第13章

Behold the royal prophetess, the fair Cassandra, dragg'd by her dishevel'd hair, Whom not Minerva's shrine, nor sacred bands, In safety could protect from sacrilegious hands:

On heav'n she cast her eyes, she sigh'd, she cried-'T was all she could- her tender arms were tied.

So sad a sight Coroebus could not bear;

But, fir'd with rage, distracted with despair, Amid the barb'rous ravishers he flew:

Our leader's rash example we pursue.

But storms of stones, from the proud temple's height, Pour down, and on our batter'd helms alight:

We from our friends receiv'd this fatal blow, Who thought us Grecians, as we seem'd in show.

They aim at the mistaken crests, from high;And ours beneath the pond'rous ruin lie.

Then, mov'd with anger and disdain, to see Their troops dispers'd, the royal virgin free, The Grecians rally, and their pow'rs unite, With fury charge us, and renew the fight.

The brother kings with Ajax join their force, And the whole squadron of Thessalian horse.

"Thus, when the rival winds their quarrel try, Contending for the kingdom of the sky, South, east, and west, on airy coursers borne;The whirlwind gathers, and the woods are torn:

Then Nereus strikes the deep; the billows rise, And, mix'd with ooze and sand, pollute the skies.

The troops we squander'd first again appear From several quarters, and enclose the rear.

They first observe, and to the rest betray, Our diff'rent speech; our borrow'd arms survey.

Oppress'd with odds, we fall; Coroebus first, At Pallas' altar, by Peneleus pierc'd.

Then Ripheus follow'd, in th' unequal fight;Just of his word, observant of the right:

Heav'n thought not so.Dymas their fate attends, With Hypanis, mistaken by their friends.

Nor, Pantheus, thee, thy miter, nor the bands Of awful Phoebus, sav'd from impious hands.

Ye Trojan flames, your testimony bear, What I perform'd, and what I suffer'd there;No sword avoiding in the fatal strife, Expos'd to death, and prodigal of life;Witness, ye heavens! I live not by my fault:

I strove to have deserv'd the death I sought.

But, when I could not fight, and would have died, Borne off to distance by the growing tide, Old Iphitus and I were hurried thence, With Pelias wounded, and without defense.

New clamors from th' invested palace ring:

We run to die, or disengage the king.

So hot th' assault, so high the tumult rose, While ours defend, and while the Greeks oppose As all the Dardan and Argolic race Had been contracted in that narrow space;Or as all Ilium else were void of fear, And tumult, war, and slaughter, only there.

Their targets in a tortoise cast, the foes, Secure advancing, to the turrets rose:

Some mount the scaling ladders; some, more bold, Swerve upwards, and by posts and pillars hold;Their left hand gripes their bucklers in th' ascent, While with their right they seize the battlement.

From their demolish'd tow'rs the Trojans throw Huge heaps of stones, that, falling, crush the foe;And heavy beams and rafters from the sides (Such arms their last necessity provides)And gilded roofs, come tumbling from on high, The marks of state and ancient royalty.

The guards below, fix'd in the pass, attend The charge undaunted, and the gate defend.

Renew'd in courage with recover'd breath, A second time we ran to tempt our death, To clear the palace from the foe, succeed The weary living, and revenge the dead.

"A postern door, yet unobserv'd and free, Join'd by the length of a blind gallery, To the king's closet led: a way well known To Hector's wife, while Priam held the throne, Thro' which she brought Astyanax, unseen, To cheer his grandsire and his grandsire's queen.

Thro' this we pass, and mount the tow'r, from whence With unavailing arms the Trojans make defense.

From this the trembling king had oft descried The Grecian camp, and saw their navy ride.

Beams from its lofty height with swords we hew, Then, wrenching with our hands, th' assault renew;And, where the rafters on the columns meet, We push them headlong with our arms and feet.

The lightning flies not swifter than the fall, Nor thunder louder than the ruin'd wall:

Down goes the top at once; the Greeks beneath Are piecemeal torn, or pounded into death.

Yet more succeed, and more to death are sent;We cease not from above, nor they below relent.

Before the gate stood Pyrrhus, threat'ning loud, With glitt'ring arms conspicuous in the crowd.

So shines, renew'd in youth, the crested snake, Who slept the winter in a thorny brake, And, casting off his slough when spring returns, Now looks aloft, and with new glory burns;Restor'd with poisonous herbs, his ardent sides Reflect the sun; and rais'd on spires he rides;High o'er the grass, hissing he rolls along, And brandishes by fits his forky tongue.

Proud Periphas, and fierce Automedon, His father's charioteer, together run To force the gate; the Scyrian infantry Rush on in crowds, and the barr'd passage free.

Ent'ring the court, with shouts the skies they rend;And flaming firebrands to the roofs ascend.

Himself, among the foremost, deals his blows, And with his ax repeated strokes bestows On the strong doors; then all their shoulders ply, Till from the posts the brazen hinges fly.

He hews apace; the double bars at length Yield to his ax and unresisted strength.

A mighty breach is made: the rooms conceal'd Appear, and all the palace is reveal'd;The halls of audience, and of public state, And where the lonely queen in secret sate.

Arm'd soldiers now by trembling maids are seen, With not a door, and scarce a space, between.

The house is fill'd with loud laments and cries, And shrieks of women rend the vaulted skies;The fearful matrons run from place to place, And kiss the thresholds, and the posts embrace.

The fatal work inhuman Pyrrhus plies, And all his father sparkles in his eyes;Nor bars, nor fighting guards, his force sustain:

The bars are broken, and the guards are slain.

In rush the Greeks, and all the apartments fill;Those few defendants whom they find, they kill.