Page:Ovid's Metamorphoses (Vol. 2) - tr Garth, Dryden, et. al. (1727).djvu/182

166 Its Author to the Story gave Belief: For us, our Courage was increas'd by Grief: Asham'd to see a single Man, pursu'd With odds, to sink beneath a Multitude, We push'd the Foe: and, forc'd to shameful Flight, Part fell, and Part escap'd by Favour of the Night.

This Tale, by Nestor told, did much displease Tlepolemus, the Seed of Hercules: For, often he had heard his Father say, That he himself was present at the Fray; And more than shar'd the Glories of the Day. Old Chronicle, he said, among the rest, You might have nam'd Alcides at the least: Is he not worth your Praise? The Pylian Prince Sigh'd ere he spoke; then made this proud Defence. My former Woes in long Oblivion drown'd, I wou'd have lost; but you renew the Wound: Better to pass him o'er, than to relate The Cause I have your mighty Sire to hate. His Fame has fill'd the World, and reach'd the Sky; (Which, Oh, I wish, with Truth, I cou'd deny!) We praise not Hector; though his Name, we know, Is great in Arms; 'tis hard to praise a Foe. He, your great Father, levell'd to the Ground Messenia's Tow'rs: Nor better Fortune found Elis, and Pylos; that a neighb'ring State, And this my own: Both guiltless of their Fate. To pass the rest, twelve, wanting one, he slew; My Brethren, who their Birth from Neleus drew. All Youths of early Promise, had they liv'd; By him they perish'd: I alone surviv'd. The rest were easie Conquest: But the Fate Of Periclymenos, is wondrous to relate. To