His opposite, thus undertook: Latona at no hand
Will bide combat; 'tis a work right dangerous to stand
At difference with the wives of Jove. Go, therefore, freely vaunt
Amongst the deities th' hast subdued, and made thy combatant
Yield with plain pow'r. She answer'd not, but gather'd up the bow
And shafts fall'n from her daughter's side, retiring. Up did go
Diana to Jove's starry hall, her incorrupted a veil
Trembling about her, so she shook. Phoebus (lest Troy should fail
Before her fate) flew to her walls, the other deities flew
Up to Olympus; some enrag'd, some glad. Achilles slew
Both men and horse of Ilion. And as a city fir'd
Casts up a heat that purples heaven, clamours and shrieks expir'd
In every corner; toil to all, to many misery;
Which fire th' incensed gods let fall; Achilles so let fly
Rage on the Trojans; toils and shrieks as much by him impos'd.
Old Priam in his sacred tow'r stood, and the flight disclos'd
Of his forced people; all in rout, and not a stroke return'd,
But fled resistance. His eyes saw in what a fury burn'd
The son of Peleus, and down went weeping from the tow'r
To all the port-guards, and their chiefs, told of his flying pow'r,
Commanding th' opening of the ports; but not to let their hands
Stir from them; for Æacides would pour in with his bands.
Destruction comes, O shut them strait when we are in (he pray'd);
For not our walls I fear will check this violent man. This said,
Off lifted they the bars; the ports hal'd open, and they gave
Safety her entry, with the host; which yet they could not save
Had not Apollo sallied out, and struck destruction
(Brought by Achilles in their necks) back; when they, right upon
The ports bore all, dry, dusty, spent ; and on their shoulders rode
Rabid Achilles with his lance; still glory being the gode d
That prick'd his fury. Then the Greeks high-ported Ilion
Had seiz'd, had not Apollo stirr'd Antenor's famous son,
Divine Agenor, and cast in an undertaking spirit
To his bold bosom, and himself stood by to strengthen it,
And keep the heavy hand of death from breaking in.
Stood by him, leaning on a beech, and cover'd his abode
a Incorrupted "incorruptible."
b Expir'd-" breathed out:" the literal sense of the Latin exspirare. • Ports" gates."
Gode-"goad." Either Chapman or his printers frequently altered the spelling to make rhymes for the eye as well as the ear.
With night-like darkness; yet for all the spirit he inspir'd,
When that great city-raser's force his thoughts struck, he retir'd,
Stood, and went on; a world of doubts still falling in his way,
When (angry with himself) he said: Why suffer I this stay
In this so strong need to go on? If, like the rest, I fly,
'Tis his best weapon to give chace, being swift, and I should die
Like to a coward. If I stand, I fall too. These two ways
Please not my purpose; I would live.
What if I suffer these Still to be routed? and (my feet affording further length)
Pass all these fields of Ilion, till Ida's sylvan strength
And steep heights shroud me, and at even refresh me in the flood,
And turn to Ilion? O my soul! why drown'st thou in the blood
Of these discourses? If this course that talks of further flight
I give my feet, his feet more swift have more odds. Get he sight
Of that pass, I pass least for pace, and length of pace his thighs
Will stand out all men. Meet him then, my steel hath faculties
Of pow'r to pierce him; his great breast but one soul holds, and that
Death claims his right in (all men say), but he holds special state *
In Jove's high bounty: that's past man, that every way will hold ;
And that serves all men, every man. This last heart made him bold
To stand Achilles, and stirr'd up a mighty mind to blows.
And as a panther (having heard the hounds' trails b) doth disclose
Her freckled forehead, and stares forth from out some deep-grown wood
To try what strength dares her abroad, and when her fiery blood
The hounds have kindled, no quench serves, of love to live, or fear,
Though struck, though wounded, though quite through she feels the mortal
But till the man's close strength she tries, or strows earth with his dart,
She puts her strength out: so it far'd with brave Agenor's heart,
And till Achilles he had proved, no thoughts, no deeds once stirr'd
His fixed foot. To his broad breast his round shield he preferr'd,©
And up his arm went with his aim, his voice out with this cry:
Thy hope is too great, Peleus' son, this day to show thine eye
Troy's Ilion at thy foot; O fool! the Greeks with much more woes,
More than are suffer'd yet, must buy great Ilion's overthrows.
We are within her many strong, that for our parents' sakes,
Our wives and children, will save Troy, and thou (though he that makes
b Trails" the cries of the hounds when they find the trail."
Preferr'd-" lifted before him :" the literal sense of the Latin præferre.
Thy name so terrible) shalt make a sacrifice to her
With thine own ruins. Thus he threw, nor did his javelin err,
But struck his foe's leg near his knee; the fervent steel did ring
Against his tin greaves, and leap'd back. The fire's strong-handed king Gave virtue of repulse, and then Æacides assail'd
Divine Agenor, but in vain; Apollo's pow'r prevail❜d,
And rapt Agenor from his reach, whom quietly he plac'd
Without the skirmish, casting mists to save from being chas'd
His tender'd person, and (he gone) to give his soldiers 'scape,
The deity turn'd Achilles still, by putting on the shape
Of him he thirsted; evermore he fed his eye, and fled ;
And he with all his knees pursued. So cunningly he led,
That still he would be near his reach, to draw his rage, with hope,
Far from the conflict; to the flood maintaining still the scope
Of his attraction. In mean time, the other frighted pow'rs
Came to the city, comforted, when Troy and all her tow`rs
Strooted with fillers; none would stand to see who staid without,
Who scap'd, and who came short: the ports cleft to receive the rout
That pour'd itself in. Every man was for himself; most fleet
Most fortunate; whoever scap'd, his head might thank his feet.
a Strooted-"distended." The word is used by Lord Bacon, in his Treatise of a War with Spain :'-"I will make a brief list of the particulars themselves in an historical truth, no ways strooted, nor made greater by language."
b Fillers" fugitives who filled the town."
THE END OF THE TWENTY-FIRST BOOK.
"Her husband's sisters, brothers' wives fell round, and by degrees
Recover'd her."
ALL Trojans hous'd but Hector, only he
Keeps field, and undergoes th' extremity.
Eacides assaulting, Hector flies,
Minerva stays him he resists, and dies;
Achilles to his chariot doth enforce,a
And to the naval station drags his corse.
ANOTHER ARGUMENT.
Hector (in Chi) to death is done,
By pow'r of Peleus' angry son.
THUS (chas'd like hinds) the Ilians took time to drink and eat,
And to refresh them; getting off the mingled dust and sweat,
a Enforce-"strongly secure."
And good strong rampires on instead. The Greeks then cast their shields
Aloft their shoulders; and now Fate their near invasion a yields
Of those tough walls. Her deadly hand compelling Hector's stay
Before Troy at the Scæan ports. Achilles still made way
At Phoebus, who his bright head turn'd, and ask'd: Why, Peleus' son,
Pursu'st thou (being a man) a god? thy rage hath never done.
Acknowledge not thine eyes my state? Esteems thy mind no more
Thy honour in the chace of Troy, but puts my chace before
Their utter conquest? They are all now hous'd in Ilion,
What wishest thou? My blood will never run
On thy proud javelin. It is thou (replied Æacides)
That putt'st dishonour thus on me, (thou worst of deities ;)
Thou turn'st me from the walls, whose ports had never entertain'd
Numbers now enter'd, over whom thy saving hand hath reign'd,
And robb'd my honour. And all is, since all thy actions stand
Past fear of reckoning: but held I the measure in my hand,
It should afford thee dear-bought 'scapes. Thus with elated spirits,
(Steed-like, that at Olympus' games wears garlands for his merits,
And rattles home his chariot, extending all his pride)
Achilles so parts with the god. When aged Priam spied
The great Greek come, spher'd round with beams, and show'ng as if
Surnam❜d Orion's hound, that springs in autumn, and sends far
His radiance through a world of stars; of all whose beams his own
Cast greatest splendour: the midnight that renders them most shown
Then being their foil, and on their points; cure-passing fevers then
Come shaking down into the joints of miserable men,
As this were fall'n to earth, and shot along the field his rays
Now towards Priam (when he saw in great Æacides),
Out flew his tender voice in shrieks, and with rais'd hands he smit
His reverend head, then up to heaven he cast them, showing it
What plagues it sent him; down again then threw them to his son,
To make him shun them. He now stood without steep Ilion,
Thirsting the combat; and to him thus miserably cried
The kind old king: O Hector! fly this man, this homicide,
That straight will stroy thee. He's too strong, and would to heaven he
As strong in heaven's love as in mine. Vultures and dogs should tear
a Invasion-"assault."
c Orion's hound-" Sirius, or the dog-star."
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