The bearded shaft the destin’d passage found;
And on his naked arm inflicts a wound.
The Chief, who fear’d some foe’s insulting boast
Might stop the progress of his warlike host, 470
Conceal’d the wound, and, leaping from his height,
Retired reluctant from th’ unfinish’d fight.
Divine Sarpedon with regret beheld
Disabled Glaucus slowly quit the field:
His beating breast with gen’rous ardour glows, 475
He springs to fight, and flies upon the foes.
Alcmaön first was doom’d his force to feel:
Deep in his breast he plunged the pointed steel;
Then, from the yawning wound with fury tore
The spear, pursued by gushing streams of gore: 480
Down sinks the warrior with a thund’ring sound,
His brazen armour rings against the ground.
Swift to the battlement the victor flies,
Tugs with full force, and ev’ry nerve applies;
It shakes; the pond’rous stones disjointed yield: 485
The rolling ruins smoke along the field.
A mighty breach appears: the walls lie bare,
And, like a deluge, rushes in the war.
At once bold Teucer draws the twanging bow,
And Ajax sends his jav’lin at the foe: 490
Fix’d in his belt the feather’d weapon stood,
And thro’ his buckler drove the trembling wood;
But Jove was present in the dire debate,
To shield his offspring, and avert his fate.
The Prince gave back, not meditating flight, 495
But urging vengeance and severer fight;
Then, rais’d with hope, and fired with glory’s charms,
His fainting squadrons to new fury warms:
‘O where, ye Lycians! is the strength you boast?
Your former fame, and ancient virtue lost! 500
The breach lies open, but your Chief in vain
Attempts alone the guarded pass to gain:
Unite, and soon that hostile fleet shall fall;
The force of powerful union conquers all.’
This just rebuke inflamed the Lycian crew, 505
They join, they thicken, and th’ assault renew:
Unmov’d th’ embodied Greeks their fury dare,
And fix’d support the weight of all the war!
Nor could the Greeks repel the Lycian powers,
Nor the bold Lycians force the Grecian towers. 510
As on the confines of adjoining grounds,
Two stubborn swains with blows dispute their bounds;
They tug, they sweat: but neither gain, nor yield,
One foot, one inch, of the contended field:
Thus obstinate to death, they fight, they fall: 515
Nor these can keep, nor those can win, the wall.
Their manly breasts are pierc’d with many a wound,
Loud strokes are heard, and rattling arms resound;
The copious slaughter covers all the shore,
And the high ramparts drop with human gore. 520
As when two scales are charged with doubtful loads,
From side to side the trembling balance nods
(While some laborious matron, just and poor,
With nice exactness weighs her woolly store,)
Till, pois’d aloft, the resting beam suspends 525
Each equal weight; nor this nor that descends:
So stood the war, till Hector’s matchless might,
With fates prevailing, turn’d the scale of fight.
Fierce as a whirlwind up the walls he flies,
And fires his host with loud repeated cries: 530
‘Advance, ye Trojans! lend your valiant hands,
Haste to the fleet, and toss the blazing brands!’
They hear, they run, and, gath’ring at his call,
Raise scaling engines, and ascend the wall:
Around the works a wood of glitt’ring spears 535
Shoots up, and all the rising host appears.
A pond’rous stone bold Hector heav’d to throw,
Pointed above, and rough and gross below:
Not two strong men th’ enormous weight could raise,
Such men as live in these degen’rate days. 540
Yet this, as easy as a swain could bear
The snowy fleece, he toss’d and shook in air:
For Jove upheld, and lighten’d of its load
Th’ unwieldy rock, the labour of a God.
Thus arm’d, before the folded gates he came, 545
Of massy substance, and stupendous frame;
With iron bars and brazen hinges strong,
On lofty beams of solid timber hung:
Then thund’ring thro’ the planks, with forceful sway,
Drives the sharp rock: the solid beams give way; 550
The folds are shatter’d; from the crackling door
Lead the resounding bars, the flying hinges roar.
Now, rushing in, the furious Chief appears,
Gloomy as night! and shakes two shining spears:
A dreadful gleam from his bright armour came, 555
And from his eye-balls flash’d the living flame.
He moves a God, resistless in his course,
And seems a match for more than mortal force.
Then, pouring after, thro’ the gaping space,
A tide of Trojans flows, and fills the place; 560
The Greeks behold, they tremble, and they fly:
The shore is heap’d with death, and tumult rends the sky.
Iliad Book XIII. The Fourth Battle Continued, in Which Neptune Assists the Greeks. The Acts of Idomeneus
THE ARGUMENT
Neptune, concerned for the loss of the Grecians, upon seeing the fortification forced by Hector (who had entered the gate near the station of the Ajaces), assumes the shape of Calchas, and inspires those heroes to oppose him; then, in the form of one of the generals, encourages the other Greeks who had retired to their vessels. The Ajaces form their troops into a close phalanx, and put a stop to Hector and the Trojans. Several deeds of valour are performed; Meriones, losing his spear in the encounter, repairs to seek another at the tent of Idomeneus: this occasions a conversation between these two warriors, who return together to the battle. Idomeneus signalizes his courage above the rest; he kills Othryoneus, Asius, and Alcathous: Deïphobus and Æneas march against him, and at length Idomeneus retires. Menelaus wounds Helenus, and kills Pisander. The Trojans are repulsed in the left wing. Hector still keeps his ground against the Ajaces, till, being galled by the Locrian slingers and archers, Polydamas advises to call a council of war: Hector approves his advice, but goes first to rally the Trojans; upbraids Paris, rejoins Polydamas, meets Ajax again, and renews the attack.
The eight-and-twentieth day still continues. The scene is between the Grecian wall and the sea-shore.
WHEN now the Thund’rer on the sea-beat coast
Had fix’d great Hector and his conquering host,
He left them to the fates, in bloody fray
To toil and struggle thro’ the well-fought day.
Then turned to Thracia from the field of fight 5
Those eyes that shed insufferable light,
To where the Mysians prove their martial force,
And hardy Thracians tame the savage horse;
And where the far-famed Hippemolgian strays,
Renown’d for justice and for length of days. 10
Thrice happy race! that, innocent of blood,
From milk innoxious seek their simple food:
Jove sees delighted; and avoids the scene
Of guilty Troy, of arms, and dying men:
No aid, he deems, to either host is giv’n, 15
While his high law suspends the Powers of Heav’n.
Meantime the Monarch of the wat’ry main
Observ’d t
he Thund’rer, nor observ’d in vain.
In Samothracia, on a mountain’s brow,
Whose waving woods o’erhung the deeps below, 20
He sat; and round him cast his azure eyes,
Where Ida’s misty tops confusedly rise;
Below, fair Ilion’s glitt’ring spires were seen;
The crowded ships, and sable seas between.
There, from the crystal chambers of the main 25
Emerged, he sat; and mourn’d his Argives slain.
At Jove incens’d, with grief and fury stung,
Prone down the rocky steep he rush’d along;
Fierce as he pass’d, the lofty mountains nod,
The forests shake; earth trembled as he trod, 30
And felt th’ footsteps of the immortal God.
From realm to realm three ample strides he took,
And, at the fourth, the distant Ægæ shook.
Far in the bay his shining palace stands,
Eternal frame! not rais’d by mortal hands: 35
This having reach’d, his brass-hoof’d steeds he reins,
Fleet as the winds, and deck’d with golden manes.
Refulgent arms his mighty limbs infold,
Immortal arms of adamant and gold.
He mounts the ear, the golden scourge applies, 40
He sits superior, and the chariot flies:
His whirling wheels the glassy surface sweep;
Th’ enormous monsters, rolling o’er the deep,
Gambol around him on the wat’ry way;
And heavy whales in awkward measures play: 45
The sea subsiding spreads a level plain,
Exults, and owns the monarch of the main;
The parting waves before his coursers fly;
The wond’ring waters leave his axle dry.
Deep in the liquid regions lies a cave, 50
Between where Tenedos the surges lave,
And rocky Imbrus breaks the rolling wave:
There the great ruler of the azure round
Stopp’d his swift chariot, and his steeds unbound,
Fed with ambrosial herbage from his hand, 55
And link’d their fetlocks with a golden band,
Infrangible, immortal: there they stay;
The Father of the Floods pursues his way,
Where, like a tempest dark’ning Heav’n around,
Or fiery deluge that devours the ground, 60
Th’ impatient Trojans, in a gloomy throng,
Embattled roll’d, as Hector rush’d along:
To the loud tumult and the barb’rous cry,
The Heav’ns re-echo, and the shores reply;
They vow destruction to the Grecian name, 65
And in their hopes the fleets already flame.
But Neptune, rising from the seas profound,
The God whose earthquakes rock the solid ground,
Now wears a mortal form; like Calchas seen,
Such his loud voice, and such his manly mien; 70
His shouts incessant every Greek inspire,
But most th’ Ajaces, adding fire to fire:
‘‘T is yours, O warriors, all our hopes to raise;
Oh recollect your ancient worth and praise!
‘T is yours to save us if you cease to fear; 75
Flight, more than shameful, is destructive
On other works tho’ Troy with fury fall,
And pour her armies o’er our batter’d wall;
There, Greece has strength: but this, this part o’erthrown,
Her strength were vain; I dread for you alone. 80
Here Hector rages like the force of fire,
Vaunts of his Gods, and calls high Jove his sire.
If yet some heav’nly power your breast excite,
Breathe in your hearts and string your arms to flight,
Greece yet may live, her threaten’d fleet maintain, 85
And Hector’s force, and Jove’s own aid, be vain.’
Then with his sceptre that the deep controls,
He touch’d the Chiefs, and steel’d their manly souls:
Strength, not their own, the touch divine imparts,
Prompts their light limbs, and swells their daring hearts. 90
Then, as a falcon from the rocky height,
Her quarry seen, impetuous at the sight,
Forth-springing instant, darts herself from high,
Shoots on the wing, and skims along the sky:
Such, and so swift, the power of ocean flew; 95
The wide horizon shut him from their view.
Th’ inspiring God Oïleus’ active son
Perceiv’d the first, and thus to Telamon:
‘Some God, my friend, some God in human form,
Fav’ring descends, and wills to stand the storm; 100
Not Calchas this, the venerable seer;
Short as he turn’d, I saw the Power appear:
I mark’d his parting, and the steps he trod,
His own bright evidence reveals a God.
Ev’n now some energy divine I share, 105
And seem to walk on wings, and tread in air!’
‘With equal ardour’ (Telamon returns),
‘My soul is kindled, and my bosom burns;
New rising spirits all my force alarm,
Lift each impatient limb, and brace my arm. 110
This ready arm, unthinking, shakes the dart;
The blood pours back, and fortifies my heart;
Singly, methinks, yon tow’ring Chief I meet,
And stretch the dreadful Hector at my feet.’
Full of the God that urged their burning breast, 115
The heroes thus their mutual warmth express’d.
Neptune meanwhile the routed Greeks inspired;
Who, breathless, pale, with length of labours tired,
Pant in the ships; while Troy to conquest calls,
And swarms victorious o’er their yielding walls: 120
Trembling before th’ impending storm they lie,
While tears of rage stand burning in their eye.
Greece sunk they thought, and this their fatal hour;
But breathe new courage as they feel the power.
Teucer and Leitus first his words excite; 125
Then stern Peneleus rises to the fight;
Thoas, Deipyrus, in arms renown’d,
And Merion next, th’ impulsive fury found;
Last Nestor’s son the same bold ardour takes,
While thus the God the martial fire awakes: 130
‘Oh lasting infamy, oh dire disgrace
To Chiefs of vig’rous youth, and manly race!
I trusted in the Gods, and you, to see
Brave Greece victorious, and her navy free:
Ah no — the glorious combat you disclaim, 135
And one black day clouds all her former fame.
Heav’ns! what a prodigy these eyes survey,
Unseen, unthought, till this amazing day!
Fly we at length from Troy’s oft-conquer’d bands?
And falls our fleet by such inglorious hands? 140
A rout undisciplin’d, a straggling train,
Not born to glories of the dusty plain;
Like frighted fawns from hill to hill pursued,
A prey to every savage of the wood;
Shall these, so late who trembled at your name, 145
Invade your camps, involve your ships in flame?
A change so shameful, say, what cause has wrought?
The soldier’s baseness, or the gen’ral’s fault?
Fools! will ye perish for your leader’s vice?
The purchase infamy, and life the price! 150
‘T is not your cause, Achilles’ injur’d fame:
Another’s is the crime, but yours the shame.
Grant that our Chief offend thro’ rage or lust,
Must you be cowards if your king’s unjust?
Prevent this evil, and your country
save: 155
Small thought retrieves the spirits of the brave.
Think, and subdue! on dastards dead to fame
I waste no anger, for they feel no shame:
But you, the pride, the flower of all our host,
My heart weeps blood to see your glory lost! 160
Nor deem this day, this battle, all you lose:
A day more black, a fate more vile, ensues.
Let each reflect, who prizes fame or breath,
On endless infamy, on instant death.
For lo! the fated time, th’ appointed shore; 165
Hark! the gates burst, the brazen barriers roar!
Impetuous Hector thunders at the wall;
The hour, the spot, to conquer or to fall.’
These words the Grecians’ fainting hearts inspire,
And list’ning armies catch the godlike fire. 170
Fix’d at his post was each bold Ajax found,
With well-ranged squadrons strongly circled round:
So close their order, so disposed their fight,
As Pallas’ self might view with fix’d delight;
Or had the God of War inclin’d his eyes, 175
The God of War had own’d a just surprise.
A chosen phalanx, firm, resolv’d as Fate,
Descending Hector and his battle wait.
An iron scene gleams dreadful o’er the fields,
Armour in armour lock’d, and shields in shields, 180
Spears lean on spears, on targets targets throng,
Helms stuck to helms, and man drove man along.
The floating plumes unnumber’d wave above,
As when an earthquake stirs the nodding grove;
And, levell’d at the skies with pointing rays, 185
Their brandish’d lances at each motion blaze.
Thus breathing death, in terrible array,
The close-compacted legions urged their way:
Fierce they drove on, impatient to destroy;
Troy charged the first, and Hector first of Troy. 190
As from some mountain’s craggy forehead torn,
A rock’s round fragment flies with fury borne,
(Which from the stubborn stone a torrent rends,)
Precipitate the pond’rous mass descends:
From steep to steep the rolling ruin bounds; 195
At every shock the crackling wood resounds;
Still gath’ring force, it smokes; and, urged amain,
Whirls, leaps, and thunders down, impetuous to the plain:
There stops — So Hector. Their whole force he prov’d,
Resistless when he raged, and, when he stopp’d, unmov’d. 200
On him the war is bent, the darts are shed,
And all their faulchions wave around his head:
Alexander Pope - Delphi Poets Series Page 92