The Redemption of the Body of Hector.
THE Gods deliberate about the redemption of Hec tor's body. Jupiter fends Thetis to Achilles, to difpofe him for the reftoring it; and Iris to Priam, to encourage him to go in perfon, and treat for it. The old king, notwithstanding the remonftrances of his queen, makes ready for the journey, to which he is encouraged by an omen from Jupiter. He fets forth in his chariot, with a waggon loaded with prefents, under the charge of Idæus, the herald. Mercury defcends in the fhape of a young man, and conducts him to the pavilion of Achilles. Their converfation on the way. Priam finds Achilles at his table, cafts himself at his feet, and begs for the body of his fon; Achilles, moxed with compaffion, grants his requeft, detains him one night in his tent, and the next morning fends him home with the body. The Trojans run out to meet him. The lamentations of Andromache, Hecuba, and Helen; with the folemnities of the funeral.
The time of twelve days is employed in this book, while the body of Hector lies in the tent of Achilles : and as many more are spent in the truce allowed for his interment. The fcene is partly in Achilles's camp, and partly in Troy.
WOW from the finish'd games the Grecian band
Seek their black ships, and clear the crouded
All stretch'd at ease the genial banquet share, [strand: And pleafing flumbers quiet all their care.
Not fo Achilles: he to grief refign'd,
His friend's dear image prefent to his mind,
Takes his fad couch, more unobferv'd to weep;
Nor taftes the gifts of all-compofing fleep.
Reftlefs he roll'd around his weary bed,
And all his foul on his Patroclus fed :
The form fo pleasing, and the heart so kind,
That youthful vigour, and that manly mind,
What toils they shar'd, what martial works they wrought,
What seas they measur'd, and what fields they fought;
All paft before him in remembrance dear,
Thought follows thought, and tear fucceeds to tear.
And now fupine, now prone, the hero lay,
Now fhifts his fide, impatient for the day:
Then starting up, disconfolate he goes
Wide on the lonely beach to vent his woes.
There, as the folitary mourner raves,
The ruddy morning rises o'er the waves &
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Soon as it rofe, his furious fteeds he join'd:
The chariot flies, and Hector trails behind.
And thrice, Patroclus! round thy monument
Was Hector dragg'd, then hurry'd to the tent.
There fleep at last o'ercomes the hero's eyes;
While foul in duft th' unhonour'd carcafe lies,
But not deferted by the pitying Skies.
For Phoebus watch'd it with fuperiour care,
Preferv'd from gaping wounds, and tainting air;
And ignominious as it fwept the field,
Spread o'er the facred corpfe his golden fhield.
All Heaven was mov'd, and Hermes will'd to go
By ftealth to fnatch him from th' infulting foe:
But Neptune this, and Pallas this denies,
And th' unrelenting Empress of the skies:
E'er fince that day implacable to Troy,
What time young Paris, fimple fhepherd boy,
Won by deftructive luft (reward obscene)
Their charms rejected for the Cyprian Queen.
But when the tenth celestial morning broke;
To Heaven affembled, thus Apollo spoke:
Unpitying Powers! how oft each holy fane
Has Hector ting'd with blood of victims slain !
And, can ye still his cold remains pursue ?
Still grudge his body to the Trojans' view?
Deny to confort, mother, fon, and fire,
The laft fade honours of a funeral fire ?
Is then the dire Achilles all your care?
That iron heart, inflexibly fevere;
A lion, not a man, who flaughters wide
Im ftrength of rage and impotence of pride;
Who haftes to murder, with a favage joy,
Invades around, and breathes but to destroy.
Shame is not of his foul; nor understood,
The greatest evil and the greatest good.
Still for one lofs he rages unrefign'd,
Repugnant to the lot of all mankind;
To lofe a friend, a brother, or a fon,
Heaven dooms each mortal, and its will is done:
A while they forrow, then difmifs their care;
Fate gives the wound, and man is born to bear.
But this, infatiate, the commiffion given
By Fate exceeds, and tempts the wrath of Heaven: 16:5
Lo! how his rage difhoneft drags along
Hector's dead earth, infenfible of wrong!
Brave though he be, yet, by no reason aw'd,
He violates the laws of man and God.
If equal honours by the partial Skies
Are doom'd both heroes, (Juno thus replies)
If Thetis' fon must no diftinction know,
Then hear, ye Gods! the Patron of the Bow.
But Hector only boasts a mortal.claim,
His birth deriving from a mortal dame :
Achilles of your own ætherial race
Springs from a Goddess by a man's embrace
(A Goddess by ourself to Peleus given,
A man divine, and chosen friend of Heaven).
To grace thofe nuptials from the bright abode
Yourselves were prefent; where this minftrel-God
(Well pleas'd to fhare the feaft) amid the quire
Stood proud to hymn, and tune his youthful lyre.
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