• What man could do, by me for Troy was done, Take here her relicks and her gods, to run With them thy fate; with them new walls expect, 'Which, toss'd on seas, thou shalt at last erect:' Then brings old Vesta from her sacred quire, Her holy wreaths, and her eternal fire, 285 Mean-while the walls with doubtful cries resound From far; (for shady coverts did surround My father's house ;) approaching still more near, The clash of arms and voice of men we hear. Rous'd from my bed, I speedily ascend
The houses' tops, and list'ning there attend. As flames roll'd by the winds' conspiring force O'er full-ear'd corn, or torrents' raging course Bears down th' opposing oaks, the fields destroys And mocks the ploughman's toil, th' unlook'd-for
From neighb'ring hills th' amazed shepherd hears; Such my surprise, and such their rage appears. First fell thy house, Ucalegon! then thine Deïphobus! Sigæan seas did shine
Bright with Troy's flames; the trumpets' dreadful The louder groans of dying men confound. [sound Give me my arms, I cry'd, resolv'd to throw Myself 'mong any that oppos'd the foe:
Rage, anger, and despair, at once suggest, That of all deaths to die in arms was best. 305 The first I met was Pantheus, Phœbus' priest, Who, 'scaping with his gods and relicks, fled, And t'wards the shore his little grandchild led.
Pantheus, what hope remains? what force, what
Made good? but, sighing, he replies, "Alas! Trojans we were, and mighty Ilium was ; But the last period, and the fatal hour Of Troy is come: our glory and our power Incensed Jove transfers to Grecian hands: The foe within the burning town commands, 315 And (like a smother'd fire) an unseen force Breaks from the bowels of the fatal horse: Insulting Sinon flings about the flame,
And thousands more than e'er from Argos came, Possess the gates, the passes, and the streets, 320 And these the sword o'ertakes, and those it meets. The guard nor fights nor flies; their fate so near, At once suspends their courage and their fear." Thus by the gods, and by Atrides' words
Inspir'd, I make my way thro' fire, thro' swords, Where noises, tumults, outcries, and alarms, 326 I heard. First Iphitus, renown'd for arms, We meet who knew us; (for the moon did shine ;) Then Ripheus, Hypanis, and Dymas join Their force, and young Chorobus, Mygdon's son, Who by the love of fair Cassandra won, Arriv'd but lately in her father's aid; Unhappy, whom the threats could not dissuade Of his prophetic spouse;
Whom when I saw, yet daring to maintain The fight, I said, Brave spirits! (but in vain) Are you resolv'd to follow one who dares Tempt all extremes? The state of our affairs
You see: the gods have left us, by whose aid Our empire stood; nor can the flame be stay'd : 340 Then let us fall amidst our foes. This one Relief the vanquish'd have, to hope for none. Then reinforc'd, as in a stormy night Wolves, urged by their raging appetite, Forage for prey, which their neglected young 345 With greedy jaws expect, ev'n so among Foes, fire, and swords, t' assur'd death we pass; Darkness our guide, Despair our leader was. Who can relate that ev'ning's woes and spoils, Or can his tears proportion to our toils? The city which so long had flourish'd, falls; Death triumphs o'er the houses, temples, walls. Nor only on the Trojans fell this doom; Their hearts at last the vanquish’d re-assume, And now the victors fall: on all sides fears, 355 Groans, and pale Death, in all her shapes appears. Androgeus first with his whole troop was cast Upon us, with civility misplac'd,
Thus greeting us; 'You lose, by your delay, 'Your share both of the honour and the prey: 'Others the spoils of burning Troy convey 361. "Back to those ships which you but now forsake.'- We making no return, his sad mistake
Too late he finds : as when an unseen snake A traveller's unwary foot hath prest,
Who trembling starts, when the snake's azure crest, Swoln with his rising anger, he espies,
So from our view surpris'd Androgeus flics:
But here an easy victory we meet;
Fear binds their hands, and ignorance their feet. 370 Whilst fortune our first enterprise did aid, Encourag'd with success, Chorobus said, 'O friends! we now by better Fates are led, And the fair path they lead us let us tread. First change your arms, and their distinctions bear; The same in foes deceit and virtue are.' Then of his arms Androgeus hè divests, His sword, his shield, he takes, and plumed crests; Then Ripheus, Dymas, and the rest: all glad Of the occasion, in fresh spoils are clad. Thus mix'd with Greeks, as if their fortune still Follow'd their swords, we fight, pursue, and kill. Some re-ascend the horse, and he whose sides Let forth the valiant, now the coward hides. Some to their safer guard, their ships, retire; 385 But vain's that hope 'gainst which the gods conspire. Behold the royal virgin, the divine Cassandra, from Minerva's fatal shrine
Dragg'd by the hair, casting t'wards heav'n, in vain, Her eyes; for cords her tender hands did strain: Chorobus at the spectacle enrag'd
Flies in amidst the foes: we thus engag'd To second him, among the thickest ran:
Here first our ruin from our friends began, Who from the temple's battlements a shower 395 Of darts and arrows on our heads did pour: They us for Greeks, and now the Greeks (who knew Cassandra's rescue) us for Trojans slew.
Then from all parts Ulysses, Ajax then, And then th' Atridæ, rally all their men ; As winds that meet from sev'ral coasts contest, Their prisons being broke, the south and west, And Eurus on his winged coursers borne, Triumphing in their speed, the woods are torn, And chasing Nereus with his trident throws 405 The billows from their bottom : then all those Who in the dark our fury did escape Returning, know our borrow'd arms and shape, And diff'ring dialect: then their numbers swell And grow upon us. First Chorœbus fell Before Minerva's altar; next did bleed Just Ripheus, whom no Trojan did exceed In virtue, yet the gods his fate decreed. Then Hypanis and Dymas, wounded by Their friends: nor thee, Pantheus! thy piety 415 Nor consecrated mitre from the same
Ill fate could save. My country's fun'ral flame, And Troy's cold ashes, I attest and call To witness for myself, that in their fall No foes, no death, nor danger, I declin'd, Did and deserv'd no less my fate to find. Now Iphitus with me, and Pelias, Slowly retire; the one retarded was By feeble age, the other by a wound.
To court the cry directs us, where we found 425 Th' assault so hot, as if 'twere only there, And all the rest secure from foes or fear:
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