University of Virginia Library

SCENE V.

The Battle.
Enter Patroclus and Soldiers.
Pat.
Ye soldiers, sharers of Achilles' fame,
Be mindful now of your acquired renown;
Proclaim by valor whom ye own for chief,
And add new honors to his mighty name!
Think that Achilles sees you as ye fight,
And mortify the haughty lord ye save.

Enter Hector.
Pat.
Hector, come on—and cease thy mighty threats;
Vain are the hopes thy insolence conceives,
To force the Greeks! Have we not hands and hearts?
Long ere thy fires shall on our ships descend,
Thy boasted city, and her God-built towers,
Shall smoke in ruins, scattered o'er the plain.

[They fight.
Hec.
Take that, Patroclus; and with thee lie there
The hope of seeing Ilion wrapt in flames,
And thy soft pleasures by her captives served.

Pat.
Presumptuous man, soon shalt thou lie as low;
Black Fate hangs o'er thee, and thy hour draws on.
The time shall come, when chased along the plain,
Even thou shalt vainly call thy Gods to save;
And wish, to aid thee in thy desperate flight,
The wings of eagles with the horse's speed.
Then shalt thou run forgetful of thy fame;
I see, I see thee by Achilles fall.

[Dies.
Hec.
Whence this prophetic bode—and why to me?
Why not as well Achilles' fate be given
To Hector's sword, as Hector's fate to his?

[Exit.
Enter Agamemnon.
Agam.
What! shall I quit Patroclus, slain for me!
Desert his arms—the relics of my friend!
No—rather let the cleaving earth engulph
Our squadrons for a sacrifice, than Troy
Shall boast the precious trophy of his corse.

Uly.
Fly to the fleet, this instant fly and tell
The sad Achilles that his friend is slain.
He too may haste to save the naked corse,
The arms are Hector's, and he bears the spoil.

[Exit.
Agam.
Who does not see that partial Jove bestows
Success and glory on the Trojan cause,
Whether the weak or strong assail. Secure
The winged fates all pierce the hearts of Greece,
Not so our shafts incessant though they shower,
The winds disperse them, and they fly in vain,
And on our sight confusing darkness falls.
O King, O Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth,
Dispel this cloud nor sink us in despair.

[Exeunt.
Hector (re-enters).
Hec.
This day we hop'd to crown our toils, and end
The dire invasion! but the Sun retires,
And coming darkness from our swords rescues
The trembling foe. Let us too here take aid
From the refreshing night—but lest the Greeks
Fly in the silence, sheltered by the gloom,
Let numerous fires the absent Sun supply,
Around the circuit of the city wall:
Let all the youth as yet unfit for arms,
And hoary men retreated from the field,
Keep wakeful watch, and let the matrons place
Lights in their windows and on all the towers,
Lest in the darkness the insidious foe
Assail the town defenceless by our absence—
Suffice to-night these orders. At the dawn
Be all in arms and ready for the fight,
Your breast-plates doubled by courageous hearts,
And with the ceaseless lightning of your swords,
Consume and drive the vultures from the land.
O let them not in safety from us fly,
But on each back some hostile mark inflict,
Some wound that long their joyless wives shall tend,
And warn their children from a Trojan war!