Page:Homer - Iliad, translation Pope, 1909.djvu/189



night the chiefs before their vessels lay,

And lost in sleep the labours of the day:

All but the king; with various thoughts oppressed,

His country's cares lay rolling in his breast.

As when by lightnings Jove's ethereal power

Foretells the rattling hail, or weighty shower,

Or sends soft snows to whiten all the shore,

Or bids the brazen throat of war to roar;

By fits one flash succeeds as one expires,

And heaven flames thick with momentary fires:

So bursting frequent from Atrides' breast,

Sighs following sighs his inward fears confessed.

Now, o'er the fields, dejected, he surveys

From thousand Trojan fires the mounting blaze;

Hears in the passing wind their music blow,

And marks distinct the voices of the foe.

Now, looking backwards to the fleet and coast,

Anxious he sorrows for the endangered host.

He rends his hairs, in sacrifice to Jove,

And sues to him that ever lives above: