From the cleft wood the crackling flames aspire,
While the fat victim feeds the sacred fire.
The thighs thus sacrificed and entrails dressed,
The assistants part, transfix, and roast the rest;
Then spread the tables, the repast prepare,
Each takes his seat, and each receives his share.
Soon as the rage of hunger was suppressed,
The generous Nestor thus the prince addressed:
"Now bid thy heralds sound the loud alarms,
And call the squadrons sheathed in brazen arms:
Now seize the occasion, now the troops survey,
And lead to war when heaven directs the way."
He said; the monarch issued his commands;
Straight the loud heralds call the gathering bands.
The chiefs enclose their king: the hosts divide,
In tribes and nations ranked on either side.
High in the midst the blue-eyed Virgin flies;
From rank to rank she darts her ardent eyes:
The dreadful ægis,[1] Jove's immortal shield,
Blazed on her arm, and lightened all the field:
Round the vast orb a hundred serpents rolled,
Formed the bright fringe, and seemed to burn in gold.
With this each Grecian's manly breast she warms,
Swells their bold hearts, and strings their nervous arms;
No more they sigh inglorious to return,
But breathe revenge, and for the combat burn.
As on some mountain, through the lofty grove,
The crackling flames ascend and blaze above,
The fires, expanding as the winds arise,
Shoot their long beams, and kindle half the skies,
So from the polished arms, and brazen shields,
A gleamy splendour flashed along the fields.
Not less their number than the embodied cranes,
Or milk-white swans in Asius' watery plains,
That, o'er the windings of Cäyster's springs,
Stretch their long necks, and clap their rustling wings;
Now tower aloft, and course in airy rounds;
Now light with noise; with noise the field resounds.
Thus numerous and confused, extending wide,
The legions crown Scamander's flowery side;
With rushing troops the plains are covered o'er,
And thundering footsteps shake the sounding shore;
Along the river's level meads they stand,
Thick as in spring the flowers adorn the land,
Or leaves the trees; or thick as insects play,
- ↑ The symbol of the storm-cloud, and so proper to Jove, though carried by other gods. According to legend, it was made of the skin of the goat that suckled Jove. It was the primitive shield.
