Jupiter, upon Achilles' return to the battle, calls a council of the gods, and permits them to assist either party. The terrors of the combat described when the deities are engaged. Apollo encourages Æneas to meet Achilles. After a long conversation, these two heroes encounter; but Eneas is preserved by the assistance of Neptune. Achilles falls upon the rest of the Trojans, and is upon the point of killing Hector, but Apollo conveys him away in a cloud. Achilles pursues the Trojans with a great slaughter. The same day continues. The scene is in the field before Troy.

THUS round Pelides breathing war and blood,

Greece, sheathed in arms, beside her vessels stood;

The Gods to council in the starry hall: Swift o'er Olympus' hundred hills she flies,

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And summons all the Senate of the Skies.
These, shining on, in long procession come
To Jove's eternal adamantine dome.
Not one was absent, not a rural Power
That haunts the verdant gloom, or rosy
bower;

Each fair-hair'd Dryad of the shady wood,
Each azure sister of the silver flood;

All but old Ocean, hoary Sire! who keeps His ancient seat beneath the sacred deeps. On marble thrones with lucid columns crown'd

(The work of Vulcan) sat the Powers around.

Ev'n he, whose trident sways the wat'ry reign,

Heard the loud summons, and forsook the main,

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Assumed his throne amid the bright abodes, And question'd thus the Sire of men and Gods:

'What moves the God who Heav'n and

Their troops but lately durst not meet his

eyes;

What can they now, if in his rage he

rise?

Assist them, Gods! or Iliou's sacred wall May fall this day, tho' Fate forbids the fall.'

He said, and fired their Heav'nly breasts with rage;

On adverse parts the warring Gods engage.

Heav'n's awful Queen; and he whose azure round

Girds the vast globe; the Maid in arms renown'd;

Hermes, of profitable arts the sire,
And Vulcan, the black Sov'reign of the
Fire:

These to the fleet repair with instant flight;
The vessels tremble as the Gods alight. sa
In aid of Troy, Latona, Phœbus came,
Mars fiery helm'd, the Laughter-loving
Dame,

Xanthus, whose streams in golden currents flow,

And the chaste Huntress of the Silver Bow.

Ere yet the Gods their various aid employ, Each Argive bosom swell'd with manly joy,

While great Achilles (terror of the plain) Long lost to battle, shone in arms again. Dreadful he stood in front of all his host; Pale Troy beheld, and seem'd already lost;

Her bravest heroes pant with inward fear, And trembling see another God of War.

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But when the Powers descending swell'd the fight,

Then tumult rose; fierce rage and pale affright

Varied each face; then discord sounds alarms,

Earth echoes, and the nations rush to

And leave to war the fates of mortal men. But if th' Armipotent, or God of Light, Obstruct Achilles, or commence the fight, Thence on the Gods of Troy we swift descend:

Full soon, I doubt not, shall the conflict end;

And these, in ruin and confusion hurl'd, 170 Yield to our conquering arms the lower world.'

Thus having said, the Tyrant of the Sea, Coerulean Neptune, rose, and led the way. Advanc'd upon the field there stood a mound

Of earth congested, wall'd, and trench'd around;

In elder times to guard Alcides made
(The work of Trojans with Minerva's aid),
What time a vengeful monster of the main
Swept the wide shore, and drove him to the

'Why comes Eneas thro' the ranks so far?

Seeks he to meet Achilles' arm in war,
In hope the realms of Priam to enjoy,
And prove his merits to the throne of
Troy?

Grant that beneath thy lance Achilles dies,
The partial Monarch may refuse the

prize;

The sacred Tros, of whom the Trojan name. Three sons renown'd adorn'd his nuptial bed, Ilus, Assaracus, and Ganymed:

The matchless Ganymed, divinely fair, Whom Heav'n, enamour'd, snatch'd to upper air,

To bear the cup of Jove (ethereal guest, 280
The grace and glory of th' ambrosial feast).
The two remaining sons the line divide:
First rose Laomedon from Ilus' side:
From him Tithonus, now in cares grown
old,

And Priam (blest with Hector, brave and bold);

Clytins and Lampus, ever-honour'd pair;
And Hicetaon, thunderbolt of war.
From great Assaracus sprung Capys, he
Begat Anchises, and Anchises me,
Such is our race: 't is Fortune gives us
birth,

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