Æn. II.
ÆNEIS.
363
Ye Trojan Flames your Testimony bear,
What I perform'd, and what I suffer'd there:
No Sword avoiding in the fatal Strife, 585
Expos'd to Death, and prodigal of Life.
Witness, ye Heav'ns! I live not by my Fault,
I strove to have deserv'd the Death I sought.
But when I cou'd not fight, and wou'd have dy'd,
Born off to distance by the growing Tide, 590
Old Iphitus and I were hurry'd thence,
With Pelias wounded, and without Defence.
New Clamors from th' invested Palace ring;
We run to die, or disengage the King.
So hot th' Assault, so high the Tumult rose, 595
While ours defend, and while the Greeks oppose;
As all the Dardan and Argolick Race
Had been contracted in that narrow Space;
Or as all Ilium else were void of Fear,
And Tumult, War, and Slaughter only there. 600
Their Targets in a Tortoise cast, the Foes
Secure advancing, to the Turrets rose:
Some mount the scaling Ladders, some more bold
Swerve upwards, and by Posts and Pillars hold:
Their left hand gripes their Bucklers, in th' ascent,
While with the right they seise the Battlement. 601
From the demolish'd Tow'rs the Trojans throw
Huge heaps of Stones, that falling, crush the Foe:
And heavy Beams, and Rafters from the sides,
(Such Arms their last necessity provides:) 605
What I perform'd, and what I suffer'd there:
No Sword avoiding in the fatal Strife, 585
Expos'd to Death, and prodigal of Life.
Witness, ye Heav'ns! I live not by my Fault,
I strove to have deserv'd the Death I sought.
But when I cou'd not fight, and wou'd have dy'd,
Born off to distance by the growing Tide, 590
Old Iphitus and I were hurry'd thence,
With Pelias wounded, and without Defence.
New Clamors from th' invested Palace ring;
We run to die, or disengage the King.
So hot th' Assault, so high the Tumult rose, 595
While ours defend, and while the Greeks oppose;
As all the Dardan and Argolick Race
Had been contracted in that narrow Space;
Or as all Ilium else were void of Fear,
And Tumult, War, and Slaughter only there. 600
Their Targets in a Tortoise cast, the Foes
Secure advancing, to the Turrets rose:
Some mount the scaling Ladders, some more bold
Swerve upwards, and by Posts and Pillars hold:
Their left hand gripes their Bucklers, in th' ascent,
While with the right they seise the Battlement. 601
From the demolish'd Tow'rs the Trojans throw
Huge heaps of Stones, that falling, crush the Foe:
And heavy Beams, and Rafters from the sides,
(Such Arms their last necessity provides:) 605
