Page:Homer - Iliad, translation Pope, 1909.djvu/131

First, dire Chimæra's conquest was enjoined;
A mingled monster, of no mortal kind;
Behind, a dragon's fiery tail was spread;
A goat's rough body bore a lion's head;
Her pitchy nostrils flaky flames expire;
Her gaping throat emits infernal fire.
"This pest he slaughtered; for he read the skies,
And trusted heaven's informing prodigies;
Then met in arms the Solymæan crew,
Fiercest of men, and those the warrior slew.
Next the bold Amazon's^[1] whole force defied;
And conquered still, for heaven was on his side.
"Nor ended here his toils: his Lycian foes,
At his return, a treacherous ambush rose,
With levelled spears along the winding shore:
There fell they breathless, and returned no more.
"At length the monarch with repentant grief
Confessed the gods, and god-descended chief;
His daughter gave, the stranger to detain,
With half the honours of his ample reign.
The Lycians grant a chosen space of ground,
With woods, with vineyards, and with harvests crowned.
There long the chief his happy lot possessed,
With two brave sons and one fair daughter blessed:
Fair e'en in heavenly eyes; her fruitful love
Crowned with Sarpedon's birth the embrace of Jove.
But when at last, distracted in his mind,
Forsook by heaven, forsaking human kind,
Wide o'er the Aleian field^[2] he chose to stray,
A long, forlorn, uncomfortable way!
Woes heaped on woes consumed his wasted heart;
His beauteous daughter fell by Phœbe's dart;
His eldest-born by raging Mars was slain,
In combat on the Solymæan plain.
Hippolochus survived; from him I came,
The honoured author of my birth and name;
By his decree I sought the Trojan town,
By his instructions learn to win renown;
To stand the first in worth as in command,
To add new honours to my native land;
Before my eyes my mighty sires to place,
And emulate the glories of our race."
He spoke, and transport filled Tydides' heart;
In earth the generous warrior fixed his dart,
Then friendly, thus, the Lycian prince addressed;
"Welcome, my brave hereditary guest!
Thus ever let us meet with kind embrace,

1. Hippolyte, queen of the Amazons.
2. "Field of Wandering."