The Iliads of Homer. Homer

who pass'd for gen'ral frame;

       But weak this was, not fit for war, and therefore few did guide.

       Who did in Cassus, Nisyrus, and Crapathus, abide,

       In Co, Eurypylus's town, and in Calydna's soils,

       Phidippus and bold Antiphus did guide to Trojan toils,

       (The sons of crownéd Thessalus, deriv'd from Hercules)

       Who went with thirty hollow ships well-order'd to the seas.

       Now will I sing the sackful troops Pelasgian Argos held,

       That in deep Alus, Alopé, and soft Trechina dwell'd,

       In Phthia, and in Hellade where live the lovely dames,

       The Myrmidons, Hellenians, and Achives, rob'd of fames;

       All which the great Æacides in fifty ships did lead.

       For these forgat war's horrid voice, because they lack'd their head

       That would have brought them bravely forth; but now at fleet did

       lie

       That wind-like user of his feet, fair Thetis' progeny,

       Wroth for bright-cheek'd Briseis' loss, whom from Lyrnessus' spoils

       (His own exploit) he brought away as trophy of his toils,

       When that town was depopulate; he sunk the Theban tow'rs;

       Myneta, and Epistrophus, he sent to Pluto's bow'rs,

       Who came of king Evenus' race, great Helepiades;

       Yet now he idly lives enrag'd, but soon must leave his ease.

       Of those that dwelt in Phylace, and flow'ry Pyrason

       The wood of Ceres, and the soil that sheep are fed upon

       Iton, and Antron built by sea, and Pteleus full of grass,

       Protesilaus, while he liv'd, the worthy captain was,

       Whom now the sable earth detains; his tear-torn-facéd spouse

       He woeful left in Phylace, and his half-finish'd house;

       A fatal Dardan first his life, of all the Greeks, bereft,

       As he was leaping from his ship; yet were his men unleft

       Without a chief, for though they wish'd to have no other man

       But good Protesilay their guide, Podarces yet began

       To govern them, (Iphitis' son, the son of Phylacus)

       Most rich in sheep, and brother to short-liv'd Protesilaus,

       Of younger birth, less, and less strong, yet serv'd he to direct

       The companies, that still did more their ancient duke affect.

       Twice-twenty jetty sails with him the swelling stream did take.

       But those that did in Pheres dwell, at the Bœbeian lake,

       In Bœbe, and in Glaphyra, Iaolcus builded fair,

       In thrice-six ships to Pergamus did through the seas repair,

       With old Admetus' tender son, Eumelus, whom he bred

       Of Alcest, Pelius' fairest child of all his female seed.

       The soldiers that before the siege Methone's vales did hold,

       Thaumacie, flow'ry Melibœ, and Olison the cold,

       Duke Philoctetes governéd, in darts of finest sleight;

       Sev'n vessels in his charge convey'd their honourable freight,

       By fifty rowers in a bark, most expert in the bow;

       But he in sacred Lemnos lay, brought miserably low

       By torment of an ulcer grown with Hydra's poison'd blood,

       Whose sting was such, Greece left him there in most impatient mood;

       Yet thought they on him at his ship and choos'd, to lead his men,

       Medon, Oïleus' bastard son, brought forth to him by Rhen.

       From Tricce, bleak Ithomen's clifts, and hapless Oechaly,

       (Eurytus' city, rul'd by him in wilful tyranny,)

       In charge of Æsculapius' sons, physician highly prais'd,

       Machaon, Podalirius, were thirty vessels rais'd.

       Who near Hyperia's fountain dwelt, and in Ormenius,

       The snowy tops of Titanus, and in Asterius,

       Evemon's son, Eurypylus, did lead into the field;

       Whose towns did forty black-sail'd ships to that encounter yield.

       Who Gyrton, and Argissa, held, Orthen, and Elon's seat,

       And chalky Oloössone, were led by Polypœte,

       The issue of Pirithous, the son of Jupiter.

       Him the Athenian Theseus' friend Hippodamy did bear,

       When he the bristled savages did give Ramnusia,

       And drove them out of Pelius, as far as Æthica.

       He came not single, but with him Leonteus, Coron's son,

       An arm of Mars, and Coron's life Cenëus' seed begun.

       Twice-twenty ships attended these. Gunëus next did bring

       From Cyphus twenty sail and two; the Enians following;

       And fierce Peræbi, that about Dodon's frozen mould

       Did plant their houses; and the men that did the meadows hold,

       Which Titaresius decks with flow'rs and his sweet current leads

       Into the bright Peneïus, that hath the silver heads,

       Yet with his admirable stream doth not his waves commix,

       But glides aloft on it like oil; for 'tis the flood of Styx,

       By which th' immortal Gods do swear. Teuthredon's honour'd birth,

       Prothous, led the Magnets forth, who near the shady earth

       Of Pelius, and Peneïon, dwelt; forty revengeful sail

       Did follow him. These were the dukes and princes of avail

       That came from Greece. But now the man, that overshin'd them all,

       Sing, Muse; and their most famous steeds to my recital call,

       That both th' Atrides followéd. Fair Pheretiades

       The bravest mares did bring by much; Eumelius manag'd these,

       Swift of their feet as birds of wing, both of one hair did shine,

       Both of an age, both of a height, as measur'd by a line,

       Whom silver-bow'd Apollo bred in the Pierian mead,

       Both slick and dainty, yet were both in war of wondrous dread.

       Great Ajax Telamon for strength pass'd all the peers of war,

       While vex'd Achilles was away; but he surpass'd him far.

       The horse that bore that faultless man were likewise past compare;

       Yet lay he at the crook'd-stern'd ships, and fury was his fare,

       For Atreus' son's ungracious deed, his men yet pleas'd their hearts

       With throwing of the holéd stone, with hurling of their darts,

       And shooting fairly on the shore; their horse at chariots fed

       On greatest parsley, and on sedge that in the fens is bred.

       His princes' tents their chariots held, that richly cover'd were.

       His princes, amorous of their chief, walk'd storming here and there

       About the host, and scorn'd to fight: their breaths as they did

       pass

       Before them flew, as if a fire fed on the trembling grass;