Here march’d in arms the Halizonian band,
Whom Odius and Epistrophus command,
From those far regions where the sun refines
The ripening silver in Alybean mines.
There mighty Chromis led the Mysian train,
And augur Ennomus, inspired in vain;
For stern Achilles lopp’d his sacred head,
Roll’d down Scamander with the vulgar dead.
Phorcys and brave Ascanius here unite
The Ascanian Phrygians, eager for the fight.
Of those who round Maeonia’s realms reside,
Or whom the vales in shades of Tmolus hide,
Mestles and Antiphus the charge partake,
Born on the banks of Gyges’ silent lake.
There, from the fields where wild Maeander flows,
High Mycale, and Latmos’ shady brows,
And proud Miletus, came the Carian throngs,
With mingled clamours and with barbarous tongues.
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Amphimachus and Naustes guide the train,
Naustes the bold, Amphimachus the vain,
Who, trick’d with gold, and glittering on his
car,
Rode like a woman to the field of war.
Fool that he was! by fierce Achilles slain,
The river swept him to the briny main:
There whelm’d with waves the gaudy warrior lies
The valiant victor seized the golden prize.
The forces last in fair array succeed,
Which blameless Glaucus and Sarpedon lead
The warlike bands that distant Lycia yields,
Where gulfy Xanthus foams along the fields.
ARGUMENT.
THE DUEL OF MENELAUS AND PARIS.
The armies being ready to engage, a single combat
is agreed upon between Menelaus and Paris (by the
intervention of Hector) for the determination of the
war. Iris is sent to call Helen to behold the
fight. She leads her to the walls of Troy, where
Priam sat with his counsellers observing the Grecian
leaders on the plain below, to whom Helen gives an
account of the chief of them. The kings on either
part take the solemn oath for the conditions of the
combat. The duel ensues; wherein Paris being
overcome, he is snatched away in a cloud by Venus,
and transported to his apartment. She then calls
Helen from the walls, and brings the lovers together.
Agamemnon, on the part of the Grecians, demands the
restoration of Helen, and the performance of the articles.
The three-and-twentieth day still continues throughout
this book. The scene is sometimes in the fields
before Troy, and sometimes in Troy itself.
Thus by their leaders’ care each martial band
Moves into ranks, and stretches o’er the land.
With shouts the Trojans, rushing from afar,
Proclaim their motions, and provoke the war
So when inclement winters vex the plain
With piercing frosts, or thick-descending rain,
To warmer seas the cranes embodied fly,
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With noise, and order, through the midway sky;
To pigmy nations wounds and death they bring,
