Page:Homer - Iliad, translation Pope, 1909.djvu/247

410—458 Great must he be, of more than human birth,

Nor feed like mortals on the fruits of earth,

Him neither rocks can crush, nor steel can wound,

Whom Ajax fells not on the ensanguined ground;

In standing fight he mates Achilles' force,

Excelled alone in swiftness in the course.

Then to the left our ready arms apply,

And live with glory, or with glory die."

He said: and Merion to the appointed place,

Fierce as the god of battles, urged his pace.

Soon as the foe the shining chiefs beheld

Rush like a fiery torrent round the field,

Their force embodied in a tide they pour;

The rising combat sounds along the shore:

As warring winds, in Sirius' sultry reign,

From different quarters sweep the sandy plain;

On every side the dusty whirlwinds rise,

And the dry fields are lifted to the skies:

Thus, by despair, hope, rage, together driven,

Met the black hosts, and, meeting, darkened heaven.

All dreadful glared the iron face of war,

Bristled with upright spears, that flash afar;

Dire was the gleam of breast-plates, helms, and shields,

And polished arms emblazed the flaming fields:

Tremendous scene! that general horror gave,

But touched with joy the bosoms of the brave.

Saturn's great sons in fierce contention vied,

And crowds of heroes in their anger died.

The sire of earth and heaven, by Thetis won

To crown with glory Peleus' godlike son,

Willed not destruction to the Grecian powers,

But spared awhile the destined Trojan towers:

While Neptune, rising from his azure main,

Warred on the king of heaven with stern disdair,

And breathed revenge, and fired the Grecian train,

Gods of one source, of one ethereal race,

Alike divine, and heaven their native place:

But Jove the greater; first-born of the skies,

And more than men or gods supremely wise.

For this, of Jove's superior might afraid,

Neptune in human form concealed his aid.

These powers infold the Greek and Trojan train

In War and Discord's adamantine chain;

Indissolubly strong; the fatal tie

Is stretched on both, and close-compelled they die.

Dreadful in arms, and grown in combat grey,

The bold Idomeneus controls the day.

First by his hand Othryoneus was slain,

Swelled with false hopes, with mad ambition vain;