by Homer
Soon reached, and to the snowy mounts, where Thracian soldiers dwell,
Approaching, passed their tops untouched. From Athos then she fell,
Passed all the broad sea, and arrived in Lemnos, at the tow'rs
Of godlike Thoas, where she met the Prince of all men's pow'rs,
Death's brother, Sleep, whose hand she took, and said : " Thou king of men.
Prince of the Gods too, if before thou heard'st my suits, again
Give helpful ear, and through all times I'll offer thanks to thee.
Lay slumber on Jove's fiery eyes, that I may comfort me
With his embraces; for which grace I'll grace thee with a throne
Incorruptible, all of gold, and elegantly done
By Mulciber, to which he forged a footstool for the ease
Of thy soft feet, when wine and feasts thy golden humours please."
Sweet Sleep replied : " Saturnia, there lives not any God,
Besides Jove, but I would becalm; ay, if it were the flood'
That fathers all the Deities, the great Oceanus;
But Jove we dare not come more near than he commandeth us.
Now you command me as you did when Jove's great-minded son,
Alcides, having sacked the town of stubborn Ilion,
Took sail from thence; when by your charge I poured about Jove's mind
A pleasing slumber, calming him till thou drav'st up the wind,
In all his cruelties, to sea, that set his son ashore
In Cous, far from all his friends. Which, waking, vexed so sore
The supreme Godhead, that he cast the Gods about the sky,
And me, above them all, he sought, whom he had utterly
Hurled from the sparkling firmament, if all-gods-taming Night
(Whom, flying, I besought for aid) had suffered his despite,
And not preserved me, but his wrath with my offence dispensed,
For fear t' offend her, and so ceased, though never so incensed.
And now another such escape you wish I should prepare."
She answered : " What hath thy deep rest to do with his deep care :
As though Jove's love to Ilion in all degrees were such
As 'twas to Hercules his son, and so would storm as much
For their displeasure as for his? Away, I will remove
Thy fear with giving thee the dame that thou didst ever love,
One of the fair young Graces born, divine Pasithae."
This started Somnus into joy, who answered : " Swear to me,
By those inviolable springs that feed the Stygian lake,
With one hand touch the nourishing earth, and in the other take
The marble sea, that all the Gods of the infernal state
Which circle Saturn may to us be witnesses and rate
What thou hast vowed : That with all truth, thou wilt bestow on me
The dame I grant I ever loved, divine Pasithae."
She swore, as he enjoined, in all, and strengthened all his-joys
By naming all th' infernal Gods, surnamed the Titanois. •
The oath thus taken, both took way, and made their quick repair
To Ida from the town, and isle, all hid in liquid air.
At Lecton first they left the sea, and there the land they trod;
The fountful nurse of savages, with all her woods, did nod
Beneath their feet; there Somnus stayed, lest Jove's bright eye should see,
And yet, that he might see to Jove, he climbed the goodliest tree
That all th' Idalian mountain bred, and crowned her progeny,
A fir it was, that shot past air and kissed the burning sky;
There sate he hid in his dark arms, and in the shape withal
Of that continual prating bird, whom all the Deities call
Chalcis, but men Cymmindis name. Saturnia tripped apace
Up to the top of Gargarus, and showed her heavenly face
To Jupiter, who saw, and loved, and with as hot a fire,
Being curious in her tempting view, as when with first desire
(The pleasure of it being stol'n) they mixed in love and bed;
And, gazing on her still, he said : " Saturnia, what hath bred
This haste in thee from our high court, and whither tends thy gait,
That, void of horse and chariot fit for thy sovereign state,
Thou lacquey'st here?" Her studied fraud replied: " My journey now
Leaves state and labour to do good, and where in right I owe
All kindness to the Sire of Gods, and our good Mother Queen
That nursed and kept me curiously in court, since both have been
Long time at discord; my desire is to atone their hearts,
And therefore go I now to see those earth's extremest parts.
For whose far-seat I spared my horse the scaling of this hill,
And left them at the foot of it; for they must taste their fill
Of travail with me, that must draw my coach through earth and seas.
Whose far-intended reach, respect, and: care not to displease
Thy graces, made me not attempt, without thy gracious leave."
The cloud-compelling God her guile in this sort did receive :
“Juno, thou shalt have after leave, but, ere so far thou stray,
Convert we our kind thoughts tclove that now doth every way
Circle with victory my powers, nor yet with any dame,
Woman, or Goddess, did his fires my bosom so inflame
As now with thee. Not when it loved the parts so generous.
Ixion's wife had, that brought forth the wise Pirithous;
Nor when the lovely dame Acrisius' daughter stirred
My amorous pow'rs, that Perseus bore to all men else preferred :
Nor when the dame that Pheenix got surprised me with her sight,
Who the divine-souled Rhadamanth and Minos brought to light;
Nor Semele, that bore to me the joy of mortal men,
The sprightly Bacchus; nor the dame that Thebes renowned then,
Alcmena, that bore Hercules; Lat'ona, so renowned;
Queen Ceres, with the golden hair; nor thy fair eyes did wound
My entrails to such depth as now with thirst of amorous ease."
The cunning dame seemed much incensed, and said : " What words are these,
Unsufferahle Saturn's son? What! Here! In Ida's height!
Desir'st thou this? How fits it us? Or what if in the sight
Of any God thy will were pleased, that he the rest might bring
To witness thy incontinence? 'Twere a dishonoured thing.
I would not show my face in heaven, and rise from such a bed.
But, if love be so dear to thee, thou hast a chamber-stead,
Which Vulcan purposely contrived with all fit secrecy;
There sleep at pleasure." He replied : " I fear not if the eye
Of either God or man observe, so thick a cloud of gold
I'll cast about us that the sun, who furthest can behold,
Shall never find us." This resolved, into his kind embrace
He took his wife. Beneath them both fair Tellus strewed the place
With fresh-sprung herbs, so soft and thick that up aloft it bore
Their heavenly bodies, with his leaves did dewy lotus store
Th' Elysian mountain; saffron flow'rs and hyacinths helped make
The sacred bed. And there they slept. When suddenly there brake
A golden vapour out of air whence shining dews did fall,
In which they wrapt them close, and slept till Jove was tamed withal.
Mean space flew Somnus to the ships, found Neptune out, and said :
“Now cheerfully assist the Greeks, and give them glorious head,
At least a little, while Jove sleeps, of whom through every limb
I poured dark sleep, Saturriials love hath so illuded him."
This news made Neptune more se
cure in giving Grecians heart,
And through the first fights then he stirred the men of most desert:
“Yet, Grecians, shall we put our ships and conquest in the hands
Of Priam's Hector by our sloth? He thinks so, and commands
With pride according. All because Achilles keeps away.
Alas, as we were nought but him! We little need to stay
On his assistance, if we would our own strengths call to field,
And mutually maintain repulse. Come on "then, all men yield
To what I order. We that bear best arms .in all our host,
Whose heads sustain the brightest helms, whose .hands are bristled most
With longest lances, let us on. But stay, I'll lead you all;
Nor think I but great Hector's spirits will suffer some appal,
Though they be never so inspired. The ablest of us then,
That on our shoulders worst shields bear, > exchange with worser men
That fight with better." This proposed, all heard it, and obeyed.
The kings, even those that suffered wounds, Ulysses, Diomed,
And Agamemnon, helped t' instruct the complete army thus:
To good gave good arms, worse to worse, yet none were mutinous.
Thus, armed with order, forth they flew; the great Earth-shaker led,
A long sword in his sinewy hand, which when he brandished
It lightened still, there was no law for him and it, poor men
Must quake before them. These thus manned, illustrious Hector then
His host brought up. The blue-haired God and he stretched through the pre
A grievous fight; when to the ships and tents of Greece the seas
Brake loose, and raged. But when they joined, the dreadful clamour rose
To such a height, as not the sea, when up the North-spirit blows
Her raging billows, bellows so against the beaten shore,
Nor such a rustling keeps a fire, driven with violent blore
Through woods that grow against a hill, nor so the fervent strokes
Of almost-bursting winds resound against a grove of oaks,
As did the clamour of these hosts when both the battles closed.
Of all which noble Hector first at Ajax' breast disposed
His javelin, since so right on him the great-souled soldier bore,
Nor missed it, but the bawdricks both that his broad bosom wore,
To hang his shield and sword, it struck; both which his flesh preserved.
Hector, disdaining that his lance had thus as good as swerved,
Trode- to his strength; but, going off, great Ajax with a stone,
One of the many props for ships that there lay trampled on,
Struck his broad breast above his shield, just underneath his throat,
And shook him piecemeal; when the stone sprung back again, and smote
Earth, like a whirlwind, gathering dust with whirring fiercely round,
For fervour of his unspent strength, in settling on the ground.
And as when Jove's bolt by the roots rends from the earth an oak,
His sulphur casting with the blow a strong unsavoury smoke,
And on the fall'n plant none dare look but with amazed eyes,
Jove's thunder being no* laughing game; so bowed strong Hector's thighs,
And so with tost-up heels he fell, away his lance he flung,
His round shield followed, then his helm, and out his armour rung.
The Greeks then shouted, and ran in, and hoped to hale him off,
And therefore poured on darts in storms to keep his aid aloof,
But none could hurt the people's Guide, nor stir him from his ground;
Sarpedon, prince of Lycia, and Glaucus so renowned,
Divine Agenor, Venus' son, and wise Polydamas,
Rushed to his rescue, and the rest. No one neglective was
Of Hector's safety. All their shields they couched about him close,
Raised him from earth, and (giving him, in their kind arms, repose)
From off the labour carried him to his rich chariot,
And bore him mourning towards Troy. But when the flood they got
Of gulfy Xanthus, that was got by deathless Jupiter,
There took they him from chariot, and all besprinkled there
His temples with the stream. He breathed, looked up, assayed to rise,
And on his knees stayed spitting blood. Again then closed his eyes,
And back again his body fell. The main blow had not done
Yet with his spirit. When the Greeks saw worthy Hector gone,
Then thought they of their work, then charged with much more cheer the foe,
And then, far first, Oiliades began the overthrow.
He darted Satnius Enops' son, whom famous Nais bore
As she was keeping Enops' flocks on Satnius' river's shore,
And struck him in his belly's rim, who upwards fell, and raised
A mighty skirmish with his fall. And then Panthaedes seized
Prothenor Areilycides with his revengeful spear
On his right shoulder, struck it through, and laid him breathless there;
For which he insolently bragged, and cried out: " Not a dart
From great-soul Panthus' son, I think, shall ever vainlier part,
But some Greek's bosom it shall take, and make him give his ghost."
This brag the Grecians stomached much; but Telamonius most,
Who stood most near Prothenor's fall, and out he sent a lance,
Which Panthus' son, declining, 'scaped, yet took it to sad chance
Archilochus, Antenor's son, whom heaven did destinate
To that stern end; 'twixt neck and head the javelin wrought his fate
And ran in at the upper joint of all the back long bone,
Cut both the nerves, and such a load of strength laid Ajax on
As that small part he seized outweighed all th' under limbs, and strook
His heels up so that head and face the earth's possession took,
When all the low parts sprang in air, and thus did Ajax quit
Panthoedes' brave : " Now, Panthus' son, let thy prophetic wit
Consider, and disclose a truth, if this man do not weigh
Even with Prothenor. I conceive, no one of you will say
That he was either base himself, or sprang of any base,
Antenor's brother, or his son, he should be by his face;
One of his race, past question, his likeness shows he is."
This spake he, knowing it well enough. The Trojans stormed at this.
And then slew Acamas, to save his brother yet engaged,
Bceotius, dragging him to spoil; and thus the Greeks enraged :
“O Greeks, even born to bear our darts, yet ever breathing threats,
Not always under tears and toils ye see our fortune sweats,
But sometimes you drop under death. See now your quick among
Our dead intranced with my weak-lance, to prove I have ere long
Revenged my brother. 'Tis the wish of every honest man
His brother, slain in Mars's field, may rest wreaked in his fane."
This stirred fresh envy in the Greeks, but urged Peneleus most,
Who hurled his lance at Acamas; he 'scaped; nor yet it lost
The force he gave it, for it found the flock-rich Phorba's son,
Ilioneus, whose dear sire, past all in Ilion,
Was loved of Hermes, and enriched, and to him only bore
His mother this now slaughtered man. The dart did undergore
•His eyelid, by his eye's dear roots, and out the apple fell,
The eye pierced through. Nor could the nerve that stays the neck repel
His strong-winged lance, but neck and all gave way, and down he dropped.
Peneleus then unsheathed his sword, and from the shoulders chopped
His luckless head, which down he threw, the helm still
sticking on,
And still the lance fixed in his eye; which not to see alone
Contented him, but up again he snatched, and showed it all,
With this stern brave : " Ilians, relate brave Ilioneus' fall
To his kind parents, that their roofs their tears may overrun;
For so the house of Promachus, and Alegenor's son,
Must with his wife's eyes overflow, she never seeing more
Her dear lord, though we tell his death, when to our native shore
We bring from ruined Troy our fleet, and men so long forgone."
This said, and seen, pale fear possessed all those of Ilion,
And every man cast round his eye to see where death was not,
That he might fly him. Let not then his graced hand be forgot,
O Muses, you that dwell in heaven, that first imbrued the field
With Trojan spoil when Neptune thus had made their irons yield.
First Ajax Telamonius the Mysian captain slew,
Great Hyrtius Gyrtiades. Antilochus o'erthrew
Phalces and Mermer, to their spoil. Meriones gave end
To Morys and Hippotion. Teucer to fate did send
Prothoon and Periphetes. Atrides' javelin chaced
Duke Hyperenor, wounding him in that part that is placed
Betwixt the short ribs and the bones that to the triple gut
Have pertinence; the javelin's head did out his entrails cut,
His forced soul breaking through the wound; night's black hand closed his eyes.
Then Ajax, great Oileus' son, had divers victories,
For when Saturnius suffered flight, of all the Grecian race
Not one with swiftness of his feet could so enrich a chace.
BOOK XV.
ARGUMENT.
Jove waiting, and beloved Troy in flight,
Chides Juno, and sends Iris to the fight
To charge the Sea-god to forsahe the field;
And Phosbus to invade it, with his shield
Recovering Hector's bruised and erased pow'rs.
To field he goes, and makes new conquerors,
The Trojans giving now the Grecians chace
Even to their fleet. Then Ajax turns his face,
And feeds, with many Trojan lives, his ire;
Who then brought brands to set the fleet on fire.
ANOTHER ARGUMENT.
Jove sees in o his oversight,
Chides Juno, Neptune calls from fight.
THE Trojans, beat past pale and dike, and numbers prostrate laid,
All got to chariot, fear-driven all, and feared as men dismayed.