Part 40 (1/2)

Swift at the word bold Merion snatch'd a spear And, breathing slaughter, follow'd to the war

So Mars armipotent invades the plain, (The wide destroyer of the race of man,) Terror, his best-beloved son, attends his course, Arhty warriors to confound, And lay the strength of tyrants on the ground: Froyans, and Ephyrian arlad conquest, murderous rout to those

So ht arms shot horror o'er the plain

Then first spake Merion: ”Shall we join the right, Or coht?

Or to the left our wonted succour lend?

Hazard and fame all parts alike attend”

”Not in the centre (Idouide; Each Godlike Ajax allant Teucer deals destruction there, Skill'd or with shafts to gall the distant field, Or bear close battle on the sounding shi+eld

These can the rage of haughty Hector tame: Safe in their arms, the navy fears no flame, Till Jove hi ruin at our head

Great must he be, of more than human birth, Nor feed like mortals on the fruits of earth

Him neither rocks can crush, nor steel can wound, Who fight he mates Achilles' force, Excell'd alone in swiftness in the course

Then to the left our ready arlory die”

He said: and Merion to th' appointed place, Fierce as the God of battles, urged his pace

Soon as the foe the shi+ning chiefs beheld Rush like a fiery torrent o'er the field, Their force e the shore

As warring winds, in Sirius' sultry reign, From different quarters sweep the sandy plain; On every side the dusty inds rise, And the dry fields are lifted to the skies: Thus by despair, hope, rage, together driven, Met the black hosts, and, lared the iron face of war, Bristled with upright spears, that flash'd afar; Dire was the gleam of breastplates, hel fields: Treave, But touch'd with joy the bosoreat sons in fierce contention vied, And crowds of heroes in their anger died

The sire of earth and heaven, by Thetis won To croith glory Peleus' Godlike son, Will'd not destruction to the Grecian powers, But spared awhile the destined Trojan towers; While Neptune, rising fro of heaven with stern disdain, And breathed revenge, and fired the Grecian train

Gods of one source, of one ethereal race, Alike divine, and heaven their native place; But Jove the greater; first-born of the skies, And more than men, or Gods, supreht afraid, Neptune in human form conceal'd his aid

These powers enfold the Greek and Trojan train In war and discord's ada: the fatal tie Is stretch'd on both, and close corown in corey, The bold Idomeneus controls the day

First by his hand Othryoneus was slain, Swell'd with false hopes, with mad ambition vain; Call'd by the voice of war to h Cabesus' distant walls he caht, with boasts of power, And pro consented, by his vaunts abused; The king consented, but the fates refused

Proud of hiined bride, The field he er stride

Him as he stalk'd, the Cretan javelin found; Vain was his breastplate to repel the wound: His dreaed to hell; His arreat Idomeneus bestrides the dead; ”And thus (he cries) behold thy pro, And such the contract of the Phrygian king!

Our offers now, illustrious prince! receive; For such an aid ill not Argos give?

To conquer Troy, with ours thy forces join, And count Atrides' fairest daughter thine

Meantime, on further methods to advise, Come, follow to the fleet thy new allies; There hear what Greece has on her part to say”

He spoke, and dragg'd the gory corse away

This Asius view'd, unable to contain, Before his chariot warring on the plain: (His crowded coursers, to his squire consign'd, I with a sudden spring, He hoped the conquest of the Cretan king

The wary Cretan, as his foe drew near, Full on his throat discharged the forceful spear: Beneath the chin the point was seen to glide, And glitter'd, extant at the further side

As when the reat admiral, Groans to the oft-heaved axe, with round: So sunk proud Asius in that dreadful day, And stretch'd before his rinds the dust distain'd with strea on the shore

Deprived of hast his tre charioteer, Nor shuns the foe, nor turns the steeds away, But falls transfix'd, an unresisting prey: Pierced by Antilochus, he pants beneath The stately car, and labours out his breath

Thus Asius' steeds (their one) Remain the prize of Nestor's youthful son

Stabb'd at the sight, Deiphobus drew nigh, And eful weapon fly

The Cretan saw; and, stooping, caused to glance From his slope shi+eld the disappointed lance

Beneath the spacious targe, (a blazing round, Thick with bull-hides and brazen orbits bound, On his raised ar braces stay'd,) He lay collected in defensive shade