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Charopus the King; Nireus in form,

       (The faultless son of Peleus sole except,)

       Loveliest of all the Grecians call'd to Troy.

       But he was heartless and his men were few.[26]825

      Nisyrus, Casus, Crapathus, and Cos

       Where reign'd Eurypylus, with all the isles

       Calydnæ named, under two valiant Chiefs

       Their troops disposed; Phidippus one, and one,

       His brother Antiphus, begotten both830

       By Thessalus, whom Hercules begat.

       In thirty ships they sought the shores of Troy.

      The warriors of Pelasgian Argos next,

       Of Alus, and Alope, and who held

       Trechina, Phthia, and for women fair835

       Distinguish'd, Hellas; known by various names

       Hellenes, Myrmidons, Achæans, them

       In fifty ships embark'd, Achilles ruled.

       056 But these were deaf to the hoarse-throated war,

       For there was none to draw their battle forth,840

       And give them just array. Close in his ships

       Achilles, after loss of the bright-hair'd

       Brisëis, lay, resentful; her obtained

       Not without labor hard, and after sack

       Of Thebes and of Lyrnessus, where he slew845

       Two mighty Chiefs, sons of Evenus both,

       Epistrophus and Mynes, her he mourn'd,

       And for her sake self-prison'd in his fleet

       And idle lay, though soon to rise again.

      From Phylace, and from the flowery fields850

       Of Pyrrhasus, a land to Ceres given

       By consecration, and from Iton green,

       Mother of flocks; from Antron by the sea,

       And from the grassy meads of Pteleus, came

       A people, whom while yet he lived, the brave855

       Protesilaüs led; but him the earth

       Now cover'd dark and drear. A wife he left,

       To rend in Phylace her bleeding cheeks,

       And an unfinish'd mansion. First he died

       Of all the Greeks; for as he leap'd to land860

       Foremost by far, a Dardan struck him dead.

       Nor had his troops, though filled with deep regret,

       No leader; them Podarces led, a Chief

       Like Mars in battle, brother of the slain,

       But younger born, and from Iphiclus sprung865

       Who sprang from Phylacus the rich in flocks.

       But him Protesilaüs, as in years,

       So also in desert of arms excell'd

       Heroic, whom his host, although they saw

       Podarces at their head, still justly mourn'd;870

       For he was fierce in battle, and at Troy

       With forty sable-sided ships arrived.

      Eleven galleys, Pheræ on the lake,

       And Boebe, and Iölchus, and the vale

       Of Glaphyræ supplied with crews robust875

       Under Eumelus; him Alcestis, praised

       057 For beauty above all her sisters fair,

       In Thessaly to King Admetus bore.

      Methone, and Olizon's craggy coast,

       With Melibœa and Thaumasia sent880

       Seven ships; their rowers were good archers all,

       And every vessel dipped into the wave

       Her fifty oars. Them Philoctetes, skill'd

       To draw with sinewy arm the stubborn bow,

       Commanded; but he suffering anguish keen885

       Inflicted by a serpent's venom'd tooth,

       Lay sick in Lemnos; him the Grecians there

       Had left sore-wounded, but were destined soon

       To call to dear remembrance whom they left.

       Meantime, though sorrowing for his sake, his troops890

       Yet wanted not a chief; them Medon ruled,

       Whom Rhena to the far-famed conqueror bore

       Oïleus, fruit of their unsanction'd loves.

      From Tricca, from Ithome rough and rude

       With rocks and glens, and from Oechalia, town895

       Of Eurytus Oechalian-born, came forth

       Their warlike youth by Podalirius led

       And by Machaon, healers both expert

       Of all disease, and thirty ships were theirs.

      The men of Ormenus, and from beside900

       The fountain Hypereia, from the tops

       Of chalky Titan, and Asteria's band;

       Them ruled Eurypylus, Evæmon's son

       Illustrious, whom twice twenty ships obeyed.

      Orthe, Gyrtone, Oloösson white,905

       Argissa and Helone; they their youth

       Gave to control of Polypœtes, son

       Undaunted of Pirithoüs, son of Jove.

       Him, to Pirithoüs, (on the self-same day

       When he the Centaurs punish'd and pursued910

       Sheer to Æthicæ driven from Pelion's heights

       The shaggy race) Hippodamia bore.

       Nor he alone them led. With him was join'd

       Leonteus dauntless warrior, from the bold

       058 Coronus sprung, who Cæneus call'd his sire.915

       Twice twenty ships awaited their command.

      Guneus from Cyphus twenty and two ships

       Led forth; the Enienes him obey'd,

       And the robust Perœbi, warriors bold,

       And dwellers on Dodona's wintry brow.920

       To these were join'd who till the pleasant fields

       Where Titaresius winds; the gentle flood

       Pours into Peneus all his limpid stores,

       But with the silver-eddied Peneus flows

       Unmixt as oil;[27] for Stygian is his stream,925 And Styx is the inviolable oath.

      Last with his forty ships, Tenthredon's son,

       The active Prothoüs came. From the green banks

       Of Peneus his Magnesians far and near

       He gather'd, and from Pelion forest-crown'd.930

      These were the princes and the Chiefs of Greece.

       Say, Muse, who most in personal desert

       Excell'd, and whose were the most warlike steeds

       And of the noblest strain. Their hue, their age,

       Their height the same, swift as the winds of heaven935

       And passing far all others, were the mares

       Which drew Eumelus; on Pierian hills

       The heavenly Archer of the silver bow,

       Apollo, bred them. But of men,

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