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Whose limbs unburied on the naked shore,
Devouring dogs and hungry vultures tore,
Since great Achilles and Atrides strove;

Such was the sovereign doom, and such the will of Jove.

Whose limbs, unburied on the hostile shore,

Devouring dogs and greedy vultures tore,
Since first Atrides and Achilles strove ;

Such was the sovereign doom, and such the will of Jove.

Declare, O Muse, in what ill-fated hour

Sprung the fierce strife, from what offended power?
Latona's son a dire contagion spread,

And heap'd the camp with mountains of the dead;
The King of men his reverend priest defy'd,
And for the king's offence the people dy'd.

Declare, O Goddess, what offended Power
Enflam'd their rage, in that ill'omen'd hour;
fatal, hapless

anger

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If

mercy fail, yet let my present move, And dread avenging Phœbus, son of Jove.

But, oh relieve a hapless parent's pain,

And give my daughter to these arms again
Receive my gifts; if mercy fails, yet let my present move,
And fear the God that deals his darts around,

avenging Phœbus, son of Jove.

The Greeks, in shouts, their joint assent declare
The priest to reverence, and release the fair.
Not so Atrides; he with kingly pride,
Repuls'd the sacred Sire, and thus reply'd.
He said, the Greeks their joint assent declare,
The father said, the gen'rous Greeks relent,
T'accept the ransom, and release the fair;
Revere the priest, and speak their joint assent ;
Not so the tyrant, he, with kingly pride,

Atrides,

Repuls'd the sacred Sire, and thus reply'd

[Not so the tyrant. DRYDEN,]

Of these lines, and of the whole first book, I am told that there was yet a former copy, more varied, and more deformed with interlineations.

The beginning of the second book varies very little from the printed page, and is therefore set down without any parallel; the few differences do not require to be elaborately displayed.

Now pleasing sleep had seal'd each mortal eye;"
Stretch'd in their tents the Grecian leaders lie;
Th' Immortals slumber'd on their thrones above,
All but the ever watchful eye of jove.

To honour Theti son he bends his care,
And plunge the Greeks in all the woes of war.

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Then bids an empty phantom rise to sight, "
And thus commands the vision of the night:

directs

Fly hence, delusive dream, and, light as air,
To Agamemnon's royal tent repair;

Bid him in arms draw forth th' embattled train,
March all his legions to the dusty plain.
Now tell the King 'tis given him to destroy
Declare ev'n now

The lofty walls of wide extended Troy;

tow'rs

For now no more the Gods with Fate contend;
At Juno's suit the heavenly factions end.
Destruction bovers o'er yon devoted wall,
hangs

And nodding Ilium waits th' impending fall,

Invocation to the Catalogue of Ships.

Say, Virgins, seated round the throne divine,
All-knowing Goddesses! immortal Nine !
Since earth's wide regions, heaven's unmeasured height.
And hell's abyss, hide nothing from your sight,
(We wretched mortals! lost in doubts below,
But guess by rumour, and but boast we know)
Oh say what heroes, fir'd by thirst of fame,
Or urg'd by wrongs, to Troy's destruction came !
To count them all demands a thousand tongues,
A throat of brass and adamantine lungs.

Now, Virgin Goddesses, immortal Nine!
That round Olympus' heavenly summit shine,
Who see through heaven and earth, and hell profound,
And all things know, and all things can resound;
Relate what armies sought the Trojan land,

What nations follow'd, and what chiefs command;
(For doubtful Fame distracts mankind below,
And nothing can we tell, and nothing know)
Without your aid, to count th' unnumbered train,
A thousand mouths, a thousand tongues were vain

Book V. v. 1.

But Pallas now Tydides' soul inspires,

Fills with her force, and warms with all her fires :

Above the Greeks his deathless fame to raise,
And crown her hero with distinguish'd praise,
High on his helm celestial lightnings play,
His beamy shield emits a living ray;

Th

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From his broad buckler flash'd the living ray,
High on his helm celestial lightnings play,
His beamy shield emits a living ray.

The Goddess with her breath the flame supplies,
Bright as the stars whose fires in Autumn rise;
Her breath divine thick streaming flames supplies,
Bright as the stars that fires the autumnal skies;
Th' unwearied blaze incessant streams supplies,
Like the red star that fires th' autumnal skies,

When first he rears his radiant orb to sight,
And bath'd in ocean shoots a keener light.
Such glories Pallas on the chief bestow'd,
Such from his arms the fierce effulgence flow'd ;
Onward she drives him furious to engage,
Where the fight burns, and where the thickest rage.

When fresh he rears his radiant orb to sight,
And gilds old Ocean with a blaze of light,
Bright as the star that fires th' autumnal skies,
Fresh from the deep, and gilds the seas and skies.
Such glories Pallas on her chief bestow'd,
Such sparkling rays from his bright armour flow'd,
Such from his arms the fierce effulgence flow'd,
Onward she drives him headlong to engage,

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Conclusion of Book VIII. v. 687.

As when the moon, refulgent lamp of night,

O'er heaven's clear azure spreads her sacred light;
When not a breath disturbs the deep serene,
And not a cloud o'ercasts the solemn scene;
Around her throne the vivid planets roll,
And stars unnumber'd gild the glowing pole :
O'er the dark trees a yellower verdure shed,
And tip with silver every mountain's head :
Then shine the vales-the rocks in prospect rise,
A flood of glory bursts from all the skies;
The conscious swains, rejoicing in the sight,
Eye the blue vault, and bless the useful light.
So many flames before proud Ilion blaze,
And lighten glimmering Xanthus with their rays;
The long reflection of the distant fires
Gleam on the walls, and tremble on the spires:
A thousand piles the dusky horrors gild,
And shoot a shady lustre o'er the field;
Full fifty guards each flaming pile attend,
Whose umber'd arms by fits thick flashes send;
Loud neigh the 'coursers o'er their heaps of corn,
And ardent warriors wait the rising morn.

As when in stillness of the silent night,
As when the moon in all her lustre bright,
As when the moon, refulgent lamp of night,
O'er heaven's clear azure sheds her silver light;
purc spreads sacred

As still in air the trembling lustre stood,
And o'er its golden border shoots a flood;
When no loose gale disturbs the deep serene,
not a breath

And no dim cloud o'ercasts the solemn scene;

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