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Provided forage, our spent arms renew'd;

Employ'd at home, or fent abroad, the common cause purfu'd.

The king, deluded in a dream by Jove,

Defpair'd to take the town, and order'd to remove.
What fubject durft arraign the pow'r supreme,
Producing Jove to justify his dream?
Ajax might wish the foldiers to retain
From shameful flight, but wishes were in vain ;
As wanting of effect had been his words,
Such as of courfe his thund'ring tongue affords.
But did this boaster threaten, did he pray,
Or by his own example urge their stay?
None, none of these, but ran himself away.
I faw him run, and was asham'd to fee;
Who ply'd his feet so fast to get aboard as he?
Then speeding thro' the place, I made a stand,
And loudly cry'd, O bafe degen'rate band,
To leave a town already in your hand!
After fo long expence of blood, for fame,
To bring home nothing but perpetual fhame!
Thefe words, or what I have forgotten fince,
(For grief infpir'd me then with eloquence)
Reduc'd their minds, they leave the crouded port,
And to their late forfaken camp refort;

Difmay'd the council met: this man was there,
But mute, and not recover'd of his fear :
Therfites tax'd the king, and loudly rail'd,.
But his wide opening mouth with blows I teal'd.
Then, rifing, I excite their fouls to fame,
And kindle fleeping virtue into flame.

From thence, whatever he perform'd in fight
Is juftly mine, who drew him back from flight.
Which of the Grecian chiefs conforts with thee?
But Diomede defires my company,

And fill communicates his praise with me.

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As

As guided by a God, fecure he goes,
Árm'd with my fellowship, amid the foes:
And fure no little merit I may boast,

Whom fuch a man felects from such an hoft;
Unforc'd by lots I went without affright,
To dare with him the dangers of the night:
On the fame errand fent, we met the spy
Of Hector, double-tongu'd, and us❜d to lye ;
Him I dispatch'd, but not till, undermin'd,

I drew him first to tell what treach'rous Troy defign'd:
My task perform'd, with praife I had retir'd,
But not content with this, to greater praise aspir'd;
Invaded Rhæfus, and his Thracian crew,
And him, and his, in their own ftrength, I flew;
Return'd a victor, all my vows complete,
With the king's chariot, in his royal feat:
Refuse me now his arms, whose fiery steeds
Were promis'd to the fpy for his nocturnal deeds :
And let dull Ajax bear away my right,
When all his days out-balance this one night.
Nor fought I darkling ftill: the fun beheld
With flaughter'd Lycians when I ftrew'd the field:
You faw, and counted as 1 pafs'd along,
Alaftor, Cromius, Ceranos the ftrong,

Alcander, Prytanis, and Halius,

Noemon, Charopes, and Ennomus,

Choon, Cherfidamas; and five befide,

Men of obfcure defcent, but courage try'd :
All these this hand laid breathless on the ground;
Nor want I proofs of many a manly wound:
All honeft, all before: believe not me;
Words may deceive, but credit what you fee.

At this he bar'd his breaft, and fhow'd his fcars,
As of a furrow'd field, well plough'd with wars;
Nor is this part unexercis'd, faid he;

That giant bulk of his from wounds is free:

Safe

Safe in his fhield he fears no foe to try,
And better manages his blood than I:
But this avails me not; our boafter ftrove
Not with our foes alone, but partial Jove,
To fave the fleet: this I confefs is true,
(Nor will I take from any man is due :)
But thus affuming all, he robs from you.
Some part of honour to your share will fall,
He did the best indeed, but did not all.
Patrocles in Achilles' arms, and thought
The chief he seem'd, with equal ardour fought;
Preferv'd the fleet, repell'd the raging fire,
And forc'd the fearful Trojans to retire.

But Ajax boafts, that he was only thought
A match for Hector, who the combat fought :
Sure he forgets the king, the chiefs, and me;
All were as eager for the fight as he;
He but the ninth, and, not by public voice,
Or ours preferr'd, was only fortune's choice:
They fought; nor can our hero boast th' event,
For Hector from the field unwounded went.

Why am I forc'd to name that fatal day,
That fnatch'd the prop and pride of Greece away?
I faw Pelides fink, with pious grief,

And ran in vain, alas! to his relief;

For the brave foul was filed: full of my friend,
I rush'd amid the war, his relicks to defend :
Nor ceas'd my toil till I redeem'd the prey,
And, loaded with Achilles, march'd away :
Those arms, which on these shoulders then I bore,
'Tis juft you to these shoulders fhould restore.
You fee I want not nerves, who could sustain
The pond'rous ruins of fo great a man:
Or if in others equal force you find,
None is endu'd with a more grateful mind.

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Did

Did Thetis then, ambitious in her care,
Thefe arms thus labour'd for her fon prepare;
That Ajax after him the heav'nly gift fhould wear?
For that dull foul to ftare, with ftupid eyes,
On the learn'd unintelligible prize!

What are to him the fculptures of the shield,
Heav'n's planets, earth, and ocean's watry field ?
The Pleiads, Hyads; lefs, and greater Bear,
Undipp'd in feas; Orion's angry ftar;
Two diff'ring cities, grav'd on either hand?
Would he wear arms he cannot understand?
Befide, what wife objections he prepares
Against my late acceffion to the wars?
Does not the fool perceive his argument
Is with more force against Achilles bent?
For if diffembling be fo great a crime,
The fault is common, and the fame in him:
And if he taxes both of long delay,
My guilt is lefs, who fooner came away.
His pious mother, anxious for his life,
Detain'd her fon; and me, my pious wife,
To them the bloffoms of our youth were due:
Our riper manhood we referv'd for you.
But grant me guilty, 'tis not much my care,
When with so great a man my guilt I share :
My wit to war the matchlefs hero brought,
But by this fool he never had been caught.

Nor need I wonder, that on me he threw
Such foul afperfions, when he fpares not you:
If Palamede unjustly fell by me,

Your honour fuffer'd in th’unjuft decree:
I but accus'd, you doom'd: and yet he dy'd,
Convinc'd of treafon, and was fairly try'd:
You heard not he was false; your eyes beheld
The traitor manifeft; the bribe reveal'd.

That

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, th' advice was mine; that ftaying there
He might his weary limbs with reft repair,
From a long voyage free, and from a longer war.
He took the counfel, and he lives at least ;
Th' event declares I counfell'd for the beft:
Though faith is all, in minifters of state;
For who can promise to be fortunate ?
Now fince his arrows are the fate of Troy,
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
Shall fight for Troy; if, when my countels fail,
The wit of heavy Ajax can prevail.

Hard Philoctetes, exercife thy spleen
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 task 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,
Surpriz'd by night, and forc'd him to declare
In what was plac'd the fortune of the war ;
Heav'n'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 Tray convey'd
The fatal image of their guardian maid;

That work was mine; for Pallas, tho' our friend,
Yet while she was in Troy, did Troy defend.
Now what has Ajax done, or what defign'd?
A noify nothing, and an empty wind.

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