Page:Homer - Iliad, translation Pope, 1909.djvu/257

896—944 Or fell the distant warrior to the ground.

Thus in the van, the Telamonian train,

Thronged in bright arms, a pressing fight maintain;

Far in the rear the Locrian archers lie,

Whose stones and arrows intercept the sky:

The mingled tempest on the foes they pour,

Troy's scattering orders open to the shower.

Now had the Greeks eternal fame acquired,

And the galled Ilians to their walls retired;

But sage Polydamas, discreetly brave,

Addressed great Hector, and this counsel gave:

"Though great in all, thou seem'st averse to lend

Impartial audience to a faithful friend:

To gods and men thy matchless worth is known,

And every art of glorious war thy own;

But in cool thought and counsel to excel,

How widely differs this from warring well!

Content with what the bounteous gods have given,

Seek not alone to engross the gifts of heaven.

To some the powers of bloody war belong,

To some, sweet music, and the charm of song;

To few, and wondrous few, has Jove assigned

A wise, extensive, all-considering mind;

Their guardians these the nations round confess,

And towns and empires for their safety bless.

If Heaven have lodged this virtue in my breast,

Attend, O Hector, what I judge the best.

See, as thou movest, on dangers dangers spread,

And war's whole fury burns around thy head:

Behold! distressed within yon hostile wall,

How many Trojans yield, disperse, or fall!

What troops, outnumbered, scarce the war maintain!

And what brave heroes at the ships lie slain!

Here cease thy fury; and, the chiefs and kings

Convoked to council, weigh the sum of things.

Whether, the gods succeeding our desires,

To yon tall ships to bear the Trojan fires;

Or quit the fleet, and pass unhurt away,

Contented with the conquest of the day.

I fear, I fear, lest Greece, not yet undone,

Pay the large debt of last revolving sun.

Achilles, great Achilles, yet remains

On yonder decks, and yet o'erlooks the plains!"

The counsel pleased; and Hector, with a bound,

Leaped from his chariot on the trembling ground;

Swift as he leaped, his clanging arms resound.

"To guard this post," he cried, "thy art employ,

And here detain the scattered youth of Troy;

Where yonder heroes faint, I bend my way,