Page:Homer - Iliad, translation Pope, 1909.djvu/178

176 Trust that to heaven: but thou thy cares engage

To calm thy passions, and subdue thy rage:

From gentler manners let thy glory grow,

And shun contention, the sure source of woe;

That young and old may in thy praise combine,

The virtues of humanity be thine.'

This, now despised, advice thy father gave;

Ah! check thy anger, and be truly brave.

If thou wilt yield to great Atrides' prayers,

Gifts worthy thee his royal hand prepares;

If notbut hear me, while I number o'er

The proffered presents, an exhaustless store.

Ten weighty talents of the purest gold,

And twice ten vases of refulgent mould;

Seven sacred tripods, whose unsullied frame

Yet knows no office, nor has felt the flame:

Twelve steeds unmatched in fleetness and in force,

And still victorious in the dusty course:

(Rich were the man whose ample stores exceed

The prizes purchased by their winged speed:)

Seven lovely captives of the Lesbian line,

Skilled in each art, unmatched in form divine,

The same he chose for more than vulgar charms,

When Lesbos sunk beneath thy conquering arms;

All these, to buy thy friendship, shall be paid,

And joined with these the long-contested maid;

With all her charms, Briseïs he'll resign,

And solemn swear those charms were only thine;

Untouched she stayed, uninjured she removes,

Pure from his arms, and guiltless of his loves.

These instant shall be thine: and if the powers

Give to our arms proud Ilion's hostile towers,

Then shalt thou store, when Greece the spoil divides,

With gold and brass thy loaded navy's sides.

Besides, full twenty nymphs of Trojan race

With copious love shall crown thy warm embrace;

Such as thyself shalt choose; who yield to none,

Or yield to Helen's heavenly charms alone.

Yet hear me farther: when our wars are o'er,

If safe we land on Argos' fruitful shore,

There shalt thou live his son, his honours share,

And with Orestes' self divide his care.

Yet more—three daughters in his court are bred,

And each well worthy of a royal bed;

Laodicé and Iphigenia fair,

And bright Chrysothemis with golden hair;

Her shalt thou wed whom most thy eyes approve;

He asks no presents, no reward for love:

Himself will give the dower: so vast a store