And when the gods our arms with conquest crown'd, When Troy's proud bulwarks smok'd upon the

ground,

Greece to reward her soldier's gallant toils
Heap'd high his navy with unnumber'd spoils.

Thus
great in glory, from the din of war 655
Safe he return'd, without one hostile scar;
Though spears in iron tempests rain’d around,
Yet innocent they play'd, and guiltless of a wound.

While yet I spoke, the shade with transport

glow'd,

Rose in his majesty, and nobler trod;

660

With haughty stalk he sought the distant glades -
Of warrior-kings, and join'd th' illustrious shades.
Now without number ghost by ghost arose,

All wailing with unutterable woes.
Alone, apart, in discontented mood,

665

A gloomy shade, the sullen Ajax stood;
For ever sad with proud disdain he pin'd,
And the lost arms for ever stung his mind;
Though to the contest Thetis gave the laws,
And Pallas, by the Trojans, judg'd the cause. 670
Oh why was I victorious in the strife;

O dear-bought honour with so brave a life!

With him the strength of war, the soldiers' pride, Our second hope to great Achilles died!

Touch'd at the sight from tears I scarce refrain,

And tender sorrow thrills in ev'ry vein;

676

Pensive and sad I stand, at length accost

With accents mild th' inexorable ghost:

Still burns thy rage? and can brave souls re

sent

679

E'en after death? Relent, great shade, relent!
Perish those arms which by the gods' decree
Accurs'd our army with the loss of thee!
With thee we fell; Greece wept thy hapless fates;
And shook astonish'd through her hundred states;
Not more, when great Achilles press'd the ground,
And breath'd his manly spirit through the wound.
O deem thy fall not ow'd to man's decree,

Jove hated Greece, and punish'd Greece in thee!
Turn then, O peaceful turn, thy wrath controul,
And calm the raging tempest of thy soul.

690

While yet I speak, the shade disdains to stay, In silence turns, and sullen stalks away.

Touch'd at his sour retreat, through deepest night,

Through hell's black bounds I had pursu'd his flight,

695

And forc'd the stubborn spectre to reply;
But wond'rous visions drew my curious eye.
High on a throne, tremendous to behold,
Stern Minos waves a mace of burnish'd gold;
Around ten thousand thousand spectres stand
Through the wide dome of Dis, a trembling band.
Still as they plead, the fatal lots he rolls,
Absolves the just, and dooms the guilty souls.

701

There huge Orion of portentous size, Swift through the gloom a giant-hunter flies; A pond'rous mace of brass with direful sway 705 Aloft he whirls, to crush the savage prey;

Stern beasts in trains that by his truncheon fell, Now grisly forms, shoot o'er the lawns of hell.

There Tityus large and long, in fetters bound, O'erspreads nine acres of infernal ground; 710 Two rav'nous vultures, furious for their food,

Scream o'er the fiend, and riot in his blood,
Incessant gore the liver in his breast,

Th' immortal liver grows, and gives th' immortal

feast:

For as o'er Panopé's enamell'd plains

Latona journey'd to the Pythian fanes,

715

With haughty love th' audacious monster strove To force the goddess, and to rival Jove.

There Tantalus along the Stygian bounds

Pours out deep groans; (with groans all hell re

sounds)

720

725

E'en in the circling floods refreshment craves,
And pines with thirst amidst a sea of waves:
When to the water he his lip applies,
Back from his lip the treach'rous water flies.
Above, beneath, around his hapless head,
Trees of all kinds delicious fruitage spread;
There figs sky-dy'd, a purple hue disclose,
Green looks the olive, the pomegranate glows,
There dangling pears exalted scents unfold,
And yellow apples ripen into gold;

The fruit he strives to seize: but blasts arise,
Toss it on high, and whirl it to the skies.

730

I turn'd my eye, and as I turn'd survey'd A mournful vision! the Sisyphian shade; With many a weary step, and many a groan, 735 Up the high hill he heaves a huge round stone; The huge round stone, resulting with a bound, Thunders impetuous down, and smokes along the ground.

Again the restless orb his toil renews,

Dust mounts in clouds, and sweat descends in dews.

Now I the strength of Hercules behold, 741 A tow'ring spectre of gigantic mould,

A shadowy form! for high in heav'n's abodes
Himself resides, a god among the gods;

745

There in the bright assemblies of the skies,
He nectar quaffs, and Hebe crowns his joys.
Here hov'ring ghosts, like fowl, his shade sur-
round,

And clang their pinions with terrific sound;
Gloomy as night he stands, in act to throw
Th' aërial arrow from the twanging bow.

750

Around his breast a wond'rous zone is roll'd, Where woodland monsters grin in fretted gold: There sullen lions sternly seem to roar,

The bear to growl, to foam the tusky boar;

There war and havoc and destruction stood, 755
And vengeful murder red with human blood.
Thus terribly adorn'd the figures shine,
Inimitably wrought with skill divine.

The mighty ghost advanc'd with awful look,
And turning his grim visage, sternly spoke: 760
O exercis'd in grief! by arts refin❜d!

O taught to bear the wrongs of base mankind!
Such, such was. I! still tost from care to care,
While in your world I drew the vital air!