Page:Homer - Iliad, translation Pope, 1909.djvu/40

38 Rich in her fruits and in her martial race.

Hither we sailed, a voluntary throng,

To avenge a private, not a public wrong:

What else to Troy the assembled nations draws,

But thine, ungrateful, and thy brother's cause?

Is this the pay our blood and toils deserve,

Disgraced and injured by the man we serve?

And darest thou threat to snatch my prize away,

Due to the deeds of many a dreadful day?

A prize as small, O tyrant! matched with thine,

As thy own actions if compared to mine.

Thine in each conquest is the wealthy prey,

Though mine the sweat and danger of the day.

Some trivial present to my ships I bear,

Or barren praises pay the wounds of war.

But know, proud monarch, I'm thy slave no more:

My fleet shall waft me to Thessalia's shore.

Left by Achilles on the Trojan plain,

What spoils, what conquests, shall Atrides gain?"

To this the king: "Fly, mighty warrior! fly,

Thy aid we need not, and thy threats defy:

There want not chiefs in such a cause to fight,

And Jove himself shall guard a monarch's right.

Of all the kings, the gods' distinguished care,

To power superior none such hatred bear;

Strife and debate thy restless soul employ,

And wars and horrors are thy savage joy.

If thou hast strength, 'twas Heaven that strength bestowed,

For know, vain man! thy valour is from God.

Haste, launch thy vessels, fly with speed away,

Rule thy own realms with arbitrary sway:

I heed thee not, but prize at equal rate

Thy short-lived friendship and thy groundless hate.

Go threat thy earth-born Myrmidons; but here

'Tis mine to threaten, prince, and thine to fear.

Know, if the god the beauteous dame demand,

My bark shall waft her to her native land;

But then prepare, imperious prince! prepare,

Fierce as thou art, to yield thy captive fair:

E'en in thy tent I'll seize thy blooming prize,

Thy loved Briseïs, with the radiant eyes.

Hence shalt thou prove my might, and curse the hour

Thou stoodest a rival of imperial power;

And hence to all our host it shall be known

That kings are subject to the gods alone."

Achilles heard, with grief and rage oppressed;

His heart swelled high, and laboured in his breast.

Distracting thoughts by turns his bosom ruled,

Now fired by wrath, and now by reason cooled: