Page:Ovid's Metamorphoses (Vol. 2) - tr Garth, Dryden, et. al. (1727).djvu/203

Book 13. Nor need I wonder, that on me he threw Such foul Aspersions, when he spares not you: If Palamede unjustly fell by me, Your Honour suffer'd in th' unjust Decree: I but accus'd, you doom'd: And yet he dy'd, Convinc'd of Treason, and was fairly try'd: You heard not he was false; your Eyes beheld The Traytor manifest; the Bribe reveal'd. That Philoctetes is on Lemnos left, Wounded, forlorn, of human Aid bereft, Is not my Crime, or not my Crime alone; Defend your Justice, for the Fact's your own: 'Tis true th' Advice was mine; that staying there He might his weary Limbs with Rest repair, From a long Voyage free, and from a longer War. He took the Counsel, and he lives at least; Th' Event declares I counsell'd for the best: Though Faith is all in Ministers of State; For who can promise to be fortunate? Now since his Arrows are the Fate of Troy, Do not my Wit, or weak Address, employ; Send Ajax there, with his perswasive Sense, To mollifie the Man, and draw him thence: But Xanthus shall run backward; Ida stand A leafless Mountain; and the Grecian Band Shall fight for Troy; if, when my Councils fail, The Wit of heavy Ajax can prevail. Hard Philoctetes, exercise thy Spleen Against thy Fellows, and the King of Men; Curse my devoted Head above the rest, And wish in Arms to meet me Breast to Breast: Yet I the dang'rous Task will undertake, And either die my self, or bring thee back. Nor doubt the same Success, as when before The Phrygian Prophet to these Tents I bore, Surpriz'd