And many a hero, king, and hardy knight,
Were fent, in early youth, to fhades of night:
Their limbs a prey to dogs and vultures made:
So was the fovereign will of Jove obey'd:
From that ill-omen'd hour when ftrife begun,
Betwixt Atrides great, and Thetis' god-like
fon.

6

What Power provok'd, and for what cause,

relate,

Sowed, in their breafts, the feeds of ftern de

bate:

10

Jove's and Latona's fon his wrath exprefs'd,
In vengeance of his violated priest,
Against the king of men; who, fwoln with
pride,

15

Refus'd his prefents, and his prayers deny❜d.
For this the god a swift contagion spread
Amid the camp, where heaps on heaps lay dead.
For venerable Chryfes came to buy,

With gold and gifts of price, his daughter's liberty.

Suppliant before the Grecian chiefs he ftood; Awful, and arm'd with enfigns of his god: 20

games fhould be performed on the death of Patroclus; but not fo neceffary that Eneas fhould ftop in Sicily, to which island he had happened to be driven by contrary winds, and there celebrate the anniversary of his father's death. Neither was there fo abfolute a neceffity for the beautiful expedition of Nifus and Euryalus, as for that of Dolon and Diomede.

Dr. J. WARTON,

Bare was his hoary head; one holy hand
Held forth his laurel crown, and one his fcep-
tre of command.

His fuit was common; but above the reft,
To both the brother-princes thus address’d: 24
Ye fons of Atreus, and ye Grecian powers,
So may the gods who dwell in heavenly bowers
Succeed your fiege, accord the vows you make,
And give you Troy's imperial town to take;
So, by their happy conduct, may you come
With conqueft back to your sweet native home;
As you receive the ranfom which I bring,
(Refpecting Jove, and the far-shooting king,)
And break my daughter's bonds, at my defire;
And glad with her return her grieving fire.
With fhouts of loud acclaim the Greeks de-

cree

31

35

To take the gifts, to fet the damfel free.
The king of men alone with fury burn'd;
And, haughty, thefe opprobrious words re-
turn'd:

Hence, holy dotard, and avoid my fight,
Ere evil intercept thy tardy flight:
Nor dare to tread this interdicted ftrand,
Left not that idle fceptre in thy hand,
Nor thy god's crown, my vowed revenge
withstand.

40

Hence on thy life: the captive maid is mine; Whom not for price or prayers I will refign: 45

Mine she shall be, till creeping age and time Her bloom have wither'd, and confum'd her

prime.

Till then my royal bed the fhall attend ;
And, having first adorn'd it, late afcend:
This, for the night; by day, the web and
loom,

50

And homely houshold-task, shall be her doom, Far from thy lov'd embrace, and her sweet native home.

He faid the helpless prieft reply'd no more, But fped his steps along the hoarfe-refounding fhore:

55

Silent he fled; fecure at length he stood, Devoutly curs'd his foes, and thus invok'd his god,

59

O fource of facred light, attend my prayer,
God with the filver bow, and golden hair;
Whom Chryfa, Cilla, Tenedos obeys,
And whofe broad eye their happy foil furveys;
If, Smintheus, I have pour'd before thy
fhrine

The blood of oxen, goats, and ruddy wine,
And larded thighs on loaded altars laid,
Hear, and my just revenge propitious aid!
Pierce the proud Greeks, and with thy shafts

atteft

How much thy power is injured in thy priest.

65

He pray'd, and Phœbus, hearing, urged his

flight,

With fury kindled, from Olympus' height;
His quiver o'er his ample shoulders threw;
His bow twang'd, and his arrows rattled as
they flew.

70

Black as a stormy night, he rang'd around
The tents, and compass'd the devoted ground.
Then with full force his deadly bow he bent,
And feather'd fates among the mules and fump-
ters fent,

The effay of rage; on faithful dogs the next; 75
And laft, in human hearts his arrows fix'd.

The god nine days the Greeks at rovers kill'd, Nine days the camp with funeral fires was fill'd; The tenth, Achilles, by the Queen's command, Who bears heaven's awful fceptre in her hand, A council fummon'd: for the goddess griev'd si Her favour'd hoft should perish unreliev'd.

The kings affembled, foon their chief in-
clofe ;

Then from his feat the goddess-born arofe,
And thus undaunted spoke: What now re-

mains,

85

But that once more we tempt the watry plains,

Ver. 71: Black as a stormy] No epithet is added to night in the original, which is more emphatical: and fo thought MilDr. J. WARTON.

ton.

And, wandering homeward, feek our fafety hence,

89

In flight at least, if we can find defence?
Such woes at once encompass us about,
The plague within the camp, the fword without.
Confult, O king, the prophets of the event:
And whence thefe ills, and what the god's
intent,

Let them by dreams explore; for dreams from Jove are fent.

What want of offer'd victims, what offence
In fact committed could the Sun incenfe,
To deal his deadly shafts? What

95

may remove His fettled hate, and reconcile his love? That he may look propitious on our toils; And hungry graves no more be glutted with our fpoils.

Thus to the king of men the hero spoke, 100 Then Calchas the defir'd occafion took:

Calchas the facred feer, who had in view Things present and the past; and things to come foreknew.

Supreme of augurs, who, by Phoebus taught, The Grecian powers to Troy's deftruction brought.

Skill'd in the fecret caufes of their woes,
The reverend priest in graceful act arose :
Aud thus bespoke Pelides: Care of Jove,
Favour'd of all the immortal Powers above;

105