Page:Homer - Iliad, translation Pope, 1909.djvu/340

Rise, and prevent, if yet you think of fame,
Thy friend's disgrace ; thy own eternal shame!"
"Who sends thee, goddess! from the ethereal skies?"
Achilles thus: and Iris thus replies:
"I come, Pelides, from the queen of Jove,
The immortal empress of the realms above;
Unknown to him who sits remote on high,
Unknown to all the synod of the sky."
"Thou com'st in vain," he cries, with fury warmed,
"Arms I have none, and can I fight unarmed?
Unwilling as I am, of force I stay,
Till Thetis bring me at the dawn of day
Vulcanian arms : what other can I wield,
Except the mighty Telamonian shield?
That, in my friend's defence, has Ajax spread,
While his strong lance around him heaps the dead:
The gallant chief defends Mencetius' son,
And does what his Achilles should have done."
"Thy want of arms," said Iris, "well we know;
But, though unarmed, yet, clad in terrors, go!
Let but Achilles o'er yon trench appear,
Proud Troy shall tremble, and consent to fear;
Greece from one glance of that tremendous eye
Shall take new courage, and disdain to fly."
She spoke, and passed in air. The hero rose :
Her ægis Pallas o'er his shoulder throws:
Around his brows a golden cloud she spread;
A stream of glory flamed above his head.
As when from some beleaguered town arise
The smokes, high curling to the shaded skies;
Seen from some island, o'er the main afar,
When men distressed hang out the sign of war:
Soon as the sun in ocean hides his rays,
Thick on the hills the flaming beacons blaze;
With long-projected beams the seas are bright,
And heaven's high arch reflects the ruddy light:
So from Achilles' head the splendours rise,
Reflecting blaze on blaze, against the skies.
Forth marched the chief, and, distant from the crowd,
High on the rampart raised his voice aloud;
With her own shout Minerva swells the sound;
Troy starts astonished, and the shores rebound.
As the loud trumpet's brazen mouth from far
With shrilling clangour sounds the alarm of war;
Struck from the walls, the echoes float on high,
And the round bulwarks and thick towers reply:
So high his brazen voice the hero reared,
Hosts drop their arms, and trembled as they heard;
And back the chariots roll, and coursers bound,