Nor plied the grass, nor bent the tender grain;
And when along the level seas they flew,
Scarce on the surface curled the briny dew.
Such Erichthonius was: from him there came
The sacred Tros, of whom the Trojan name.
Three sons renowned adorned his nuptial bed,
Bus, Assaracus, and Ganymed:
The matchless Ganymed, divinely fair,
Whom heaven, enamoured, snatched to upper air,
To bear the cup of Jove, ethereal guest,
The grace and glory of the ambrosial feast.
The two remaining sons the line divide:
First rose Laomedon from Ilus' side:
From him Tithonus, now in cares grown old,
And Priam, blest with Hector, brave and bold;
Glytius and Lampus, ever-honoured pair;
And Hicetaon, thunderbolt of war.
From great Assaracus sprung Capys, he
Begat Anchises, and Anchises me,[1]
Such is our race: 'tis fortune gives us birth,
But Jove alone endues the soul with worth:
He, source of power and might! with boundless sway,
All human courage gives or takes away.
Long in the field of words we may contend,
Reproach is infinite, and knows no end,
Armed or with truth or falsehood, right or wrong,
So voluble a weapon is the tongue;
Wounded, we wound; and neither side can fail,
For every man has equal strength to rail:
Women alone, when in the streets they jar,
Perhaps excel us in this wordy war;
Like us they stand, encompassed with the crowd,
And vent their anger, impotent and loud.
Cease then: our business in the field of fight
Is not to question, but to prove our might.
To all those insults thou hast offered here
Receive this answer: 'tis my flying spear."
He spoke. With all his force the javelin flung,
Fixed deep, and loudly in the buckler rung.
Far on his outstretched arm Pelides held,
To meet the thundering lance, his dreadful shield,
That trembled as it stuck; nor void of fear
- ↑ Æneas elaborately explains his relationship to Hector. Both were fourth in descent from Tros. It has been suggested that he thus purposely associates himself with the slayer of Patroclus in order to give a more distinct point to his defiance of Achilles. The original is more pointed than Pope's translation shows: "I boast myself to be of the same race and blood."
