the Phrygian walls.
"Then thou, O Paeaen's son! had Lemnos ne'er
"Known--to our shame abandon'd on the shore.
"Thou now, so fame reports, in woody caves
"Shelter'd, ev'n rocks mov'st with thy rending groans;
"Pray'st that Laertes' son his justest meeds
"May gain. Ye gods! ye gods! grant ye his prayers
"A favoring ear! Now he, by oath combin'd
"With us in war;--O, heavens! a leader too!
"Heir to employ Alcides' faithful darts,
"Sinks both by famine and disease opprest:
"By birds sustain'd, and cloth'd by birds, he spends
"Upon his feather'd prey, the darts design'd
"To end the fate of Troy. Yet still he lives:
"For here he never with Ulysses came.
"Content had hapless Palamedes been
"Deserted so. Life might he have enjoy'd
"Perchance; and blameless sure to death had sunk.
"He whom this wretch, too mindful of the time
"His counterfeited madness was expos'd,
"Feign'd had betray'd the Greeks; and prov'd the crime
"By forg'd assistance: shewing forth the gold
"First bury'd by himself. Thus he destroys
"The strength of Greece, by exile or by death.
"Thus fights Ulysses; thus must he be fear'd
"Who, though old faithful Nestor he surpass'd
"In eloquence, not all would e'er avail,
"To prove deserting Nestor was no shame:
"Who press'd with age, and with a wounded horse
"Delay'd, Ulysses' aid besought: behind
"His coward comrade left him. Well, this deed
"Tydides can declare, by me not feign'd,
"Who oft him reprimanded by his name,
"And curs'd the flying of his trembling friend.
"Gods with just eyes all mortal actions view.
"Lo! he who aid would give not, aid requires!
"Who Nestor left, deserted was himself:
"Himself prescrib'd the treatment which he found.
"Loud call'd he to his friends. I come, I see,
"Pale trembling, where he lies, with dread to view
"Impending death. My mighty shield I fling;
"Beneath it shade him, and his coward breast
"(My smallest claim to glory) I protect.
"If still persisting, thou the strife wilt urge,
"Thither again return. Recal the foe;
"Thy wound; thy wonted terror; and lie hid
"Beneath my shield. 'Neath that with me contend.
"Lo! him I snatch'd from death, whose wounds refus'd
"Ev'n power to stand; retarded not by wounds,
"In agile flight sped on. Now Hector comes,
"Whom in the fight the deities attend.
"Where'er he swept, not thou Ulysses sole
"Wast struck with dread; the bravest o