Alexander Pope - Delphi Poets Series
Page 76
Such nerves I gave him, and such force in fight. 1005
Thou too no less hast been my constant care;
Thy hands I arm’d, and sent thee forth to war:
But thee or fear deters or sloth detains;
No drop of all thy father warms thy veins.’
The Chief thus answer’d mild: ‘Immortal Maid! 1010
I own thy presence, and confess thy aid.
Not fear, thou know’st, withholds me from the plains,
Nor sloth hath seiz’d me, but thy word restrains:
From warring Gods thou bad’st me turn my spear,
And Venus only found resistance here. 1015
Hence, Goddess! heedful of thy high commands,
Loth I gave way, and warn’d our Argive bands:
For Mars, the homicide, these eyes beheld,
With slaughter red, and raging round the field.’
Then thus Minerva: ‘Brave Tydides, hear! 1020
Not Mars himself, nor aught immortal, fear.
Full on the God impel thy foaming horse:
Pallas commands, and Pallas lends thee force.
Rash, furious, blind, from these to those he flies,
And ev’ry side of wavering combat tries: 1025
Large promise makes, and breaks the promise made;
Now gives the Grecians, now the Trojans aid.’
She said, and to the steeds approaching near,
Drew from his seat the martial charioteer.
The vig’rous Power the trembling car ascends, 1030
Fierce for revenge; and Diomed attends.
The groaning axle bent beneath the load;
So great a Hero, and so great a God.
She snatch’d the reins, she lash’d with all her force,
And full on Mars impell’d the foaming horse: 1035
But first to hide her heav’nly visage spread
Black Orcus’ helmet o’er her radiant head.
Just then gigantic Periphas lay slain,
The strongest warrior of th’ Ætolian train;
The God who slew him leaves his prostrate prize 1040
Stretch’d where he fell, and at Tydides flies.
Now rushing fierce, in equal arms, appear
The daring Greek, the dreadful God of War!
Full at the Chief, above his courser’s head,
From Mars’s arm th’ enormous weapon fled: 1045
Pallas opposed her hand, and caus’d to glance
Far from the car the strong immortal lance.
Then threw the force of Tydeus’ warlike son;
The jav’lin hiss’d; the Goddess urged it on:
Where the broad cincture girt his armour round, 1050
It pierc’d the God: his groin receiv’d the wound.
From the rent skin the warrior tugs again
The smoking steel. Mars bellows with the pain:
Loud, as the roar encount’ring armies yield,
When shouting millions shake the thund’ring field. 1055
Both armies start, and trembling gaze around;
And Earth and Heaven rebellow to the sound.
As vapours blown by Auster’s sultry breath,
Pregnant with plagues and shedding seeds of death,
Beneath the rage of burning Sirius rise, 1060
Choke the parch’d earth, and blacken all the skies;
In such a cloud the God, from combat driv’n,
High o’er the dusty whirlwind scales the Heav’n.
Wild with his pain, he sought the bright abodes,
There sullen sat beneath the Sire of Gods, 1065
Shew’d the celestial blood, and with a groan
Thus pour’d his plaints before th’ immortal throne:
‘Can Jove, supine, flagitious facts survey,
And brook the furies of this daring day?
For mortal men celestial Powers engage, 1070
And Gods on Gods exert eternal rage.
From thee, O Father! all these ills we bear,
And thy fell daughter with the shield and spear:
Thou gavest that fury to the realms of light,
Pernicious, wild, regardless of the right. 1075
All Heav’n beside reveres thy sov’reign sway,
Thy voice we hear, and thy behests obey:
‘T is hers t’ offend, and ev’n offending, share
Thy breast, thy counsels, thy distinguish’d care:
So boundless she, and thou so partial grown, 1080
Well may we deem the wondrous birth thy own.
Now frantic Diomed, at her command,
Against th’ immortals lifts his raging hand:
The heav’nly Venus first his fury found,
Me next encount’ring, me he dared to wound; 1085
Vanquish’d I fled: ev’n I, the God of Fight,
From mortal madness scarce was saved by flight.
Else hadst thou seen me sink on yonder plain,
Heap’d round, and heaving under loads of slain;
Or, pierc’d with Grecian darts, for ages lie, 1090
Condemn’d to pain, tho’ fated not to die.’
Him thus upbraiding, with a wrathful look
The Lord of Thunders view’d, and stern bespoke:
‘To me, perfidious! this lamenting strain?
Of lawless force shall lawless Mars complain? 1095
Of all the Gods who tread the spangled skies,
Thou most unjust, most odious in our eyes!
Inhuman discord is thy dire delight,
The waste of slaughter, and the rage of fight:
No bound, no law, thy fiery temper quells, 1100
And all thy mother in thy soul rebels.
In vain our threats, in vain our power, we use:
She gives th’ example, and her son pursues.
Yet long th’ inflicted pangs thou shalt not mourn,
Sprung since thou art from Jove, and heav’nly born. 1105
Else, singed with lightning, hadst thou hence been thrown,
Where chain’d on burning rocks the Titans groan.’
Thus he who shakes Olympus with his nod;
Then gave to Pæon’s care the bleeding God.
With gentle hand the balm he pour’d around, 1110
And heal’d th’ immortal flesh, and closed the wound.
As when the fig’s press’d juice, infused in cream,
To curds coagulates the liquid stream,
Sudden the fluids fix, the parts combin’d;
Such and so soon th’ ethereal texture join’d. 1115
Cleans’d from the dust and gore, fair Hebe dress’d
His mighty limbs in an immortal vest.
Glorious he sat, in majesty restor’d,
Fast by the throne of Heav’n’s superior Lord.
Juno and Pallas mount the blest abodes, 1120
Their task perform’d, and mix among the Gods.
Iliad Book VI. The Episodes of Glaucus and Diomed, and of Hector and Andromache
THE ARGUMENT
The Gods having left the field, the Grecians prevail. Helenus, the chief augur of Troy, commands Hector to return to the city, in order to appoint a solemn procession of the Queen and the Trojan matrons to the temple of Minerva, to entreat her to remove Diomed from the fight. The battle relaxing during the absence of Hector. Glaucus and Diomed have an interview between the two armies; where, coming to the knowledge of the friendship and hospitality past between their ancestors, they make exchange of their arms. Hector, having performed the orders of Helenus, prevailed upon Paris to return to the battle, and taken a tender leave of his wife Andromache, hastens again to the field.
The scene is first in the field of battle, between the river Simoïs and Scamander, and then changes to Troy.
NOW Heav’n forsakes the fight; th’ immortals yield
To human force and human skill the field:
Dark showers of jav’lins fly from foes to foes;
Now here, now there, th
e tide of combat flows;
While Troy’s famed streams, that bound the deathful plain, 5
On either side run purple to the main.
Great Ajax first to conquest led the way,
Broke the thick ranks, and turn’d the doubtful day.
The Thracian Acamas his falchion found,
And hew’d th’ enormous giant to the ground; 10
His thund’ring arm a deadly stroke impress’d
Where the black horse-hair nodded o’er his crest:
Fix’d in his front the brazen weapon lies,
And seals in endless shades his swimming eyes.
Next Teuthras’ son distain’d the sands with blood, 15
Axylus, hospitable, rich, and good:
In fair Arisba’s walls (his native place)
He held his seat; a friend to human race.
Fast by the road, his ever-open door
Obliged the wealthy, and reliev’d the poor. 20
To stern Tydides now he falls a prey,
No friend to guard him in the dreadful day!
Breathless the good man fell, and by his side
His faithful servant, Old Calesius, died.
By great Euryalus was Dresus slain, 25
And next he laid Opheltius on the plain.
Two twins were near, bold, beautiful, and young,
From a fair Naiad and Bucolion sprung
(Laömedon’s white flocks Bucolion fed,
That monarch’s first-born by a foreign bed; 30
In secret woods he won the Naiad’s grace,
And two fair infants crown’d his strong embrace):
Here dead they lay in all their youthful charms;
The ruthless victor stripp’d their shining arms.
Astyalus by Polypœtes fell; 35
Ulysses’ spear Pidytes sent to Hell;
By Teucer’s shaft brave Aretaön bled,
And Nestor’s son laid stern Ablerus dead;
Great Agamemnon, leader of the brave,
The mortal wound of rich Elatus gave, 40
Who held in Pedasus his proud abode,
And till’d the banks where silver Satnio flow’d.
Melanthius by Eurypylus was slain;
And Phylacus from Leitus flies in vain.
Unbless’d Adrastus next at mercy lies 45
Beneath the Spartan spear, a living prize.
Scared with the din and tumult of the fight,
His headlong steeds, precipitate in flight,
Rush’d on a tamarisk’s strong trunk, and broke
The shatter’d chariot from the crooked yoke: 50
Wide o’er the field, resistless as the wind,
For Troy they fly, and leave their lord behind.
Prone on his face he sinks beside the wheel:
Atrides o’er him shakes his vengeful steel;
The fallen Chief in suppliant posture press’d 55
The victor’s knees, and thus his prayer address’d:
‘Oh spare my youth, and for the life I owe
Large gifts of price my father shall bestow:
When Fame shall tell, that not in battle slain
Thy hollow ships his captive son detain, 60
Rich heaps of brass shall in thy tent be told,
And steel well-temper’d, and persuasive gold.’
He said: compassion touch’d the hero’s heart;
He stood suspended with the lifted dart:
As pity pleaded for his vanquish’d prize, 65
Stern Agamemnon swift to vengeance flies,
And furious thus: ‘Oh impotent of mind!
Shall these, shall these, Atrides’ mercy find?
Well hast thou known proud Troy’s perfidious land,
And well her natives merit at thy hand! 70
Not one of all the race, nor sex, nor age,
Shall save a Trojan from our boundless rage:
Ilion shall perish whole, and bury all;
Her babes, her infants at the breast, shall fall.
A dreadful lesson of exampled fate, 75
To warn the nations, and to curb the great.’
The Monarch spoke; the words, with warmth address’d,
To rigid justice steel’d his brother’s breast.
Fierce from his knees the hapless Chief he thrust;
The Monarch’s jav’lin stretch’d him in the dust. 80
Then, pressing with his foot his panting heart,
Forth from the slain he tugg’d the reeking dart.
Old Nestor saw, and rous’d the warriors’ rage;
‘Thus, heroes! thus the vig’rous combat wage!
No son of Mars descend, for servile gains, 85
To touch the booty, while a foe remains.
Behold yon glitt’ring host, your future spoil!
First gain the conquest, then reward the toil.’
And now had Greece eternal Fame acquired,
And frighted Troy within her walls retired; 90
Had not sage Helenus her state redress’d,
Taught by the Gods that mov’d his sacred breast:
Where Hector stood, with great Æneas join’d,
The seer reveal’d the counsels of his mind:
‘Ye gen’rous Chief! on whom th’ immortals lay 95
The cares and glories of this doubtful day,
On whom your aids, your country’s hopes depend,
Wise to consult, and active to defend!
Here, at our gates, your brave efforts unite,
Turn back the routed, and forbid the flight; 100
Ere yet their wives’ soft arms the cowards gain,
The sport and insult of the hostile train.
When your commands have hearten’d ev’ry band,
Ourselves, here fix’d, will make the dangerous stand;
Press’d as we are, and sore of former fight, 105
These straits demand our last remains of might.
Meanwhile, thou, Hector, to the town retire
And teach our mother what the Gods require:
Direct the Queen to lead th’ assembled train
Of Troy’s chief matrons to Minerva’s fane; 110
Unbar the sacred gates, and seek the Power
With offer’d vows, in Ilion’s topmost tower.
The largest mantle her rich wardrobes hold,
Most prized for art, and labour’d o’er with gold,
Before the Goddess’ honour’d knees be spread; 115
And twelve young heifers to her altars led.
If so the Power atoned by fervent prayer,
Our wives, our infants, and our city spare,
And far avert Tydides’ wasteful ire,
That mows whole troops, and makes all Troy retire. 120
Not thus Achilles taught our hosts to dread,
Sprung tho’ he was from more than mortal bed;
Not thus resistless ruled the stream of fight,
In rage unbounded, and unmatch’d in might.’
Hector obedient heard; and, with a bound, 125
Leap’d from his trembling chariot to the ground;
Thro’ all his host, inspiring force, he flies,
And bids the thunder of the battle rise.
With rage recruited the bold Trojans glow,
And turn the tide of conflict on the foe: 130
Fierce in the front he shakes two dazzling spears;
All Greece recedes, and ‘midst her triumph fears:
Some God, they thought, who ruled the fate of wars,
Shot down avenging from the vault of stars.
Then thus, aloud: ‘Ye dauntless Dardans, hear! 135
And you whom distant nations send to war;
Be mindful of the strength your fathers bore;
Be still yourselves, and Hector asks no more.
One hour demands me in the Trojan wall,
To bid our altars flame, and victims fall: 140
Nor shall, I trust, the matrons’ holy train,
And r
ev’rend elders, seek the Gods in vain.’
This said, with ample strides the hero pass’d;
The shield’s large orb behind his shoulder cast,
His neck o’ershading, to his ankle hung; 145
And as he march’d the brazen buckler rung.
Now paus’d the battle (godlike Hector gone),
When daring Glaucus and great Tydeus’ son
Between both armies met; the Chiefs from far
Observ’d each other, and had mark’d for war. 150
Near as they drew, Tydides thus began:
‘What art thou, boldest of the race of man?
Our eyes, till now, that aspect ne’er beheld,
Where fame is reap’d amid th’ embattled field;
Yet far before the troops thou darest appear, 155
And meet a lance the fiercest heroes fear.
Unhappy they, and born of luckless sires,
Who tempt our fury when Minerva fires!
But if from Heav’n, celestial, thou descend,
Know, with immortals we no more contend. 160
Not long Lycurgus view’d the golden light,
That daring man who mix’d with Gods in fight;
Bacchus, and Bacchus’ votaries, he drove
With brandish’d steel from Nyssa’s sacred grove;
Their consecrated spears lay scatter’d round, 165
With curling vines and twisted ivy bound;
While Bacchus headlong sought the briny flood,
And Thetis’ arms received the trembling God.
Nor fail’d the crime th’ immortals’ wrath to move
(Th’ immortals bless’d with endless ease above); 170
Deprived of sight, by their avenging doom,
Cheerless he breathed, and wander’d in the gloom:
Then sunk unpitied to the dire abodes,
A wretch accurs’d, and hated by the Gods!
I brave not Heav’n; but if the fruits of earth 175
Sustain thy life, and human be thy birth,
Bold as thou art, too prodigal of breath,
Approach, and enter the dark gates of death.’
‘What, or from whence I am, or who my sire’
(Replied the Chief), ‘can Tydeus’ son inquire? 180
Like leaves on trees the race of man is found,
Now green in youth, now with’ring on the ground:
Another race the foll’wing spring supplies,
They fall successive, and successive rise;
So generations in their course decay, 185
So flourish these, when those are past away.
But if thou still persist to search my birth,
Then hear a tale that fills the spacious earth:
‘A city stands on Argos’ utmost bound
(Argos the fair, for warlike steeds renown’d); 190