William Cowper- Collected Poetical Works

by William Cowper

  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?