Pantheus, what hope remains? what force, what place

Made good but fighing, he replies, Alas!
Trojans we were, and mighty Ilium was;
But the last period, and the fatal hour
Of Troy is come: our glory and our power
Incensed Jove transfers to Grecian hands;
The foe within the burning town commands;
And (like a fmother'd fire) an unfeen force
Breaks from the bowels of the fatal horfe :
Infulting Sinon flings about the flame,

And thousands more than e'er from Argos came
Poffefs the gates, the passes, and the streets,
And these the fword o'ertakes, and those it meets.
The guard nor fights nor flies; their fate so near
At once fufpends their courage and their fear.
Thus by the gods, and by Atrides' words

Infpir'd, I make my way through fire, through fwords,
Where noises, tumults, out-cries and alarms,

I heard; firft Iphitus, renown'd for arms,

We meet, who knew us (for the moon did fhine);
Then Ripheus, Hypanis, and Dymas join

Their force, and young Choræbus, Mygdon's fon,
Who, by the love of fair Caffandra won,
Arriv'd but lately in her father's aid;

Unhappy, whom the threats could not diffuade
Of his prophetic spouse;

Whom when I faw, yet daring to maintain
The fight, I faid, Brave spirits (but in vain)
Are
you refolv'd to follow one who dares
Tempt all extremes? the state of our affairs

You

You fee: the gods have left us, by whofe aid
Our empire ftood; nor can the flame be staid:
Then let us fall amidst our foes; this one
Relief the vanquish'd have, to hope for none.
Then re-inforc'd, as in a stormy night
Wolves urged by their raging appetite
Forage for prey, which their neglected young
With greedy jaws expect, ev'n fo among
Foes, fire and fwords, t'affured death we pass,
Darkness our guide, defpair our leader was.
Who can relate that evening's woes and fpoils,
Or can his tears proportion to our toils ?
The city, which so long had flourish'd, falls;
Death triumphs o'er the houses, temples, walls.
Nor only on the Trojans fell this doom,
Their hearts at laft the vanquish'd re-affume;
And now the victors fall: on all fides fears,
Groans and pale death in all her shapes appears =
Androgeus first with his whole troop was caft
Upon us, with civility misplac'd;

Thus greeting us, You lose, by your delay,
Your fhare, both of the honour and the prey;
Others the spoils of burning Troy convey
Back to thofe fhips, which you but now forfake.
We making no return; his fad mistake

Too late he finds: as when an unfeen snake

A traveller's unwary foot hath preft,

Who trembling ftarts, when the fnake's azure crest Swoln with his rifing anger, he efpies,

So from our view furpriz'd Androgeus flies.

But

But here an eafy victory we meet :

Fear binds their hands, and ignorance their feet.
Whilft fortune our firft enterprize did aid,
Encourag'd with fuccefs, Chorobus faid,
O friends, we now by better fates are led,
And the fair path they lead us, let us tread.
First change your arms, and their diftinctions bear;
The fame, in foes, deceit and virtue are.
Then of his arms Androgeus he divests,

His fword, his fhield he takes, and plumed crefts,
Then Ripheus, Dymas, and the rest, all glad
Of the occafion, in fresh spoils are clad.
Thus mixt with Greeks, as if their fortune ftill
Follow'd their swords, we fight, pursue, and kill.
Some re-ascend the horse, and he whofe fides
Let forth the valiant, now the coward hides.

Some to their fafer guard, their ships, retire;
But vain 's that hope, 'gainst which the gods confpire;
Behold the royal virgin, the divine

Caffandra, from Minerva's fatal fhrine

Dragg'd by the hair, cafting towards heaven, in vain,
Her eyes; for cords her tender hands did ftrain;
Chorobus at the spectacle enrag'd,

Flies in amidst the foes ; we thus engag'd,
To second him, among the thickest ran;
Here first our ruin from our friends began,
Who from the temple's battlements a shower
Of darts and arrows on our heads did
pour :
They us for Greeks, and now the Greeks (who knew
Caffandra's rescue) us for Trojans flew.

Then from all parts Ulyffes, Ajax then,

And then th' Atridæ, rally all their men;

As winds, that meet from feveral coafts, contest,
Their prifons being broke, the fouth and weft,
And Eurus on his winged courfes born,
Triumphing in their speed, the woods are torn,
And chafing Nereus with his trident throws
The billows from the bottom; then all thofe
Who in the dark our fury did escape,

Returning, know our borrow'd arms, and shape,
And differing dialect: then their numbers fwell
And grow upon us; first Chorœbus fell
Before Minerva's altar, next did bleed
Juft Ripheus, whom no Trojan did exceed
In virtue, yet the gods his fate decreed.
Then Hypanis and Dymas, wounded by
Their friends; nor thee, Pantheus, thy piety,
Nor confecrated mitre, from the fame

Ill fate could fave; my country's funeral flame
And Troy's cold afhes I atteft, and call
To witnefs for myself, that in their fall
No foes, no death, nor danger, I declin'd,
Did, and deferv'd no lefs, my fate to find.
Now Iphitus with me, and Pelias

Slowly retire; the one retarded was

where we found

By feeble age, the other by a wound;
To court the cry
directs us,
Th' affault fo hot, as if t'were only there,
And all the reft fecure from foes or fear :

The

The Greeks the gates approach'd, their targets caft
Over their heads, fome fcaling ladders plac'd
Against the walls, the reft the fteps afcend,
And with their fhields on their left arms defend
Arrows and darts, and with their right hold fast
The battlement; on them the Trojans caft
Stones, rafters, pillars, beams; fuch arms as thefe,
Now hopclefs, for their last defence they feize.
The gilded roofs, the marks of ancient ftate,
They tumble down; and now against the gate
Of th' inner court their growing force they bring :
Now was our laft effort to fave the king,
Relieve the fainting, and fucceed the dead.
A private gallery 'twixt th' apartments led,
Not to the foc yet known, or not obferv'd
(The way for Hector's hapless wife referv'd,
When to the aged king, her little fon

She would prefent); through this we pafs, and run
Up to the highest battlement, from whence
The Trojans threw their darts without offence,
A tower fo high, it feem'd to reach the sky,
Stood on the roof, from whence we could defcry
All Ilium---both the camps, the Grecian fleet;
This, where the beams upon the columns meet,
We loofen, which like thunder from the cloud'
Breaks on their heads, as fudden and as loud.
But others ftill fucceed: meantime, nor ftones
Nor any kind of weapons cease.

Before the gate in gilded armour fhone

Young Pyrrhus, like a fnake, his fkin new grown,