Part 28 (1/2)

”Cursed is the ht, Unworthy property, unworthy light, Unfit for public rule, or private care, That wretch, that hts in war; Whose lust is murder, and whose horrid joy, To tear his country, and his kind destroy!

This night, refresh and fortify thy train; Between the trench and wall let guards re, to council call the old; Great is thy sway, and weighty are thy cares; Thy high commands must spirit all our wars

With Thracian wines recruit thy honour'd guests, For happy counsels flow frohty counsels aid a state distress'd, And such a monarch as can choose the best

See what a blaze from hostile tents aspires, How near our fleet approach the Trojan fires!

Who can, unht?

What eye beholds theht?

This dreadful interval determines all; To-morrow, Troy must flae: the rest obey; Swift through the gates the guards direct their way

His son was first to pass the lofty enerous Thrasymed, in arms renown'd: Next hi of the warrior-God: Deipyrus, Aphareus, Merion join, And Lycomed of Creon's noble line

Seven were the leaders of the nightly bands, And each bold chief a hundred spears coht, to short repasts they fall, So of men, on public counsels bent, Convened the princes in his aly feast, But stay'd his hand when thirst and hunger ceased

Then Nestor spoke, for wisdo, thus the council moved

”Monarch of nations! whose superior sway assembled states, and lords of earth obey, The laws and sceptres to thy hand are given, And ! the counsels of in, with thee must end

Thee, prince! it fits alike to speak and hear, pronounce with judgive ear, To see no wholesoood

Nor, though a ive advice, repine, But follow it, and ht, not now conceived in haste, At once ment and my past

When from Pelides' tent you forced the maid, I first opposed, and faithful, durst dissuade; But bold of soul, when headlong fury fired, You wronged the man, by men and Gods admired: Now seek some means his fatal wrath to end, With prayers to”With justice hast thou shown A prince's faults, and I with reason own

That happy man, whom Jove still honours most, Is more than armies, and himself a host

Bless'd in his love, this wondrous hero stands; Heaven fights his war, and humbles all our bands

Fain would e, The wrathful chief and angry Gods assuage

If gifts ihty soul can bow,(201) Hear, all ye Greeks, and witness what I vow

Ten weighty talents of the purest gold, And twice ten vases of refulgent mould: Seven sacred tripods, whose unsullied frame Yet knows no office, nor has felt the flame; Twelve steeds unmatch'd in fleetness and in force, And still victorious in the dusty course; (Rich were the man whose aed speed;) Seven lovely captives of the Lesbian line, Skill'd in each art, unar charms, When Lesbos sank beneath the hero's arms: All these, to buy his friendshi+p, shall be paid, And join'd with these the long-contested n, And solemn swear those charms were never mine; Untouch'd she stay'd, uninjured she reuiltless of my loves,(202) These instant shall be his; and if the powers Give to our arms proud Ilion's hostile towers, Then shall he store (when Greece the spoil divides) With gold and brass his loaded navy's sides: Besides, full twenty nymphs of Trojan race With copious love shall crown his warm embrace, Such as himself will choose; who yield to none, Or yield to Helen's heavenly charms alone

Yet hear os' fruitful shore, There shall he live my son, our honours share, And with Orestes' self divide hters in my court are bred, And each orthy of a royal bed; Laodice and Iphigenia fair,(203) And bright Chrysotheolden hair; Her let him choose whom most his eyes approve, I ask no presents, no reward for love: Myself will give the dower; so vast a store As never father gave a child before

Seven ample cities shall confess his sway, Him Enope, and Pherae him obey, Cardamyle with ample turrets crown'd, And sacred Pedasus for vines renown'd; aepea fair, the pastures Hira yields, And rich Antheia with her flowery fields:(204) The whole extent to Pylos' sandy plain, Along the verdantoxen toil; Bold are the n, with power and justice crown'd, And rule the tributary realeance to control, And sure all this risly God, who never spares, Who feels no mercy, and who hears no prayers, Lives dark and dreadful in deep hell's abodes, And h he be, it fits him to obey, Since more than his my years, and more my sway”

[Illustration: PLUTO]

PLUTO

The lorious king of men!

Such are thy offers as a princeto ates this hour be sent (Myself will name them) to Pelides' tent

Let Phoenix lead, revered for hoary age, Great Ajax next, and Ithacus the sage

Yet more to sanctify the word you send, Let Hodius and Eurybates attend

Now pray to Jove to grant what Greece demands; Pray in deep silence,(205) and with purest hands”(206)

[Illustration: THE EMBassY TO ACHILLES]

THE EMBassY TO ACHILLES

He said; and all approved The heralds bring The cleansing water frooblets crown'd, And large libations drench'd the sands around

The rite perform'd, the chiefs their thirst allay, Then from the royal tent they take their way; Wise Nestor turns on each his careful eye, Forbids to offend, instructs them to apply; Much he advised them all, Ulysses h the still night theyshore

To Neptune, ruler of the seas profound, Whose liquid arlobe surround, They pour forth vows, their ee of stern aeacides