Two mighty Chiefs, sons of Evenus both,
Epistrophus and Mynes, her he mourn'd,
And for her sake self-prison'd in his fleet
And idle lay, though soon to rise again.
From Phylace, and from the flowery fields 850
Of Pyrrhasus, a land to Ceres given
By consecration, and from Iton green,
Mother of flocks; from Antron by the sea,
And from the grassy meads of Pteleus, came
A people, whom while yet he lived, the brave 855
Protesilaues led; but him the earth
Now cover'd dark and drear. A wife he left,
To rend in Phylace her bleeding cheeks,
And an unfinish'd mansion. First he died
Of all the Greeks; for as he leap'd to land 860
Foremost by far, a Dardan struck him dead.
Nor had his troops, though filled with deep regret,
No leader; them Podarces led, a Chief
Like Mars in battle, brother of the slain,
But younger born, and from Iphiclus sprung 865
Who sprang from Phylacus the rich in flocks.
But him Protesilaues, as in years,
So also in desert of arms excell'd
Heroic, whom his host, although they saw
Podarces at their head, still justly mourn'd; 870
For he was fierce in battle, and at Troy
With forty sable-sided ships arrived.
Eleven galleys, Pherae on the lake,
And Boebe, and Ioelchus, and the vale
Of Glaphyrae supplied with crews robust 875
Under Eumelus; him Alcestis, praised
For beauty above all her sisters fair,
In Thessaly to King Admetus bore.
Methone, and Olizon's craggy coast,
With Meliboea and Thaumasia sent 880
Seven ships; their rowers were good archers all,
And every vessel dipped into the wave
Her fifty oars. Them Philoctetes, skill'd
To draw with sinewy arm the stubborn bow,
Commanded; but he suffering anguish keen 885
Inflicted by a serpent's venom'd tooth,
Lay sick in Lemnos; him the Grecians there
Had left sore-wounded, but were destined soon
To call to dear remembrance whom they left.
Meantime, though sorrowing for his sake, his troops 890
Yet wanted not a chief; them Medon ruled,
Whom Rhena to the far-famed conqueror bore
Oileus, fruit of their unsanction'd loves.
From Tricca, from Ithome rough and rude
With rocks and glens, and from Oechalia, town 895
Of Eurytus Oechalian-born, came forth
Th