LITMIR.BIZ

Скачать книгу

And charged, as thou art, with a people's care.30

       Now, therefore, mark me well, who, sent from Jove,

       Inform thee, that although so far remote,

       He yet compassionates and thinks on thee

       With kind solicitude. He bids thee arm

       Thy universal host, for that the time35

       When the Achaians shall at length possess

       Wide Ilium, hath arrived. The Gods above

       No longer dwell at variance. The requests

       Of Juno have prevail'd. Now, wo to Troy

       From Jove himself! Her fate is on the wing.40

       Awaking from thy dewy slumbers, hold

       In firm remembrance all that thou hast heard.

      So spake the Dream, and vanishing, him left

       In false hopes occupied and musings vain.

       Full sure he thought, ignorant of the plan45

       By Jove design'd, that day the last of Troy.

       Fond thought! For toils and agonies to Greeks

       And Trojans both, in many a bloody field

       To be endured, the Thunderer yet ordain'd.

       Starting he woke, and seeming still to hear50

       The warning voice divine, with hasty leap

       Sprang from his bed, and sat.[2] His fleecy vest 033 New-woven he put on, and mantle wide; His sandals fair to his unsullied feet He braced, and slung his argent-studded sword.55 Then, incorruptible for evermore The sceptre of his sires he took, with which He issued forth into the camp of Greece.

      Aurora now on the Olympian heights

       Proclaiming stood new day to all in heaven,60

       When he his clear-voiced heralds bade convene

       The Greeks in council. Went the summons forth

       Into all quarters, and the throng began.

       First, at the ship of Nestor, Pylian King,[3] The senior Chiefs for high exploits renown'd65 He gather'd, whom he prudent thus address'd.

      My fellow warriors, hear! A dream from heaven,

       Amid the stillness of the vacant night

       Approach'd me, semblance close in stature, bulk,

       And air, of noble Nestor. At mine head70

       The shadow took his stand, and thus he spake.

      Oh son of Atreus the renown'd in arms

       And in the race, sleep'st thou? It ill behoves

       To sleep all night the man of high employ,

       And charged as thou art with a people's care.75

       Now, therefore, mark me well, who, sent from Jove,

       Inform thee, that although so far remote,

       He yet compassionates and thinks on thee

       With kind solicitude. He bids thee arm

       Thy universal host; for that the time80

       When the Achaians shall at length possess

       Wide Ilium, hath arrived. The Gods above

       No longer dwell at variance. The requests

       Of Juno have prevail'd. Now, wo to Troy

       From Jove himself! Her fate is on the wing.85

       Charge this on thy remembrance. Thus he spake,

       Then vanished suddenly, and I awoke.

       Haste therefore, let us arm, if arm we may,[4] 034 The warlike sons of Greece; but first, myself Will prove them, recommending instant flight90 With all our ships, and ye throughout the host Dispersed, shall, next, encourage all to stay.

      He ceased, and sat; when in the midst arose

       Of highest fame for wisdom, Nestor, King

       Of sandy Pylus, who them thus bespake.95

      Friends, Counsellors, and Leaders of the Greeks!

       Had any meaner Argive told his dream,

       We had pronounced it false, and should the more

       Have shrunk from battle; but the dream is his

       Who boasts himself our highest in command.100

       Haste, arm we, if we may, the sons of Greece.

      So saying, he left the council; him, at once

       The sceptred Chiefs, obedient to his voice,

       Arising, follow'd; and the throng began.

       As from the hollow rock bees stream abroad,105

       And in succession endless seek the fields,

       Now clustering, and now scattered far and near,

       In spring-time, among all the new-blown flowers,

       So they to council swarm'd, troop after troop,

       Grecians of every tribe, from camp and fleet110

       Assembling orderly o'er all the plain

       Beside the shore of Ocean. In the midst

       A kindling rumor, messenger of Jove,

       Impell'd them, and they went. Loud was the din

       Of the assembling thousands; groan'd the earth115

       When down they sat, and murmurs ran around.

       Nine heralds cried aloud—Will ye restrain

       Your clamors, that your heaven-taught Kings may speak?

       Scarce were they settled, and the clang had ceased,

       When Agamemnon, sovereign o'er them all,120

       Sceptre in hand, arose. (That sceptre erst

       Vulcan with labor forged, and to the hand

       Consign'd it of the King, Saturnian Jove;

       035 Jove to the vanquisher[5] of Ino's[6] guard, And he to Pelops; Pelops in his turn,125 To royal Atreus; Atreus at his death Bequeath'd it to Thyestes rich in flocks, And rich Thyestes left it to be borne By Agamemnon, symbol of his right To empire over Argos and her isles)130 On that he lean'd, and rapid, thus began.[7]

      Friends, Grecian Heroes, ministers of Mars!

       Ye see me here entangled in the snares

       Of unpropitious Jove. He promised once,

       And with a nod confirm'd it, that with spoils135

       Of Ilium laden, we should hence return;

       But now, devising ill, he sends me shamed,

       And with diminished numbers, home to Greece.

       So stands his sovereign pleasure, who hath laid

       The bulwarks of full many a city low,140

       And more shall level, matchless in his might.

       That such a numerous host of Greeks as we,

       Warring with fewer than ourselves, should find

       No fruit of all our toil, (and none appears)

       Will make us vile with ages yet to come.145

       For should we now strike truce, till Greece and Troy

       Might number each her own, and were the Greeks

       Distributed in bands, ten Greeks in each,

       Our banded decads should exceed so far

       Their units, that all Troy could not supply150

       For every ten, a man, to fill us wine;

       So far the Achaians, in my thought, surpass

       The native Trojans. But in Troy are those

      

Скачать книгу