Varied at pleasure, every shape he tried; 735 And in all beasts Alcides still defied:
Vanquish'd on earth, at length he soar'd above;
Chang'd to the bird that bears the bolt of Jove:
The new dissembled eagle, now endu'd
With peak and pounces, Hercules pursu'd,
And cuff'd his manly cheeks, and tore his face;
Then, safe retir'd, and tower'd in empty space.
Alcides bore not long his flying foe:
But bending his inevitable bow,
Reach'd him in air, suspended as he stood;
And in his pinion fix'd the feather'd wood.
Light was the wound; but in the sinew hung
The point and his disabled wing unstrung.
He wheel'd in air, and stretch'd his vans in vain;
His vans no longer could his flight sustain : 750
For while one gather'd wind, one unsupplied
Hung drooping down; nor pois'd his other side.
He fell the shaft that slightly was impress'd,
Now from his heavy fall with weight increas'd,
Drove through his neck, aslant; he spurns the
ground,
And the soul issues through the weazon's wound.
Now, brave commander of the Rhodian seas,
What praise is due from me to Hercules?
Silence is all the vengeance I decree
For my slain brothers; but 'tis peace with thee.
Thus with a flowing tongue old Nestor spoke:
Then, to full bowls each other they provoke :
At length with weariness and wine oppress'd,
They rise from table, and withdraw to rest.
The sire of Cygnus, monarch of the main, 765
Meantime, laments his son in battle slain :
And vows the victor's death, nor vows in vain.
For nine long years the smother'd pain he bore;
(Achilles was not ripe for fate before :)
Then, when he saw the promis'd hour was near,
He thus bespoke the god, that guides the year.
Immortal offspring of my brother Jove;
My brightest nephew, and whom best I love,
Whose hands were join'd with mine, to raise the
wall
Of tottering Troy, now nodding to her fall; 775
Dost thou not mourn our power employ'd in vain ;
And the defenders of our city slain?
To pass the rest, could noble Hector lie
Unpitied, dragg'd around his native Troy?
And yet the murderer lives: himself by far
A greater plague, than all the wasteful war:
He lives; the proud Pelides lives, to boast
Our town destroy'd, our common labour lost!
O, could I meet him! But I wish too late,
To prove my trident is not in his fate.
But let him try (for that's allow'd) thy dart,
And pierce his only penetrable part.
Apollo bows to the superior throne;
And to his uncle's anger adds his own.
Then, in a cloud involv'd, he takes his flight, 790 Where Greeks and Trojans mix'd in mortal fight; And found out Paris, lurking where he stood,
And stain'd his arrows with plebeian blood :
Phoebus to him alone the god confess'd,
Then to the recreant knight he thus address'd:
Dost thou not blush, to spend thy shafts in vain
On a degenerate and ignoble train?
If fame, or better vengeance, be thy care,
There aim and, with one arrow, end the war.
He said; and show'd from far the blazing shield
And sword, which but Achilles none could wield; And how he mov'd a god, and mow'd the standing The deity himself directs aright
[field.
The envenom'd shaft; and wings the fatal flight.
Thus fell the foremost of the Grecian name;
And he, the base adulterer, boasts the fame.
A spectacle to glad the Trojan train ;
And please old Priam, after Hector slain.
If by a female hand he had foreseen
He was to die, his wish had rather been
The lance and double axe of the fair warrior queen.
And now, the terror of the Trojan field,
The Grecian honour, ornament, and shield,
High on a pile the unconquer'd chief is plac'd:
The god, that arm'd him first, consum'd at last.
Of all the mighty man, the small remains
A little urn, and scarcely fill'd, contains.
Yet great in Homer, still Achilles lives;
And, equal to himself, himself survives.
His buckler owns its former lord; and brings New cause of strife betwixt contending kings; Who worthiest, after him, his sword to wield,
Or wear his armour, or sustain his shield.
E'en Diomede sat mute, with downcast eyes;
Conscious of wanted worth to win the prize: 825
Nor Menelaus presum'd these arms to claim,
Nor he the king of men, a greater name.
Two rivals only rose: Läertes' son,
And the vast bulk of Ajax Telamon.
The king, who cherish'd each with equal love, 830 And from himself all envy would remove,
Left both to be determin'd by the laws;
And to the Grecian chiefs transferr'd the cause.
THE SPEECHES OF AJAX AND ULYSSES:
FROM THE THIRTEENTH BOOK OF OVID'S METAMORPHoses.
THE chiefs were set, the soldiers crown'd the field : To these the master of the sevenfold shield Upstarted fierce and kindled with disdain, Eager to speak, unable to contain
His boiling rage, he roll'd his eyes around
The shore, and Grecian galleys hal'd aground.
Then stretching out his hands, O Jove, he cried,
Must then our cause before the fleet be tried?
And dares Ulysses for the prize contend,
In sight of what he durst not once defend? 10
But basely fled, that memorable day,
When I from Hector's hands redeem'd the flaming
So much 'tis safer at the noisy bar [prey.
With words to flourish, than engage
By different methods we maintain'd our right, 15
Nor am I made to talk, nor he to fight.
In bloody fields I labour to be great;
His arms are a smooth tongue, and soft deceit.
Nor need I speak my deeds, for those you see;
The sun and day are witnesses for me.
Let him who fights unseen relate his own,
And vouch the silent stars, and conscious moon.
Great is the prize demanded, I confess,
But such an abject rival makes it less.
That gift, those honours, he but hop'd to gain,
Can leave no room for Ajax to be vain :
Losing he wins, because his name will be
Ennobled by defeat, who durst contend with me.
Were mine own valour question'd, yet my blood
Without that plea would make my title good: so
My sire was Telamon, whose arms, employ'd
With Hercules, these Trojan walls destroy'd;
And who before, with Jason, sent from Greece,
In the first ship brought home the golden fleece:
Great Telamon from Eacus derives
His birth (the inquisitor of guilty lives
In shades below; where Sisyphus, whose son This thief is thought, rolls up the restless heavy Just Eacus the king of gods above
Begot thus Ajax is the third from Jove.
Nor should I seek advantage from my line,
Unless (Achilles) it were mix'd with thine :
As next of kin Achilles' arms I claim;
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