Part 36 (1/2)

These, as loried in his conquering son

Thus Elis forced, her long arrears restored, And shares were parted to each Pylian lord

The state of Pyle was sunk to last despair, When the proud Elians first coe had slain; Of twelve bold brothers, I alone reain'd, My sire three hundred chosen sheep obtain'd

(That large reprisal he ht justly claim, For prize defrauded, and insulted fame, When Elis' monarch, at the public course, Detain'd his chariot, and victorious horse) The rest the people shared; myself survey'd The just partition, and due victims paid

Three days were past, when Elis rose to war, With many a courser, and withas they were) the vengeful squadrons led

High on the rock fair Thryoessa stands, Our utmost frontier on the Pylian lands: Not far the streams of famed Alphaeus flow: The stream they pass'd, and pitch'd their tents below

Pallas, descending in the shades of night, Alarht

Each burns for fame, and swells with martial pride, Myself the foremost; but my sire denied; Fear'd for my youth, exposed to stern alarms; And stopp'd my chariot, and detain'd my arms

My sire denied in vain: on foot I fled A fair Arene's delightful plain Soft Minyas rolls his waters to the main: There, horse and foot, the Pylian troops unite, And sheathed in arht

Thence, ere the sun advanced his noon-day flareat Alphaeus' sacred source we came

There first to Jove our solemn rites were paid; An untamed heifer pleased the blue-eyed maid; A bull, Alphaeus; and a bull was slain To the blue monarch of the wateryflood, While round the town the fierce Epeians stood

Soon as the sun, with all-revealing ray, Flaht scenes of arms, and works of war appear; The nations meet; there Pylos, Elis here

The first who fell, beneath a virtues knew, And every herb that drinks thedew:) I seized his car, the van of battle led; The Epeians saw, they trembled, and they fled

The foe dispersed, their bravest warrior kill'd, Fierce as the ind noept the field: Full fifty captive chariots graced my train; Two chiefs from each fell breathless to the plain

Then Actor's sons had died, but Neptune shrouds The youthful heroes in a veil of clouds

O'er heapy shi+elds, and o'er the prostrate throng, Collecting spoils, and slaughtering all along, Through wide Buprasian fields we forced the foes, Where o'er the vales the Olenian rocks arose; Till Pallas stopp'd us where Alisium flows

Even there the hindmost of the rear I slay, And the same arm that led concludes the day; Then back to Pyle triuh Jove were public thanks assign'd, As first of Gods; to Nestor, of mankind

Such then I was, impell'd by youthful blood; So proved ood

”Achilles with unactive fury glows, And gives to passion what to Greece he owes

How shall he grieve, when to the eternal shade Her hosts shall sink, nor his the power to aid!

0 friend!the Grecian sea, I, and Ulysses, touch'd at Phthia's port, And entered Peleus' hospitable court

A bull to Jove he slew in sacrifice, And pour'd libations on the flahs

Thyself, Achilles, and thy reverend sire Menoetius, turn'd the fragments on the fire

Achilles sees us, to the feast invites; Social we sit, and share the genial rites

We then explained the cause on which we caed you to arms, and found you fierce for faave; Peleus said only this:--'My son! be brave'

Menoetius thus: 'Though great Achilles shi+ne In strength superior, and of race divine, Yet cooler thoughts thy elder years attend; Let thy just counsels aid, and rule thy friend'

Thus spoke your father at Thessalia's court: Words now forgot, though now of vast ientle force the fiercestGod Achilles' heart lory, he may yield to love

If soht fro arm, Some beam of comfort yet on Greece may shi+ne, If thou but lead the Myrmidonian line; Clad in Achilles' arms, if thou appear, Proud Troy may tremble, and desist from war; Press'd by fresh forces, her o'er-labour'd train Shall seek their walls, and Greece respire again”

This touch'd his generous heart, and fro the shore with hasty strides he went; Soon as he came, where, on the crowded strand, The public reat Ulysses lies, And altars to the guardian Gods arise; There, sad, he e painful drops from all his members run; An arrow's head yet rooted in his wound, The sable blood in circleshe confess'd the smart, Weak was his pace, but dauntless was his heart

Divine co, thus his bleeding friend address'd:

”Ah, hapless leaders of the Grecian host!