Page:Homer - Iliad, translation Pope, 1909.djvu/224

222 Glad in Achilles' arms, if thou appear,

Proud Troy may tremble, and desist from war!

Pressed by fresh forces, her o'erlaboured train

Shall seek their walls, and Greece respire again."

This touched his generous heart, and from the tent

Along the shore with hasty strides he went;

Soon as he came, where, on the crowded strand,

The public mart and courts of justice stand,

Where the tall fleet of great Ulysses lies,

And altars to the guardian gods arise;

There sad he met the brave Evæmon's son;

Large painful drops from all his members run;

An arrow's head yet rooted in his wound,

The sable blood in circles marked the ground,

As, faintly reeling, he confessed the smart:

Weak was his pace, but dauntless was his heart.

Divine compassion touched Patroclus' breast,

Who, sighing, thus his bleeding friend addressed:

"Ah, hapless leaders of the Grecian host,

Thus must ye perish on a barbarous coast?

Is this your fate, to glut the dogs with gore,

Far from your friends, and from your native shore?

Say, great Eurypylus, shall Greece yet stand?

Resists she yet the raging Hector's hand?

Or are her heroes .doomed to die with shame,

And this the period of our wars and fame?"

Eurypylus replies: "No more, my friend,

Greece is no more; this day her glories end.

E'en to the ships victorious Troy pursues,

Her force increasing as her toil renews.

Those chiefs, that used her utmost rage to meet,

Lie pierced with wounds, and bleeding in the fleet.

But thou, Patroclus! act a friendly part,

Lead to my ships, and draw this deadly dart;

With lukewarm water wash the gore away,

With healing balms the raging smart allay,

Such as sage Chiron, sire of pharmacy,

Once taught Achilles, and Achilles thee.

Of two famed surgeons, Podalirius stands

This hour surrounded by the Trojan bands;

And great Machaon, wounded, in his tent,

Now wants that succour that so oft he lent."

To whom the chief: "What then remains to do?

The event of things the gods alone can view.

Charged by Achilles' great command I fly,

And bear with haste the Pylian king's reply:

But thy distress this instant claims relief."

He said, and in his arms upheld the chief.

The slaves their master's slow approach surveyed,