Iliad Page #4

								

  But know, proud monarch, I'm thy slave no more;
  My fleet shall waft me to Thessalia's shore:
  Left by Achilles on the Trojan plain,
  What spoils, what conquests, shall Atrides gain?"

  To this the king: "Fly, mighty warrior! fly;
  Thy aid we need not, and thy threats defy.
  There want not chiefs in such a cause to fight,
  And Jove himself shall guard a monarch's right.
  Of all the kings (the god's distinguish'd care)
  To power superior none such hatred bear:
  Strife and debate thy restless soul employ,
  And wars and horrors are thy savage joy,
  If thou hast strength, 'twas Heaven that strength bestow'd;
  For know, vain man! thy valour is from God.
  Haste, launch thy vessels, fly with speed away;
  Rule thy own realms with arbitrary sway;
  I heed thee not, but prize at equal rate
  Thy short-lived friendship, and thy groundless hate.
  Go, threat thy earth-born Myrmidons:--but here(56)
  'Tis mine to threaten, prince, and thine to fear.
  Know, if the god the beauteous dame demand,
  My bark shall waft her to her native land;
  But then prepare, imperious prince! prepare,
  Fierce as thou art, to yield thy captive fair:
  Even in thy tent I'll seize the blooming prize,
  Thy loved Briseis with the radiant eyes.
  Hence shalt thou prove my might, and curse the hour
  Thou stood'st a rival of imperial power;
  And hence, to all our hosts it shall be known,
  That kings are subject to the gods alone."

  Achilles heard, with grief and rage oppress'd,
  His heart swell'd high, and labour'd in his breast;
  Distracting thoughts by turns his bosom ruled;
  Now fired by wrath, and now by reason cool'd:
  That prompts his hand to draw the deadly sword,
  Force through the Greeks, and pierce their haughty lord;
  This whispers soft his vengeance to control,
  And calm the rising tempest of his soul.
  Just as in anguish of suspense he stay'd,
  While half unsheathed appear'd the glittering blade,(57)
  Minerva swift descended from above,
  Sent by the sister and the wife of Jove
  (For both the princes claim'd her equal care);
  Behind she stood, and by the golden hair
  Achilles seized; to him alone confess'd;
  A sable cloud conceal'd her from the rest.
  He sees, and sudden to the goddess cries,
  Known by the flames that sparkle from her eyes:

         [Illustration: MINERVA REPRESSING THE FURY OF ACHILLES.]

                 MINERVA REPRESSING THE FURY OF ACHILLES.

  "Descends Minerva, in her guardian care,
  A heavenly witness of the wrongs I bear
  From Atreus' son?--Then let those eyes that view
  The daring crime, behold the vengeance too."

  "Forbear (the progeny of Jove replies)
  To calm thy fury I forsake the skies:
  Let great Achilles, to the gods resign'd,
  To reason yield the empire o'er his mind.
  By awful Juno this command is given;
  The king and you are both the care of heaven.
  The force of keen reproaches let him feel;
  But sheathe, obedient, thy revenging steel.
  For I pronounce (and trust a heavenly power)
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