Nor need I wonder, that on me he threw Such foul afperfions, when he spares not you: If Palamede unjustly fell by me,
Your honour fuffer'd in th' unjust decree:
I but accus'd, you doom'd: and yet he dy'd,
Convinc'd of treason, and was fairly try'd :
You heard not he was falfe; your eyes beheld
The traitor manifeft; the bribe reveal'd.
That Philoctetes is on Lemnos left, Wounded, forlorn, of human aid bereft, Is not my crime, or not my crime alone; Defend your juftice, for the fact's your own: "Tis true, the advice was mine; that ftaying.
He might his weary limbs with reft repair, From a long voyage free, and from a longer
He took the counfel, and he lives at leaft;
The event declares I counfell'd for the beft:
Though faith is all in minifters of state;
For who can promife to be fortunate?,
Now fince his arrows are the fate of Troy, 495
Do not my wit, or weak addrefs, employ;
Send Ajax there, with his perfuafive fenfe,
To mollify the man, and draw him thence:
But Xanthus fhall run backward; Ida ftand
A leaflefs mountain; and the Grecian band 500
Shall fight for Troy; if, when my counfels fail,
The wit of heavy Ajax can prevail.
Hard Philoctetes, exercife thy fpleen Against thy fellows, and the king of men ; Curfe my devoted head, above the reft, And wish in arms to meet me breast to breast: Yet I the dangerous tafk will undertake, And either die myself, or bring thee back.
Nor doubt the fame fuccefs, as when before The Phrygian prophet to these tents I bore, 510 Surpriz'd by night, and forc'd him to declare In what was plac'd the fortune of the war; Heaven's dark decrees and answers to display, And how to take the town, and where the fecret lay:
Yet this I compafs'd, and from Troy convey'd
The fatal image of their guardian maid;
That work was mine; for Pallas, though our
Yet while fhe was in Troy, did Troy defend. Now what has Ajax done, or what design'd? A noisy nothing, and an empty wind.
If he be what he promises in fhow,
Why was I fent, and why fear'd he to go? Our boasting champion thought the task not light
To pafs the guards, commit himself to night;
Not only through a hostile town to pass,
But fcale, with fteep afcent, the facred place;
With wand'ring fteps to search the citadel,
And from the priests their patronefs to steal:
Then through furrounding foes to force my way, And bear in triumph home the heavenly prey; Which had I not, Ajax in vain had held, Before that monftrous bulk, his fevenfold fhield. That night to conquer Troy I might be said, When Troy was liable to conquest made.
Why point'ft thou to my partner of the war? Tydides had indeed a worthy share
In all my toil, and praise; but when thy might
Our ships protected, didft thou fingly fight?
All join'd, and thou of many wert but one;
I afk'd no friend, nor had, but him alone;
Who, had he not been well affur'd, that art
And conduct were of war the better part,
And more avail'd than strength, my valiant
friend
Had urg'd a better right, than Ajax can pretend:
As good at leaft Eurypylus may claim,
And the more moderate Ajax of the name:
The Cretan king, and his brave charioteer,
And Menelaus bold with fword and fpear;
All thefe had been my rivals in the shield,
And yet all these to my pretenfions yield.
Thy boift'rous hands are then of ufe, when I
With this directing head thofe hands apply.
Brawn without brain is thine: my prudent care
Forefees, provides, adminifters the war:
Thy province is to fight; but when shall be
The time to fight, the king confults with me :
No dram of judgment with thy force is join'd;
Thy body is of profit, and my mind.
By how much more the ship her safety owes
To him who fteers, than him that only rows, 560
By how much more the captain merits praise
Than he who fights, and fighting but obeys;
By so much greater is my worth than thine,
Who canft but execute what I defign.
What gain'ft thou, brutal man, if I confefs 565
Thy ftrength fuperior, when thy wit is lefs?
Mind is the man: I claim my whole defert
From the mind's vigor, and the immortal part.
But O Grecian chiefs, reward my care,
you,
Be grateful to your watchman of the war: 570
For all my labours in fo long a space,
Sure I may plead a title to your grace:
Enter the town; I then unbarr'd the gates,
When I remov❜d their tutelary fates.
By all our common hopes, if hopes they be 575
Which I have now reduc'd to certainty ;
By falling Troy, by yonder tottering towers,
And by their taken gods, which now are ours;
Or if there yet a farther task remains,
To be perform'd by prudence or by pains; 580
If yet fome defp'rate action refts behind,
That afks high conduct, and a dauntless mind;
If ought be wanting to the Trojan doom,
Which none but I can manage and o'ercome;
Award thofe arms I afk, by your decree:
Or give to this what you refuse to me.
He ceas'd: and, ceafing, with respect he
And with his hand at once the fatal statue fhew'd. Heaven, air, and ocean rung, with loud ap
And by the general vote he gain'd his cause. Thus conduct won the prize, when courage
And eloquence o'er brutal force prevail'd.
He who could often, and alone, withstand The foe, the fire, and Jove's own partial hand, Now cannot his unmafter'd grief sustain,
But yields to rage, to madness, and disdain;
Then fnatching out his fauchion, Thou, faid he,
Art mine; Ulyffes lays no claim to thee.
O often try'd, and ever trufty fword,
Now do thy last kind office to thy lord :
'Tis Ajax who requests thy aid, to show
None but himself, himself could overthrow.
He faid, and with fo good a will to die
Did to his breast the fatal point apply,
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