• Never had man explor'd the iron ore,

• Mark'd out the trench, or rais'd the lofty tower,

• Ne'er had the fteed in harness fought the plain, Or fleets encounter'd on th' unstable main; Were life, were breath, with fame to be compar'd • Or peace to glorious liberty preferr'd.

By guilty oaths the hoftile army bound,

Holds faft its impious faith, and stands its ground; ‹ Are you perfidious, who espouse the laws,

And traitors only in a righteous cause?

Oh fhame! in vain through nations far and wide,
• Thou call'ft the crowding monarchs to thy fide,
• Fall'n Pompey! while thy legions here betray
Thy cheap-bought life, and treat thy fame away.'
He ended fierce. The foldier's rage returns,
His blood flies upward, and his bosom burns.
So, haply tam'd, the tiger bears his bands,
Lefs grimly growls, and licks his keeper's hands;
But if by chance he taftes forbidden gore,

He yells amain, and makes his dungeon roar.
He glares, he foams, he aims a desperate bound,
And his pale mafter flies the dangerous ground.
Now deeds are done, which man might charge aright
On ftubborn fate, or undifcerning night,
Had not their guilt the lawless foldiers known,
And made the whole malignity their own.
The beds, the plenteous tables, float with gore,
And breasts are stabb'd, that were embrac'd before:
Pity awhile their hands from flaughter kept.

Inward they groan'd, and, as they drew, they wept,

But

But every blow their wavering ragé affures,

In murder hardens, and to blood inures.

Crowds charge on crowds, nor friends their friends defcry,

But fires by fons, and fons by fathers die..

Black, monstrous rage! each, with victorious cries,
Drags his flain friend before the general's eyes,
Exults in guilt, that throws the only shame
On Pompey's caufe, and blots the Roman name.

THE

THE FIRST BOOK OF HOMER'S ILIAD.

W

THE DEDICATION.

HEN I first entered upon this tranflation, I was ambitious of dedicating it to the earl of Halifax; but being prevented from doing myself that honour, by the unspeakable lofs which our country hath sustained in the death of that extraordinary perfon, I hope I fhall not be blamed for prefuming to make a dedication of it to his memory. The nefs of his name will justify a practice altogether ungreatcommon, and may gain favour towards a work, which (if it had deserved his patronage) is perhaps the only one infcribed to his lordship, that will efcape being rewarded by him.

I might have one advantage from such a dedication, that nothing, I could fay in it, would be suspected of flattery. Besides that the world would take a pleasure in hearing those things faid of this great man, now he is dead, which he himself would have been offended at when living. But though I am fenfible, so amiable and exalted a character would be very acceptable to the publick, were I able to draw it in its full extent: I fhould be cenfured very deservedly, should I venture upon an undertaking, to which I am by no means equal.

M

His confummate knowledge in all kinds of business, his winning eloquence in public affemblies, his active zeal for the good of his country, and the fhare he had in conveying the fupreme power to an illuftrious family famous for being friends to mankind, are subjects easy to be enlarged upon, but incapable of being exhaufted. The nature of the following performance more directly leads me to lament the misfortune, which hath befallen the learned world, by the death of so generous and universal a patron.

He refted not in a barren admiration of the polite arts, wherein he himself was fo great a master; but was acted by that humanity they naturally inspire : which gave rife to many excellent writers, who have caft a light upon the age in which he lived, and will diftinguish it to pofterity. It is well known, that very few celebrated pieces have been published for feveral years, but what were either promoted by his encouragement, or fupported by his approbation, or recompenfed by his bounty. And if the fucceffion of men, who excel in most of the refined arts, should not continue; though fome may impute it to a decay of genius in our countrymen; thofe, who are unacquainted with his lordship's character, will know more juftly how to account for it.

The caufe of liberty will receive no fmall advantage in future times, when it fhall be obferved that the earl of Halifax was one of the patriots who were at the head of it; and that most of those, who were eminent in the feveral parts of polite or useful learning,

were

were by his influence and example engaged in the fame intereft.

I hope therefore the publick will excufe my ambition for thus intruding into the number of those applauded men, who have paid him this kind of homage: especially fince I am alfo prompted to it by gratitude, for the protection with which he had begun to honour me; and do it at a time when he cannot fuffer by the importunity of my acknowledgments.

I

TO THE READER.

Muft inform the reader, that when I began this first book, I had fome thoughts of tranflating the whole Iliad: but had the pleasure of being diverted from that defign, by finding the work was fallen into a much abler hand. I would not therefore be thought to have any other view in publishing this fmall fpecimen of Homer's Iliad, than to befpeak, if poffible, the favour of the publick to a translation of Homer's Odyffeis, wherein I have already made fome progrefs.

A

THE FIRST BOOK OF THE ILIAD.

CHILLES' fatal wrath, whence difcord rofe,

That brought the fons of Greece unnumber'd woes,

O goddess, fing. Full many a hero's ghost

Was driven untimely to th' infernal coast,
While in promifcuous heaps their bodies lay,
A feast for dogs, and every bird of prey.