Oh! were Patroclus ours, we might obtain And Hector trembles and recedes with fear; 5 Thou dar'ft not meet the terrors of his eye; And lo! already thou prepar❜ft to fly. The Trojan chief with fixt refentment ey'd The Lycian leader, and fedate reply'd. Say, is it juft (my friend) that Hector's ear From fuch a warrior such a speech should hear? I deem'd thee once the wifeft of thy kind, But ill this infult fuits a prudent mind. I fhun great Ajax? I defert my train? 'Tis mine to prove the rash affertion vain ; 5 I joy to mingle where the battel bleeds, And hear the thunder of the founding fteeds. But Jove's high will is ever uncontroll'd, The ftrong he withers, and confounds the bold; v. 193. I fhun great Ajax ?] Hector takes no notice of the affronts that Glaucus had thrown upon him, as knowing he had in fome refpects a juft caufe to be angry; but he cannot put up what he had faid of his fearing Ajax, to which part he only replies: This is very agreeable to his heroick charac ser. Euftathius. Now Now crowns with fame the mighty man, and now 200 Strikes the fresh garland from the victor's brow! Come, thro' yon' fquadrons let us hew the way, And thou be witness, if I fear to day; If yet a Greek the fight of Hector dread, Or yet their hero dare defend the dead. 205 Then turning to the martial hofts, he cries, Ye Trojans, Dardans, Lycians, and allies! Be men (my friends) in action as in name, And yet be mindful of your ancient fame. Hector in proud Achilles' arms fhall shine, 210 Torn from his friend, by right of conqueft mine.. He ftrode along the field, as thus he said. (The fable plumage nodded o'er his head) Swift thro' the fpacious plain he fent a look; One inftant faw, one inftant overtook v. 209. Hector in proud Achilles' arms fhall fhine.] The ancients have obferved that Homer caufes the arms of Achilles to fall into Hector's power, to equal in fome fort those two heroes, in the battel wherein he is going to engage them. Otherwife it might be urg'd, that Achilles could not have kill'd Hector without the advantage of having his armour made by the hand of a God, whereas Hector's was only of the hand of a mortal; but fince both were clad in armour made by Vulcan, Achilles's victory will be compleat, and in its full luftre. Befides this reafon (which is for neceflity and probability) there is al fo another, for ornament; for Homer here prepares to introduce that beautiful Episode of the divine armour, which Vulcan makes for Achilles. Euftathius. The 215 The diftant band, that on the fandy shore The radiant spoils to facred Ilion bore. There his own mail unbrac'd the field beftrow'd ; His train to Troy convey'd the maffy load. Now blazing in th' immortal arms he ftands, 220 The work and prefent of celestial hands; By aged Peleus to Achilles given, As firft to Peleus by the court of heav'n n; His father's arms not long Achilles wears, Forbid by fate to reach his father's years. 225 Him, proud in triumph, glitt'ring from afar, The God, whofe thunder rends the troubled air, v. 216. The radiant Arms to facred Ilion bore.] A difficulty may arife here, and the queftion may be asked why Hector fent thefe arms to Troy? Why did not he take them at first? There are three anfwers, which I think are all plausible. The firft, that Hector having kill'd Patroclus, and feeing the day very far advanced, had no need to take those arms for a fight almoft at an end. The fecond, that he was impatient to fhew to Priam and Andromache_thofe glorious fpoils. Thirdly, he perhaps at first intended to hang them up in fome temple. Glancus's fpeech makes him change his refolution, he runs after those arms to fight against Ajax, and to win Patroclus's body from him. Dacier. Homer (fays Euftathius) does not suffer the arms to be carry'd into Troy for these reasons. That Hector by wearing them might the more encourage the Trojans, and be the more formida ble to the Greeks: That Achilles may recover them again when he kills Hector: And that he may conquer him, even when he is ftrengthened with that divine armoury, Beheld Beheld with pity; as apart he fate, And confcious, look'd thro' all the scene of fate. He shook the facred honours of his head; 230 Olympus trembled, and the Godhead faid. 235 240 Ah wretched man! unmindful of thy end! Lies flain the great Achilles' dearer part: Thou from the mighty dead those arms haft torn, A blaze of glory e're thou fad'ft away. v. 231. Jupiter's Speech to Hector.] The Poet prepares us for the death of Hector, perhaps to please the Greek readers, who might be troubled to fee him Thining in their hero's arms. Therefore Jupiter expreffes his forrow at the approaching fate of this unfortunate Prince, promifes to repay his lofs of life with glory, and nods, to give a certain confirmation to his words. He fays, Achilles is the braveft Greek, as Glaucus had just faid before; the Poet thus giving him the greatest commendations, by putting his praise in the mouth of a God, and of an enemy, who were neither of them like to be preju diced in his favour. Euftathius. How beautiful is that fentiment upon the miferable state of mankind, introduc'd here fo artfully, and fo ftrongly enforc'd, by being put into the mouth of the fupreme being! And how pathetic the denunciation of Hector's death, by that circumftance of Andromache's difappointment, when the fhall no more receive her hero glorious from the battel, in the armour of hisconquer'd enemy! For For ah! no more Andromache fhall come, 245 255 The blood in brisker tides began to roll, . 247. The fiubborn arms, &c.] The words are, *Η, καὶ κυανέησιν ἐπ ̓ ὀφρύσι νιῦσε Κρονίων, If we give puoσe a paffive fignification, it will be, the arms The 34 |