With thefe of old to toils of battle bred,
In early youth my hardy days I led :
Fir'd with the thirst which virtuous envy breeds,
And fmit with love of honourable deeds.
Strongest of men, they pierc'd the mountain boar,
Rang'd the wild deferts red with monsters gore, 356
And from their hills the fhaggy Centaurs tore,
Yet these with foft, persuasive arts I sway'd;
When Neftor spoke, they liften'd and obey'd.
If in my youth, ev'n these esteem'd me wife;
Do you, young warriours, hear my age advife.
Atrides, feize not on the beauteous flave;
That prize the Greeks by common fuffrage gave :
Nor thou, Achilles, treat our prince with pride;
Let kings be juft, and fovereign power prefide.
Thee, the first honours of the war adorn,
Like Gods in ftrength, and of a Goddess born;
Him, awful majesty exalts above
The powers of earth, and sfcepter'd fons of Jove.
Let both unite, with well-confenting mind,
So fhall authority with strength be join'd.
Leave me, O king! to calm Achilles' rage;
Rule thou thyself, as more advanc'd in age.
Forbid it Gods! Achilles fhould be loft,
The pride of Greece, and bulwark of our hoft.
This faid, he ceas'd; the king of men replies:
Thy years are awful, and thy words are wife.
But that imperious, that unconquer'd soul,
No laws can limit, no refpect control.
Before his pride muft his fuperiours fall,
His word the law, and he the lord of all?
Him must our hosts, our chiefs, ourselves obey?
What king can bear a rival in his sway ?
Grant that the Gods his matchlefs force hath given;
Has foul reproach a privilege from Heaven?
Here on the monarch's fpeech Achilles broke,
And furious, thus, and interrupting spoke :
Tyrant, I well deferv'd thy galling chain,
To live thy flave, and still to ferve in vain ;
Should I fubmit to each unjust decree :
Command thy vassals, but command not me.
Seize on Brifeïs, whom the Grecians doom'd
My prize of war, yet tamely fee refum'd;
And feize fecure; no more Achilles draws
His conquering fword in any woman's caufe.
The Gods command me to forgive the past;
But let this first invafion be the laft:
For know, thy blood, when next thou dar'st invade,
Shall stream in vengeance on my reeking blade.
At this they ceas'd; the stern debate expir'd:
The chiefs in fullen majesty retir'd.
Achilles with Patroclus took his way,
Where near his tents his hollow veffels lay.
Mean time Atrides launch'd with numerous oars
A well-rigg'd ship for Chryfa's facred shores : 405
High on the deck was fair Chriseïs plac'd,
And fage Ulyffes with the conduct grac'd;
Safe in her fides the hecatomb they ftow'd,
'Then, fwiftly failing, cut the liquid road.
The host to expiate, next the king prepares,
With pure luftrations, and with folemn prayers.
Wash'd by the briny wave, the pious train
Are cleans'd, and caft th' ablutions in the main.
Along the shore whole hecatombs were laid,
And bulls and goats to Phœbus' altars paid,
The fable fumes in curling spires arife,
And waft their grateful odours to the skies.
The army thus in facred rites engag'd,
Atrides ftill with deep refentment rag`d.
To wait his will, two facred heralds stood,
Talthybius and Eurybates the good.
Hafte to the fierce Achilles' tent (he cries)
Thence bear Brifeïs as our royal prize :
Submit he muft; or, if they will not part,
Ourself in arms fhall tear her from his heart.
Th' unwilling heralds act their lord's commands;
Penfive they walk along the barren fands:
Arriv'd, the Hero in his tent they find,
With gloomy afpect, on his arm reclin'd.
At awful distance long they filent stand,
Loth to advance, or speak their hard command;
Decent confufion! This the godlike man
Perceiv'd, and thus with accent mild began :
With leave and honour enter our abodes,
Ye facred minifters of men and Gods!
I know your message; by constraint you came;
Not you, but your imperious lord I blame.
Patroclus hafte, the fair Brifeïs bring;
Conduct my captive to the haughty king.
But witness, heralds, and proclaim my vow,
Witness to Gods above, and men below!
E 2
But first, and loudeft to your prince declare,
That lawless tyrant whofe commands you bear;
Unmov'd as death Achilles fhall remain,
Though proftrate Greece fhould bleed at every vein: 445
The raging chief in frantic paffion loft,
Blind to himself, and useless to his hoft,
Unfkill'd to judge the future by the past,
In blood and flaughter fhall repent at last.
Patroclus now th' unwilling beauty brought; 450 She, in foft forrows, and in penfive thought,
Paft filent, as the heralds held her hand,
And oft look'd back, flow moving o'er the ftrand.
Not fo his lofs the fierce Achilles bore;
But fad retiring to the founding fhore,
O'er the wild margin of the deep he hung,
That kindred deep from whence his mother sprung
There, bath'd in tears of anger and disdain,
Thus loud lamented to the stormy main:
O parent Goddess! fince in early bloom
Thy fon must fall, by too fevere a doom;
Sure, to fo fhort a race of glory born,
Great Jove in justice should this span adorn :
Honour and fame at least the Thunderer ow'd,
And ill he pays the promise of a God ;
If yon proud monarch thus thy fon defies,
Obfcures my glories, and refumes my prize.
Far from the deep receffes of the main,
Where aged Ocean holds his watery reign,
The Goddess-mother heard. The waves divide; 470 And like a mift the rofe above the tide ;
Beheld him mourning on the naked shores,
And thus the forrows of his foul explores.
Why grieves my fon? Thy anguish let me share,
Reveal the caufe, and truft a parent's care.
He deeply fighing faid: To tell my woe,
Is but to mention what too well you know.
From Thebè facred to Apollo's name,
(Aëtion's realm) our conquering army came,
With treasure loaded and triumphant fpoils,
Whofe juft divifion crown'd the foldier's toils;
But bright Chryfeïs, heavenly prize! was led,
By vote felected, to the general's bed.
The priest of Phoebus fought by gifts to gain
His beauteous daughter from the victor's chain; 485
The fleet he reach'd, and lowly bending down,
Held forth the fceptre and the laurel crown,
Entreating all but chief implor'd for grace
The brother-kings of Atreus' royal race :
The generous Greeks their joint confent declare, 490
The priest to reverence, and release the fair;
Not fo Atrides: He, with wonted pride,'
The fire infulted, and his gifts deny'd:
Th' infulted fire (his God's peculiar care)
To Phoebus pray'd, and Phoebus heard the prayer:
A dreadful plague enfues; th' avenging darts
Inceffant Ay, and pierce the Grecian hearts.
A prophet then, infpir'd by Heaven arose,
And points the crime, and thence derives the woes".
Myself the first th' affembled chiefs incline
T'avert the vengeance of the power divine;
|