With victim bulls, and sate with living steeds
His rapid whirlpools, shall avail you nought, 160
But ye shall die, die terribly, till all
Shall have requited me with just amends
518 For my Patroclus, and for other Greeks
Slain at the ships while I declined the war.
He ended, at those words still more incensed 165
Scamander means devised, thenceforth to check
Achilles, and avert the doom of Troy.
Meantime the son of Peleus, his huge spear
Grasping, assail’d Asteropæus son
Of Pelegon, on fire to take his life. 170
Fair Peribœa, daughter eldest-born
Of Acessamenus, his father bore
To broad-stream’d Axius, who had clasp’d the nymph
In his embrace. On him Achilles sprang.
He newly risen from the river, stood 175
Arm’d with two lances opposite, for him
Xanthus embolden’d, at the deaths incensed
Of many a youth, whom, mercy none vouchsafed,
Achilles had in all his current slain.
And now small distance interposed, they faced 180
Each other, when Achilles thus began.
Who art and whence, who dar’st encounter me?
Hapless the sires whose sons my force defy.
To whom the noble son of Pelegon.
Pelides, mighty Chief? Why hast thou ask’d 185
My derivation? From the land I come
Of mellow-soil’d Pœonia far remote,
Chief leader of Pœnia’s host spear-arm’d;
This day hath also the eleventh risen
Since I at Troy arrived. For my descent, 190
It is from Axius river wide-diffused,
From Axius, fairest stream that waters earth,
Sire of bold Pelegon whom men report
My sire. Let this suffice. Now fight, Achilles!
So spake he threatening, and Achilles raised 195
Dauntless the Pelian ash. At once two spears
The hero bold, Asteropæus threw,
With both hands apt for battle. One his shield
Struck but pierced not, impeded by the gold,
Gift of a God; the other as it flew 200
519 Grazed at his right elbow; sprang the sable blood;
But, overflying him, the spear in earth
Stood planted deep, still hungering for the prey.
Then, full at the Pœonian Peleus’ son
Hurl’d forth his weapon with unsparing force 205
But vain; he struck the sloping river bank,
And mid-length deep stood plunged the ashen beam.
Then, with his falchion drawn, Achilles flew
To smite him; he in vain, meantime, essay’d
To pluck the rooted spear forth from the bank; 210
Thrice with full force he shook the beam, and thrice,
Although reluctant, left it; at his fourth
Last effort, bending it he sought to break
The ashen spear-beam of Æacides,
But perish’d by his keen-edged falchion first; 215
For on the belly at his navel’s side
He smote him; to the ground effused fell all
His bowels, death’s dim shadows veil’d his eyes.
Achilles ardent on his bosom fix’d
His foot, despoil’d him, and exulting cried. 220
Lie there; though River-sprung, thou find’st it hard
To cope with sons of Jove omnipotent.
Thou said’st, a mighty River is my sire —
But my descent from mightier Jove I boast;
My father, whom the Myrmidons obey, 225
Is son of Æacus, and he of Jove.
As Jove all streams excels that seek the sea,
So, Jove’s descendants nobler are than theirs.
Behold a River at thy side — let him
Afford thee, if he can, some succor — No — 230
He may not fight against Saturnian Jove.
Therefore, not kingly Acheloïus,
Nor yet the strength of Ocean’s vast profound,
Although from him all rivers and all seas,
All fountains and all wells proceed, may boast 235
Comparison with Jove, but even he
Astonish’d trembles at his fiery bolt,
And his dread thunders rattling in the sky.
520 He said, and drawing from the bank his spear
Asteropæus left stretch’d on the sands, 240
Where, while the clear wave dash’d him, eels his flanks
And ravening fishes numerous nibbled bare.
The horsed Pœonians next he fierce assail’d,
Who seeing their brave Chief slain by the sword
And forceful arm of Peleus’ son, beside 245
The eddy-whirling stream fled all dispersed.
Thersilochus and Mydon then he slew,
Thrasius, Astypylus and Ophelestes,
Ænius and Mnesus; nor had these sufficed
Achilles, but Pœonians more had fallen, 250
Had not the angry River from within
His circling gulfs in semblance, of a man
Call’d to him, interrupting thus his rage.
Oh both in courage and injurious deeds
Unmatch’d, Achilles! whom themselves the Gods 255
Cease not to aid, if Saturn’s son have doom’d
All Ilium’s race to perish by thine arm,
Expel them, first, from me, ere thou achieve
That dread exploit; for, cumber’d as I am
With bodies, I can pour my pleasant stream 260
No longer down into the sacred deep;
All vanish where thou comest. But oh desist
Dread Chief! Amazement fills me at thy deeds.
To whom Achilles, matchless in the race.
River divine! hereafter be it so. 265
But not from slaughter of this faithless host
I cease, till I shall shut them fast in Troy
And trial make of Hector, if his arm
In single fight shall strongest prove, or mine
He said, and like a God, furious, again 270
Assail’d the Trojans; then the circling flood
To Phœbus thus his loud complaint address’d.
Ah son of Jove, God of the silver bow!
521 The mandate of the son of Saturn ill
Hast thou perform’d, who, earnest, bade thee aid 275
The Trojans, till (the sun sunk in the West)
Night’s shadow dim should veil the fruitful field.
He ended, and Achilles spear-renown’d
Plunged from the bank into the middle stream.
Then, turbulent, the River all his tide 280
Stirr’d from the bottom, landward heaving off
The numerous bodies that his current chok’d
Slain by Achilles; them, as with the roar
Of bulls, he cast aground, but deep within
His oozy gulfs the living safe conceal’d. 285
Terrible all around Achilles stood
The curling wave, then, falling on his shield
Dash’d him, nor found his footsteps where to rest.
An elm of massy trunk he seized and branch
Luxuriant, but it fell torn from the root 290
And drew the whole bank after it; immersed
It damm’d the current with its ample boughs,
And join’d as with a bridge the distant shores,
Upsprang Achilles from the gulf and turn’d
His feet, now wing’d for flight, into the plain 295
Astonish’d; but the God, not so appeased,
Arose against him with a darker curl,
That he might quell him and deliver Troy.
Back flew Achilles with a bound, the length
Of a spear’s cast, for such a spring he own’d 300
As b
ears the black-plumed eagle on her prey
Strongest and swiftest of the fowls of air.
Like her he sprang, and dreadful on his chest
Clang’d his bright armor. Then, with course oblique
He fled his fierce pursuer, but the flood, 305
Fly where he might, came thundering in his rear.
As when the peasant with his spade a rill
Conducts from some pure fountain through his grove
Or garden, clearing the obstructed course,
522 The pebbles, as it runs, all ring beneath, 310
And, as the slope still deepens, swifter still
It runs, and, murmuring, outstrips the guide,
So him, though swift, the river always reach’d
Still swifter; who can cope with power divine?
Oft as the noble Chief, turning, essay’d 315
Resistance, and to learn if all the Gods
Alike rush’d after him, so oft the flood,
Jove’s offspring, laved his shoulders. Upward then
He sprang distress’d, but with a sidelong sweep
Assailing him, and from beneath his steps 320
Wasting the soil, the Stream his force subdued.
Then looking to the skies, aloud he mourn’d.
Eternal Sire! forsaken by the Gods
I sink, none deigns to save me from the flood,
From which once saved, I would no death decline. 325
Yet blame I none of all the Powers of heaven
As Thetis; she with falsehood sooth’d my soul,
She promised me a death by Phœbus’ shafts
Swift-wing’d, beneath the battlements of Troy.
I would that Hector, noblest of his race, 330
Had slain me, I had then bravely expired
And a brave man had stripp’d me of my arms.
But fate now dooms me to a death abhorr’d
Whelm’d in deep waters, like a swine-herd’s boy
Drown’d in wet weather while he fords a brook. 335
So spake Achilles; then, in human form,
Minerva stood and Neptune at his side;
Each seized his hand confirming him, and thus
The mighty Shaker of the shores began.
Achilles! moderate thy dismay, fear nought. 340
In us behold, in Pallas and in me,
Effectual aids, and with consent of Jove;
For to be vanquish’d by a River’s force
Is not thy doom. This foe shall soon be quell’d;
Thine eyes shall see it. Let our counsel rule 345
Thy deed, and all is well. Cease not from war
Till fast within proud Ilium’s walls her host
523 Again be prison’d, all who shall escape;
Then (Hector slain) to the Achaian fleet
Return; we make the glorious victory thine. 350
So they, and both departing sought the skies.
Then, animated by the voice divine,
He moved toward the plain now all o’erspread
By the vast flood on which the bodies swam
And shields of many a youth in battle slain. 355
He leap’d, he waded, and the current stemm’d
Right onward, by the flood in vain opposed,
With such might Pallas fill’d him. Nor his rage
Scamander aught repress’d, but still the more
Incensed against Achilles, curl’d aloft 360
His waters, and on Simoïs call’d aloud.
Brother! oh let us with united force
Check, if we may, this warrior; he shall else
Soon lay the lofty towers of Priam low,
Whose host appall’d, defend them now no more. 365
Haste — succor me — thy channel fill with streams
From all thy fountains; call thy torrents down;
Lift high the waters; mingle trees and stones
With uproar wild, that we may quell the force
Of this dread Chief triumphant now, and fill’d 370
With projects that might more beseem a God.
But vain shall be his strength, his beauty nought
Shall profit him or his resplendent arms,
For I will bury them in slime and ooze,
And I will overwhelm himself with soil, 375
Sands heaping o’er him and around him sands
Infinite, that no Greek shall find his bones
For ever, in my bottom deep immersed.
There shall his tomb be piled, nor other earth,
At his last rites, his friends shall need for him. 380
He said, and lifting high his angry tide
Vortiginous, against Achilles hurl’d,
Roaring, the foam, the bodies, and the blood;
Then all his sable waves divine again
Accumulating, bore him swift along. 385
524 Shriek’d Juno at that sight, terrified lest
Achilles in the whirling deluge sunk
Should perish, and to Vulcan quick exclaim’d.
Vulcan, my son, arise; for we account
Xanthus well able to contend with thee. 390
Give instant succor; show forth all thy fires.
Myself will haste to call the rapid South
And Zephyrus, that tempests from the sea
Blowing, thou may’st both arms and dead consume
With hideous conflagration. Burn along 395
The banks of Xanthus, fire his trees and him
Seize also. Let him by no specious guile
Of flattery soothe thee, or by threats appall,
Nor slack thy furious fires ‘till with a shout
I give command, then bid them cease to blaze. 400
She spake, and Vulcan at her word his fires
Shot dreadful forth; first, kindling on the field,
He burn’d the bodies strew’d numerous around
Slain by Achilles; arid grew the earth
And the flood ceased. As when a sprightly breeze 405
Autumnal blowing from the North, at once
Dries the new-water’d garden, gladdening him
Who tills the soil, so was the champain dried;
The dead consumed, against the River, next,
He turn’d the fierceness of his glittering fires. 410
Willows and tamarisks and elms he burn’d,
Burn’d lotus, rushes, reeds; all plants and herbs
That clothed profuse the margin of his flood.
His eels and fishes, whether wont to dwell
In gulfs beneath, or tumble in the stream, 415
All languish’d while the artist of the skies
Breath’d on them; even Xanthus lost, himself,
All force, and, suppliant, Vulcan thus address’d.
Oh Vulcan! none in heaven itself may cope
With thee. I yield to thy consuming fires. 420
525 Cease, cease. I reck not if Achilles drive
Her citizens, this moment, forth from Troy,
For what are war and war’s concerns to me?
So spake he scorch’d, and all his waters boil’d.
As some huge caldron hisses urged by force 425
Of circling fires and fill’d with melted lard,
The unctuous fluid overbubbling streams
On all sides, while the dry wood flames beneath,
So Xanthus bubbled and his pleasant flood
Hiss’d in the fire, nor could he longer flow 430
But check’d his current, with hot steams annoy’d
By Vulcan raised. His supplication, then,
Importunate to Juno thus he turn’d.
Ah Juno! why assails thy son my streams,
Hostile to me alone? Of all who aid 435
The Trojans I am surely least to blame,
Yet even I desist if thou command;
And let thy son cease also; for I swear
That never will I from the Trojans turn
Their evil day, not even when t
he host 440
Of Greece shall set all Ilium in a blaze.
He said, and by his oath pacified, thus
The white-arm’d Deity to Vulcan spake.
Peace, glorious son! we may not in behalf
Of mortal man thus longer vex a God. 445
Then Vulcan his tremendous fires repress’d,
And down into his gulfy channel rush’d
The refluent flood; for when the force was once
Subdued of Xanthus, Juno interposed,
Although incensed, herself to quell the strife. 450
But contest vehement the other Gods
Now waged, each breathing discord; loud they rush’d
And fierce to battle, while the boundless earth
Quaked under them, and, all around, the heavens
Sang them together with a trumpet’s voice. 455
Jove listening, on the Olympian summit sat
Well-pleased, and, in his heart laughing for joy,
526 Beheld the Powers of heaven in battle join’d.
Not long aloof they stood. Shield-piercer Mars,
His brazen spear grasp’d, and began the fight 460
Rushing on Pallas, whom he thus reproach’d.
Wasp! front of impudence, and past all bounds
Audacious! Why impellest thou the Gods
To fight? Thy own proud spirit is the cause.
Remember’st not, how, urged by thee, the son 465
Of Tydeus, Diomede, myself assail’d,
When thou, the radiant spear with thy own hand
Guiding, didst rend my body? Now, I ween,
The hour is come in which I shall exact
Vengeance for all thy malice shown to me. 470
So saying, her shield he smote tassell’d around
Terrific, proof against the bolts of Jove;
That shield gore-tainted Mars with fury smote.
But she, retiring, with strong grasp upheaved
A rugged stone, black, ponderous, from the plain, 475
A land-mark fixt by men of ancient times,
Which hurling at the neck of stormy Mars
She smote him. Down he fell. Seven acres, stretch’d,
He overspread, his ringlets in the dust
Polluted lay, and dreadful rang his arms. 480
The Goddess laugh’d, and thus in accents wing’d
With exultation, as he lay, exclaim’d.
Fool! Art thou still to learn how far my force
Surpasses thine, and darest thou cope with me?
William Cowper- Collected Poetical Works Page 135
