Page:Homer - Iliad, translation Pope, 1909.djvu/244

242 Deplored Amphimachus, sad object! lies;

Imbrius remains the fierce Ajaces' prize.

As two grim lions bear across the lawn,

Snatched from devouring hounds, a slaughtered fawn,

In their fell jaws high lifting through the wood,

And sprinkling all the shrubs with drops of blood;

So these the chief: great Ajax from the dead

Strips his bright arms, Oïleus lops his head:

Tossed like a ball, and whirled in air away,

At Hector's feet the gory visage lay.

The god of ocean, fired with stern disdain,

And pierced with sorrow for his grandson slain,

Inspires the Grecian hearts, confirms their hands,

And breathes destruction to the Trojan bands.

Swift as a whirlwind rushing to the fleet,

He finds the lance-famed Idomen of Crete;

His pensive brow the generous care expressed

With which a wounded soldier touched his breast,

Whom in the chance of war a javelin tore,

And his sad comrades from the battle bore;

Him to the surgeons of the camp he sent;

That office paid, he issued from his tent,

Fierce for the fight: to him the god begun,

In Thoas' voice, Andræmon's valiant son,

Who ruled where Calydon's white rocks arise,

And Pleuron's chalky cliffs emblaze the skies:

"Where's now the impetuous vaunt, the daring boast,

Of Greece victorious, and proud Ilion lost?"

To whom the king: "On Greece no blame be thrown,

Arms are her trade, and war is all her own.

Her hardy heroes from the well-fought plains

Nor fear withholds, nor shameful sloth detains.

'Tis heaven, alas! and Jove's all-powerful doom,

That far, far distant from our native home

Wills us to fall, inglorious! Oh, my friend!

Once foremost in the fight, still prone to lend

Or arms, or counsels; now perform thy best,

And what thou canst not singly, urge the rest."

Thus he; and thus the god whose force can make

The solid globe's eternal basis shake:

"Ah! never may he see his native land,

But feed the vultures on this hateful strand,

Who seeks ignobly in his ships to stay,

Nor dares to combat on this signal day!

For this, behold! in horrid arms I shine,

And urge thy soul to rival acts with mine;

Together let us battle on the plain;

Two, not the worst; nor e'en this succour vain:

Not vain the weakest, if their force unite;