Page:Homer - Iliad, translation Pope, 1909.djvu/137

511—559 Ah, too forgetful of thy wife and son!

And thinkest thou not how wretched we shall be,

A widow I, a helpless orphan he!

For sure such courage length of life denies,

And thou must fall, thy virtue's sacrifice.

Greece in her single heroes strove in vain;

Now hosts oppose thee, and thou must be slain!

Oh, grant me, gods, e'er Hector meets his doom,

All I can ask of heaven—an early tomb!

So shall my days in one sad tenor run,

And end with sorrows, as they first begun.

No parent now remains my grief to share,

No father's aid, no mother's tender care.

The fierce Achilles wrapped our walls in fire,

Laid Thebè waste, and slew my warlike sire;

His fate compassion in the victor bred;

Stern as he was, he yet revered the dead;

His radiant arms preserved from hostile spoil,

And laid him decent on the funeral pile;

Then raised a mountain where his bones were burned,

The mountain nymphs his rural tomb adorned,

Jove's sylvan daughters bade their elms bestow

A barren shade, and in his honour grow.

By the same arms my seven brave brothers fell,

In one sad day beheld the gates of hell;

While the fat herds and snowy flocks they fed,

Amid their fields the hapless heroes bled.

My mother lived to bear the victor's bands,

The queen of Hypoplacia's sylvan lands;

Redeemed too late, the scene beheld again,

Her pleasing empire and her native plain,

When, ah! oppressed by life-consuming woe,

She fell a victim to Diana's bow.

Yet while my Hector still survives, I see

My father, mother, brethren, all in thee:

Alas! my parents, brothers, kindred, all

Once more will perish, if my Hector fall!

Thy wife, thy infant, in thy danger share;

Oh, prove a husband's and a father's care!

That quarter most the skilful Greeks annoy

Where yon wild fig-trees join the wall of Troy:

Thou from this tower defend the important post:

There Agamemnon points his dreadful host;

That pass Tydides, Ajax, strive to gain,

And there the vengeful Spartan fires his train.

Thrice our bold foes the fierce attack have given,

Or led by hopes, or dictated from heaven;

Let others in the field their arms employ;

But stay my Hector here, and guard his Troy!"