Page:Homer - Iliad, translation Pope, 1909.djvu/322

320 Now blazing in the immortal arms he stands,

The work and present of celestial hands;

By aged Peleus to Achilles given,

As first to Peleus by the court of heaven:

His father's arms not long Achilles wears,

Forbid by fate to reach his father's years.

Him, proud in triumph, glittering from afar,

The god whose thunder rends the troubled air

Beheld with pity, as apart he sat,

And conscious looked through all the scene of fate.

He shook the sacred honours of his head;

Olympus trembled, and the godhead said:

"Ah, wretched man, unmindful of thy end!

A moment's glory, and what fates attend!

In heavenly panoply, divinely bright

Thou stand's!, and armies tremble at thy sight,

As at Achilles' self; beneath thy dart

Lies slain the great Achilles' dearer part:

Thou from the mighty dead those arms hast torn,

Which once the greatest of mankind had worn.

Yet live! I give thee one illustrious day,

A blaze of glory ere thou fad'st away.

For ah! no more Andromache shall come

With joyful tears to welcome Hector home;

No more officious, with endearing charms,

From thy tired limbs unbrace Pelides' arms!"

Then with his sable brow he gave the nod

That seals his word, the sanction of the god.

The stubborn arms, by Jove's command disposed,

Conformed spontaneous, and around him closed:

Filled with the god, enlarged his members grew,

Through all his veins a sudden vigour flew:

The blood in brisker tides began to roll,

And Mars himself came rushing on his soul.

Exhorting loud through all the field he strode,

And looked, and moved, Achilles, or a god.

Now Mesthles, Glaucus, Medon he inspires,

Now Phorcys, Ghromius, and Hippothoüs fires;

The great Thersilochus like fury found,

Asteropaeus kindled at the sound,

And Ennomus, in augury renowned.

"Hear, all ye hosts, and hear unnumbered bands

Of neighbouring nations, or of distant lands!

'Twas not for state we summoned you so far,

To boast our numbers, and the pomp of war;

Ye came to fight; a valiant foe to chase,

To save our present and our future race.

For this, our wealth, our products, you enjoy,

And glean the relics of exhausted Troy.