ELEVENTH BOOK OF HOMER'S ILIADS.
At Nestor's honourable suit. But be that work achiev'd
When this is done, I will not leave thy torments unreliev’d.”
This said, athwart his back he cast, beneath his breast, his arm, And nobly help'd him to his tent. His servants, seeing his harm, 755 Dispread ox-hides upon the earth, whereon Machaon lay.
Patroclus cut out the sharp shaft, and clearly wash'd away
With lukewarm water the black blood; then 'twixt his hands he bruis'd
A sharp and mitigatory root, which when he had infus'd
Into the green, well-cleansed, wound, the pains he felt before
Were well, and instantly allay'd, the wound did bleed no more.
THE END OF THE ELEVENTH BOOK.
ATROCLUS thus employ'd in cure of hurt Eurypylus,
Both hosts are all for other wounds doubly contentious,
One always labouring to expel, the other to invade.
Nor could the broad dike of the Greeks, nor that strong
wall they made
To guard their fleet, be long unrac't, because it was not rais'd
By grave direction of the Gods, nor were their Deities prais'd
(When they begun) with hecatombs, that then they might be sure
(Their strength being season'd well with heaven's) it should have force
t' endure,
And so, the safeguard of their fleet, and all their treasure there,
Infallibly had been confirm'd; when, now, their bulwarks were
Not only without pow'r of check to their assaulting foe
(Even now, as soon as they were built) but apt to overthrow;
Such as, in very little time, shall bury all their sight
And thought that ever they were made. As long as the despight
Of great acides held up, and Hector went not down,
And that by those two means stood safe king Priam's sacred town,
So long their rampire had some use, though now it gave some way;
But when Troy's best men suffer'd fate, and many Greeks did
pay
Dear for their sufferance, then the rest home to their country turn'd,
The tenth year of their wars at Troy, and Troy was sack'd and burn'd,
And then the Gods fell to their fort; then they their pow'rs employ 21
To ruin their work, and left less of that than they of Troy.
Neptune and Phoebus tumbled down from the Idalian hills
An inundation of all floods that thence the broad sea fills
On their huge rampire; in one glut, all these together roar'd,
Rhesus, Heptaporus, Rhodius, Scamander the ador'd,
Caresus, Simois, Grenicus, sepus; of them all
Apollo open'd the rough mouths, and made their lusty fall
Ravish the dusty champian, where many a helm and shield,
And half-god race of men, were strew'd. And, that all these might yield
Full tribute to the heavenly work, Neptune and Phoebus won
Jove to unburthen the black wombs of clouds, fill'd by the sun,
And pour them into all their streams, that quickly they might send
The huge wall swimming to the sea. Nine days their lights did spend
To nights in tempests; and when all their utmost depth had made, 35
Jove, Phoebus, Neptune, all came down, and all in state did wade
To ruin of that impious fort. Great Neptune went before,
Wrought with his trident, and the stones, trunks, roots of trees, he tore Out of the rampire, toss'd them all into the Hellespont,
Even all the proud toil of the Greeks with which they durst confront 40 29 Champian-champain, level country.
The to-be-shunned Deities, and not a stone remain'd
Of all their huge foundations, all with the earth were plain'd.
Which done, again the Gods turn'd back the silver-flowing floods
By that vast channel through whose vaults they pour'd abroad their broods,
And cover'd all the ample shore again with dusty sand.
And this the end was of that wall, where now so many a hand
Was emptied of stones and darts, contending to invade,
Where Clamour spent so high a throat, and where the fell blows made
The new-built wooden turrets groan. And here the Greeks were pent,
Tam'd with the iron whip of Jove that terrors vehement
Shook over them by Hector's hand, who was in every thought
The terror-master of the field, and like a whirlwind fought,
As fresh as in his morn's first charge. And as a savage boar,
Or lion, hunted long, at last, with hounds' and hunters' store
Is compass'd round; they charge him close, and stand (as in a tow'r 55
They had inchas'd him) pouring on of darts an iron show'r;
His glorious heart yet nought appail'd, and forcing forth his way,
Here overthrows a troop, and there a running ring doth stay
His utter passage; when, again, that stay he overthrows,
And then the whole field frees his rage; so Hector wearies blows,
Runs out his charge upon the fort, and all his force would force
Το
pass the dike; which, being so deep, they could not get their horse
To venture on, but trample, snore, and on the very brink
To neigh with spirit, yet still stand off. Nor would a human think The passage safe; or, if it were, 'twas less safe for retreat;
The dike being everywhere so deep, and, where 'twas least deep, set
With stakes exceeding thick, sharp, strong, that horse could never pass,
Much less their chariots after them; yet for the foot there was
Some hopeful service, which they wish'd. Polydamas then spake :
"Hector, and all our friends of Troy, we indiscreetly make
Offer of passage with our horse; ye see the stakes, the wall,
Impossible for horse to take; nor can men fight at all,
The place being strait, and much more apt to let us take our bane
Than give the enemy. And yet, if Jove decree the wane
Of Grecian glory utterly, and so bereave their hearts
That we may freely charge them thus, and then will take our parts,
I would with all speed wish th' assault, that ugly shame might shed
(Thus far from home) these Grecians' bloods. But, if they once turn head
And sally on us from their fleet, when in so deep a dike
We shall lie struggling, not a man of all our host is like
To live and carry back the news.
And therefore be it thus:
Here leave we horse kept by our men, and all on foot let us
Hold close together, and attend the grace of Hector's guide,
And then they shall not bear our charge, our conquest shall be dyed
In their lives' purples." This advice pleas'd Hector, for 'twas sound;
Who first obey'd it, and full arm'd betook him to the ground.
And then all left their chariots when he was seen to lead,
Rushing about him, and gave up each chariot and steed
To their directors to be kept, in all procinct of war,
There, and on that side of the dike.
Their onset: In five regiments they
Each regiment allow'd three chiefs.
And thus the rest prepare all their power divide,
Of all which even the pride
Serv'd in great Hector's regiment; for all were set on fire
(Their passage beaten through the wall) with hazardous desire
That they might once but fight at fleet. With Hector captains were
Polydamas, and Cebriones, who was his
But Hector found that place a worse.
Were Paris, and Alcathous, Agenor.
Chiefs of the second band
The command
The third strong phalanx had was given to th' augur Helenus,
Deiphobus, that god-like man, and mighty Asius,
Even Asius Hyrtacides, that from Arisba rode
The huge bay horse, and had his house where river Selleës flow'd.
89 Procinct-preparation, girding for war. Lat. procinctus. Blount preserves it as a technical word in his Glossographia. Todd observes that he was unable to meet with an example besides the one quoted by Johnson from Milton.
|