As guided by a god, secure he goes,
Arm’d with my fellowship, amid the foes:
And sure no little merit I may boast,
Whom such a man selects from such a host;
Unforced by lots I went without affright,
To dare with him the dangers of the night:
On the same errand sent, we met the spy
Of Hector, double-tongued, and used to lie;
Him I despatch’d, but not till undermined,
I drew him first to tell what treacherous Troy design’d:
My task perform’d, with praise I had retired,
But not content with this, to greater praise aspired;
Invaded Rhesus, and his Thracian crew,
And him and his in their own strength I slew;
Return’d a victor, all my vows complete,
With the king’s chariot, in his royal seat:
Refuse me now his arms, whose fiery steeds
Were promised to the spy for his nocturnal deeds;
And let dull Ajax bear away my right,
When all his days outbalance this one night.
“Nor fought I darkling still: the sun beheld
With slaughter’d Lycians when I strew’d the field:
You saw, and counted as I pass’d along,
Alastor, Chromius, Ceranos the strong,
Alcander, Prytanis, and Halius,
Noemon, Charopes, and Ennomus;
Coon, Chersidamas; and five beside,
Men of obscure descent, but courage tried:
All these this hand laid breathless on the ground;
Nor want I proofs of many a manly wound:
All honest, all before: believe not me,
Words may deceive, but credit what you see.”
At this he bared his breast, and show’d his scars,
As of a furrow’d field, well plough’d with wars;
“Nor is this part unexercised,” said he;
“That giant bulk of his from wounds is free:
Safe in his shield, he fears no foe to try,
And better manages his blood than I:
But this avails me not; our boaster strove
Not with our foes alone, but partial Jove,
To save the fleet: this I confess is true:
(Nor will I take from any man his due:)
But thus assuming all, he robs from you.
Some part of honour to your share will fall,
He did the best indeed, but did not all.
Patroclus in Achilles’ arms, and thought
The chief he seem’d, with equal ardour fought;
Preserved the fleet, repell’d the raging fire,
And forced the fearful Trojans to retire.
“But Ajax boasts, that he was only thought
A match for Hector, who the combat sought:
Sure he forgets the king, the chiefs, and me:
All were as eager for the fight as he:
He but the ninth, and not by public voice,
Or ours preferr’d, was only fortune’s choice:
They fought; nor can our hero boast the event,
For Hector from the field unwounded went.
“Why am I forced to name that fatal day,
That snatch’d the prop and pride of Greece away?
I saw Pelides sink, with pious grief,
And ran in vain, alas! to his relief;
For the brave soul was fled: full of my friend
I rush’d amid the war, his relics to defend:
Nor ceased my toil till I redeem’d my prey,
And, loaded with Achilles, march’d away:
Those arms which on these shoulders then I bore
’Tis just you to these shoulders should restore.
You see I want not nerves, who could sustain
The pond’rous ruins of so great a man:
Or if in others equal force you find,
None is indued with a more grateful mind.
“Did Thetis then, ambitious in her care,
These arms thus labour’d for her son prepare,
That Ajax after him the heavenly gift should wear?
For that dull soul to stare, with stupid eyes,
On the learn’d unintelligible prize!
What are to him the sculptures of the shield,
Heaven’s planets, earth, and ocean’s watery field?
The Pleiads, Hyads; less and greater Bear,
Undipp’d in seas; Orion’s angry star;
Two differing cities, graved on either hand;
Would he wear arms he cannot understand?
“Besides, what wise objections he prepares
Against my late accession to the wars?
Does not the fool perceive his argument
Is with more force against Achilles bent?
For if dissembling be so great a crime,
The fault is common, and the same in him:
And if he taxes both of long delay,
My guilt is less, who sooner came away.
His pious mother, anxious for his life,
Detain’d her son; and me, my pious wife.
To them the blossoms of our youth were due,
Our riper manhood we reserved for you.
But grant me guilty, ’tis not much my care,
When with so great a man my guilt I share:
My wit to war the matchless hero brought,
But by this fool I never had been caught.
“Nor need I wonder, that on me he threw
Such foul aspersions, when he spares not you;
If Palamede unjustly fell by me,
Your honour suffer’d in the unjust decree:
I but accused, you doom’d: and yet he died
Convinced of treason, and was fairly tried:
You heard not he was false; your eyes beheld
The traitor manifest; the bribe reveal’d.
“That Philoctetes is on Lemnos left,
Wounded, forlorn, of human aid bereft,
Is not my crime, or not my crime alone;
Defend your justice, for the fact’s your own:
’Tis true, the advice was mine; that staying there
He might his weary limbs with rest repair,
From a long voyage free, and from a long war.
He took the counsel, and he lives at least;
The event declares I counsell’d for the best:
Though faith is all in ministers of state;
For who can promise to be fortunate?
Now since his arrows are the fate of Troy,
Do not my wit, or weak address employ:
Send Ajax there, with his persuasive sense,
To mollify the man, and draw him thence:
But Xanthus shall run backward; Ida stand
A leafless mountain; and the Grecian band
Shall fight for Troy; if, when my counsel fail,
The wit of heavy Ajax shall prevail.
“Hard Philoctetes, exercise thy spleen
Against thy fellows, and the king of men;
Curse my devoted head above the rest,
And wish in arms to meet rue breast to breast:
Yet I the dangerous task will undertake,
And either die myself, or bring thee back.
“Nor doubt the same success, as when before
The Phrygian prophet to these tents I bore,
Surprised by night, and forced him to declare
In what was placed the fortune of the war,
Heaven’s dark decrees, and answers to display,
And how to take the town, and where the secret lay:
Yet this I compass’d, and from Troy convey’d
The fatal image of their guardian maid:
That work was mine; for Pallas, though our friend,
Yet while she was in Troy, did Troy defend.
Now what has Ajax done, or what design’d?
A noisy nothing, and an empty wind.
If he be what he promises in show,
Why was I sent, and
