In thought they view'd him ftill, with martial joy, Glorious in arms, and dealing deaths to Troy. But round the corfe, the heroes pant for breath, And thick and heavy grows the work of death: 445 O'erlabour'd now, with duft, and fweat, and gore, Their knees, their legs, their feet are cover'd o'er; Drops follow drops, the clouds on clouds arise, And carnage clogs their hands, and darkness fills their eyes. As when a flaughter'd bull's yet reeking hide, 450 Strain'd with full force, and tugg'd from side to fide, The brawny curriers ftretch; and labour o'er, Th' extended furface, drunk with fat and gore; So tugging round the corpfe both armies stood; The mangled body bath'd in fweat and blood: 455 While Greeks and Ilians equal ftrength employ, Now to the ships to force it, now to Troy. *. 450. As. when a flaughter'd bull's yet reeking hide.] Homer gives us a most lively description of their drawing the body on all fides, and inftructs in the ancient manner of stretching hides, being first made foft and fupple with oil. And though this comparison be one of those mean and humble ones which fome have objected to, yet it has alfo its admirers for being fo expreffive, and for representing to the imagination the most ftrong and exact idea of the fubject in hand. Euftathius. 35 Not Pallas' felf, her breaft when fury warms, Nor he, whose anger fets the world in arms, Could blame this fcene; fuch rage, fuch horrour reign'd; 460 Such, Jove to honour the great dead ordain'd. Achilles in his fhips at diftance lay, Nor knew the fatal fortune of the day; In duft extended under Ilion's wall, 465 Expects him glorious from the conquer'd plain, 66 . 458. Not Pallas' felf.] Homer fays in the original, "Minerva could not have found fault, though fhe were angry." Upon which Euftathius ingeniously obferves, how common and natural it is for persons in anger to turn criticks, and find faults where there are none. *. 468. To make proud Ilion bend, -] In these words the Poet artfully hints at Achilles's death; he makes him not abfolutely to flatter himself with the hopes of ever taking Troy, in his own perfon; however he does not fay this exprefly, but paffes it over as an ungrateful subject, Euftathius. Perhaps to him: this Thetis had reveal'd; 470 The reft, in pity to her fon, conceal'd. Still rag'd the conflict round the hero dead, And heaps on heaps, by mutual wounds they bled. Curs'd be the man (ev'n private Greeks would fay) Who dares defert this well-difputed day! Firft may 475 the cleaving earth before our eyes Gape wide, and drink our blood for facrifice! First perish all, e'er haughty Troy shall boast We loft Patroclus, and our glory loft. . 471. The reft, in pity to her fon, conceal'd.] Here (fays the fame author) we have two rules laid down for common ufe. One, not to tell our friends all their mischances at once, it being often neceffary to hide part of them, as Thetis does from Achilles: the other, not to push men of courage upon all that is poffible for them to do. Thus Achilles, though he thought Patroclus able to drive the Trojans back to their gates, yet he does not order him to do fo much; but only to fave the fhips, and beat them back into the field. Homer's admonishing the reader that Achilles's mother had' concealed the circumftance of the death of his friend when fhe inftructed him in his fate; and that all he knew, was only that Troy could not be taken at that time; this is a great inftance of his care of the probability, and of his having the whole plan of the Poem at once in his head. For upon the fuppofition that Achilles was inftructed in his fate, it was a natural objection, how came he to hazard his friend? If he was ignorant on the other hand of the impoffibility of Troy's being taken at that time, he might for all he knew, be robbed by his friend (of whofe valour he had fo good an opinion) of that glory, which he was unwilling to part with. Thus they. While with one voice the Trojans faid, 480 Grant this day, Jove! or heap us on the dead! Then clash their founding arms; the clangors rife, And shake the brazen concave of the skies. Meantime, at diftance from the fcene of blood, The penfive steeds of great Achilles ftood; 485 . 484. At distance from the fcene of blood.] If the horses had not gone afide out of the war, Homer could not have introduced fo well what he defigned to their honour. So he makes them weep in fecret (as their Mafter Achilles ufed to do) and afterwards come into the battle, where they are taken notice of and pursued by Hector. Euftathius. *. 485. The penfive feeds of great Achilles, &c.] It adds a great beauty to the poem when inanimate things act like animate. Thus the heavens tremble at Jupiter's nod, the sea parts itself to receive Neptune, the groves of Ida shake beneath Juno's feet, &c. As alfo to find animate or brute creatures addrest to, as if rational fo Hector encourages his horses; and one of Achilles's is not only endued with speech, but with foreknowledge of future events. Here they weep for Patroclus, and ftand fixed and immoveable with grief: thus is this hero univerfally mourned, and every thing concurs to lament his lofs. Euftathius. As to the particular fiction of the horfes weeping, it is countenanced both by naturalifts and hiftorians. Ariftotle and Pliny write, that these animals often deplore their mafters loft in battle, and even shed tears for them. So Solinus, cap. 47. Elian relates the like of elephants, when they are carried from their native country, De Animal. lib. x. cap. 17. Sue Their god-like mafter flain before their eyes, In vain Automedon now fhakes the rein, 490 Now plies the lafh, and foothes and threats in vain; Nor to the fight, nor Hellefpont they go, Restive they stood, and obftinate in woe: Still as a tomb-stone, never to be mov'd, On fome good man, or woman unreprov'd Lays its eternal weight; or fix'd as stands A marble courfer by the fculptor's hands, tonius in the life of Cæfar, tells us, that feveral horfes which at the paffage of the Rubicon had been confecrated to Mars, and turned loofe on the banks, were obferved for fome days after to abftain from feeding, and to weep abundantly. Proximis diebus, equorum greges quos in trajiciendo Rubicone flumine Marti confecrârat, ac fine cuftode vagos dimiferat, comperit pabulə pertinaciffimè abftinere, ubertimque flere, cap. 81. 495 Virgil could not forbear copying this beautiful circumftance in thofe fine lines on the horse of Fallas. "Poft bellator equus, pofitis infignibus, thon "It lacrymans, guttifque humectat grandibus ora.” . 494. Or fix'd, as flands A marble courfer, &c.] Homer alludes to the cuftom in thofe days of placing columns upon tombs, on which columns there were frequently chariots with two or four horfes. This furnished Homer with this beautiful image, as if these horfes meant to remain there, to serve for an immortal monument to Patroclus. Dacier. Homer I believe M. Dacier refines too much in this note. fays,quands, and feems to turn the thought only on the firmness of the column, and not on the imagery of it: which would give it an air a little too modern, like that of Shake |