Now sink in gloomy clouds the proud abodes,
Now crack the blazing temples of the gods;
The rumbling torrent through the ruin rolls,
And sheets of smoke mount heavy to the poles.
The heroes sweat beneath their honour'd load:
As when two mules, along the rugged road,
From the steep mountain with exerted strength
Drag some vast beam, or mast's unwieldy length;
Inly they groan, big drops of sweat distil,
The enormous timber lumbering down the hill:
So these--Behind, the bulk of Ajax stands,
And breaks the torrent of the rushing bands.
Thus when a river swell'd with sudden rains
Spreads his broad waters o'er the level plains,
Some interposing hill the stream divides.
And breaks its force, and turns the winding tides.
Still close they follow, close the rear engage;
Aeneas storms, and Hector foams with rage:
While Greece a heavy, thick retreat maintains,
Wedged in one body, like a flight of cranes,
That shriek incessant, while the falcon, hung
High on poised pinions, threats their callow young.
So from the Trojan chiefs the Grecians fly,
Such the wild terror, and the mingled cry:
Within, without the trench, and all the way,
Strow'd in bright heaps, their arms and armour lay;
Such horror Jove impress'd! yet still proceeds
The work of death, and still the battle bleeds.

[Illustration: VULCAN FROM AN ANTIQUE GEM.]

VULCAN FROM AN ANTIQUE GEM.

BOOK XVIII.

ARGUMENT.

THE GRIEF OF ACHILLES, AND NEW ARMOUR MADE HIM BY VULCAN.

The news of the death of Patroclus is brought to Achilles by Antilochus.
Thetis, hearing his lamentations, comes with all her sea- nymphs to
comfort him. The speeches of the mother and son on this occasion. Iris
appears to Achilles by the command of Juno, and orders him to show himself
at the head of the intrenchments. The sight of him turns the fortunes of
the day, and the body of Patroclus is carried off by the Greeks. The
Trojans call a council, where Hector and Polydamas disagree in their
opinions: but the advice of the former prevails, to remain encamped in the
field. The grief of Achilles over the body of Patroclus.

Thetis goes to the palace of Vulcan to obtain new arms for her son. The
description of the wonderful works of Vulcan: and, lastly, that noble one
of the shield of Achilles.

The latter part of the nine-and-twentieth day, and the night ensuing, take
up this book: the scene