A priest made pris'ner, Pallas made a prey:
But none of all these actions done by day:
Nor ought of these was done, and Diomede away.
If on fuch petty merits you confer
So vaft a prize, let each his portion share ;
Make a juft dividend; and if not all,
The greater part to Diomede will fall,
But why for Ithacus fuch arms as thofe,
Who naked and by night invades. his foes?
The glitt'ring helm by moonlight will proclaim
The latent robber, and prevent his game:
Nor could he hold his tott'ring head upright
Beneath that motion, or fuftain the weight;
Nor that right arm could tofs the beamy lance;
Much less the left that ampler fhield advance;
Pond'rous with precious weight, and rough with coft
Of the round world in rifing gold emboss'd.
That orb would ill become his hand to wield,
And look as for the gold he stole the fhield;
Which fhould your error on the wretch bestow,
It would not frighten, but allure the foe:
Why afks he, what avails him not in fight,
And would but cumber and retard his flight,
In which his only excellence is plac'd
You give him death, that intercept his hafte,
Add, that his own is yet a maiden-shield,
Nor the leaft dint has fuffer'd in the field,
Guiltless of fight: mine batter'd, hew'd, and bor'd,
Worn out of service, muft forfake his lord.
What farther need of words our right to scan?
My arguments are deeds, let action speak the man.
Since from a champion's arms the ftrife arofe,
So caft the glorious prize amid the foes;
Then fend us to redeem both arms and fhield,
And let him wear who wins 'em in the field..
He faid: a murmur from the multitude,
Or fomewhat like a stifled shout, ensu'd:
Till from his feat arofe Laertes' fon,
Look'd down a while, and paus'd ere he begun;
Then to th' expecting audience rais'd his look,
And not without prepar'd attention spoke:
Soft was his tone, and fober was his face;
Action his words, and words his action grace.
If heav'n, my lords, had heard our common pray'r,
These arms had caus'd no quarrel for an heir;
Still great Achilles had his own poffefs'd,
And we with great Achilles had been blefs'd.
But fince hard fate, and heav'n's severe decree,
Have ravifh'd him away from you and me,
(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 hoft ?
This only I request, that neither he
May gain, by being what he seems to be,
A ftupid thing, nor I may lose the prize,
By having fenfe, which heav'n to him denies :
Since, great or fmall, 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 myself, and deem'd a fault.
Make not a crime, where nature made it none;
For ev'ry man may freely use 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,
And am defcended in the fame degree;
My fire Laertes was Arcefius' heir,
Arcefius was the son of Jupiter:
No paracide, 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 name,
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 shield:
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 fhall I take my rife, what reckon last ?
I not prefume on every act to dwell,
But take these 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 was past,
A woman's habit on the hero caft:
All eyes were cozen'd by the borrow'd vest,
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 discover'd by her mien or voice,
Betray'd her manhood by her manly choice;
And while on female toys her fellows look,
Grafp'd in her warlike hand, a javelin fhook;
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 fpear,
And after cur'd: to me the Thebans owe,
Lesbos 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,
Those arms, Pelides dead, I now demand.
When Greece was injur'd in the Spartan prince,
And met at Aulis to revenge th' offence,
'Twas a dead calm, or adverse blasts, that reign'd,
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, int'reft, 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 controul,
And undermin'd the parent in his foul;
Forc'd him t'exert the king for common good,'
And pay our ranfom 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 talk 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
Had ftill at Aulis waited happy gales.
Arriv'd at Troy, your choice was fix'd on me,
A fearless envoy, fit for a bold embaffy:
Secure, I enter'd through the hostile court,
Glitt'ring with fteel, and crouded with refort:
There in the midst of arms, I plead our cause,
Urge the foul rape, and violated laws;
Accufe the foes, as authors of the strife,
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 food
In act to quench their impious thirst of blood:
This Menelaus knows; expos'd to share
With me the rough preludium of the war.
Endless it were to tell what I have done,
In arms, or counfel, fince the fiege begun :
The first encounters paft, the foe repell'd,
They skulk'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 false alarms ;
Secur'd the fhips, drew lines along the plain,
The fainting chear'd, chaftis'd the rebel-train,
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