloomy clouds, that stifle men, and pitchy tempests threat,
Ushered with horrid gusts of wind; with such black vapours plumed,
M&rs flew t' Olympus, and broad heaven, and there his place resumed.
Sadly he went and sat by Jove, showed his immortal blood,
That from a mortal-man-made wound poured such an impious flood,
And weeping poured out these complaints : " O Father, storm'st thou not
To see us take these wrongs from men? Extreme griefs we have got
Even by our own deep councils, held for gratifying them :
And thou, our council's president, conclud'st in this extreme
Of fighting ever; being ruled by one that thou hast bred;
One never well, but doing ill; a girl so full of head
That, though all other Gods obey, her mad moods must command,
By thy indulgence; nor by word, nor any touch of hand,
Correcting her; thy'reason is, she is a spark of thee,
And therefore she may kindle rage in men 'gainst Gods, and she
May make men hurt Gods, and those Gods that are besides thy seed.
First in the palm's hit Cyprides; then runs the impious deed
On my hurt person; and, could life give way to death in me,
Or had my feet not fetched me off, heaps of mortality
Had kept me consort." Jupiter, with a contracted brow,
Thus answered Mars : " Thou many minds, inconstant changeling thou,
Sit not complaining thus by me, whom most of al
l the Gods,
Inhabiting the starry hill, I hate; no periods
Being set to thy contentions, brawls, fights, and pitching fields;
Just of thy mother Juno's moods, stiff-necked, and never yields,
Though I correct her still, and chide, nor can forbear offence,
Though to her son; this wound I know tastes of her insolence;
But I will prove more natural; thou shalt be cured because
Thou com'st of me, but hadst thou been so cross to sacred laws,
Being born to any other God, thou hadst been thrown from heaven
Long since, as low as Tartarus, beneath the giants driven."
This said, he gave his wound in charge to Pseon, who applied
Such sovereign medicines, that as soon the pain was qualified,
And he recured; as nourishing milk, when runnet is put in,
Runs all in heaps of tough, thick curd, though in his nature thin,
Even so soon his wound's parted sides ran close in his recure;
For he, all deathless, could not long the parts of death endure.
Then Hebe bathed, and put on him fresh garments, and he sate
Exulting by his sire again, in top of all his state.
So, having, from the spoils of men, made his desired remove,
Juno and Pallas reascend the starry court of Jove.
BOOK VI.
ARGUMENT.
The Gods now leaving an indifferent field,
The Greeks prevail, the slaughtered Trojans yield.
Hector, by Helenus' advice, retires
In haste to Troy, and Hecuba desires
To pray Minerva to remove from fight
The son of Tydeus, her affected lenight,
And now to her, for favour of such price,
Twelve oxen should be slain in sacrifice.
In mean spttne Glaucus and Tydides meet;
And either other with remembrance greet
Of old love 'twixt their fathers, which inclines
Thsir hearts to friendship; who change arms for signs
Of a continued love for either1 s life.
Hector, in his return, meets with his uAfe,
And, taking in his armed hands his son,
He prophesies the fall of Ilion.
ANOTHER ARGUMENT.
In Zeta, Hector prophesies;
Prays for his son; wills sacrifice.
THE stern fight freed of all the Gods, conquest with doubtful
wings
Flew on their lances; every way the restless field she flings
Betwixt the floods of Simois and Xanthus, that confined
All their affairs at Ilion, and round about them shined.
The first that weighed down all the field of one particular
side
Was Ajax, son of Telamon; who, like a bulwark, plied
The Greeks' protection, and of Troy the knotty orders brake, ^
Held out a light to all the rest, and showed them how to make
Way to their conquest. He did wound the strongest man of Thrace,
The tallest and the biggest set, Eussonan Acamas;
His lance fell on his casque's plumed top in stooping; the fell head
Drave through his forehead to his jaws; his eyes night shadowed.
Tydides slew Teuthranides Axylus, that did dwell
In fair Arisba's well-built towers. He had of wealth a well,
And yet was kind and bountiful, he would a traveller pray
To be his guest, his friendly house stood in the broad highway,
In which he all sorts nobly used, yet none of them would stand
'Twixt him and death, but both himself, and he that had command
Of his fair horse, Cale'sius, fell lifeless on the ground.
Euryalus, Opheltius and Dresus, dead did wound;
Nor ended there his fiery course, which he again begins,
And ran to it successfully, upon a pair of twins,
TEsepus, and bold Pedasus, whom good Bucolion,
(That first called father, though base born, renowned Laomedon)
On Nais Abarbarsea got, a nymph that, as she fed
Her curled flocks, Bucolion woo'd, and mixed in love and bed.
Both these were spoiled of arms and life by Mecistiades.
Then Polypcetes, for stern death, Astyalus did seize;
TJlysses slew Percosius; Teucer Aretaon;
Antilochus (old Nestor's joy) Ablerus; the great son
Of Atreus, and king' of men, Elatus, whose abode
He held at upper Pedasus, where Satnius' river flowed;
The great heroe Leitus stayed Phylacus in flight
From further life; Eurypylus, Melanthius reft of light.
The brother to the king of men, Adrestus took alive;
Whose horse, affrighted with the flight, their driver now did drive
Amongst the low-grown tamarisk trees, and at an arm of one
The chariot in the draught-tree brake, the horse brake loose, and ron
The same way other flyers fled, contending all to town;
Himself close afthe chariot wheel upon his face was thrown,
And there lay flat, rolled up in dust. Atrides inwards drave;
And, holding at his breast his lance, Adrestus sought to save
His head by losing of his feet, and trusting to his knees;
On which the same parts of the king he hugs, and offers fees
Of worthy value for his life, and thus pleads their receipt:
“Take me alive, O Atreus' son, and take a worthy weight
Of brass, elaborate iron, and gold. A heap of precious things
Are in my father's riches hid, which, when your servant brings
News of my safety to his ears, he largely will divide
With your rare bounties." Atreus' son thought this the better side,
And meant to take it, being about to send him safe to fleet;
Which when, far off, his brother saw, he winged his royal feet,
And came in threatening, crying out: " O soft heart! What's the cause
Thou spar'st these men thus? Have not they observed these gentle law
Of mild humanity to thee, with mighty argument
Why thou shoulds't deal thus, in thy house, and with all precedent
Of honoured guest rites, entertained? Not one of them shall fly
A bitter end for it from heaven, and much less, dotingly,
'Scape our revengeful fingers; all, even th' infant in the womb,
Shall taste of what they merited, and have no other tomb
Than razed Ilion; nor their race have more fruit than the dust."
This just cause turned his brother's mind, who violently thrust
The prisoner from him; in whose guts the king of men impressed
His ashen lance, which (pitching down his foot upon the breast
Of him that upwards fell) he drew; then Nestor spake to all:
“O friends, and household men of Mars, let not your pursuit fall
With those ye fell, for present spoil; nor, like the king of men,
Let any 'scape unfelled; but on, despatch them all, and then
Ye shall have time enough to spoil." This made so strong their chase
That all the Trojans had been housed, and never turned a face,
Had not the Priamist Helenus, an augur most of name,
Willed Hector and iEneas thus : " Hector! Anchises' fame!
Since on your shoulders, with good cause, the weighty burden lies
Of Troy and Lycia (being both of noblest faculties
For counsel, strength of hand, and apt to take chance at her best
In every turn she makes) stand fast, and suffer not the rest,
By any way searched out for 'scape, to come within the ports,
Lest, fled into their wives' kind arms, they there be made the sports
Of the pursuing enemy. Exhort, and force your bands
To turn their faces
; and, while we employ our ventured hands,
Though in a hard condition, to make the other stay,
Hector, go thou to Ilion, and our queen-mother pray
To take the richest robe she hath; the same that's chiefly dear
To her court fancy; with which gem, assembling more to her
Of Troy's chief matrons, let all go, for fear of all our fates,
To Pallas' temple, take the key, unlock the heavy gates,
Enter, and reach the highest tower, where her Palladium stands,
And on it put the precious veil with pure and reverend hands,
And vow to her, besides the gift, a sacrificing stroke
Of twelve fat heifers-of-a-year, that never felt the yoke
(Most answering to her maiden state), if' she will pity us,
Our town, our wives, our youngest joys, and him that plagues them thus
Take from the conflict, Diomed, that fury in a fight,
That true son of great Tydeus, that cunning lord of flight,
Whom I esteem the strongest Greek; for we have never fled,
Achilles, that is prince of men, and whom a Goddess bred,
Like him; his fury flies so high, and all men's wraths commands."
Hector intends his brother's will, but first through all his bands
He made quick way, encouraging; and all, to fear afraid,
All turned their heads and made Greece turn. Slaughter stood still dismayed
On their parts, for they thought some God, fallen from the vault of stars,
Was rushed into the Ilions' aid, they made such dreadful wars.
Thus Hector, toiling in the waves, and thrusting back the flood,
Of his ebbed forces, thus takes leave : " So, so, now runs your blood
In his right current; forwards now, Trojans, and far-called friends,
Awhile hold out, till, for success to this your brave amends,
I haste to Ilion, and procure our counsellors and wives
To pray, and offer hecatombs, for their states in our lives."
Then fair-helmed Hector turned to Troy, and, as he trode the field,
The black bull's hide, that at his back he wore about his shield,
In the extreme circumference, was with his gait so rocked,
That, being large, it both at once his neck and ankles knocked.
And now, betwixt the hosts were met Hippolochus' brave son,
Glaucus, who in his very look hope of some wonder won,
And little Tydeus' mighty heir; who seeing such a man
Offer the field, for usual blows, with wondrous words began .
“What art thou, strong'st of mortal men, that putt'st so far before,