Troia Brittanica: or, Great Britaines Troy A Poem Deuided into XVII. seuerall Cantons, intermixed with many pleasant Poeticall Tales. Concluding with an Vniuersall Chronicle from the Creation, untill these present Times. Written by Tho. Heywood |
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Canto. 15.
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 | Troia Brittanica: or, Great Britaines Troy |  |
385
Canto. 15.
Argumentum
On th'Hellesponticke Sands Epeus rearesA brazen horse: the Græcians hoise vp saile
And feigning to depart: Synon with teares
Tels to the inuaded King an ominous tale,
The Fleete returnes by night: After ten yeares
Troy is surprisde, and the proud Greeks preuaile,
The Citty a burnt, and after tragicke broyles,
The Greekes returne, laden with Asiaes spoyles.
Arg. 2.
Laocon and Polites, Hectors Ghost,K. Priams death, Troyes Fate, Crevsa lost.
1
Treason, whose horrid Front I must vnmaske,And pluck the Vizor from thy Fiend-like face,
To paint thee out in coulours is my taske,
And by thy clouch foote thy steps to trace,
In which (I still Diuine assistance aske)
Hell gaue thee Byrth, and thou deflu'st thy race
From the grand Prince of darkenesse, in whose Cell
Thou first tookst life, and shalt returne to dwell.
386
2
Troy thou wast strong, and thy defence was good,But Treason through thy strength made bloody way,
Hadst thou not harbour'd Traitors, thou hadst stood,
And to thy age annext the longest day,
But Treason that most thirsts for Princes blood,
And of the hyest kingdomes seekes decay,
Enters thy Court, and couets to destroy
With thy proud buildings (euen the name of Troy.)
3
Thy enuy stretcht to our Chast Maiden-Queene,Whose Vertues, euen her foes could not but praise,
Yet gainst her graces didst thou Arme thy spleene,
Thinking by Parries hand to end her dayes,
But God and Truth (whose Patron she was seene,)
Against their Cannons did hye Bulwarkes raise,
Such Bullet-proofe, that neither priuate Traine
Could reach her, nor the open arme of Spaine,
4
What Parry mist, fourteene fierce Traitors moeStir'd vp by Rome, tooke Sacramentall vowes,
That God that kept her from th'invasiue foe,
Against these bloody Butchers knit their browes;
Heauen gaue them all a fatall ouerthrow,
(For heauen no such vnnatural act allowes:)
But to all them a blacke end hath appointed,
Whose bold hand dares to touch the Lords anointed.
5
If such Æneas and Antenor were,That would for Coyne their King and Country sell,
Like plots with them our late Arch-traitors beare,
To whom for aye they may be ranked well,
And thou (Gui Vaux) that neuer yet foundst peere
(For a damn'd purpose) bred in Earth or hell,
He whom all pens with most reproaches taint
Synon, (with thee compar'd) is found a Saint.
6
He told a forg'd tale to a forraigne King,With hope his King and Countries fame to raise;
But thou, from strangers didst thy complots bring,
He a strange Countrey, not his owne betraies,
387
False Guido suckt, which fed bim many dayes:
Treasons, Milkt, tasted, seemes to quench the thurst,
But once tooke downe, it swels men till they burst.
7
That fate which he and his confederates had,May all receiue that beare their Treacherous mind,
Their purpose cuill, and their ends were bad,
A Fate to all men of their ranke assignd,
And that great King whose safety hath made glad
The hearts of three great Kingdomes, scarse confind:
Long may he raigne, still guarded by those powers,
Whose hands Crowne Vertue, & her foes devowers
8
That the same state that was in hazard then,May in this peacefull Kingdome long endure,
The King to guide his Peeres: Peeres, Common men:
Whose summon'd Parliaments may plant secure
Brittaines faire Peere, for many a worthy pen
To Chronicle: These acts black and impure,
We cannot iustly on Æneas lay,
In whose reproach we must our Censures stay.
9
Since some, whose hy workes to the world are deere,Whose grauity we reuerence and admire
His Fame, vnto posterity would cleare,
And in his Innocent applause desire,
T'were pitty he that two New-Troyes did reare,
As famous as that one consumde by fire:
(Rome and our London) for the double gaine
Of one lost Troy, should weare a Traytors staine,
10
The bruised Greekes tyerd with rough stormes of War,By Pallas art, erect a Timber-steede,
Whose Backe, Tree, ribs, of such huge vastnesse are,
That they in all Spectators wonder breed,
The Mountaine structure may be seene from far,
Which finisht; they amongst them haue agreed:
To stuffe his hollow Cauernes with great store,
Of Harnest men (so leaue it on the shore.)
388
11
This done, their new-calkt Nauy they winde thence,As if they to Mycene would backe repaire,
Beneath a promontory not farre thence,
They Anchor East, where they concealed are,
Now Troy secure and dreadlesse of offence,
Looseth her selfe from her Diurnall care:
Wide stand the Ports, the people yssue free,
Th'vnsouldierd fields and Deserts, plaine to see.
12
Where Hector did Æacides inuade,Where Nestor pitcht, where Troylus wan the day,
Where grim Achilles log'd, where Aiax made
His hot incursions, hewing out his way,
Where Agamemnon with his forces plaid,
Where with his Dolopes Vlisses lay:
Where such men fought, and such their valours tride,
Where some men conquered, others brauely dide.
13
Some wonder at Myneruaes stately piece,Saying t'were good to place it in her fawne,
Since the Pelasgians are return'd to Greece,
Their brazen horse may through their wals be drawne,
Other more staide know they are come to Fleece
And pillage them, this leauing as a pawne
Of some strange Treason, whose suspected guile,
Seemes to frowne inward, though it outward smile.
14
Thus is the multitude in parts deuided,Some wonder at the Module being so rare,
Others, whose braines are with more iudgement guided,
would rip his wombe, which some desire to spare,
Ardent Laocoon thinking to haue decided
This generall doubt (as one that all things dare)
Is seene from top of a high Tower discending,
A threatning speare against the Machine bending.
15
Crying from farre, you foolish men of Troy,Oh, can you trust the presents of a foe?
Who came from Greece these high wals to destroy,
And ten whole yeares haue wrought your ouerthrow,
389
Amongst you all, doth none Vlisses know?
Either this swelling wombe is big with childe
Of armed Greekes: or gainst your wals compild.
16
These brazen hoofes are made to spurne your mure,The trusty pale that hath so long defended
Your sonnes and wiues, where they haue liu'd secure,
Maugre the ruine by the foe intended,
Against your trusty Guards no wrong endure,
Whose Bulwarkt strength you haue so oft commended:
This said, against the brazen Steed he flung
A steele-head speare which through his entrailes rung
17
The trembling Mole from forth his Cauernes gaueA horrid grone, a noyse of armor iar'd
Through his transfixed brest, (if ought could saue
Ill-fated Troy) this had their ruin bard,
And they had ript the bowels of that graue,
From which the sad confused sound was heard:
Behold the Dardan shepheards with lowd cries,
Before the King bring bound a Greekish prise.
18
Dispersed Troy assembles, and attendSome vncoth Nouell, manacled now stands,
The surprisd Greeke, his eyes to heauen extend,
To heauen he likewise would exalt his hands,
Whilst showers of teares downe by his cheekes discend,
And thus he sayes: Haue I escapt the bands
Of armed Greekes, to perish heere in Troy?
And whom my foes haue spar'd, must foes destroy.
19
Relenting Priam is soone mou'd to ruth,His misery and teares woo him to passion:
He thinkes such lookes, such teares should harbor truth,
And pitties him, disguisd in wretched fashion,
With comfortable words he cheares the youth,
Askes him of whence he is, and of what Nation:
When to the passionate king he thus replide,
Priam commands, and I will nothing hide.
390
20
Who hath not heard of the Duke Palimed,By the Pelasgian Princes doom'd to dye,
Whom false Vlisses to the scaffold led,
Him aboue all the rest most loued I,
He was my Kinsman (but alas hee's dead)
With that, swift watry drops drill from his eye:
Him when I guiltlesse saw, condemn'd of Treason,
I mourn'd my Kinsmans death, (as I had reason)
21
Not could I keepe my tongue (vnhappy man)But priuate whispering haue I breath'd gainst those,
That sought his death, to threat them I began,
Who to my friend had bin opposed foes,
Fox-like Vlisses first, obseru'd me than,
Whom Calchas seconds (why should I disclose
My miserable state) vnhappy wretch?
Since their reuenge as farre as Troy doth stretch.
22
I had but dide there, and I heare am dying,(Griefe stops his speech, he can no further speake)
Still what he wants in words, with teares supplying.
Till they with interruptions silence breake,
When after farre-fecht sighes himselfe applying
To further processe, (he proceeds:) the wreake
They threatned then, since now I must not flye,
(Witnesse you Troians, Synon cannot lye.
23
Oft would the warre-tyr'd Greekes haue left this Towne,But still the Morrow tempests them restraine,
Threatning their Nauy in the Abisme to drowne,
And they attempt their wisht returne in vaine,
But most the angry Neptune seemes to frowne,
When old Epeus had vpon this plaine,
Builded this Monumentall Steed, of late
To the Deuinest Pallas Consecrate.
24
Euriphilus is straight to Delos sent,To know the Oracles aduice heerein,
He thus returnes: A Virgins blood is spent
To appease the tempests when these warres begin,
391
That you with sacrifice shall purge your sin:
In your pursute they humaine bloud desire,
and you with bloud must purchase your retyre.
25
This when the vulgar knew, not one but feares,Whose dreaded life offended Phæbus craues,
Oh! Hence proceedes the force of all my teares,
All prophesie his ruine, that depraues
The Oyle-tong'd Greeke: Vlisses Calchas cheares,
To point him out that must appease the Waues:
Ten dayes he scilence kept, as loath to name,
His destin'd life, whom Phœbus seemes to clayme.
26
Scarce with Vlisses clamors is he wonTo sentence any: till with vrgence great,
He doomes me to the flames, the people ron
To see him that must tast the Alters heate,
all glad that this denounced doome is don,
That I th'offended God-hood must intreat:
And that my bloudy slaughter answers all,
Which each one feard, vpon himselfe might fall.
27
The day was com, my brows with wreaths wer crown'd,and I made ready for the sacred fire,
My hands behind (as you behold them) bound,
The Priest in his Pontificall attyre,
Ready to strike, and I incompast round
With fire and death, (yet Mortals life desire)
The truth Ile tell, alasse sinne cannot lie;
I leapt from of the Altar, thence I fly.
28
Pursude in vaine, feare gaue my body winges,In a deepe saggy couert, I obscure me,
Vntill the night had with her aiery stringes
Drawne her blacke vaile o're Heauens face, to assure me,
Hoping to hide me, till the Argiue Kings
Had sayld from thence, but thinking to secure me:
Poore wretch, I from the Græcians fled a way,
and now (alasse) am made the Troians pray.
392
29
Whom neither Heauen, nor Earth, nor Greece, nor Troy,nor ayre, nor Sea, will take to their protection,
But all conspire poore Synon to destroy,
Then ayre, Come lend me part of thy infection,
Heauen, Earth, and Sea, all your ioynt powers imploy,
and like confederates meete in my deiection:
and then he beates his breast, weeps, sighes, & grones,
Whose griefe King Priam and all Troy bemones.
30
The good old Priam bids his hands vnbind,and cheares him thus: Of Greece thou art no more,
Thou shalt be ours, thy Countrey hath resign'd
Thy life to vs, which freely we restore,
Then say; What meanes this Monster we here find
Vpon our Beach? Whom should this guift adore?
Or what Religion's int? Whence is he bred?
Or for what cause doth he our Confines tred?
31
When with his new loosd hands to heauen vpreard,Thus Synon: Witnesse you eternall Fires,
Thou reuerent altar, which but late I feard,
and all you powers to whom our zeale aspyres,
That I hate Greece, and Troy that hath me cheard
I am ingra'st too, Troy hath my desires:
I am a Child of Troy, Greece I defye,
Witnesse you Gods, that Synon cannot lye.
32
The false Pelasgians in great Pallas trust,Her: Diomed and Ithaca offended,
By stealing from her charge with guile vniust,
Her rare Palladium for which she extended
Reuenge gainst Greece: they to appease hir, must
By some Oblation see their guile amended:
That her commensed spleene may be withdrawne
From them, whose violence spard not her fawne.
33
And now to make the Ihoue-borne Pallas smile,Whose anger made the Tempests gainst them war,
Chalchas deuisde the high Equinall pile,
That his huge vastnesse might all entrance bar,
393
For should you on this Horse print the least scar
Of an offensiue hand (being for her made)
You by your rashnesse haue your liues betrayd.
34
If you deny it entrance through your wals,Or this vnweildy frame in ought despise,
Well guarded Troy by Pallas anger fals,
The Greekes returne, and long-liu'd Islium dies:
But if this Steede for whom the Goddesse cals
Pierce through your Fortresse mure, or if it rise
And mount aboue your wals, to Pallas shrine,
Troy still shall stand, and Greece the wracke is thine?
35
Priam and his confederate Kings shall thenTo Sparta, and Meceane the Greekes pursue,
Deuast their lofty spyring Citties, when
The clamorous Land shall their destruction rue,
Loosing by Troy whole infinites of men,
Witnesse you Gods, poore Synons words are true,
Such lookes, such teares, such protestations chiefe,
Wins in all Troy remorse: the King beliefe.
36
What many a well-rig'd barke, and armed Keele,What not the bloudy siedge of ten whole yeare,
To make Troy tast inconstant Fortunes wheele,
Vlisses wisedome, nor Achilles Speare,
What not King Diomeds through piercing Steele?
All this did periurd Synon with a teare;
Behold (whilst all the rowt on Synon gaze)
a dread portent that doth all Troy amaze.
37
Along the troubled Billowes towards the shore,Two Blacke-seal'd Serpents on their bellyes glide,
at whose approach the foaming Surges rore,
These fiery Serpents to the Beach applyde,
and in Laocons bloud who that time wore
The Priest-hoods roabes, their arming Scales they dide:
Their winding traines, they with loud hissinges roule
About his breast, till they inlarg'd his Soule.
394
38
The Monster-multitude before dismaydAt the recourse of these infernall Snakes,
Thinke bold Laocon to be iustly payd,
Because he yet his harmefull Iauelin shakes,
Some Cables fetch, some with their Leauers stayd
The Pondrous Engine which deepe furrowes rakes
Along the Earth: others the Wals hurle downe
To giue the Horse free passage to the Towne.
39
Wide stand the yron-bard gates, whilst all the routBuckle to worke, the fatall Muchine climes,
Th'inthronged Bulwarkes (big with Souldiers stout)
Ready to be deliuered: hallowed rimes,
The Virgins sing, and nimbly dance about,
Myneruas Steed, the wonder of these times:
Thinking themselues boue others highly blest,
That can be more officious then the rest.
40
Foure times the Brazen Horse entring, stuck fastAnenst the ruinde guirdle of the Towne,
Foure times was armour heard (yet vnagast)
The fatall Beast with sacred wreathes they Crowne,
(Sunke in blind ignorance) and now at last,
Before Mineruaes shrine, they place it downe:
In Himnes and Feasts the ominous day they spend.
Offring to her that must their liues defend.
41
Meane time heauen turnes: night from the Ocean fals,Inuoluing with blacke darkenesse, earth, and ayre,
And call the Græcian craft about the wals,
The scattred Troians slumber, far from care,
and now his Pilots (great Atrides cals,)
Who backe to Tenedos with speed repayre:
The Vniuersall Phalanx lands in hast,
And through the silence of the Moone are past.
42
Now startles Synon, and a flaming-brand,He wafts from top of one of Isliums Towers,
Which like a Beacon in the night must stand
To guide the Greekes, and their nocturnall powers,
395
Fearelesse, he through the palped darknesse scowres
To the big bellied Stallion, turnes the spring,
and through the doore the Harnest Grecians fling.
43
First, blacke-hayrd Pyrrhus fixes in the ground,His Oaken Speare, and from the loft he slydes,
Vlisses next, yet halting of his wound,
and then the younger of the two Atrides:
Tysandar from the structure next doth bound
Thoas and Athanas, two warlike guides:
With Stheuelus downe by a Cable fall,
and bruisde with leaping, on the Pauement sprall.
44
Pelidus followes these, and then the manThat in his braine first cast this fatall mould,
Epeus th' enginer, whom Synon than
Did in his blacke and periurd armes in fould
Their sweatty browes, they with the darknesse fan,
Each chearing vp his Mate with courage bould:
Strip their bright Swords, by whose quicke glimering light,
They find their way in the darke star-lesse night.
45
The Citty sunke in Wine and Mirth they 'nuade,Slaughter the Watch that on the ground lie spred,
Then through the broken Wals (but late decayde)
The Generals Army is by Synon led,
And Agamemnons coulours are displayde,
Now tumults and confusions first are bred:
Hauocke begins, loude showtes and clamors rise,
Lifting their Tragicke vprore through the skyes.
46
Heauens lamps were halfe burnt out, t'was past midnightWhen to Æneas in his bed appear'd
Sad Hector, pale and wan, full of affright,
His hayre clotterd with bloud, his ruffled Beard
Disordred, all those deepe caru'd wounds in sight,
Which in defence of Troy and his indeard:
Were graude vpon his flesh, behind him fall,
Those thongs, that drag'd him round about Troyes wall.
396
47
Oh, how much from that great King-killer chang'd,Hye spirited Hector, when being proudly deckt
In great Achilles spoyles, he freely rang'd
Through guards of Steele, whilst from his Helme reflect
Trophies of Greece: Oh me! How much estrang'd,
From him that did all Asiaes pride protect,
Euen to their Fleet the Achiue Kings pursue,
And mongst their ships round Bals of Wild-fire flew.
48
When to the sleeping Prince approaching nye,He with a sigh from his deepe intrailes fetcht,
Thus sayes. (Thou Goddesse sonne, Æneas flye)
And from these burnings, that by this are stretcht
Quite o're your glorious buildings, climbing hye,
Deliuer thee: the Arme of warre hath retcht
Euen to the Crest of Troy, and with one blow,
Giuen it a sad and certaine ouerthrow.
49
Greece hath your wals, the Vniuersall roofeOf Troy is sunke and falne, her bearers fayld,
Destruction that hath houered long aloofe,
Hath ceaz'd her towers, and her spires auayld,
Could might haue kept her, by the manly proofe
Of this right hand, the Prisoner had bin bayld:
But Troy (alas) is sentenc'st, and must dye,
Then from her funerall Flames (Æneas flye.)
50
To thee her Gods and Reliques she commendsThee, that must her posterity reuiue,
For though her glory heere in seeming end,
Yet dying Troy in thee is kept aliue,
Now cleaues the earth, and the sad Ghost discends,
Æneas with dull sleepe begins to striue:
And waking, heares a noise of clattering Warre,
And many confus'd Clamors, neere and farre.
51
When mounting on a Turret, he might spyThe Citty all on Flame, and by the light,
A thousand seuerall Conflicts: sparkles flye
As farre as to the Sea, the waues shine bright,
397
His Treasons manifest, still this blacke night
Clamors of men, and Trumpets, clangors grow,
Whilst with warme recking blood the chanels flow.
52
Æneas armes in hast, graspes in his handA two-edg'd Semiter to guard his life,
Knowes not to whom to run, or where to stand,
In euery streete is danger, rage, and strife,
Yet longes for skirmish: and on some proud band
To proue his strength, now whilst the tumults rife:
For since th' Achiue fires such splendor giue,
To dye in armes, seemes sweeter then to liue.
53
Behold, where from the forraine slaughter flyingPanthus Otriades, Priest of the Sunne?
Scoures through the streetes: Æneas him espying,
Cals to him thus. Whether doth Panthus run?
What meane these flames, these grones of people dying?
This frightfull iarte of battailes new begun?
When Panthus thus: Æneas lets away,
Of Troy and vs, this is the latest day.
54
Troy was, and Islium was, but they are past,Great Ihoue hath from th'earths bosome swept vs all,
Th'insulting Greekes haue conquerd vs at last,
And forraine Steele now menases our wall,
The Brazen Horse that midst our Meure stickes fast,
Hath powrd an army forth: whole thousands fall
And drop downe from his sides, whilst Synon stands
Warming amidst the flames his treacherous handes.
55
The Gates are ceasd, the broken wals made goodWith bright Death-pointed Steele, Irruption's bard,
Behold my passage was Knee-deepe in blood,
Crossing the streete from great Atrides guard,
Such as escape this purple falling flood,
Fyre or the Sword consumes, our choise is hard:
Ruine beguirts vs, and what most we feare
We cannot fly, death rageth euery where.
398
56
Now hurries strong Eneas, madly faring,Through flames, through swords, whether Erinnis cals,
Eg'd on by rage and fury, no man sparing,
On euery side are fires, wounds, Clamors, brals,
To him arm'd Ripheus ioynes (and wonders daring)
Iphilus, Hypanis, and Dimas, fals
In the same tanke: youthfull Chorebus tride,
Doth likewise glister by Æneas side.
57
Chorebus, who for faire Cassandracs Loue,Came from Megdomia to the Dardan broyles,
These seeking, flying death, all dangers proue,
And taske their valours to all desperate toyles,
To places of most slaughter they remoue,
Euen where the Greekes commit most horrid spoyls:
Arm'd with this Saw; This onely Captiues cheares,
When safetie flyes, all-resting death appeares.
58
Thus seeke they certaine death amidst the hartOf Flame-guilt Troy, whilst the blacke fatall night
Flyes hood-winkt twixt the poles, her yron Cart
Rusty with darkenesse, oh what Mortall wight
Can halfe the terror of that houre impart,
Such howles, sighs, grones, wounds, slaughters & afright:
In euery street, Liues-blood, death, murder, feare,
The reeking Faulchion, and the fatall Speare.
59
With Arm'd Androgeos they encounter first,Androgeos who mistakes them for his mates,
And cheares them thus, we haue already burst,
and made irruption through the batterd Gates,
Now let your Swords that for their liue-blouds thurst,
Glut them with purple healths, behold their Fates:
But when from them he lookes some fyre apply,
With armed hands vpon his traynes they fly.
60
And put them all to massacre: the whilesChorebus sayes. Some comforts in despaire,
Fortune vpon our first endeuours smiles,
The Foes are vanquisht, and we victors are,
399
Put on their armes, and to their Guards repayre:
Their proper armes shall gainst themselues contend,
Where vertue sayles, vse fraud, (to God and friend.)
61
With that he dons Androgeos shining Caske,Which like a Bearded Commet glisters farre,
The rest in forraine Helmes theyr faces maske,
And mingled with the Greekes, began new warre,
Still Fortune smiles on their Nocturnall taske,
Where Greekes with Greekish armes confounded are:
And mongst their frighted guards, great vprore growes,
Since from their Friends, they cannot ken theyr Foes.
62
A thousand fall to Hell, a thousand fly,Some to the Nauy, others to the shore,
and many Pale-fast Greekes affrayde to dye
Run to the Horse where they were lodg'd before,
and in his darke conceited Entrayles lye,
See fayre Cassandra from the Temple dore,
Drag'd by blacke Myrmidons: her Son espyes
Frightfull Chorebus, and that way he flyes.
63
They after him, a dismall conflict nowGrowes in the entrance of the Temple, when
Theyr friends mistaking theyr disguised brow,
Route from the battayle, meetes by strength of men
Huge stones, and Webs of Lead stounding below
Their Greece-arm'd Friendes, whose craft's deceiu'd agen:
(By Ignorance) they call theyr friends on hye,
and by theyr tongues the Græcians them descry.
64
For now rough Aiax reuels in the place,The two Atrides with their armed Bands,
And sly Vlisses too: yet in the face
Of all theyr guards the bold Chorebus stands,
Till number o're swayes might: Migdoniaes race
Is now extinct by force of thousand hands:
Then Ripheus fals, then is bold Dimas brest
Through-pierst: so one by one decline the rest.
400
65
Alone scapes bold Eneas by a cryRaisde at King Priams Pallace, whether hying
More Mutiny and broyles he may espy,
More Tragicke sight of wretched Troians dying,
The massacre seemes dreadfull in his eye,
Before the assaulted Gates are thousands lying:
The hauocke did so violent appeare,
as had their bin no place of death but there.
66
The vntam'd Mars vpon his Altars grones,Hye crown'd in bloud: some Greekes tho Pallace scale,
The Laders cleaue vnto the Iettying Stones,
Whose Marble Collumns bend, and seeme to faile
Beneath the weight of fire and Steele at ones,
and still the Barricadoed Gates the'assayle:
Where able armed Pyrrhus stands before,
Th'inflamed Porch (his armor slack't in gore)
67
The inclosed Princes broyle, doubly pend inWith flames and steele, inclosde on euery side
With eminent death, yet no irruption win
Though they diuolue, the hye roofe beautified
With Gold and figures (which to touch were sin)
The Geometricke ridge of Siluer tride:
Fires o're their heads, and drils downe by the wals,
Which scalds the Princes as it melting fals.
68
Sterne Pyrrhus sweats, and with AntomedonHis fathers Charioter assaults the place,
Scarse able to endure the armes they haue on,
So ouer-heat with Flames, in whose bright face
They stand with naked swords to gaze vpon
Those shrinking Monuments the fires imbrace:
at length with beames shocking by strength of hand,
They shake the wals, vnable to withstand.
69
Which tumbling in, like a Bay-window showes,Whose gaping mouth seemes vast, (oh) now appeares,
The gorgeous Courts, whose floore each Lady strowes
With her torne garments, haire, and pearly teares,
401
as the Breach waxeth, so increase their feares;
Their cries pierce heauen, slake Fire, and soften stones,
Yet mooue not Pyrrhus and his Myrmidons.
70
For neyther Priams Guard, the doore of Brasse,Nor trusty Marble can withstand the Foe,
But through them all by force of armes they passe
The heauy Gates, they from the henges throw,
Shiuering theyr plated leaues like paines of Glasse:
Which with the fury of theyr burnings glow:
and breaking in, the spacious Courts they fill
With bloudy Souldiers, who on all sides kill.
71
King Priam, when he saw his Towne inuaded,His Troy sitting in fire, not to be freed,
and all those Gods that long had Islium ayded,
Shrunke from his helpe, and in his fall agreede,
That his farre shining beames at last were faded,
and the Vniuersall hart of Troy must bleede:
The larum Bels of death on all sides ringing,
His shrieking wife and Daughter bout him clinging.
72
Expecting helpe from him in whom remaindNo helpe at all, he first dissolues in teares,
But casting vp his eye to haue complaind
His griefe to Heauen, his Sword and Helme appeares,
Hung by the Walles, with rust and Canker staynd,
Now burdens to his arme, in former yeares
Easy as Silkes, his griefe conuerts to rage,
He dons those armes, forgetfull of his age.
73
To whom the sad Queene with wet eyes thus sayes:What meanes my wofull Lord in his weake hand
To tosse this burdenous Steele? There is no prayse
For men to fight, when the high Gods withstand,
Liu'd puissant Hector in these Fatall dayes,
Yet could not his stronge Limbs protect thy Land:
Much lesse these Saplesse branches, poore and bare,
Then let the reuerent Priam keepe his Chayre.
414
74
Heere at these holy Altars let vs cling,The Gods, if they be pleasd, our liues may guard,
If not, we all will perish with the King,
and die at once, there shall not one be spard:
Behold, where broken through th'all-slaughtring ring
Of Pyrrhus Myrmidons, Slaues rough and hard:
The young Polytes well-ny breathlesse rons,
Polytes, one of Priams best-lou'd Sons.
75
Through many an Entry and blind-turning path,The burning Pyrrhus hath the Lad pursude,
Longing vpon the Youth to vent his wrath,
now both at once before the King intrude,
The slaughterd-thoughted Greeke, all bale and scath
In the Childs bloud his fatall Blade imbrude
Which plucking from his wounds: in the same place
Sparkled the Sons bloud in the Fathers face.
76
To whom the arm'd King thus: You Gods aboue,Whose diuine eyes all deedes of horror see,
as you are iust, and actes of pitty loue,
Behold how this rude man hath dealt by me,
What God (worthy Heauens Pallace) can approue
So blacke a deede as this, that's done by thee?
Before the Fathers eye the Child to kill,
and in his face his Innocent bloud to spill.
77
Thou art a Bastard, not Achilles Son,Of some she Wolfe, or Hyrcan Tygresse bred,
not (to be shrin'd in Heauen) would he haue don
So horrible a deede, so full of dred,
The shame and scandall thou this night hast won,
More then Achilles honors shall be spred:
Thy Father honor'd, liude and dide in fame,
Dishonored thou, shalt perish in thy shame.
78
With that the Iauelin in his hand he threw,Th'vnprofitable strength of his weake arme,
Though it had art to guid the Weapon true,
It wanted power to doe blacke Pyrrhus harme,
415
But the round Bosse, as if composd by charme,
Shooke off the ydle steele, which on the barre
That tooke the blow, scarce left the smallest scarre.
79
Inflamed Pyrrhus thus to him replies:Priam, thy soule shall straight discend to hell,
Euen to the place where great Achilles lyes,
And my sad deeds vnto my Father tell,
With that (all wrath) in Priams face he flies)
The prostrate King at Ihoues hye Altar fell:
With such hot rage he did the King pursue,
That though he mist, the whiske him ouerthrew.
80
When being groueled in Polites gore,Grim Pyrrhus with his left hand takes the king,
By his white lockes (neuer prophand before,
His reuerent head against the ground to ding,
His proud right hand a smoaking Curtlax wore,
Which to perpetuall rest must Priam bring:
With which against the good old King he tilts,
Till his hart bloud flowed much aboue the hilts.
81
This was old Priams Fate, his fatall end,And ending glory, he that Asia swayed,
Whose spreading Fame did through the earth extend,
Liu'd till he saw both him and his betraid,
Euen till he had no subiect, Sonne, or friend,
And saw Troyes spyres euen with the groundsils laid,
Who now before Ioues golden face lyes dead,
A namelesse coarse, a Trunke without a head.
82
All this, when good Æneas saw from farreThe ends of Troy and Priam: burnt, and slaine,
And no abatement yet of heat, or warre,
To his owne Pallace he returnes againe,
Where gathered on a heape together are,
His wife Creusa showring teares amaine:
His seruants: old Anchises, and his sonne
Askanius, these about Æneas ronne.
404
83
After some short discourse of their affaires,Æneas on his backe Anchises takes,
For young Askanius he his left hand spares,
In his right hand his guardant sword he shakes,
Creusa followes close, with teares and Prayers,
So through the fire and foe Æneas makes:
He with his sonne and Syre, the right way choose,
But in the darkenesse they Creusa loose.
84
Whom missing, they Creusa call alowd,Creusa, for whose safety they'l returne,
But some blacke Fate doth her in darkenesse shrowd,
Either Troyes Funerall fires the Lady burne,
Else is she stifled in the Hostile crowd,
For her, the Father, sonne, and husband mourne:
And seeking her amidst the wrathfull flames,
They encounter Helenus; who thus exclaimes.
85
Keepe on Æneas to the Seæan shore,The heauens on Troy and vs haue vengeance powred,
Onely thy ruind fortunes they restore,
They smile on thee, that haue on Priam lowred,
The faire Creusa thou shalt see no more,
Her, the none-sparing slaughter hath deuowred:
But in her stead, the Gods to thee shal giue
A wife, in whom deceased Troy shall liue.
86
Follow yon starre, whether his Bearded beamesDirects thy Nauigation: on the sand
Thousands attend thy conduct through the streames,
Whom ruin spares, for thee and thy command,
Obserue yon blazing Meteor, whose bright gleames
Points thee vnto a rich and fertile Land:
Where, after many strange aduentures past,
Storme-driu'n Æneas shall arriue at last.
87
They to a spacious Climate thee restore,A Prouince which the Gods and fates hold best,
The Meditteren Sea beats on the shore,
With the Scicilian waters, South and East,
405
With the hye Alpes incompast on the West:
These Countries it containes, Latium Liguria,
The Climates of Campania and Hetruria.
88
With Fertill Istria and Calabria,Full peopled Craunia and Apentium,
Æmilia, else cald Rhomandiola,
With Gallia, Cisalpina, and Pycenum,
Iapidia, Vmbria, and Venetia,
Flauinia, Apulia, Sumnium:
All these are Italy, with great Lucania,
Which shall in times to come be cald Rhomania.
89
Farewell and thriue, but leaue vs to our Fates:This saide, the Deuine Helenus retires,
And shuts himselfe within those fatall gates,
Where none commands but foes and raging fires,
Æneas hasts to meet his promist Mates,
And on the Coast their fellow-ship desires,
Who through the street hewes out a bloody tracke,
With old Anchises hanging at his backe.
90
Still Islium burnes, nor are the ruthlesse FlamesYet quencht, Ihoues sparpled Alters licke the blood
Of slaughtred Priam, the bright vestall Dames
Are puld from Pallas Statuë where they stood,
About their golden lockes (with lowd exclaimes)
Rough souldiers wind their armes, and through a flood
Of gore and teares, in which the pauement flowes,
Drag them along, that faint beneath their blowes.
91
The young Astianax from that hye Tower,On which his Fathers valour oft he saw,
Is tumbled headlong on the rough-pau'd flower,
His all to bruised limbes lye broke and raw,
To wofull Hecuba, in thrust a power
Of blood-staind Greekes, without regard or awe,
and from her aged armes, snatcht by rude force
Polixena, whose beauty begs remorse.
406
92
Shees hurried to Achilles tombe, where standsSterne Neptolemus, from top to toe
Satued in blood and slaughter, in both hands
Wauing a keene glaue, Crimsond in the foe,
To bind with Cords her soft armes he commands,
That more red liues may on his Faulchion flow:
There the bright Mayde that bands did ill become,
He piece-meale hewes vpon Achilles tombe.
93
Thus is King Priam and Queene Hecubs race,Extinct in dust, young Polidore alone,
The youngest Lad is with the king of Thrace
Left in great charge, with Gold and many a Stone
Beyond all rate, but Polymnestor base,
Hearing the pride of Troy was spent and gone,
False to the world, and to his friend vntrew,
To gaine that wealth, the louely Infant slew.
94
Whose death when Hecuba reuenged had,By tearing out the periur'd Tyrants eyes,
First she records the beauty of the Lad,
Then all the glories she beneath the skies
Possest before, which makes her Franticke-mad,
On her slaine husband, daughters, sonnes, she cries:
Troy she bewaild, and fatall Greece she curst,
Till her great heart (with griefe surcharged) burst.
95
Ten yeares, ten months, twelue dayes this siege indured,In which of Greece before the Towne were slaine,
Fourescoure hundred and sixe thousand, all inured
To steely warre: of Troians that maintaine
The honour of their Citty, well assured,
(Besides the number that were prisoners tane)
Six hundred fifty, and six thousand tride,
Omitting those that in the last night dide.
96
Chiualrous Hector voyd of fraud or slight,Eighteene great Kings slew by his proper hands,
No aduantagious oddes he vsd in fight,
Therefore his fame spreds farre, through forraigne lands,
407
Fell by his Bow, next rankt Achilles slands:
Who (besides Troylus and great Hector) slew
Seauen puissant Kings at Troy (if Fame speake true)
97
Foure Kings beside the Sagitary fellBy Diomed, two by Æneas lost
Their precious liues, though many moe fought well,
Their warlike deeds are not so farre ingrost,
Blacke Pyrrhus acts aboue the rest excell,
Who thinking mongst them to be praised most:
Three Royall liues his Tragicke wrath obayd,
An aged King, a Woman, and a Mayd.
98
Not how two worthy Greekes in words contended,Who should the rich Vulcanian armor haue,
Now how from Aiax, who had Greece defended,
Th'impartiall Iudges to Vlisses gaue,
To proue that Counsell aboue strength extended,
And had more power the Argiue Campe to saue:
In griefe of which great losse, Aiax grew mad,
Slaine by the sword that he from Hector had,
99
Nor of Vlisses trauels twice ten yeares,Nor of his loue with Circe the faire Queene,
Who by her spels transform'd him and his Peeres,
And kept him thence, where he desird t'haue beene,
With faire Penelope, Fam'd mongst the spheares
In liuing chast: though Princes full of spleene
Possest her kingdome, and her pallace ceaz'd,
VVhom (wanting power) she by delaies appeasd.
100
Nor how he after twenty winters came,And in disguise his constant Lady proued,
How he by armes releast the beautious Dame,
And all her suiters from his Land remoued,
Nor how Telegonus won with the Fame
Of him whom most the witch Calipso loued
From his faire Mother Circe himselfe vvith-drevv,
And vnavvares his Royall Father slevv.
408
101
Nor how King Naulus laide Traines on the Seas,To auenge him on the Græcians for his sonne
Palamides, whose death did much displease
The aged Prince, since twas by treason donne,
Nor how such wandering Greekes as he could ceaze,
Who on his shores their ship-wrackt vessels ronne,
Naulus destroyd, and vnto ruine brought,
Since they his sonnes deere life esteemed nought.
102
Nor how King Agamemnon home returning,Was by his faire wife Clitemnestra slaine,
How false Egistus in the Queenes loue burning,
Plotted with her to shorten the Kings raigne,
Nor bow Horestes for his Father mourning
Grew mad, and slew Egistus that had laine
With his faire Mother, whō when he had caught her,
Vnchild-like he did with his owne hands slaughter.
103
Nor how blacke Pyrrhus Hellens daughter staleThe faire Hermione, she that before
Was to Horestes troth'd, and should Sance fayle,
Haue bin espousd to him, who at the doore
Of Delphos Temple slew him without bale,
Staining Apollos shrine with Pyrrhus gore:
Nor how that face for which the whol world wrangled
To see it chang'd with age, her selfe she strangled.
104
Nor how the Greekes after their bloody toyles,Antenor left to inhabit raced Troy,
And after th'end of their sad Tragicke broyles,
All Asiaes wealth within their fleet inioy,
Robbing the Towne of all her richest spoyles,
Whose hye Clowd-peircing spyres the flames destroy,
nor how Æneas doth his forces gather,
And ships with his young son, and aged Father.
105
Rigging to sea these two and twenty sayle,That fetcht the fire-brand that all Troy inflamd,
The selfe-same shippes in which the Troian stale
The Spartan Queene, gainst whome all Greece exclaimd,
409
Nor of Æneas trauels nobly fam'd:
Nor how Andromache was Captaine led,
Left to the hot lust of the Conquerors bed.
106
With whom Cassandra was inforst to goeWith Helenus that kend deuinest things,
And al these sad proceedings did fore-show,
and propheside to Troyes confedered Kings,
Nor of King Diomeds sad ouerthrow,
Of Albions Isle first knowne, my Muse next sings,
Her Chariot now I can no further driue,
Brittaine from conquerd Troy, we next deriue.
412
The of the 15. Canto.
| Troia Brittanica: or, Great Britaines Troy | |