Page:Homer - Iliad, translation Pope, 1909.djvu/302

300 Whet all their stings, and call forth all their rage:

All rise in arms, and with a general cry

Assert their waxen domes, and buzzing progeny.

Thus from the tents the fervent legion swarms,

So loud their clamours, and so keen their arms;

Their rising rage Patroclus' breath inspires,

Who thus inflames them with heroic fires:

"O warriors, partners of Achilles' praise!

Be mindful of your deeds in ancient days:

Your godlike master let your acts proclaim,

And add new glories to his mighty name.

Think your Achilles sees you fight: be brave,

And humble the proud monarch whom you save."

Joyful they heard, and, kindling as he spoke,

Flew to the fleet, involved in fire and smoke.

From shore to shore the doubling shouts resound,

The hollow ships return a deeper sound.

The war stood still, and all around them gazed,

When great Achilles' shining armour blazed:

Troy saw, and thought the dread Achilles nigh;

At once they see, they tremble, and they fly.

Then first thy spear, divine Patroclus, flew,

Where the war raged, and where the tumult grew.

Close to the stern of that famed ship, which bore

Unblessed Protesilaus to Ilion's shore,

The great Pseonian, bold Pyraechmes, stood,

Who led his bands from Axius' winding flood:

His shoulder-blade receives the fatal wound;

The groaning warrior pants upon the ground.

His troops, that see their country's glory slain,

Fly diverse, scattered o'er the distant plain.

Patroclus' arm forbids the spreading fires,

And from the half-burned ship proud Troy retires,

Cleared from the smoke the joyful navy lies,

In heaps on heaps the foe tumultuous flies;

Triumphant Greece her rescued decks ascends,

And loud acclaim the starry region rends.

So when thick clouds enwrap the mountain's head,

O'er heaven's expanse like one black ceiling spread:

Sudden the Thunderer, with a flashing ray,

Bursts through the darkness, and lets down the day:

The hills shine out, the rocks in prospect rise,

And streams, and vales, and forests strike the eyes,

The smiling scene wide opens to the sight,

And all the unmeasured ether flames with light.

But Troy repulsed, and scattered o'er the plains,

Forced from the navy, yet the fight maintains.

Now every Greek some hostile hero slew,

But still the foremost bold Patroclus flew: