Page:Homer - Iliad, translation Pope, 1909.djvu/193

168—215 He heard, returned, and took his painted shield:

Then joined the chiefs, and followed through the field.

Without his tent, bold Diomed they found,

All sheathed in arms, his brave companions round:

Each sunk in sleep, extended on the field,

His head reclining on his bossy shield:

A wood of spears stood by, that, fixed upright,

Shot from their flashing points a quivering light.

A bull's black hide composed the hero's bed;

A splendid carpet rolled beneath his head.

Then, with his foot, old Nestor gently shakes

The slumbering chief, and in these words awakes:

"Rise, son of Tydeus! to the brave and strong

Rest seems inglorious, and the night too long.

But sleepest thou now? when from yon hill the foe

Hangs o'er the fleet, and shades our walls below?"

At this, soft slumber from his eyelids fled;

The warrior saw the hoary chief, and said:

"Wondrous old man! whose soul no respite knows,

Though years and honours bid thee seek repose.

Let younger Greeks our sleeping warriors wake;

Ill fits thy age these toils to undertake."

"My friend," he answered, "generous is thy care,

These toils, my subjects and my sons might bear;

Their loyal thoughts and pious loves conspire

To ease a sovereign, and relieve a sire.

But now the last despair surrounds our host;

No hour must pass, no moment must be lost;

Each single Greek, in this conclusive strife,

Stands on the sharpest edge of death or life:

Yet if my years thy kind regard engage,

Employ thy youth as I employ my age;

Succeed to these my cares, and rouse the rest; He serves me most, who serves his country best."

This said, the hero o'er his shoulder flung

A lion's spoils, that to his ankles hung; Then seized his ponderous lance, and strode along.

Meges the bold, with Ajax famed for speed, The warrior roused, and to the entrenchments led. And now the chiefs approach the nightly guard; A wakeful squadron, each in arms prepared: The unwearied watch their listening leaders keep,

And, couching close, repel invading sleep. So faithful dogs their fleecy charge maintain,

With toil protected from the prowling train; When the gaunt lioness, with hunger bold, Springs from the mountains toward the guarded fold:

Through breaking woods her rustling course they hear;