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THE LAST PARTING OF

HECTOR AND ANDROMACHE.

FROM THE SIXTH BOOK OF THE ILIAD.

THE ARGUMENT.

Hector, returning from the field of battle, to vifit Helen his fifier-in-law, and his brother Paris, who had fought unsuccessfully hand in hand with Menelaus, from thence goes to his own palace to fee his wife Andromache, and his infant fon Aftyanax. The defcription of that interview is the fubject of this tranflation.

T

HUS having faid, brave Hector went to fee His virtuous wife, the fair Andromache. He found her not at home; for she was gone, Attended by her maid and infant fon,

To climb the fteepy tower of Ilion:

From whence, with heavy heart, fhe might furvey
The bloody business of the dreadful day.

Her mournful eyes fhe caft around the plain,
And fought the lord of her defires in vain.

But he, who thought his peopled palace bare,
When fhe, his only comfort, was not there,
Stood in the gate, and ask'd of every one,
Which way she took, and whither she was gone;
If to the court, or, with his mother's train,

In long proceffion to Minerva's fane?

}

The

The fervants anfwer'd, Neither to the court,
Where Priam's fons and daughters did resort,
Nor to the temple was the gone, to move
With prayers the blue-ey'd progeny of Jove;
But, more folicitous for him alone,

Than all their fafety, to the tower was gone,
There to furvey the labours of the field,

Where the Greeks conquer, and the Trojans yield;
Swiftly fhe pafs'd, with fear and fury wild;
The nurse went lagging after with the child.

This heard, the noble Hector made no stay;
Th' admiring throng divide, to give him way;
He pafs'd through every ftreet, by which he came,
And at the gate he met the mournful dame.

His wife beheld him, and with eager pace
Flew to his arms, to meet a dear embrace:
His wife, who brought in dower Cilicia's crown,
And, in herself, a greater dower alone:
Aetion's heir, who on the woody plain
Of Hippoplacus did in Thebe reign.

Breathlefs fhe flew, with joy and paffion wild;
The nurse came lagging after with her child.
The royal babe upon her breast was laid;

Who, like the morning ftar, his beams display'd,
Scamandrius was his name, which Hector gave,
From that fair flood which Ilion's wall did lave:
But him Aftyanax the Trojans call,
From his great father, who defends the wall.

Hector beheld him with a filent fmile:
His tender wife ftood weeping by the while:

Prefs'd

Prefs'd in her own, his warlike hand she took,
Then figh'd, and thus prophetically spoke:

Thy dauntless heart (which I foresee too late)
Too daring man, will urge thee to thy fate:
Nor doft thou pity, with a parent's mind,
This helpless orphan, whom thou leav'st behind;
Nor me, th' unhappy partner of thy bed;
Who must in triumph by the Greeks be led:
They seek thy life, and, in unequal fight
With many, will opprefs thy fingle might:
Better it were for miferable me

To die, before the fate which I forefee.
For ah! what comfort.can the world bequeath
To Hector's widow, after Hector's death?
Eternal forrow and perpetual tears

Began my youth, and will conclude my years:
I have no parents, friends, nor brothers left;
By ftern Achilles all of life bereft.

Then when the walls of Thebes he overthrew,
His fatal hand my royal father flew;
He flew Aetion, but defpoil'd him not;
Nor in his hate the funeral rites forgot;
Arm'd as he was he fent him whole below,
And reverenc'd thus the manes of his foe:
A tomb he rais'd; the mountain nymphs around
Inclos'd with planted elms the holy ground.

My feven brave brothers in one fatal day
To death's dark manfions took the mournful way;
Slain by the fame Achilles, while they keep
The bellowing oxen and the bleating sheep.

My

My mother, who the royal fceptre sway'd,
Was captive to the cruel victor made,

And hither led; but, hence redeem'd with gold,
Her native country did again behold,

And but beheld: for foon Diana's dart
In an unhappy chace transfix'd her heart.
But thou, my Hector, art thyself alone
My parents, brothers, and my lord in one:
O kill not all my kindred o'er again,

Nor tempt the dangers of the dufty plain;
But in this tower, for our defence, remain.
Thy wife and fon are in thy ruin loft:
This is a husband's and a father's post.
The Scaan gate commands the plains below;
Here marshal all thy foldiers as they go;
And hence with other hands repel the foe.
By yon wild fig-tree lies their chief afcent,
And thither all their powers are daily bent:
The two Ajaces have I often seen,

And the wrorg'd husband of the Spartan queen:
With him his greater brother; and with these
Fierce Diomede and bold Meriones:
Uncertain if by augury or chance,

But by this eafy rife they all advance;

Guard well that pafs, fecure of all befide.
To whom the noble Hector thus reply'd.
That and the rest are in my daily care;
But should I fhun the dangers of the war,
With fcorn the Trojans would reward my pains,
And their proud ladies with their sweeping trains.

5

The

The Grecian fwords and lances I can bear:
But lofs of honour is my only fear.

Shall Hector, born to war, his birth-right yield,
Belye his courage, and forfake the field?
Early in rugged arms I took delight,

And still have been the foremost in the fight:
With dangers dearly have I bought renown,
And am the champion of my father's crown.
And yet my mind forebodes, with fure prefage,
That Troy fhall perish by the Grecian rage.
The fatal day draws on, when I must fall;
And univerfal ruin cover all.

Not Troy itself, though built by hands divine,
Nor Priam, nor his people, nor his line,
My mother, nor my brothers of renown,
Whose valour yet defends th' unhappy town;
Not thefe, nor all their fates which I foresee,
Are half of that concern I have for thee.
I fee, I fee thee, in that fatal hour,
Subjected to the victor's cruel power;
Led hence a flave to fome infulting fword,
Forlorn, and trembling at a foreign lord;
A fpectacle in Argos, at the loom,

Gracing with Trojan fights a Grecian room;
Or from deep wells the living ftream to take,
And on thy weary shoulders bring it back.
While, groaning under this laborious life,
They infolently call thee Hector's wife;
Upbraid thy bondage with thy husband's name;
And from my glory propagate thy fhame,

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