Page:Homer - Iliad, translation Pope, 1909.djvu/260

258 On sounding wings a dexter eagle flew.

To Jove's glad omen all the Grecians rise,

And hail with shouts its progress through the skies.

Far-echoing clamours bound from side to side;

They ceased; and thus the chief of Troy replied:

"From whence this menace, this insulting strain?

Enormous boaster! doomed to vaunt in vain.

So may the gods on Hector life bestow,

Not that short life which mortals lead below,

But such as those of Jove's high lineage born,

The blue-eyed Maid, or he that gilds the morn,

As this decisive day shall end the fame

Of Greece, and Argos be no more a name.

And thou, imperious! if thy madness wait

The lance of Hector, thou shalt meet thy fate:

That giant corpse, extended on the shore,

Shall largely feast the fowls with fat and gore."

He said, and like a lion stalked along:

With shouts incessant earth and ocean rung,

Sent from his following host. The Grecian train

With answering thunders filled the echoing plain;

A shout that tore heaven's concave, and above

Shook the fixed splendours of the throne of Jove.