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So helms fucceeding helms, fo fhields from fhields Catch the quick beams, and brighten all the fields; 385 Broad-glittering breaft-plates, fpears with pointed rays, Mix in one stream, reflecting blaze on blaze :

Thick beats the centre as the courfers bound,

With fplendour flame the skies, and laugh the fields around.

Full in the midft, high-towering o'er the reft, 390 His limbs in arms divine Achillės dreft;

Arms which the Father of the Fire beftow'd,
Forg'd on th' eternal anvils of the God.
Grief and revenge his furious heart infpire;
His glowing eye-balls roll with living fire;
He grinds his teeth; and, furious with delay,
O'erlooks th' embattled hoft, and hopes the bloody day.
The filver cuifhes firft his thighs infold:

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Then o'er his breaft was brac'd the hollow gold:
The brazen fword a various baldrick ty'd,
That, ftarr'd with gems, hung glittering at his fide;
And, like the moon, the broad refulgent shield
Blaz'd with long rays, and gleam'd athwart the field.
So to night-wandering failors, pale with fears,
Wide o'er the watery waste, a light appears,
Which, on the far-feen mountain blazing high,
Streams from fome lonely watch-tower to the fky:
With mournful eyes they gaze, and gaze again;
Loud howls the ftorm, and drives them o'er the main.
Next, his high head the helmet grac'd; behind 410-
The sweepy creft hung floating in the wind:
Like the red ftar, that from his flaming hair
Shakes down difeafes, peftilence, and war;

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So ftream'd the golden honours from his head, Trembled the sparkling plumes, and the loofe glories fhed.

The chief beholds himself with wondering eyes;
His arms he poises, and his motions tries;
Buoy'd by fome inward force, he seems to swim,
And feels a pinion lifting every limb.

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And now he shakes his great paternal spear, Ponderous and huge! which not a Greek could rear. From Pelion's cloudy top an afh entire

Old Chiron fell'd, and shap'd it for his fire;
A fpear which ftern Achilles only wields,
The death of heroes, and the dread of fields.

Automedon and Alcimus prepare

Th' immortal courfers and the radiant car
(The filver traces fweeping at their side);
Their fiery mouths refplendent bridles ty'd,

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The ivory-studded reins, return'd behind,

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Wav'd o'er their backs, and to the chariot join'd.

The charioteer then whirl'd the lash around,

And fwift afcended at one active bound.

All bright in heavenly arms, above his fquire

Achilles mounts, and fets the field on fire;

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Not brighter Phoebus, in th' etherial way,

Flames from his chariot, and restores the day.

High o'er the hoft all terrible he stands,

And thunders to his fteeds thefe dread commands:

Xanthus and Balius! of Podarges' strain

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(Unless ye boaft that heavenly race in vain)

Be fwift, be mindful of the load ye bear,

And learn to make your mafter more your care:

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Through falling fquadrons bear my flaughtering fword, Nor, as ye left Patroclus, leave your lord.

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The generous Xanthus, as the words he faid,
Seem'd fenfible of woe, and droop'd his head:
Trembling he stood before the golden wain,
And bow'd to duft the honours of his mane,
When, ftrange to tell! (fo Juno will'd) he broke 450
Eternal filence, and portentous spoke.

Achilles! yes! this day at least we bear
Thy rage in fafety through the files of war:
But come it will, the fatal time must come,
Nor our's the fault, but God decrees thy doom.
Not through our crime, or flowness in the course,
Fell thy Patroclus, but by heavenly force;
The bright far-fhooting God who gilds the day
(Confeft we saw him) tore his arms away.
No-could our swiftnefs o'er the winds prevail,
Or beat the pinions of the western gale,

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All were in vain-the Fates thy death demand,
Due to a mortal and immortal hand.

Then ceas'd for ever, by the Furies ty'd,

His fateful voice. Th' intrepid chief reply'd,

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With unabated rage-So let it be!

Portents and prodigies are loft on me.

I know my fates; to die, to fee no more

My much-lov'd parents, and my native shore-
Enough-when Heaven ordains, I fink in night; 470

Now perish Troy! he faid, and rush'd to fight.

THE

THE

TWENTIETH BOOK

OF THE

ILI A D.

ARGUMENT.

The Battle of the Gods, and the Acts of Achilles.

JUPITER, upon Achilles's return to the battle, calls. a council of the Gods, and permits them to affift either party. The terrours of the battle defcribed, when the Deities, are engaged. Apollo encourages. Eneas to meet Achilles. After a long converfation, these two heroes encounter; but Æneas is preferved by the affiftance of Neptune. Achilles falls. upon the rest of the Trojans, and is upon the point of killing Hector, but Apollo conveys him away in a cloud. Achilles purfues the Trojans with a great flaughter.

The fame day continues. The fcene is in the field, before Troy.

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