The Greeks, in fhouts, their joint affent declare
The priest to reverence, and release the fair.
Not fo Atrides; he, with kingly pride,
Repuls'd the facred Sire, and thus reply'd.
He faid, the Greeks their joint affent declare,
The father faid, the gen'rous Greeks relent,
T'accept the ranfom, and release the fair:
Revere the priest, and speak their joint affent
Not fo the tyrant, he, with kingly pride,
Repuls'd the facred Sire, and thus reply'd.
[Not fo the tyrant. DRYDEN.]
Of thefe lines, and of the whole first book, I am told that there was yet a former copy, more varied, and more deformed with interlineations.
The beginning of the fecond book varies very little from the printed page, and is therefore fet down without any parallel: the few flight differences do not require to be elaborately displayed.
Now pleafing fleep had feal'd each mortal eye;
Stretch'd in their tents the Grecian leaders lie;
Th' Immortals flumber'd on their thrones above,
All but the ever-watchful eye of Jove.
To honour Thetis' fon he bends his care,
And plunge the Greeks in all the woes of war.
Then bids an empty phantom rise to fight,
And thus commands the vifion of the night:
Fly hence, delufive dream, and light, as air,
To Agamemnon's royal tent repair ;
Bid him in aros draw forth th' embattled train,
March all his legions to the dusty plain.
Now tell the King 'tis given him to destroy
The lofty walls of wide-extended Troy ;
For now no more the Gods with Fate contend;
At Juno's fuit the heavenly factions end.
Destruction bovers o'er yon devoted wall,
And nodding Ilium waits th' impending fall.
Invocation to the Catalogue of Ships.
Say, Virgins, feated round the throne divine, All-knowing Goddeffes! immortal Nine !
Since earth's wide regions, heaven's unmeafur'd height,
And hell's abyfs, hide nothing from your fight,
(We, wretched mortals! loft in doubts below,
But guess by rumour, and but boast we know)
Oh fay what heroes, fir'd by thirft of fame,
Or urg'd by wrongs, to Troy's destruction came !
To count them all, demands a thousand tongues,
A throat of brafs and adamantine lungs.
Now, Virgin Goddeffes, immortal Nine !
That round Olympus' heavenly fummit fhine,
Who fee through heaven and earth, and hell profound,
And all things know, and all things can refound;
Relate what armies fought the Trojan land,
What nations follow'd, and what chiefs command;
(For doubtful Fame diftracts mankind below,
And nothing can we tell, and nothing know)
Without your aid, to count th' unnumber'd train,
A tloafand mouths, a thousand tongues were vain.
But Pallas now Tydides' foul inspires,
Fills with her force, and warms with aller fires:
Above the Greeks his deathlefs fame to raife,
And crown her hero with diftinguifh'd praife,
High on his helm celeftial lightnings play,
His beamy fhield emits a living ray;
Th' unwearied blaze inceffant ftreams fupplies,
Like the red ftar that fires th' autumnal fkies.
But Pallas now Tydides' foul inspires,
Fills with her rage,
force,
and warms with all her fires
O'er all the Greeks decrees his fame to raise,
Above the Greeks her warrior's fame to raise,
his deathless
And crown her hero with immortal praise:
Bright from his beamy creft the lightnings play,
High on
From his broad buckler flash'd the living ray,
High on his helm celeftial lightnings play,
His beamy fhield emits a living ray.
The Goddess with her breath the flame fupplies,
Bright as the ftar whofe fires in Autumn rise;
Her breath divine thick ftreaming flames fupplies,
Bright as the ftar that fires the autumnal skies :
Th' unwearied blaze inceffant streams fupplies,
Like the red ftar that fires th' autumnal skies.
When first he rears his radiant orb to fight,
And bath'd in ocean fhoots a keener light.
Such glories Pallas on the chief bestow'd,
Such from his arms the fierce effulgence flow'd;
Onward fhe drives him furious to engage,
Where the fight burns, and where the thickest rag
When fresh he rears his radiant orb to fight,
And gilds old Ocean with a blaze of light,
Bright as the far that fires th' autumnal kies,
Fresh from the deep, and gilds the feas and fkies.
Such glories Pallas on her chief bestow'd,
Such fparkling rays from his bright armour flow'd,
Such from his arms the fierce effulgence flow'd,
Onward the drives him beadlong to engage,
Where the war bleeds, and where the fierceft rage.
thickelt
fight burns,
The fons of Dares first the combat fought,
A wealthy prieft, but rich without a fault;
In Vulcan's fane the father's days were led,
The fons to toils of glorious battle bred;
There liv'd a Trojan-Dares was his name,
The prieft of Vulcan, rich, yet void of blame;
The fons of Dares first the combat sought,
A wealthy priest, but rich without a fault.
Conclufion of Book VIII. v. 687.
As when the moon, refulgent lamp of night,
O'er heaven's clear azure spreads her facred light;
When not a breath disturbs the deep ferene,
And not a cloud o'ercafts the folemn fcene;
Around her throne the vivid planets roll,
And stars unnumber'd gild the glowing pole ;
O'er the dark trees a yellower verdure shed,
And tip with filver every mountain's head;
Then shine the vales-the rocks in profpect rife,
A flood of glory bursts from all the skies;
The conscious fwains, rejoicing in the fight,
Eye the blue vault, and bless the useful light.
So many flames before proud Ilion blaze,
And lighten glimmering Xanthus with their rays;
The long reflexion of the diftant fires
Gleam on the walls, and tremble on the fpires:
A thousand piles the dusky horrors gild,
And shoot a fhady luftre o'er the field;
Full fifty guards each flaming pile attend,
Whose umber'd arms by fits thick flashes fend
Loud neigh the courfers o'er their heaps of corn,
And ardent warriors wait the rifing morn.
As when in ftillness of the filent night,
As when the moon in all her luftre bright,
As when the moon, refulgent lamp of night,
O'er heaven's clear azure sheds her filver light;
pure spreads facred
As ftill in air the trembling lustre stood,
And o'er its golden border shoots a flood;
When no loofe gale difturbs the deep ferene,
And no dim cloud o'ercafts the folemn scene;
Around her filver throne the planets glow,
And ftars unnumber'd trembling beams bestow;
Around her throne the vivid planets roll,
And stars unnumber'd gild the glowing pole:
Clear gleams of light o'er the dark trees are feen,
o'er the dark trees a yellow fheds,
O'er the dark trees a yellower green they fhed,
And tip with filver every mountain's head.
The vallies open, and the forests rise,
The vales appear, the rocks in prospect rise,
Then shine the vales, the rocks in profpect rife,
All Nature ftands reveal'd before our eyes;
A flood of glory bursts from all the skies.
The confcious fhepherd, joyful at the fight,
Eyes the blue vault, and numbers every light.
The conscious Swains rejoicing at the fight
fhepherds gazing with delight
Eye the blue vault, and bless the vivid light.
And lighten glimmering Xanthus with their rays,
Wide o'er the fields to Troy extend the gleams,
And tip the distant spires with fainter beams;
The long reflexions of the distant fires
Gild the high walls, and tremble on the fpires,
Gleam on the walls, and tremble on the spires;
A thousand fires at diftant ftations bright,
Gild the dark prospect and dispel the night.
Of these specimens every man who has cultivated poetry, or who delights to trace the mind from the rudeness of its firft conceptions to the elegance of its laft, will naturally desire a greater number; but most other readers are already tired, and I am not writing only to poets and philofophers.
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