And in his deep abysses shakes with fear."
He said: then from the bank his javelin tore,
And left the breathless warrior in his gore.
The floating tides the bloody carcass lave,
And beat against it, wave succeeding wave:
Till, rolled between the banks, it lies the food
Of curling eels, and fishes of the flood.
All scattered round the stream, their mightiest slain,
The amazed Pa^onians scour along the plain:
He vents his fury on the flying crew,
Thrasius, Astypylus, and Mnesus, slew;
Mydon, Thersilochus, and Ænius fell;
And numbers more his lance had plunged to hell,
But from the bottom of his gulfs profound,
Scamander spoke; the shores returned the sound:
"O first of mortals! for the gods are thine,
In valour matchless, and in force divine!
If Jove have given thee every Trojan head,
'Tis not on me thy rage should heap the dead.
See! my choked streams no more their course can keep,
Nor roll their wonted tribute to the deep.
Turn then, impetuous I from our injured flood;
Content, thy slaughters could amaze a god."
In human form confessed, before his eyes
The river thus; and thus the chief replies:
"O sacred stream I thy word we shall obey;
But not till Troy the destined vengeance pay;
Nor till within her towers the perjured train
Shall pant, and tremble at our arms again;
Not till proud Hector, guardian of her wall,
Or stain this lance, or see Achilles fall."
He said: and drove with fury on the foe.
Then to the godhead of the silver bow
The yellow flood began: "O son of Jove!
Was not the mandate of the sire above
Full and express? that Phoebus should employ
His sacred arrows in defence of Troy,
And make her conquer, till Hyperion's fall
In awful darkness hide the face of all?"[1]
He spoke in vain: the chief without dismay
Ploughs through the boiling surge his desperate way.
Then, rising in his rage above the shores,
- ↑ The reference is obscure, or, one might even say, non-existent. This might be urged as an argument against the unity of the poem. But similar difficulties can be found in many authors of antiquity. Cowper asks: " May we venture to pronounce it an oversight?" Such things are to be found in places where they are less likely to be found.
