THUS by their leader's care each martial band
Moves into ranks, and stretches o'er the land.
With fhouts the Trojans rushing from afar,
Proclaim'd their motions, and provok'd the war;
So when inclement winter vex the plain
With piercing frofts, or thick-defcending rain,
To warmer feas, the cranes embody'd fly,
With noise, and order, through the mid-way sky;
To pigmy nations wounds and death they bring,
And all the war defcends upon the wing.
But filent, breathing rage, refolv'd and skill'd
By mutual aids to fix a doubtful field,
Swift march the Greeks: the rapid duft around
Darkening arifes from the labour'd ground.
Thus from his flaggy wings when Notus fheds
A night of vapours round the mountain-heads,
Swift gliding mifts the dusky fields invade,
To thieves more grateful than the midnight shade;
While scarce the fwains their feeding flocks furvey,
Loft and confus'd amidst the thicken'd day:.
So, wrapt in gathering duft, the Grecian train,
A moving cloud, fwept on, and hid the plain.

Now front to front the hoftile armies ftand,
Eager of fight, and only wait command;
When, to the van, before the fons of fame
Whom Troy fent forth, the beauteous Paris came,
In form a God the panther's fpeckled hide
Flow'd o'er his armour with an easy pride,
His bended bow across his shoulders flung,
His fword befide him negligently hung,
Two pointed fpears he fhook with gallant grace,
And dar'd the braveft of the Grecian race.

As thus, with glorious air and proud difdain,
He boldly ftalk'd, the foremost on the plain,
Him Menelaus, lov'd of Mars, efpies,
With heart elated, and with joyful eyes:
So joys a lion, if the branching deer,
Or mountain goat, his bulky prize, appear;
Eager he feizes and devours the flain,
Preit by bold youths and baying dǝgs in vain.

Thus, fond of vengeance, with a furious bound,
In clanging arms he leaps upon the ground
From his high chariot: him, approaching near,
The beauteous champion views with marks of
Smit with a conscious fenfe, retires behind, [fear;
And fhuns the fate he well deferv'd to find.
As when fome thepherd, from the rustling trees
Shot forth to view, a fcaly ferpent fees;
Trembling and pale, he starts with wild affright,
And all confus'd precipitates his flight:
So from the king the fhining warrior flies,
And plung'd amid the thickeft Trojans lies.

As God-like Hector fees the prince retreat,
He thus upbraids him with a generous heat:
Unhappy Paris! but to women brave!
So fairly form'd, and only to deceive!
Oh, hadft thou died when first thou faw'st the light,
Or died at least before thy nuptial rite!
A better fate than vainly thus to boast,
And fly, the fcandal of the Trojan hoft,
Gods! how the fcornful Greeks exult to fee
Their fears of danger undeceiv'd in thee!
Thy figure promis'd with a martial air,
But ill thy foul fupplies a form so fair,
In former days, in all thy gallant pride
When thy tall ships triumphant ftemm'd the tide,
When Greece beheld thy painted canvas flow,
And crowds stood wondering at the paffing show;
Say, was it thus, with fuch a baffled mien,
You met th' approaches of the Spartan queen,
Thus from her realm convey'd the beauteous prize,
And both her warlike lords outfhin'd in Helen's
eyes?.

This deed, thy foes delight, thy own disgrace,
Thy father's grief, and ruin of thy race;
This deed recalls thee to the proffer'd fight;
Or hatt thou injur'd whom thou dar'ft not right!
Soon to thy coft the field would make thee know
Thou keep'it the confort of a braver foe.

*Thefeus and Menelaus,

Thy graceful for instilling soft defire,
Thy curling treffes, and thy filver lyre,
Beauty and youth; in vain to these you trust,
When youth and beauty shall be laid in dust :
Troy yet may wake, and one avenging blow
Crush the dire author of his country's woe.

His filence here, with blushes, Paris breaks;
*Tis juft, my brother, what your anger speaks:
But who like thee can boaft a foul fedate,
So firmly proof to all the fhocks of fate?
Thy force like fteel a temper'd hardness shows,
Still edg'd to wound, and still untir'd with blows.
Like fteel, uplifted by some strenuous swain,
With falling woods to ftrow the wafted plain:
Thy gifts I praife; nor thou despise the charms
With which a lover golden Venus arms;
Soft moving specch, and pleasing outward show,
No with can gain them, but the Gods bestow.
Yet, would it thou have the proffer'd combat
ftand,

The Greeks and Trojans feat on either hand;
Then let a mid-way space our hofts divide,
And on that ftage of war the cause be try'd:
By Paris there the Spartan king be fought,
For beauteous Helen and the wealth the brought:
And who his rival can in arms fubdue,
His be the fair, and his the treasure too.
Thus with a lafting league your toils may cease,
And Troy poffefs her fertile fields in peace;
Thus may the Greeks review their native fhore,
Much fam'd for generous steeds, for beauty more.
He faid. The challenge Hector heard with joy,
Then with his fpear reftrain'd the youth of Troy,
Held by the midit, athwart; and near the foe
Advanc'd with steps majestically flow:
While round his dauntless head the Grecians pour
Their ftones and arrows in a mingled shower.

Then thus the monarch great Atrides cry'd;
Forbear, ye warriors! lay the darts afide :
A parley Hector aiks, a meffage bears,
We know him by the various plume he wears.
Aw'd by his high command the Greeks attend,
The tumult filence, and the fight suspend.

While from the centre Hector rolls his eyes
On either host, and thus to both applies:
Hear, all ye Trojans, all ye Grecian bands!
What Paris, author of the war, demands.
Your fhining (werds within the theath reftrain,
And pitch your lances in the yielding plain.
Here in the midit, in either army's fight,
He dares the Spartan king to fingle fight;
And wills, that Helen and the ravish'd spoil
That caus'd the contest, shall reward the toil.
Let these the brave triumphant victor grace,
And differing nations part in leagues of peace.
He spoke in itill fufpenfe on either fide
Each army stood: the Spartan chief reply'd:
Me too, ye warriors, hear, whofe fatal right
A world engages in the toils of fight.
To me the labour of the field refign;
Me Paris injur'd; all the war be mine.
Fall that he muft, beneath his rival's arms;
And live the reit, fecure of future harms.
Two lambs, devoted by your country's rite,
To Earth a fable, to the Sun a white,
Prepare, ye Trojans while a third we bring
Select to Jove, th' inviolable king.

Let reverend Priam in the truce engage,
And add the fanction of confiderate age;
His fons are faithlefs, headlong in debate,
And youth itself an empty wavering state:
Cool age advances venerably wife,

Turns on all hand its deep-difcerning eyes;
Sees what befel, and what may yet befall,
Concludes from both, and beft provides for all.

The nations hear, with rifing hopes poffeft, And peaceful profpects dawn in every breast. Within the lines they drew their steeds around, And from their chariots iffued on the ground: Next all, unbuckling the rich mail they wore, Lay'd their bright arms along the fable shore. On either fide the meeting hofts are seen, With lances fix'd, and close the space between, Two heralds now, difpatch'd to Troy, invite The Phrygian monarch to the peaceful rite; Talthybius haftens to the fleet, to bring The lamb for Jove, th' inviolable king.

Mean time, to beauteous Helen, from the fkies The various Goddess of the rainbow flies (Like fair Laodicè in form and face The lovelieft nymph of Priam's royal race). Her in the palace, at her loom the found; The golden web her own fad ftory crown'd. The Trojan wars fhe weav'd (herfelf the prize) And the dire triumph of her fatal eyes. To whom the Goddefs of the painted bow; Approach and view the wond'rous fcenes below! Each hardy Greek, and valiant Trojan knight, So dreadful late, and furious for the fight, Now reft their pears, or lean upon their fhields; Ceas'd is the war, and filent all the fields. Paris alone and Sparta's king advance, In fingle fight to tofs the beamy lance; Each met in arms, the fate of combat tries! Thy love the motive, and thy charms the prize. This faid, the many-colour'd maid inspires Her husband's love, and wakes her former fires; Her country, parents, all that once were dear, Rush to her thoughts, and force a tender tear. O'er her fair face a fnowy veil fhe threw, And, foitly fighing, from the loom withdrew : Her handmaids Clymene and Ethra wait Her filent footsteps to the Scean gate.

There fat the feniors of the Trojan race. (Old Priam's chiefs, and most in Priam's grace) The king the first; Thymoetes at his fide; Lampus and Clytius, long in council try'd; Panthus, and Hicetäon, once the ftrong; And next, the wifeft of the reverend throng, Antenor grave, and fage Ucalegon, Lean'd on the walls, and baik'd before the fun. Chiefs, who no more in bloody fights engage, But wife through time, and narrative with age, In fummer-days like grafhoppers rejoice, A bloodless race, that fend a feeble voice. Thele when the Spartan queen approach'd the

tower,

In fecret own'd refiftlefs beauty's power:
They cried, No wonder fuch celeitial charms
For nine long years have fet the world in arms;
What winning graces! what majestic mien !
She moves a Goddefs, and the looks a Queen
Yet hence, oh Heaven! convey that fatal face,
And from deftruction fave the Trojan race.

THUS by their leader's care each martial band
Moves into ranks, and stretches o'er the land.
With fhouts the Trojans rathing from afar,
Proclaim'd their motions, and provok'd the war;
So when inclement winter vex the plain
With piercing frofts, or thick-defcending rain,
To warmer feas, the cranes embody'd fly,
With noife, and order, through the mid-way fky;
To pigmy nations wounds and death they bring,
And all the war defcends upon the wing.
But filent, breathing rage, refolv'd and skill'd
By mutual aids to fix a doubtful field,
Swift march the Greeks: the rapid duft around
Darkening arifes from the labour'd ground.
Thus from his flaggy wings when Notus sheds
A night of vapours round the mountain-heads,
Swift gliding mifts the dufky fields invade,
To thieves more grateful than the midnight fhade;
While scarce the fwains their feeding flocks furvey,
Loft and confus'd amidst the thicken'd day :.
So, wrapt in gathering duft, the Grecian train,
A moving cloud, fwept on, and hid the plain.

Now front to front the hoftile armies ftand,
Eager of fight, and only wait command;
When, to the van, before the fons of fame
Whom Troy fent forth, the beauteous Paris came,
In form a God! the panther's fpeckled hide
Flow'd o'er his armour with an easy pride,
His bended bow across his shoulders flung,
His fword befide him negligently hung,
Two pointed fpears he shook with gallant grace,
And dar'd the braveft of the Grecian race.

As thus, with glorious air and proud difdain,
He boldly stalk'd, the foremost on the plain,
Him Menelaus, lov'd of Mars, espies,
With heart elated, and with joyful eyes:
So joys a lion, if the branching deer,
Or mountain goat, his bulky prize, appear;
Eager he feizes and devours the flain,
Preit by bold youths and baying dogs in vain.

Thus, fond of vengeance, with a furious bound,
In clanging arms he leaps upon the ground
From his high chariot: him, approaching near,
The beauteous champion views with marks of
Smit with a conscious fenfe, retires behind, [fear;
And fhuns the fate he well deferv'd to find.
As when fome thepherd, from the rustling trees
Shot forth to view, a fcaly ferpent fees;
Trembling and pale, he ftarts with wild affright,
And all confus'd precipitates his flight:
So from the king the thining warrior flies,
And plung'd amid the thickeft Trojans lies.

As God-like Hector fees the prince retreat,
He thus upbraids him with a generous heat:
Unhappy Paris! but to women brave!
So fairly form'd, and only to deceive!
Oh, hadst thou died when first thou saw'st the light,
Or died at least before thy nuptial rite!
A better fate than vainly thus to boast,
And fly, the fcandal of the Trojan host,
Gods how the fcornful Greeks exult to fee
Their fears of danger undeceiv'd in thee!
Thy figure promis'd with a martial air,
But ill thy foul fupplies a form fo fair,
In former days, in all thy gallant pride
When thy tall fhips triumphant ftemm'd the tide,
When Greece beheld thy painted canvas flow,
And crowds ftood wondering at the paffing show;
Say, was it thus, with fuch a baffled mien,
You met th' approaches of the Spartan queen,
Thus from her realm convey'd the beauteous prize,
And both her warlike lords outshin'd in Helen's
eyes?

This deed, thy foes delight, thy own disgrace,
Thy father's grief, and ruin of thy race;
This deed recalls thee to the proffer'd fight;
Or haft thou injur'd whom thou dar'ft not right!
Soon to thy coft the field would make thee know
Thou keep'it the confort of a braver foe.
Thefeus and Menelaus,

Thy graceful form instilling foft defire,
Thy curling treffes, and thy filver lyre,
Beauty and youth; in vain to thefe you truft,
When youth and beauty shall be laid in dust :
Tray yet may wake, and one avenging blow
Crush the dire author of his country's woe.

His filence here, with blushes, Paris breaks;
"Tis juft, my brother, what your anger speaks:
But who like thee can boaft a foul fedate,
So firmly proof to all the fhocks of fate?
Thy force like feel a temper'd hardness shows,
Still edg'd to wound, and still untir'd with blows.
Like fteel, uplifted by fome ftrenuous swain,
With falling woods to ftrow the wafted plain :
Thy gifts I praife; nor thou despise the charms
With which a lover golden Venus arms;
Soft moving specch, and pleafing outward show,
No wish can gain them, but the Gods bestow.
Yet, would't thou have the proffer'd combat
ftand,

The Greeks and Trojans feat on either hand;
Then let a mid-way space our hofts divide,
And on that ftage of war the cause be try'd:
By Paris there the Spartan king be fought,
For beauteous Helen and the wealth the brought:
And who his rival can in arms fubdue,
His be the fair, and his the treasure too.
Thus with a lafting league your toils may ceafe,
And Troy poffefs her fertile fields in peace;
Thus may the Greeks review their native shore,
Much fam'd for generous fteeds, for beauty more.
He faid. The challenge Hector heard with joy,
Then with his spear reftrain'd the youth of Troy,
Held by the midit, athwart; and near the foe
Advanc'd with steps majestically flow:
While round his dauntless head the Grecians pour
Their ftones and arrows in a mingled shower.

Then thus the monarch great Atrides cry'd ;
Forbear, ye warriors! lay the darts afide :
A parley Hector aiks, a meffage bears,
We know him by the various plume he wears.
Aw'd by his high command the Greeks attend,
The tumult filence, and the fight fufpend.
While from the centre Hector rolls his eyes
On either host, and thas to both applies:
Hear, all ye Trojans, all ye Grecian bands!
What Paris, author of the war, demands.
Your fhining fwerds within the theath restrain,
And pitch your lances in the yielding plain.
Here in the midft, in either army's fight,
He dares the Spartan king to single fight;
And wills, that Helen and the ravish'd spoil
That caus'd the contest, shall reward the toil.
Let thefe the brave triumphant victor grace,
And differing nations part in leagues of peace.
He spoke in ftill fufpenfe on either fide
Each army stood: the Spartan chief reply'd:
Me too, ye warriors, hear, whofe fatal right
A world engages in the toils of fight.
To me the labour of the field refign;
Me Paris injur'd; all the war be mine.
Fall that he muft, beneath his rival's arms;
And live the rest, fecure of future harms.
Two lambs, devoted by your country's rite,
To Earth a fable, to the Sun a white,
Prepare, ye Trojans while a third we bring
Select to Jove, th' inviolable king.

Let reverend Priam in the truce engage,
And add the fanction of confiderate age;
His fons are faithlefs, headlong in debate,
And youth itself an empty wavering state:
Cool age advances venerably wife,

Turns on all hand its deep-difcerning eyes;
Sees what befel, and what may yet befall,
Concludes from both, and beft provides for all.

The nations hear, with rifing hopes poffeft,
And peaceful profpects dawn in every breast.
Within the lines they drew their fteeds around,
And from their chariots iffued on the ground:
Next all, unbuckling the rich mail they wore,
Lay'd their bright arms along the fable shore.
On either fide the meeting hofts are seen,
With lances fix'd, and clofe the space between.
Two heralds now, difpatch'd to Troy, invite
The Phrygian monarch to the peaceful rite;
Talthybius haftens to the fleet, to bring
The lamb for Jove, th' inviolable king.

Mean time, to beauteous Helen, from the fkies
The various Goddess of the rainbow flies
(Like fair Laodicè in form and face
The lovelieft nymph of Priam's royal race).
Her in the palace, at her loom the found;
The golden web her own fad ftory crown'd.
The Trojan wars fhe weav'd (herself the prize)
And the dire triumph of her fatal eyes.
To whom the Goddefs of the painted bow;
Approach and view the wond'rous fcenes below:
Each hardy Greek, and valiant Trojan knight,
So dreadful late, and furious for the fight,
Now reft their fpears, or lean upon their fhields
Ceas'd is the war, and filent all the fields.
Paris alone and Sparta's king advance,
In fingle fight to tofs the beamy lance;
Each met in arms, the fate of combat tries!
Thy love the motive, and thy charms the prize.

This faid, the many-colour'd maid inspires
Her husband's love, and wakes her former fires;
Her country, parents, all that once were dear,
Rush to her thoughts, and force a tender tear.
O'er her fair face a fnowy veil fhe threw,
And, foitly fighing, from the loom withdrew :
Her handmaids Clymene and Ethra wait
Her filent footsteps to the Scean gate.

There fat the feniors of the Trojan race.
(Old Priam's chiefs, and most in Priam's grace)
The king the firit; Thymates at his fide;
Lampus and Clytius, long in council try'd;
Panthus, and Hicetaon, once the ftrong;
And next, the wifeft of the reverend throng,
Antenor grave, and fage Ucalegon,
Lean'd on the walls, and baik'd before the fun.
Chiefs, who no more in bloody fights engage,
But wife through time, and narrative with age,
In fummer-days like grafhoppers rejoice,
A bloodle's race, that fend a feeble voice.
These when the Spartan queen approach'd the

tower,

In fecret own'd refiftless beauty's power:
They cried, No wonder fuch celestial charms
For nine long years have fet the world in arms;
What winning graces! what majestic mien !
She moves a Goddefs, and the looks a Queen
Yet hence, oh Heaven! convey that fatal face,
And from deftruction fave the Trojan race.

The good old Priam welcom'd her, and cried,
Approach, my child, and grace thy father's fide.
See on the plain thy Grecian fpoufe appears, t
The friends and kindred of thy former years!
No crime of thine our present fufferings draws,
Not thou, but Heaven's difpofing will, the caufe;
The Gods thefe armies and this force employ,
The hoftile Gods confpire the fate of Troy.
But lift thy eyes, and fay what Greek is he
(Far as from hence thefe aged orbs can fee)
Around whofe brow fuch martial graces fhine,
So tall, fo awful, and almoft divine!

Though fome of larger ftature tread the green,
None match his grandeur and exalted mien:
He feems a monarch, and his country's pride,
Thus ceas'd the king; and thus the fair replied:
Before thy prefence, father, I appear
With confcions fhame and reverential fear.
Ah! had I died, ere to thefe walls I fled,
Falfe to my country and my nuptial bed;
My brothers, friends, and daughter left behind,
Falfe to them all, to Paris only kind?
For this I mourn, till grief or dire disease
Shall waite the form, whofe crime it was to please.
The king of kings, Atrides, you farvey,
Great in the war, and great in arts of fway:
My brother once, before my days of fhame;
And oh that ftill he bore a brother's name!

With wonder Priam view'd the godlike man,
Extoll'd the happy prince, and thus began:
O bleft Atrides! born to profperous fate,
Successful monarch of a mighty ftate!
How vaft thy empire! Of yon matchless train
What numbers loft, what numbers yet remain?
In Phrygia once were gallant armies known,
In ancient time, when Otreus fill'd the throne,
When godlike Mygdon led their troops of horse,
And I, to join them, rais'd the Trojan force:
Against the manlike Amazons we flood,
And Sangar's ftream ran purple with their blood,
But far inferior those, in martial grace
And ftrength of numbers, to this Grecian race.

This faid, once more he view'd the warrior

train:

What's he whofe arms lie fcatter'd on the plain :
Broad is his breaft, his fhoulders larger spread,
Though great Atrides overtops his head.
Nor yet appear his care and conduct fmall;
From rank to rank he moves, and orders all.
The ftately ram thus meafures o'er the ground,
And, mafter of the flock, furveys them round.
Then Helen thus: Whom your difcerning eyes
Have fingled out, is Ithacus the wife:
A barren island boafts his glorious birth:
His fame for wifdom fills the spacious earth.

Antenor took the word, and thus began:
My felf, O king! have feen that wond'rous man:
When trufting Jove and hofpitable laws,
To Troy he came, to plead the Grecian caufe;
(Great Menelaus urg'd the fame requeft)
My houfe was honour'd with each royal gueft:
I knew their perfons, and admir'd their parts,
Both brave in arms, and both approv'd in arts.
Erect, the Spartan moft engag'd our view;
Ulyffes feated greater reverence drew.
When Atreus' fon harangu'd the liftening train,
Juft was his fenfe, and his expreffion plain,

His words fuccinct, yet full, without á fault;
He spoke no more than just the thing he ought.
But when Ulyffes rofe, in thought profound,
His modeft eyes he fixt upon the ground,
As one unkill'd or dumb, he feem'd to stand,
Nor rais'd his head, nor stretch'd his scepter'd hands
But, when he fpeaks, what elocution flows!
Soft as the fleeces of defcending snows,
The copious accents fall with easy art;
Melting they fall, and fink into the heart!
Wondering we hear, and fix'd in deep surprise;
Our ears refute the cenfure of our eyes."

The king then afk'd (as yet the camp he view'd) What chief is that, with giant ftrength endued; Whose brawny fhoulders, and whofe fwelling cheft, And lofty ftature, far exceed the reft?

Ajax the great (the beauteous queen replied)
Himfelf a heft: the Grecian ftrength and pride.
See! bold Idomeneus fuperior towers
Amidst yon circle of his Cretan powers,
Great as a God! I faw him once before,
With Menelaus, on the Spartan fhore.
The reft I know, and could in order name;
All valiant chiefs, and men of mighty fame.
Yet two are wanting of the numerous train,
Whom long my eyes have fought, but fought in
Caftor and Pollux firft in martial force, [vain;
One bold on foot, and one renown'd for horse.
My brothers thefe; the fame our native shore,
One houfe contain'd us, as one mother bore.
Perhaps the chiefs, from warlike toils at ease,
For diftant Troy refus'd to fail the feas:
Perhaps their fwords fome nobler quarrel draws,
Afham'd to combat in their fifter's cause.

So fpoke the fair, nor knew her brother's doom,
Wrapt in the cold embraces of the tomb;
Adorn'd with honours in their native shore.
Silent they flept, and heard of wars no more.[ town,
Mean time the heralds, through the crowded
Bring the rich wine and deftin'd victims down.
Idæus arms the golden goblets preft,
Who thus the venerable king addrest:
Arife, O father of the Trojan ftate!
The nations call, thy joyful people wait,
To feal the truce, and end the dire debate.
Paris thy for, and Sparta's king advance,
In measur'd lifts to tofs the weighty lance:
And who his rival fhall in arms fubdue
His be the dame, and his the treasure too.
Thus with a lafting league our toils may ceafe,
And Troy poffefs her fertile fields in peace;
So all the Greeks review their native fhore,
Much fam'd for generous fteeds, for beauty more.

With grief he heard, and bade the chiefs pre-
To join his milk-white courfers to the car: [pare
He mounts the feat, Antenor at his fide;
The gentle steeds through Scæa's gates they guide:
Next from the car defcending on the plain,
Amid the Grecian hoft and Trojan train
Slow they proceed: the fage Ulyffes then
Arofe, and with him rofe the king of men.
On either fide a facred herald stands,
The wine they mix, and on each monarch's hands
Pour the full urn; then draws the Grecian lord
His cutlace fheath'd befide his ponderous fword;
From the figu'd victims crops the curling hair,
The heralds part it, and the princes share;