Page:Homer - Iliad, translation Pope, 1909.djvu/106

104 With that, the blue-eyed Virgin winged her flight;

The hero rushed impetuous to the fight;

With tenfold ardour now invades the plain,

Wild with delay, and more enraged by pain.

As on the fleecy flocks, when hunger calls,

Amidst the field a brindled lion falls;

If chance some shepherd with a distant dart

The savage wound, he rouses at the smart,

He foams, he roars; the shepherd dares not stay,

But trembling leaves the scattering flocks a prey;

Heaps fall on heaps; he bathes with blood the ground,

Then leaps victorious o'er the lofty mound.

Not with less fury stern Tydides flew,

And two brave leaders at an instant slew;

Astynoüs breathless fell, and by his side

His people's pastor, good Hypenor, died;

Astynoüs' breast the deadly lance receives,

Hypenor's shoulder his broad faulchion cleaves.

Those slain he left; and sprung with noble rage

Abas and Polyïdus to engage;

Sons of Eurydamas, who, wise and old,

Could fates foresee, and mystic dreams unfold;

The youths returned not from the doubtful plain,

And the sad father tried his arts in vain;

No mystic dream could make their fates appear,

Though now determined by Tydides' spear.

Young Xanthus next, and Thoön felt his rage,

The joy and hope of Phænops' feeble age;

Vast was his wealth, and these the only heirs

Of all his labours, and a life of cares.

Cold death o'ertakes them in their blooming years,

And leaves the father unavailing tears:

To strangers now descends his heapy store,

The race forgotten, and the name no more.

Two sons of Priam in one chariot ride,

Glittering in arms, and combat side by side.

As when the lordly lion seeks his food

Where grazing heifers range the lonely wood,

He leaps amidst them with a furious bound,

Bends their strong necks, and tears them to the ground:

So from their seats the brother chiefs are torn,

Their steeds and chariots to the navy borne.

With deep concern divine Æneas viewed

The foe prevailing and his friends pursued;

Through the thick storm of singing spears he flies,

Exploring Pandarus with careful eyes.

At length he found Lycaon's mighty son;

To whom the chief of Venus' race begun:

"Where, Pandarus, are all thy honours now,