(A herald in Anchifes' love grown old,

Rever'd for prudence, and with prudence, bold.)
Thus he what methods yet, oh chief! remain,
To fave your Troy, tho' heav'n its fall ordain?
There have been heroes, who by virtuous care,
By valour, numbers, and by arts of war,

380

Have forc'd the pow'rs to spare a finking state,
And gain'd at length the glorious odds of fate.

But you, when fortune fmiles, when Jove declares

His partial favour, and affifts your wars,

3.85

Your fhameful efforts 'gainst your felves employ,

And force th' unwilling God to ruin Troy.

Eneas thro' the form affum'd defcries

The pow'r conceal'd, and thus to Hector cries.

390

Oh lafting fhame! to our own fears a prey,
We seek our ramparts, and defert the day.
A God (nor is he lefs) my bofom warms,

And tells me, Jove afferts the Trojan arms.

He spoke, and foremost to the combate flew:

The bold example all his hofts pursue.

395

Then first, Leocritus beneath him bled,

In vain belov'd by valiant Lycomede;

Who view'd his fall, and grieving at the chance,
Swift to revenge it, sent his angry lance:

The whirling lance, with vig'rous force addrest,
Defcends, and pants in Apifaon's breast:

400

3

From

From rich Paonia's vales the warrior came,

Next thee, Afteropeus! in place and fame.

Afteropeus with grief beheld the flain,

And rush'd to combate, but he rush'd in vain :

405

Indiffolubly firm, around the dead,

Rank within rank, on buckler buckler spread,

And hemm'd with briftled fpears, the Grecians flood;

A brazen bulwark, and an iron wood.

Great Ajax eyes them with inceffant care,

410

And in an orb contracts the crouded war,

Close in their ranks commands to fight or fall,

And ftands the centre and the foul of all:

Fixt on the spot they war, and wounded, wound;
A fanguine torrent steeps the reeking ground;
On heaps the Greeks, on heaps the Trojans bled,
And thick'ning round 'em, rife the hills of dead.
Greece, in close order, and collected might,
Yet fuffers leaft, and fways the wav'ring fight;
Fierce as conflicting fires, the combate burns,
And now it rifes, now it finks by turns.
In one thick darkness all the fight was lost ;
The fun, the moon, and all th' ethereal hoft

415

420

Seem'd

V. 422. In one thick darkness, &c.] The darkness spread over the body of Patroclus is artful upon feveral accounts. First, a fine image of poetry. Next, a token of Jupiter's love to a righteous man: But the chief defign is to protract the action; which, if the Trojans had feen the fpot, must have been decided one way or other

Seem'd as extinct; day ravish'd from their eyes,
And all heav'ns fplendors blotted from the skies.
Such o'er Patroclus' body hung the Night,
The reft in fanfhine fought, and open light:
Unclouded there, th' aerial azure spread,
No vapour rested on the mountain's head,
The golden fun pour'd forth a stronger ray,
And all the broad expansion flam'd with day.
Difpers'd around the plain, by fits they fight,
And here, and there, their scatter'd arrows light:
But death and darkness o'er the carcase spread,
There burn'd the war, and there the mighty bled.
Meanwhile the fons of Neftor, in the rear,
(Their fellows routed) tofs the distant spear,
And skirmish wide: So Neflor gave command,
When from the fhips he fent the Pylian band.
The youthful brothers thus for fame contend,
Nor knew the fortune of Achilles' friend;
In thought they view'd him ftill, with martial joy,
Glorious in arms, and dealing deaths to Troy,

425

430

435

440

in a very short time. Befides, the Trojans having the better in the action, must have feized the body contrary to the intention of the author. There are innumerable inftances of thefe little niceties and particularities of conduct in Homer.

V. 436. Meanwhile the fons of Neftor, in the rear, &c.] It is not without reafon Homer in this place makes particular mention of the fons of Neftor. It is to prepare us against he fends one of them to Achilles, to tell him the death of his friend.

But

445

But round the corfe, the heroes pant for breath, And thick and heavy grows the work of death: 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,

Strain'd with full force, and tugg'd from fide to fide,
The brawny curriers ftretch; and labour 'o'er,

gore;

Th' extended furface, drunk with fat and
So tugging round the corps both armies stood;
The mangled body bath'd in fweat and blood:
While Greeks and Ilians equal strength employ,
Now to the fhips to force it, now to Troy.
Not Pallas' felf, her breaft when fury warms,
Nor he, whofe anger fets the world in arms,

450

455

V. 450. As when a flaughter'd bull's yet reeking bide] Homer gives us a moft lively defcription of their drawing the body on all fides, and inftructs in the ancient manner of ftretching hides, being first made foft and fupple with oil. And tho' this comparison be one of thofe mean and humble ones which fume have objected to, yet it has alfo its admirers for being fo expreffive, and for reprefenting to the imagination the moft ftrong and exact idea of the fubject in hand. Euftathius.

"

V. 458. Not Pallas' felf.] Homer fays in the original, "Minerva could not have found fault, tho' fhe were angry.' Upon which Euftathius ingeniously observes, how common and natural it is for perfons in anger to turn criticks, and find faults where there

we none.

B 3

Could

Could blame this fcene; fuch rage, fuch horror 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;
He, yet unconscious of Patroclus' fall,
In duft extended under Ilien's wall,

Expects him glorious from the conquer'd plain,
And for his wifh'd return prepares in vain
Tho' well he knew, to make proud Ilion bend,
Was more than heav'n had deftin'd to his friend,
Perhaps to him: This Thetis had reveal'd;

The reft, in pity to her fon, conceal'd.

465

470

Still

V. 468.

To make proud Ilion bend,

Was more than heav'n had promis'd to his friend,

Perbaps to bim.] 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.

V. 47. The reft, in pity to her son, 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 pufh men of courage upon all that is poffible for them to do. Thus Achilles, tho' 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 the 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