• What man could do, by me for Troy was done, • Take here her relicks and her gods, to run 281

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 290 The houses' tops, and list’ning there attend. As flames rollid 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 - noise,

295 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

299 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, Phæbus' priest, Who, 'scaping with his gods and relicks, fed, And t'wards the shore his little grandchild led.

K

Pantheus, what hope remains? what force, what

place Made good ? but, sighing, he replies, “ Alas! Trojans we were, and mighty Ilium was; 311 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 fame, 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 alarmis, 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 Choroebus, Mygdon's son, Who by the love of fair Cassandra won, 331 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 395 The fight, I said, Brave spirits ! (but in vain) Are you

resolv'd to follow one who dares Tempt all extreines? 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? 350 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 Jpon us, with civility misplac'd, Thus greeting us; “You lose, by your delay,

2 • 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

3 Too late he finds : as when an unseen snake A traveller's unwary foot hath prest, 365 Who tremblingstarts, when the snake's azure crest, Swoln with his rising anger, he espies, So from our view surprisid Androgeus flies:

}

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, Chorcebus said, "O friends! we now by better Fates are led, • And the fair path they lead us let us tread.

First change yourarms, and their distinctions bear; « The same in foes deceit and virtue are.? 376 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. 380 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, Iler eyes; for cords her tender hands did strain : Chorcebus at the spectacle enrag'd

391 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; 400
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 Chorcebus fell 410
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,

420
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 :

}