by Homer
From present rescue, but through all the whizzing spears he passed,
And came where both were combating; whesn instantly he cast
A mist before Achilles' eyes, drew from the earth and shield
His lance, and laid it at his feet, and then took up and held
Aloft the light Anchises' son, who passed, with Neptune's force,
Whole orders of heroes' heads, and many a troop of horse
Leaped over, till the bounds he reached of all the fervent broil
Where all the Caucons' quarters lay. Thus, far freed from the toil,
Neptune had time to use these words: " iEneas, who was he
Of all the Gods, that did so much neglect thy good and thee
To urge thy fight with Thetis' son, who in immortal rates
Is better and more dear than thee? Hereafter, lest, past fates,
Hell be thy headlong home, retire, make bold stand never near
Where he advanceth. But his fate once satisfied, then bear
A free and full sail; no Greek else shall end thee." This revealed,
He left him, and dispersed the cloud that all this act concealed
From vexed Achilles; who again had clear light from the skies,
And, much disdaining the escape, said : " O ye Gods, mine eyes
Discover miracles! My lance submitted, and he gone
At whom I sent it with desire of his confusion!
iEneas sure was loved of heaven. I thought his vaunt from thence
Had flowed from glory. Let him go, no more experience
Will his mind long for of my hands, he flies them now so clear.
Cheer then the Greeks, and others try." Thus ranged he everywhere
The Grecian orders; every man (of which the most looked on
To see their fresh lord shake his lance) he thus put charge upon :
“Divine Greeks, stand not thus at gaze, but' man to man apply
Your several valours. 'Tis a task laid too unequally
On me left to so many men, one man opposed to all.
Not Mars, immortal and a God, not war's she-General,
A field of so much fight could chase, and work it out with blows.
But what a man may execute, that all limbs will expose,
And all their strength to th' utmost nerve (though now I lost some play
By some strange miracle) no more shall burn in vain the day
To any least beam. All this host I'll ransack, and have hope,
Of all not one again will 'scape, whoever gives such scope
To his adventure, and so near dares tempt my angry lance."
Thus he excited. Hector then as much strives to advance
The hearts of his men, adding threats, affirming he would stand
In combat with Aeacides: " Give fear," said he, " no hand
Of your great hearts, brave Ilians, for Peleus' talking son.
I'll fight with any God with words: but when their spears put on,
The work runs high, their strength exceeds mortality so far,
And they may make works crown their words, which hold not in the war
Achilles makes; his hands have bounds; this word he shall make good,
And leave another to the field. His worst shall be withstood
With sole objection of myself, though in his hands he bear
A rage like fire, though fire itself his raging fingers were,
And burning steel flew in his strength." Thus he incited his;
And they raised lances, and to work with mixed courages;
And up flew Clamour. But the heat in Hector Phoebus gave
This temper : " Do not meet," said he, " in any single brave
The man thou threaten'st, but in press, and in thy strength impeach
His violence, for far off, or near, his sword or dart will reach."
The God's voice made a difference in Hector's own conceit
Betwixt his and Achilles' words, and gave such overweight
As weighed him back into his strength, and curbed his flying out.
At all threw fierce Aeacides, and gave a horrid shout.
The first of all he put to dart was fierce Iphition,
Surnamed Otryntides, whom Nais the water-nymph made son
To town-destroyer Otrynteus. Beneath the snowy hill
Of Tmolus, in the wealthy town of Hyda, at his will
Were many able men at arms. He, rushing in, took full
Pelides' lance in his head's midst, that cleft in two his skull.
Achilles knew him one much famed, and thus insulted then :
“Thou'rt dead, Otryntides, though called the terriblest of men.
Thy race runs at Gygseus'1 lake, there thy inheritance lay,
Near fishy Hyllus and the gulfs of Hermus, but this day
Removes it to the fields of Troy." Thus left he night to seize
His closed eyes, his body laid in course of all the prease,
Which Grecian horse broke with the strakes nailed to their chariot wheels.
Next, through the temples, the burst eyes, his deadly javelin steels
Of great^in-Troy Antenor's son, renowned Demoleon,
A mighty turner of a field. His overthrow set gone
Hippodamas, who leaped from horse, and, as he fled before
Aeacides his turned back, he made fell Pelias gore,
And forth he puffed his flying soul. And as a tortured bull,
To Neptune brought for sacrifice, a troop of youngsters pull
Down to the earth, and drag him round about the hallowed shore
To please the wat'ry deity with forcing him to roar,
And forth he pours his utmost throat; so bellowed this slain friend
Of flying Ilion with the breath that gave his being end.
Then rushed he on, and in his eye had heavenly Polydore,
Old Priam's son, whom last of all his fruitful princess bore,
And for his youth, being dear to him, the king forbade to fight.
Yet (hot of unexperienced blood, to show how exquisite
He was of foot, for which of all the fifty sons he held
The special name) he flew before the first heat of the field,
Even till he flew out breath and soul, which, through the back, the lance
Of swift Achilles put in air, and did his head advance
Out at his navel. On his knees the poor prince crying fell,
And gathered with his tender hands his entrails that did swell
Quite through the wide wound, till a cloud as black as death -concealed
Their sight, and all the world from him. When Hector had beheld
His brother tumbled so to earth, his entrails still in hand,
Dark sorrow overcast his eyes, nor far off could he stand
A minute longer, but like fire he brake out of the throng,
Shook his long lance at Thetis' son; and then came he along
To feed th' encounter : "O," said he, " here comes the man that most
Of all the world destroys my mind, the man by whom I lost
My dear Patroclus. Now not long the crooked paths of war
Can yield us any privy 'scapes. ' Come, keep not off so far,' v
He cried to Hector, ' make the pain of thy sure death as short
As one so desperate of his life hath reason.'" In no sort
This frighted Hector, who bore close, and said: " Aeacides,
Leave threats for children. I have pow'r to thunder calumnies
As well as others, and well know thy strength superior far
To that my nerves hold; but the Gods, not nerves, determine -war.
And yet, for nerves, there will be found a strength of pow'r in mine
To drive a lance home to thy life. My lance as well as thine
Hath point and sharpness, and 'tis this." Thus, brandishing his spear,.
He set it flying, which a breath of Pallas back did bear
From Thetis' son to Hector's
self, and at his feet it fell.
Achilles used no dart, but close flew in, and thought to deal
With no strokes but of sure dispatch, but, what with all his blood
He laboured, Phoebus cleared with ease, £is being a God, and stood
For Hector's guard, as Pallas did, Aeacides, for thine.
He rapt him from him, and a cloud of much night cast between
His person and the point opposed. Achilles then exclaimed :
“O see, yet more Gods are at work. Apollo's hand hath framed,
Dog that thou art, thy rescue now; to whom go pay thy vows
Thy safety owes him, I shall vent in time those fatal blows
That yet beat in my heart on thine, if any God remain
My equal fautor. In mean time my anger must maintain
His fire on other Ilians." Then laid he at his feet
Great Demuchus, Philetor's son; and Dryope did greet
With like encounter. Dardanus and strong Laogonus,
Wise Bias' sons, he hurled from horse, of one victorious
With his close sword, the other's life he conquered with his lance.
Then Tros, Alastor's son, made in, and sought to 'scape their chance
With free submission. Down he fell, and prayed about his knees
He would not kill him, but take ruth, as one that destinies
Made to that purpose, being a man born in the self-same year
That he himself was. O poor fool, to sue to him to bear
A ruthful mind! He well might know he could not fashion him
In ruth's soft mould, he had no spirit to brook that interim
In his hot fury, he was none of these remorseful men,
Gentle and affable, but fierce at all times, and mad then.
He gladly would have made a prayer, and still so hugged his knee
He could not quit him; till at last his sword was fain to free
His fettered knees, that made a vent for his white liver's blood
That caused such pitiful affects, of which it poured a flood
About his bosom, which it filled, even till it drowned his eyes,
And all sense failed him. Forth then flew this prince of tragedies,
Who next stooped Mulius even to death with his insatiate spear;
One ear it entered, and made good his pass to th' other ear.
Echeclus then, Agenor's son, he struck betwixt the brows,
Whose blood set fire upon his sword, that cooled it till the throes
Of his then labouring brain let out his soul to fixed fate,
And gave cold entry to blaclp death. Deucalion then had state
In these men's beings, where the nerves about the elbow knit,
Down to his hand his' spear's steel pierced, and brought such pain to it
As led death jointly, whom he saw before his fainting eyes,
And in his neck felt with a stroke laid on so that off flies
His head. One of the twice twelve bones that all the backbone make
Let out his marrow, when the head he, helm and all, did take,
And hurled amongst the Ilians; the body stretched on earth.
Rhigmus of fruitful Thrace next fell. He was the famous birth
Of Pireus; his belly's midst the lance took, whose stern force
Quite tumbled him from chariot. In turning back the horse,
Their guider Areithous received another lance
That threw him to his lord. No end was put to the mischancc
Achilles entered. But as fire, fall'n in a flash from heaven,
Inflames the high woods of dry hills, and with a storm is driven
Through all the sylvan deeps, and raves, till down goes everywhere
The smothered hill; so every way Achilles and his spear
Consumed the champain, the black earth flowed with the veins he tore.
And look how oxen, yoked and driven about the circular floor
Of some fair barn, tread suddenly the thick sheaves thin of corn,
And all the corn consumed with chaff; so mixed and overborne,
Beneath Achilles' one-hooved horse, shields, spears, and men, lay trod,
His axle-trees and chariot wheels all spattered with the blood
Hurled from the steeds' hooves and the strakes. Thus, to be magnified,
His most inaccessible hands in human blood he dyed.
BOOK XXL
ARGUMENT.
In two parts Troy's host parted; Thetis' son
One to Scamander, one to Ilion,
Pursues. Twelve lords he takes alive, to end
In sacrifice for vengeance to his friend.
A steropceus dies by his fierce hand,
And Priam's son, Lycaon. Over land
The flood breaks where Achilles being engaged,
Vulcan preserves him, and with spirit enraged
Sets all the champain and the flood on fire.
Contention then doth all the Gods inspire.
Apollo in Agenor's shape doth stay
Achilles' fury, and, by giving way,
Makes him pursue, till the deceit gives leave
That Troy in safety might her friends receive.
ANOTHER ARGUMENT.
Phy at the floods shore doth express
The labours of Aeacides.
AND now they reached the goodly swelling channel of the flood,
Gulf-eating Xanthus, whom Jove mixed with his immortal brood;
And there Achilles cleft the host of Ilion. One side fell
On Xanthus, th' other on the town, and that did he impel
The same way that the last day's rage put all the Greeks in
rout,
When Hector's fury reigned; these now Achilles poured about
The scattered field: To stay the flight, Saturnia cast before
Their hasty feet a standing fog, and then flight's violence bore
The other half full on the flood. The silver-gulfed deep
Received them with a mighty cry, the billows vast and steep
Roared at their armours, which the shores did round about resound.
This way and that they swum, and shrieked, as in the gulfs they drowned.
And as in fired fields locusts rise, as the unwearied blaze
Plies still their rising, till in swarms all rush as in amaze
For 'scape into some neighbour flood; so th' Achilleian stroke
Here drave the foe, the gulfy flood with men and horse did choke.
Then on the shore the worthy hid and left his horrid lance
Amids the tamarisks, and sprite-like did with his sword advance
Up to the river; ill affairs took up his furious brain
For Troy's engagements; every way he doubled.slain on slain.
A most unmanly noise was made, with those he put to sword,
Of groans and outcries. The flood blushed to be so much engored
With such base souls. And as small fish the swift-finned dolphin fly,
Filling the deep pits in the ports, on whose close strength they lie,
And there he swallows them in shoals; so here, to rocks and holes
About the flood, the Trojans fled, and there most lost their souls,
Even till he tired his slaught'rous arm. Twelve fair young princes then
He chose of all to take alive, to have them freshly slain
On that most solemn day of wreak resolved on for his friend.
These led he trembling forth the flood, as fearful of their end
As any hind calves. All their hands he pinioned behind
With their own girdles worn upon their rich weeds, and resigned
Their persons to,his Myrmidons to bear to fleet; and he
Plunged in the stream again to take more work of tragedy.
He met, then issuing the flood with all intent of flight,
Lycaon, Dardan Priam's son, whom lately in the night
He had surprised as in a wood of Priam's he had cut
In naves of his new chariot. An ill then, all unthought,
Stole on him in Achilles' shape, who took him thence, and brought
To well-built Lemnos, selling him to famous Jason's son.
From whom a guest then in his house, Imbrius Eetion,
Redeemed at high rate, and sent home t' Arisba, whence he fled,
And saw again his father's court; eleven days banqueted
Amongst his friends; the twelfth God thrust his hapless head again
In t' hands of stern .Aeacides, who now must send him slain
To Pluto's court, and gainst his will. Him, when Achilles knew,
Naked of helmet, shield, sword, lance, all which for ease he threw
To earth, being overcome with sweat, and labour wearying
His flying knees, he stormed, and said . " O heaven, a wondrous thing
Invades mine eyes! Those Ilians that heretofore I slew
Rise from the dark dead quick again. This man Fate makes eschew
Her own steel fingers. He was sold in Lemnos, and the deep
Of all seas 'twixt this Troy, and that (that many a man doth keep
From his loved country) bars not him. Come then, he now shall taste
The head of Pelias, and try if steel will down as fast
As other fortunes, or kind earth can any surer seize
On his sly person, whose strong arms have held down Hercules."
His thoughts thus moved while he stood firm; to see if he, he spied,
Would offer flight (which first he thought) but when he had descried
He was descried and flight was vain, fearful, he made more nigh,
With purpose to embrace his knees, and now longed much to fly
His black fate and abhorred death by coming in. His foe
Observed all this, and up he raised his lance as he would throw;
And then Lycaon close ran in, fell on his breast, and took
Achilles' knees, whose lance, on earth now staid, did overlook
His still turned back, with thirst to glut his shaip point with the blood
That lay so ready. But that thirst Lycaon's thirst withstood
To save his blood; Achilles' knee in his one hand he knit,
His other held the long lance hard, and would not part with it,
But thus besought: " I kiss thy knees, divine .Aeacides!
Respect me, and my fortunes rue. I now present th' access
Of a poor suppliant for thy ruth; and I am one that is
