Be fix'd for ever to the Trojan shore,
His fpoufe, or flave; and mount the fkies no more.
For me, to lawless love no longer led,
I fcorn the coward, and detest his bed;
Elfe fhould I merit everlasting shame,
And keen reproach, from every Phrygian dame: 510 Ill fuits it now the joys of love to know,
Too deep my anguish, and too wild my woe.
Then, thus incens'd, the Paphian queen replies;
Obey the power from whom thy glories rife :
Should Venus leave thee, every charm must fly,
Fade from thy cheek, and languish in thy eye.
Ceafe to provoke me, lest I make thee more
The world's averfion, than their love before;
Now the bright prize for which mankind engage,
Then the fad victim of the public rage.
At this, the fairest of her fex obey'd,
And veil'd her blushes in a filken shade;
Unfeen, and filent, from the train fhe moves,
Led by the Goddess of the Smiles and Loves.
Arriv'd, and enter'd at the palace-gate,
The maids officious round their miftrefs wait;
Then all, difperfing, various tasks attend;
The queen and Goddess to the prince afcend.
Full in her Paris' fight, the Queen of Love
Had plac'd the beauteous progeny of Jove;
Where as he view'd her charms, the turn'd away
Her glowing eyes, and thus began to say :
Is this the chief, who, lost to sense of shame,
Late fled the field, and yet furvives his fame ?
Oh badft thou dy'd beneath the righteous fword
Of that brave man whom once I call'd my
The boafter Paris oft defir'd the day
With Sparta's king to meet in fingle fray:
Go now, once more thy rival's rage excite,
Provoke Atrides, and renew the fight:
Yet Helen bids thee stay, left thou unskill'd
Should't fall an easy conquest on the field.
The prince replies: Ah ceafe, divinely fair,
Nor add reproaches to the wounds I bear;
This day the foe prevail'd by Pallas' power;
We yet may vanquish in a happier hour:
There want not Gods to favour us above,
But let the business of our life be love:
Thefe fofter moments let delight employ,
And kind embraces fnatch the hafty joy.
Not thus I lov'd thee, when from Sparta's fhore
My forc'd, my willing, heavenly prize I bore,
When first entranc'd in Cranaë's ifle I lay,
Mix'd with thy foul, and all diffolv'd away!
Thus having spoke, th' enamour'd Phrygian boy 555
Rush'd to the bed, impatient for the joy.
Him Helen follow'd flow with bashful charms,
And clasp'd the blooming hero in her arms.
While these to love's delicious rapture yield,
The ftern Atrides rages round the field:
So fome fell lion, whom the woods obey,
Roars through the desart, and demands his prey.
Paris he feeks, impatient to deftroy,
But feeks in vain along the troops of Troy ;
Ev'n thofe had yielded to a foe fo brave
The recreant warriour, hateful as the grave.
Then speaking thus, the king of kings arose;
Ye Trojans, Dardans, all our generous foes!
Hear, and atteft! from heaven with conqueft crown'd,
Our brother's arms the juft fuccefs have found:
Be therefore now the Spartan wealth reftor'd,
Let Argive Helen own her lawful lord ;
Th' appointed fine let Ilion justly pay,
And age to age record this fignal day.
He ceas'd; his army's loud applauses rife,
And the long fhout runs echoing through the skies.
The Breach of the Truce, and the firft Battle.
THE Gods deliberate in council concerning the Trojan war: they agree upon the continuation of it, and Jupiter fends down Minerva to break the truce. She perfwades Pandarus to aim an arrow at Menelaus, who is wounded,, but cured by Machaon. In the mean time fome of the Trojan troops attack the Greeks. Agamemnon is diftinguished in all the parts of a good general; he reviews the troops, and exhorts the leaders, fome by praises, and others by reproofs. Neftor is particularly celebrated for his military difcipline. The battle joins, and great numbers are flain on both fides.
The fame day continues through this, as through the laft book (as it does alfo through the two following, and almost to the end of the feventh book.) The fcene is wholly in the field before Troy.
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