e foe his chariot drove.
His quivering lance well-pois'd he shook, and call'd,
"Whoe'er thou art, O youth! this comfort learn
"In death, that by Achilles' arm thou dy'st."
Thus far Pelides; and his massive spear
Close follow'd on his words. With truth it fled;
Yet did the steely point, unerring hurl'd,
Fall harmless: with a deaden'd point his breast
Was struck. Then he;--"O goddess-born! (for fame
"Thy race to me has long before made known)
"Why wonder'st thou that I unwounded stand?"
(For wondering stood Pelides.) "Not this helm,
"Which thou behold'st, gay with the courser's mane.
"Nor the curv'd buckler by my arm sustain'd,
"For aid are worn. For comely grace alone
"They deck me. Thus is Mars himself adorn'd.
"Thrown every guard far from my limbs, my limbs
"Unwounded would remain. Sure I may boast!
"Sprung not from Nereus' daughter, but from him
"Who rules o'er Nereus; o'er his daughter rules;
"And all th' extent of ocean." Cygnus spoke:
And at Pelides launch'd his spear to pierce
His orbed shield; its brazen front it pierc'd,
And nine bull-hides beneath; stay'd at the tenth,
The warrior shook it forth; with strenuous arm
The quivering weapon hostile back return'd:
Cygnus again unwounded felt the blow.
Nor felt his naked bosom, to the force
Of the third weapon vauntingly expos'd,
Aught harm'd. Less fiercely in the Circus wide
Rages the bull not, when the scarlet vests
To urge his fury fixt, with furious horn
To gore attempting, finds elusion still,
The unhurt limbs invading. Seeks he now
If fall'n the metal from his weapon's point:
Fast to the wood the metal still appears;
And cries he;--"Weak is then my hand? and spent
"On one, is all the strength I once could boast?
"For surely strength that arm could boast, which erst
"Lyrnessus' wall o'erthrew, and when with gore
"It Tenedos, and Thebes made stream; or when
"Caycus purple flow'd, stain'd with their blood
"Who on its banks had dwelt; and when twice prov'd
"By Telephus, the virtue of my spear.
"This nervous arm has here too shewn its force
"In hills of slain by me up-heap'd; these shores
"Attest it." Speaking so, his spear he sent
Against Menoetes 'mid the Lycian crowd,
As doubting faintly deeds perform'd before:
And pierc'd at once his corslet and his breast.
From the hot smoking wound as forth he drew
The dart,--as with his dying head was struck
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