Page:Homer - Iliad, translation Pope, 1909.djvu/116

The wretch who trembles in the field of fame,
Meets death, and worse than death, eternal shame."
These words he seconds with his flying lance,
To meet whose point was strong Deicoön's chance:
Æneas' friend, and in his native place
Honoured and loved like Priam's royal race:
Long had he fought, the foremost in the field;
But now the monarch's lance transpierced his shield:
His shield too weak the furious dart to stay,
Through his broad belt the weapon forced its way;
The grisly wound dismissed his soul to hell,
His arms around him rattled as he fell.
Then fierce Æneas, brandishing his blade,
In dust Orsilochus and Crethon laid,
Whose sire Diocleus, wealthy, brave, and great,
In well-built Pheræ held his lofty seat:
Sprung from Alpheus, plenteous stream! that yields
Increase of harvests to the Pylian fields:
He got Orsilochus, Diocleus he,
And these descended in the third degree.
Too early expert in the martial toil,
In sable ships they left their native soil,
To avenge Atricles; now, untimely slain,
They fell with glory on the Phrygian plain.
So two young mountain lions, nursed with blood
In deep recesses of the gloomy wood,
Rush fearless to the plains, and uncontrolled
Depopulate the stalls and waste the fold;
Till, pierced at distance from their native den,
O'erpowered they fall beneath the force of men.
Prostrate on earth their beauteous bodies lay,
Like mountain firs, as tall and straight as they.
Great Menelaüs views with pitying eyes,
Lifts his bright lance, and at the victor flies;
Mars urged him on; yet, ruthless in his hate,
The god but urged him to provoke his fate.
He thus advancing, Nestor's valiant son
Shakes for his danger, and neglects his own;
Struck with the thought, should Helen's lord be slain,
And all his country's glorious labours vain.
Already met, the threatening heroes stand;
The spears already tremble in their hand;
In rushed Antilochus, his aid to bring,
And fall or conquer by the Spartan king.
These seen, the Dardan backward turned his course,
Brave as he was, and shunned unequal force.
The breathless bodies to the Greeks they drew;
Then mix in combat, and their toils renew.
First Pylæmenes, great in battle, bled,