Page:Homer - Iliad, translation Pope, 1909.djvu/65

599—647 Or Thespia, sacred to the god of day.

Onchestus, Neptune's celebrated groves;

Copæ, and Thisbè, famed for silver doves,

For flocks Erythræ, Glissa for the vine;

Platæa green, and Nisa the divine.

And they whom Thebès' well-built walls enclose,

Where Mydè, Eutresis, Coronè rose;

And Arnè rich, with purple harvests crowned;

And Anthedon, Bœotia's utmost bound.

Full fifty ships they send, and each conveys

Twice sixty warriors through the foaming seas.

To these succeed Aspledon's martial train,

Who plough the spacious Orchomenian plain.

Two valiant brothers rule the undaunted throng,

Iälmen and Ascalaphus the strong,

Sons of Astyochè, the heavenly fair,

Whose virgin charms subdued the god of war:

(In Actor's court as she retired to rest,

The strength of Mars the blushing maid compressed:)

Their troops in thirty sable vessels sweep,

With equal oars, the hoarse-resounding deep.

The Phocians next in forty barks repair,

Epistrophus and Schedius head the war;

From those rich regions where Cephissus leads

His silver current through the flowery meads;

From Panopëa, Chrysa the divine,

Where Anemoria's stately turrets shine,

Where Pytho, Daulis, Cyparissus stood,

And fair Lilæ views the rising flood.

These, ranged in order on the floating tide,

Close, on the left, the bold Bœotians' side.

Fierce Ajax led the Locrian squadrons on,

Ajax the less, Oïleus' valiant son;

Skilled to direct the flying dart aright;

Swift in pursuit, and active in the fight.

Him, as their chief, the chosen troops attend,

Which Bessa, Thronus, and rich Cynos send;

Opus, Calliarus, and Scarphe's bands;

And those who dwell where pleasing Augia stands,

And where Boägrius floats the lowly lands,

Or in fair Tarphè's sylvan seats reside;

In forty vessels cut the yielding tide.

Eubœa next her martial sons prepares,

And sends the brave Abantes to the wars;

Breathing revenge, in arms they take their way

From Chalcis' walls, and strong Eretria;

The Isteian fields for generous vines renowned,

The fair Carystos, and the Styrian ground;

Where Dios from her towers o'erlooks the plain,