Their strength, united, best may help to bear
The bloody labours of the doubtful war :
Hither the Lycian princes bend their course,
The best and braveft of the hoftile force.
But, if too fiercely there the foes contend,
Let Telamon, at least, our towers defend,
And Teucer hafte with his unerring bow,
To share the danger, and repel the foe.
Swift as the word, the herald speeds along
The lofty ramparts, through the martial throng;
And finds the heroes bath'd in fweat and gore,
Oppos'd in combat on the dufty fhore.
Ye valiant leaders of our warlike bands!
Your aid (faid Thoös) Peleus' fon demands,
Your ftrength, united, best may help to bear
The bloody labours of the doubtful war :
Thither the Lycian princes bend their course,
The beft and braveft of the hoftile force.
But if too fiercely here the foes contend,
At least, let Telamon thofe towers defend,
And Teucer hafte with his unerring bow,
To share the danger, and repel the foe.
Straight to the fort great Ajax turn'd his care, 435 And thus bespoke his brothers of the war : Now, valiant Lycomede! exert your might, And, brave Oïleus, prove your force in fight: To you I trust the fortune of the field, Till by this arm the foe shall be repell'd; That done, expect me to complete the dayThen, with his feven-fold fhield, he strode away.
With equal steps bold Teucer prefs'd the shore,
Whofe fatal bow the ftrong Pandion bore.
High on the walls appear'd the Lycian powers, 445 Like fome black tempest gathering round the towers; The Greeks, opprefs'd, their utmost force unite, Prepar'd to labour in th' unequal fight;
The war renews, mix'd fhouts and groans arife ;
Tumultuous clamour mounts, and thickens in the skies.
Fierce Ajax first th' advancing host invades,
And fends the brave Epicles to the fhades,
Sarpedon's friend; across the warriour's way,
Rent from the walls, a rocky fragment lay;
In modern ages not the strongest swain
Could heave th' unwieldy burthen from the plain.
He pois'd, and fwung it round; then, tofs'd on high,
It flew with force, and labour'd up the sky;
Full on the Lycian's helmet thundering down,
The ponderous ruin crush'd his bat er'd crown.
As fkilful divers from fome airy steep,
Headlong defcend, and fhoot into the deep,
So falls Epicles; then in groans expires,
And murmuring to the fhades the foul retires.
While to the ramparts daring Glaucus drew,
From Teucer's hand a winged arrow flew ;
The bearded shaft the deftin'd paffage found,
And on his naked arm inflicts a wound.
The chief, who fear'd fome foe's infulting boaft
Might stop the progrefs of his warlike host,
Conceal'd the wound, and, leaping from his height,
Retir'd reluctant from th' unfinish'd fight.
Divine Sarpedon with regret beheld
Difabled Glaucus flowly quit the field;
His beating breast with generous ardour glows,
He fprings to fight, and flies upon the foes.
Alcmäon firft was doom'd his force to feel;
Deep in his breaft he plung'd the pointed steel;
Then, from the yawning wound with fury tore
The fpear, purfued by gushing streams of gore; 489
Down finks the warriour with a thundering found,
His brazen armour rings against the ground.
Swift to the battlement the victor flies,
Tugs with full force, and every nerve applies;
It shakes; the ponderous ftones disjointed yield; 48$ 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 fends his javelin at the foe:
Fix'd in his belt the feather'd weapon stood,
And through his buckler drove the trembling wood; But Jove was present in the dire debate,
To fhield his offspring, and avert his fate.
The prince gave back, not meditating flight,
But urging vengeance, and feverer fight;
Then, rais'd with hope, and fir'd with glory's charms, His fainting fquadrons to new fury warms:
O where, ye Lycians! is the strength you boast?
Your former fame and ancient virtue loft!
The breach lies open, but your chief in vain
Attempts alone the guarded pass to gain :
Unite, and foon that hoftile fleet shall fall;
The force of powerful union conquers all.
This juft rebuke inflam'd the Lycian crew,
They join, they thicken, and th' assault renew:
Unmov'd th' embodied Greeks their fury dare,
And fix'd fupport the weight of all the war;
Nor could the Greeks repel the Lycian powers,
Nor the bold Lycians force the Grecian towers.
As, on the confines of adjoining grounds,
Two stubborn fwains with blows difpute their bounds;
They tug, they fweat; but neither gain or yield,
One foot, one inch, of the contended field:
Thus obftinate to death they fight, they fall;
Nor these can keep, nor those can win, the wall.
Their manly breasts are pierc'd with many a wound,
Loud ftrokes are heard, and rattling arms refound,
The copious flaughter covers all the fhore,
And the high ramparts drop with human gore.
As when two fcales are charg'd with doubtful loads
From fide to fide the trembling balance nods
(While fome laborious matron, just and poor,
With nice exactnefs weighs her woolly store)
Till, pois'd aloft, the refting beam fufpends
Each equal weight; nor this, nor that, defcends:
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 hoft with loud repeated cries:
Advance, ye Trojans ! lend your valiant hands,
Hafte to the fleet, and tofs.the blazing brands t
They hear, they run; and, gathering at his call,
Raife fcaling-engines, and afcend the wall:
Around the works a wood of glittering (pears
Shoots up, and all the rifing host appears.
A ponderous stone bold Hector heav'd to throw,
Pointed above, and rough and grofs below:
Not two ftrong men th' enormous weight could raife, Such men as live in these degenerate days;
Yet this, as eafy as a fwain could bear
The fnowy fleece, he tofs'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,
Of mafly fubftance, and stupendous frame;
With iron bars and brazen hinges ftrong,
On lofty beams of folid timber hung:
Then, thundering through the planks with forceful sway,
Drives the sharp rock; the folid beams give way, 550
The folds are shatter'd; from the crackling door
Leap the refounding bars, the flying hinges roar.
Now rushing in, the furious chief appears,
Gloomy as night! and shakes two fhining spears:
A dreadful gleam from his bright armour came,
And from his eye-balls flash'd the living flame.
He moves a God, refiftlefs in his courfe,
And feems a match for more than mortal force.
Then pouring after, through the gaping space,
A tide of Trojans flows, and fills the place;
The Greeks behold, they tremble, and they fly;
The shore is heap'd with death, and tumult rends the sky.
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