His train to Troy the radiant armour bear,
To stand a trophy of his fame in war.

Meanwhile great Ajax (his broad fhield dif

play'd)

Guards the dead hero with the dreadful fhade;
And now before, and now behind he ftood: 145
Thus in the center of fome gloomy wood,
With many a step the lionefs furrounds

Her tawny young, beset by men and hounds;
Elate her heart, and roufing all her pow'rs,

Dark o'er the fiery balls each hanging eye-brow

low'rs.

Fast by his fide, the gen'rous Spartan glows

150

With great revenge, and feeds his inward woes. But Glaucus, leader of the Lycian aids,

On Hector frowning, thus his flight upbraids.
Where now in Hector fhall we Hector find? 155
A manly form, without a manly mind.

Is this, O Chief! a hero's boafted fame?
How vain, without the merit, is the name?
Since battle is renounc'd, thy thoughts employ
What other methods may preserve thy Troy: 160

'Tis time to try if Ilion's state can stand

By thee alone, nor ask a foreign hand;

Mean, empty boast! but shall the Lycians stake
Their lives for you? thofe Lycians you forfake?
What from thy thankless arms can we expect?
Thy friend Sarpedon proves thy bafe neglect: 166
Say, shall our flaughter'd bodies guard your walls,
While unreveng❜d the great Sarpedon falls ?
Ev'n where he dy'd for Troy, you left him there,
A feast for dogs, and all the fowls of air. 170
On my command if any Lycian wait,

Hence let him march, and give up Troy to fate.

Did fuch a spirit as the Gods impart
Impel one Trojan hand, or Trojan heart;

174

(Such, as shou'd burn in ev'ry foul, that draws The fword for glory, and his country's cause) Ev'n yet our mutual arms we might employ, And drag yon' carcafe to the walls of Troy.

. 169. You left him there A feaft for dogs.] It was highly dishonourable in Hector to forfake the body of a friend and gueft, and against the laws of Jupiter Xenius, or Hofpitalis. For Glaucus knew nothing of Sarpedon's being honoured with burial by the Gods, and fent embalmed into Lycia. Euftathius.

Oh! were Patroclus ours, we might obtain Sarpedon's arms, and honour'd corse again! 180 Greece with Achilles' friend should be repaid, And thus due honours purchas'd to his shade. But words are vain-Let Ajax once appear, And Hector trembles and recedes with fear; Thou dar'ft not meet the terrours of his

eye; 185

And lo! already thou prepar'ft to fly.
The Trojan chief with fix'd refentment ey'd
The Lycian leader, and fedate reply'd.

Say, is it juft (my friend) that Hector's ear From fuch a warriour such a speech should hear? I deem'd thee once the wifeft of thy kind, 191 But ill this infult fuits a prudent mind.

train?

I fhun great Ajax? I defert my
"Tis mine to prove the rash affertion vain ;
I joy to mingle where the battle bleeds,
And hear the thunder of the founding steeds.

195

. 193. I fhun great Ajax?] Hector takes no notice of the affronts that Glaucus had thrown upon him, as knowing he had in some respect a just cause 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 character. Euftathius.

But Jove's high will is ever uncontroll'd,

The strong he withers, and confounds the bold;
Now crowns with fame the mighty man, and now
Strikes the fresh garland from the victor's brow!
Come, thro' yon' fquadrons let us hew the way,
way, 201

And thou be witness, if I fear to-day;
If yet a Greek the fight of Hector dread,
their hero dare defend the dead.

Or yet

Then turning to the martial hofts, he cries, 205 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 shall shine, 209 Torn from his friend, by right of conqueft mine.

. 209. Hector in proud Achilles' arms fhall shine.] The ancients have obferved that Homer caufes the arms of Achilles to fall into Hector's power, to equal in some sort those two heroes, in the battle wherein he is going to engage them. Otherwise it might be urged, that Achilles could not have killed 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 neceffity and probability) there is also another, for ornament; for Homer here prepares to introduce that beautiful Epifode of the divine armour, which Vulcan makes for Achilles. Euftathius.

F

He ftrode along the field, as thus he said: (The fable plumage nodded o'er his head) Swift thro' the spacious plain he sent a look; One instant saw, one inftant overtook The distant band, that on the fandy fhore 215 The radiant spoils to facred Ilion bore.

'There his own mail unbrac'd the field be

ftrow'd;

His train to Troy convey'd the maffy load.
Now blazing in th' immortal arms he stands,
The work and present of celestial hands ; 220

*. 216. The radiant arms to facred Ilion bore.] A difficulty may arise here, and the question may be asked why Hector fent these arms to Troy? Why did not he take them at first? There are three answers, which I think are all plausible. The first, that Hector having killed Patroclus, and seeing the day very far advanced, had no need to take those arms for a fight almost at an end. The fecond, that he was impatient to shew to Priam and Andromache those glorious spoils. Thirdly, he perhaps at firft intended to hang them up in fome temple. Glaucus'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 (lays Euftathius) does not fuffer the arms to be carried into Troy for these reasons. That Hector by wearing them might the more encourage the Trojans, and be the more formidable to the Greeks: that Achilles may recover them again when he kills Hector: and that he may conquer him, even when ftrengthened with that divine armour.