(At this he figh'd, and wip'd his eyes, and drew,
Or feem'd to draw, fome drops of kindly dew)
Who better can fucceed Achilles loft,
Than he who gave Achilles to your host?
This only I requeft, that neither he
May gain, by being what he feems to be,
A ftupid thing, nor I may lose the prize,
By having fenfe, which heav'n to him denies :
Since, great or small, the talent I enjoy'd
Was ever in the common cause employ'd:
Nor let my wit, and wonted eloquence,
Which often has been us'd in your defence
And in my own, this only time be brought
To bear against myfelf, and deem'd a fault.
Make not a crime, where nature made it none;
For every man may freely ufe his own.
The deeds of long defcended ancestors
Are but by grace of imputation ours,
Theirs in effect: but fince he draws his line
From Jove, and feems to plead a right divine;
From Jove, like him, I claim my pedigree, 231
And am defcended in the fame degree:
My fire Laertes was Arcefius' heir,
Arcefius was the fon of Jupiter:
No paricide, no banish'd man, is known
In all my line: let him excufe his own.
Hermes ennobles too my mother's fide,
By both my parents to the gods ally'd ;
But not because that on the female part
My blood is better, dare I claim defert,
Or that my fire from paricide is free,
But judge by merit betwixt him and me :
The prize be to the beft; provided yet,
That Ajax for a while his kin forget,
And his great fire, and greater uncle's
To fortify by them his feeble claim :
Be kindred and relation laid afide,
And honour's caufe by laws of honour try'd ;
For, if he plead proximity of blood,
That empty title is with eafe withstood.
Peleus, the hero's fire, more nigh than he,
And Pyrrhus his undoubted progeny,
Inherit first these trophies of the field;
To Scyros, or to Phthia, fend the fhield:
And Teucer has an uncle's right; yet he
Waves his pretenfions, nor contends with me.
Then, fince the cause on pure defert is plac'd,
Whence shall I take my rife, what reckon laft?
I not prefume on every act to dwell,
But take thefe few, in order as they fell.
Thetis, who knew the fates, apply'd her care,
To keep Achilles in difguife from war;
And till the threatning influence were paft,
A woman's habit on the hero caft:
All eyes were cozen'd by the borrow'd veft, 265
And Ajax (never wifer than the reft)
Found no Pelides there at length I came
With proffer'd wares to this pretended dame ;
She, not difcover'd by her mien or voice,
Betray'd her manhood by her manly choice;
And while on female toys her fellows look, 2711
Grafp'd in her warlike hand, a javelin shook;
Whom, by this act reveal'd, I thus bespoke:
O goddess-born! refift not heav'n's decree,
The fall of Ilium is referv'd for thee;
Then feiz'd him, and, produc'd in open light,
Sent blushing to the field the fatal knight.
Mine then are all his actions of the war;
Great Telephus was conquer'd by my spear,
And after cur'd; to me the Thebans owe,
Lefbos and Tenedos, their overthrow;
Scyros and Cylla: not on all to dwell,
By me Lyrnefus and ftrong Chryfa fell:
And fince I fent the man who Hector flew,
To me the noble Hector's death is due:
Thofe arms I put into his living hand,
Thofe arms, Pelides dead, I now demand.
When Greece was injur'd in the Spartan
prince,
And met at Aulis to revenge the offence,
"Twas a dead calm, or adverfe blafts, that
And in the port the wind-bound fleet detain'd:
Bad figns were feen, and oracles fevere
Were daily thunder'd in our general's ear:
That by his daughter's blood we must appease
Diana's kindled wrath, and free the feas.
Affection, intereft, fame, his heart affail'd;
But foon the father o'er the king prevail'd :
Bold, on himself he took the pious crime,
As angry with the gods, as they with him.
No fubject could fuftain their fov'reign's look,
Till this hard enterprize I undertook :
I only durft th' imperial pow'r control,
And undermin'd the parent in his foul;
Forc'd him to exert the king for common good, And pay our ransom with his daughter's blood. Never was cause more difficult to plead,
Than where the judge against himself decreed : Yet this I won by dint of argument ;
The wrongs his injur'd brother underwent,
And his own office, fham'd him to confent.
'Twas harder yet to move the mother's mind,
And to this heavy tafk was I defign'd :
Reasons against her love I knew were vain:
I circumvented whom I could not gain:
Had Ajax been employ'd, our flacken'd fails 315
Had ftill at Aulis waited happy gales.
Arriv'd at Troy, your choice was fix'd on
A fearless envoy, fit for a bold embaffy: Secure, I enter'd through the hostile court, Glittering with fteel, and crouded with refort:
There in the midst of arms, I plead our caufe, 321
Urge the foul rape, and violated laws;
Accufe the foes, as authors of the ftrife,
Reproach the ravifher, demand the wife.
Priam, Antenor, and the wifer few,
I mov'd; but Paris and his lawless crew
Scarce held their hands, and lifted fwords: but
In act to quench their impious thirst of blood :
This Menelaus knows; expos'd to share
With me the rough preludium of the war. 330
Endless it were to tell what I have done,
In arms, or counsel, fince the fiege begun :
The first encounters paft, the foe repell❜d,
They fkulk'd within the town, we kept the field.
War feem'd afleep for nine long years; at
length,
Both fides refolv'd to push, we try'd our ftrength.
Now what did Ajax while our arms took breath, Vers'd only in the grofs mechanic trade of death?
If you require my deeds, with ambush'd arms
I trapp'd the foe, or tir'd with falfe alarms; 340
Secur'd the fhips, drew lines along the plain,
The fainting chear'd, chaftis'd the rebel train,
Provided forage, our spent arms renew'd ;
Employ'd at home, or fent abroad, the com-
mon cause purfu'd.
|