and on the reedy banks099 Arriving of Asopus, there thy sire
By designation of the Greeks was sent
Ambassador, and enter'd Thebes. He found
In Eteocles' palace numerous guests,460
The sons of Cadmus feasting, among whom,
Although a solitary stranger, stood
Thy father without fear, and challenged forth
Their best to cope with him in manly games.
Them Tydeus vanquish'd easily, such aid465
Pallas vouchsafed him. Then the spur-arm'd race
Of Cadmus was incensed, and fifty youths
In ambush close expected his return.
Them, Lycophontes obstinate in fight,
Son of Autophonus, and Mæon, son470
Of Hæmon, Chief of godlike stature, led.
Those also Tydeus slew; Mæon except,
(Whom, warned from heaven, he spared, and sent him home
With tidings of the rest) he slew them all.
Such was Ætolian Tydeus; who begat475
A son in speech his better, not in arms.
He ended, and his sovereign's awful voice
Tydides reverencing, nought replied;
But thus the son of glorious Capaneus.
Atrides, conscious of the truth, speak truth.480
We with our sires compared, superior praise
Claim justly.[15] We, confiding in the aid Of Jove, and in propitious signs from heaven, Led to the city consecrate to Mars Our little host, inferior far to theirs,485 And took seven-gated Thebes, under whose walls Our fathers by their own imprudence fell. Their glory, then, match never more with ours.
He spake, whom with a frowning brow the brave
Tydides answer'd. Sthenelus, my friend!490
100 I give thee counsel. Mark it. Hold thy peace.
If Agamemnon, who hath charge of all,
Excite his well-appointed host to war,
He hath no blame from me. For should the Greeks
(Her people vanquished) win imperial Troy,495
The glory shall be his; or, if his host
O'erpower'd in battle perish, his the shame.
Come, therefore; be it ours to rouse at once
To action all the fury of our might.
He said, and from his chariot to the plain500
Leap'd ardent; rang the armor on the breast
Of the advancing Chief; the boldest heart
Had felt emotion, startled at the sound.
As when the waves by Zephyrus up-heaved
Crowd fast toward some sounding shore, at first,505
On the broad bosom of the deep their heads
They curl on high, then breaking on the land
Thunder, and o'er the rocks that breast the flood
Borne turgid, scatter far the showery spray;
So moved the Greeks successive, rank by rank,510
And phalanx after phalanx, every Chief
His loud command proclaiming, while the rest,
As voice in all those thousands none had been
Heard mute; and, in resplendent armor clad,
With martial order terrible advanced.515
Not so the Trojans came. As sheep, the flock
Of some rich man, by thousands in his court
Penn'd close at milking time, incessant bleat,
Loud answering all their bleating lambs without,
Such din from Ilium's wide-spread host arose.520
Nor was their shout, nor was their accent one,
But mingled languages were heard of men
From various climes. These Mars to battle roused,
Those Pallas azure-eyed; nor Terror thence
Nor Flight was absent, nor insatiate Strife,525
Sister and mate of homicidal Mars,
Who small at first, but swift to grow, from earth
Her towering crest lifts gradual to the skies.
101 She, foe alike to both, the brands dispersed
Of burning hate between them, and the woes530
Enhanced of battle wheresoe'er she pass'd.
And now the battle join'd. Shield clash'd with shield[16] And spear with spear, conflicting corselets rang, Boss'd bucklers met, and tumult wild arose. Then, many a yell was heard, and many a shout535 Loud intermix'd, the slayer o'er the maim'd Exulting, and the field was drench'd with blood. As when two winter torrents rolling down The mountains, shoot their floods through gulleys huge Into one gulf below, station'd remote540 The shepherd in the uplands hears the roar; Such was the thunder of the mingling hosts. And first, Antilochus a Trojan Chief Slew Echepolus, from Thalysias sprung, Contending valiant in the van of Troy.545 Him smiting on his crested casque, he drove The brazen lance into his front, and pierced The bones within; night overspread his eyes, And in fierce battle, like a tower, he fell. Him fallen by both feet Calchodon's son550 Seized, royal Elephenor, leader brave Of the Abantes, and in haste to strip His armor, drew him from the fight aside. But short was that attempt. Him so employ'd Dauntless Agenor mark'd, and as he stoop'd,555 In his unshielded flank a pointed spear Implanted deep; he languid sunk and died. So Elephenor fell, for whom arose Sharp conflict; Greeks and Trojans mutual flew Like wolves to battle, and man grappled man.560 102 Then Telamonian Ajax, in his prime Of youthful vigor Simöisius slew,[17] Son of Anthemion. Him on Simoïs' banks His mother bore, when with her parents once She came from Ida down to view the flocks,565 And thence they named him; but his parents' He lived not to requite, in early youth Slain by the spear of Ajax famed in arms. For him advancing Ajax at the pap Wounded; right through his shoulder driven the point570 Stood forth behind; he fell, and press'd the dust. So in some spacious marsh the poplar falls Smooth-skinn'd, with boughs unladen save aloft; Some chariot-builder with his axe the trunk Severs, that he may warp it to a wheel575
