Page:Homer - Iliad, translation Pope, 1909.djvu/445

752—800 The sight is granted to thy longing eyes.

But now the peaceful hours of sacred night

Demand refection, and to rest invite:

Nor thou, O father! thus consumed with woe,

The common cares that nourish life forgo.

Not thus did Niobe, of form divine,

A parent once, whose sorrows equalled thine:

Six youthful sons, as many blooming maids,

In one sad day beheld the Stygian shades;

Those by Apollo's silver bow were slain,

These, Cynthia's arrows stretched upon the plain.

So was her pride chastised by wrath divine,

Who matched -her own with bright Latona's line;

But two the goddess, twelve the queen enjoyed;

Those boasted twelve the avenging two destroyed.

Steeped in their blood, and in the dust outspread,

Nine days, neglected, lay exposed the dead;

None by to weep them, to inhume them none;

For Jove had turned the nation all to stone;

The gods themselves, at length, relenting, gave

The unhappy race the honours of a grave.

Herself a rock, for such was heaven's high will,

Through deserts wild now pours a weeping rill;

Where round the bed whence Acheloiis springs,

The watery fairies dance in mazy rings:

There high on Sipylus's shady brow

She stands, her own sad monument of woe;

The rock for ever lasts, the tears for ever flow.

Such griefs, O king! have other parents known:

Remember theirs, and mitigate thy own.

The care of heaven thy Hector has appeared;

Nor shall he lie unwept, and uninterred;

Soon may thy aged cheeks in tears be drowned,

And all the eyes of Ilion stream around."

He said, and, rising, chose the victim ewe

With silver fleece, which his attendants slew.

The limbs they sever from the reeking hide,

With skill prepare them, and in parts divide:

Each on the coals the separate morsels lays,

And hasty snatches from the rising blaze.

With bread the glittering canisters they load,

Which round the board Automedon bestowed:

The chief himself to each his portion placed,

And each indulging shared in sweet repast.

When now the rage of hunger was repressed,

The wondering hero eyes his royal guest;

No less the royal guest the hero eyes,

His godlike aspect, and majestic size;

Here youthful grace and noble fire engage,