Epic Poetry

"At puer in gremio vernae telluris et alto gramine nunc faciles sternit procursibus herbas in vultum nitens, caram modo lactis egeno nutricem clangore ciens iterumque renidens et teneris meditans verba inluctantia labris miratur nemorum strepitus aut obuia carpit aut patulo trahit ore diem nemorique malorum inscius et vitae multum securus inerrat."

"Primae decrescunt murmura noctis, cum consanguinei mixtus caligine Leti rore madens Stygio morituram amplectitur urbem Somnus et implacido fundit grauia otia cornu secernitque viros."

"Sic ubi se magnis refluus suppressit in antris Nilus et Eoae liquentia pabula brumae ore premit, fumant desertae gurgite valles et patris undosi sonitus expectat hiulca Aegyptos, donec Phariis alimenta rogatus donet agris magnumque inducat messibus annum."

"Tela manu, reicitque canes in vulnus hiantes."

"Juppiter, o quanta belli donabere praeda!"

"O mihi desertae natorum dulcis imago, Archemore, o rerum et patriae solamen ademptae seruitiique decus, qui te, mea gaudia, sontes extinxere dei, modo quem digressa reliqui lascivum et prono uexantem gramina cursu? heu ubi siderei vultus? ubi verba ligatis imperfecta sonis risusque et murmura soli intellecta mihi? quotiens tibi Lemnon et Argo sueta loqui et longa somnum suadere querela!"

"Illum Palladia sonipes Nemeaeus ab arce devehit arma pavens umbraque inmane volanti implet agros longoque attollit pulvere campum."

"Fraternas acies alternaque regna profanis decertata odiis."

"Ille velut pecoris lupus expugnator opimi, pectora tabenti sanie grauis hirtaque saetis ora cruentata deformis hiantia lana, decedit stabulis huc illuc turbida versans lumina, si duri comperta clade sequantur pastores, magnique fugit non inscius ausi."

"Pro fors et caeca futuri mens hominum!"

"In speculis Mors atra sedet dominoque silentes adnumerat populos; maior superinminet ordo. arbiter hos dura versat Gortynius urna vera minis poscens adigitque expromere vitas usque retro."

"Umida siccat mollibus ora comis."

"Achilles’ baneful wrath resound, O Goddess, that impos’d Infinite sorrows on the Greeks, and many brave souls loos’d From breasts heroic; sent them far to that invisible cave That no light comforts; and their limbs to dogs and vultures gave; To all which Jove’s will gave effect; from whom first strife begun Betwixt Atrides, king of men, and Thetis’ godlike son."

"Dog’s face, with heart but of a hart."

"The cunning Pylian orator, whose tongue pour’d forth a flood Of more-than-honey-sweet discourse."

"And now man-slaught’ring Pallas took in hand Her snake-fring’d shield, and on that beam took stand In her true form, where swallow-like she sat. And then, in this way of the house and that, The Wooers, wounded at the heart with fear, Fled the encounter; as in pastures where Fat herds of oxen feed, about the field (As if wild madness their instincts impell’d) The high-fed bullocks fly, whom in the spring, When days are long, gad-bees or breezes sting."

"‘Cyclop! now, As thou demand’st, I’ll tell my name, do thou Make good thy hospitable gift to me. My name is No-Man; No-Man each degree Of friends, as well as parents, call my name.’ He answer’d, as his cruel soul became: ‘No-Man! I’ll eat thee last of all thy friends; And this is that in which so much amends I vow’d to thy deservings, thus shall be My hospitable gift made good to thee.’"

"Ulysses and his son the flyers chas’d, As when, with crooked beaks and seres, a cast Of hill-bred eagles, cast-off at some game, That yet their strengths keep, but, put up, in flame The eagle stoops; from which, along the field The poor fowls make wing, this and that way yield Their hard-flown pinions, then the clouds assay For ’scape or shelter, their forlorn dismay All spirit exhaling, all wings’ strength to carry Their bodies forth, and, truss’d up, to the quarry Their falconers ride-in, and rejoice to see Their hawks perform a flight so fervently; So, in their flight, Ulysses with his heir Did stoop and cuff the Wooers, that the air Broke in vast sighs, whose heads they shot and cleft, The pavement boiling with the souls they reft."

"Th’ out-law’d Cyclops’ land we fetch’d; a race Of proud-liv’d loiterers, that never sow, Nor put a plant in earth, nor use a plow, But trust in God for all things; and their earth, Unsown, unplow’d, gives ev’ry offspring birth That other lands have; wheat, and barley, vines That bear in goodly grapes delicious wines; And Jove sends show’rs for all. No councils there, Nor councillors, nor laws; but all men bear Their heads aloft on mountains, and those steep, And on their tops too; and their houses keep In vaulty caves, their households govern’d all By each man’s law, impos’d in several, Nor wife, nor child awed, but as he thinks good, None for another caring."

"The man, O Muse, inform, that many a way Wound with his wisdom to his wished stay; That wander’d wondrous far, when he the town Of sacred Troy had sack’d and shiver’d down; The cities of a world of nations, With all their manners, minds, and fashions, He saw and knew; at sea felt many woes, Much care sustain’d, to save from overthrows Himself and friends in their retreat for home; But so their fates he could not overcome, Though much he thirsted it. O men unwise, They perish’d by their own impieties! That in their hunger’s rapine would not shun The oxen of the lofty-going Sun, Who therefore from their eyes the day bereft Of safe return."

"There, close upon the sea, sweet meadows spring; That yet of fresh streams want no watering To their soft burthens, but of special yield. Your vines would be there; and your common field But gentle work make for your plow, yet bear A lofty harvest when you came to shear; For passing fat the soil is."

"The house then cleans’d, they brought the women out, And put them in a room so wall’d about That no means serv’d their sad estates to fly. Then said Telemachus: “These shall not die A death that lets out any wanton blood, And vents the poison that gave lust her food, The body cleansing, but a death that chokes The breath, and altogether that provokes And seems as bellows to abhorréd lust, That both on my head pour’d depraves unjust, And on my mother’s, scandalling the Court, With men debauch’d, in so abhorr’d a sort.” This said, a halser of a ship they cast About a cross-beam of the roof, which fast They made about their necks, in twelve parts cut, And hal’d them up so high they could not put Their feet to any stay. As which was done, Look how a mavis, or a pigeon, In any grove caught with a springe or net, With struggling pinions ’gainst the ground doth beat Her tender body, and that then strait bed Is sour to that swing in which she was bred; So striv’d these taken birds, till ev’ry one Her pliant halter had enforc’d upon Her stubborn neck, and then aloft was haul’d To wretched death. A little space they sprawl’d, Their feet fast moving, but were quickly still."

"Jove heard it, sitting on his hill, and laugh’d to see the Gods Buckle to arms like angry men."

"Then from an anvil rose Th’ unwieldy monster, halt’d down, and all awry he went. He took his bellows from the fire, and ev’ry instrument Lock’d safe up in a silver chest. Then with a sponge he drest His face all over, neck and hands, and all his hairy breast; Put on his coat, his sceptre took, and then went halting forth, Handmaids of gold attending him, resembling in all worth Living young damsels, fill’d with minds and wisdom, and were train’d In all immortal ministry, virtue and voice contain’d, And mov’d with voluntary pow’rs; and these still wait’d on Their fi’ry sov’reign."

"As fire, fall’n in a flash from heav’n, Inflames the high woods of dry hills, and with a storm is driv’n Through all the sylvan deeps; and raves, till down goes ev’rywhere The smother’d hill; so ev’ry way Achilles and his spear Consum’d the champain, the black earth flow’d with the veins he tore. And look how oxen, yok’d and driv’n about the circular floor Of some fair barn, tread suddenly the thick sheaves thin of corn, And all the corn consum’d with chaff; so mix’d and overborne, Beneath Achilles’ one-hoof’d horse, shields, spears, and men, lay trod, His axle-trees and chariot wheels, all spatter’d with the blood Hurl’d from the steeds’ hooves and the strakes. Thus, to be magnified, His most inaccessible hands in human blood he dyed."

"Suddenly with her left hand she catch’d Both Cynthia’s palms, lock’d fingers fast, and with her right she snatch’d From her fair shoulders her gilt bow, and, laughing, laid it on About her ears, and ev’ry way her turnings seiz’d upon, Till all her arrows scatter’d out, her quiver emptied quite. And as a dove, that, flying a hawk, takes to some rock her flight, And in his hollow breasts sits safe, her fate not yet to die; So fled she mourning, and her bow left there."

"The city so adorn’d with tow’rs, the sea with vessels fill’d, The splendour of refulgent arms, the killer and the kill’d."

"The earth did blush with blood."

"And as in winter time, when Jove his cold sharp jav’lins throws Amongst us mortals, and is moved to white earth with his snows, The winds asleep, he freely pours, till highest prominents, Hill tops, low meadows, and the fields that crown with most contents The toils of men, seaports, and shores, are hid, and ev’ry place, But floods, that snow’s fair tender flakes, as their own brood, embrace; So both sides cover’d earth with stones, so both for life contend, To show their sharpness; through the wall uproar stood up an end."

"The call Of Mars to fight was terrible, he cried out like a storm, Set on the city’s pinnacles; and there he would inform Sometimes his heart’nings, other times where Simois pours on His silver current at the foot of high Callicolon. And thus the bless’d Gods both sides urg’d; they all stood in the mids, And brake contention to the hosts. And over all their heads The Gods’ King in abhorréd claps his thunder rattled out. Beneath them Neptune toss’d the earth; the mountains round about Bow’d with affright and shook their heads; Jove’s hill the earthquake felt, (Steep Ida) trembling at her roots, and all her fountains spilt, Their brows all crannied; Troy did nod; the Grecian navy play’d As on the sea; th’ Infernal King, that all things frays, was fray’d, And leap’d affrighted from his throne, cried out, lest over him Neptune should rend in two the earth, and so his house, so dim, So loathsome, filthy, and abhorr’d of all the Gods beside, Should open both to Gods and men. Thus all things shook and cried, When this black battle of the Gods was joining."

"Then swell’d his waves, then rag’d, then boil’d again Against Achilles. Up flew all, and all the bodies slain In all his deeps (of which the heaps made bridges to his waves) He belch’d out, roaring like a bull. The unslain yet he saves In his black whirlpits vast and deep. A horrid billow stood About Achilles. On his shield the violence of the Flood Beat so, it drave him back, and took his feet up, ... The rage did terrify Ev’n his great spirit, and made him add wings to his swiftest feet, And tread the land. And yet not there the Flood left his retreat, But thrust his billows after him, and black’d them all at top, To make him fear, and fly his charge, and set the broad field ope For Troy to ’scape in."

"The flood into a fire as bright as day was turn’d. Elms, willows, tam’risks, were inflam’d; the lote trees, sea-grass reeds, And rushes, with the galingale roots, of which abundance breeds About the sweet flood, all were fir’d; the gliding fishes flew Upwards in flames; the grov’lling eels crept upright; all which slew Wise Vulcan’s unresisted spirit."

"A great time Achilles gaz’d upon His wonder’d-at approach, nor ate; the rest did nothing see, While close he came up, with his hands fast holding the bent knee Of Hector’s conqueror, and kiss’d that large man-slaught’ring hand That much blood from his sons had drawn. And as in some strange land, And great man’s house, a man is driv’n (with that abhorr’d dismay That follows wilful bloodshed still, his fortune being to slay One whose blood cries aloud for his) to plead protectión, In such a miserable plight as frights the lookers on; In such a stupefied estate Achilles sat to see So unexpected, so in night, and so incredibly, Old Priam’s entry. All his friends one on another star’d To see his strange looks, seeing no cause."

"Much have I travell’d in the realms of gold, And many goodly states and kingdoms seen; Round many western islands have I been Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold. Oft of one wide expanse had I been told That deep-brow’d Homer ruled as his demesne: Yet did I never breathe its pure serene Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold: Then felt I like some watcher of the skies When a new planet swims into his ken; Or like stout Cortez, when with eagle eyes He stared at the Pacific—and all his men Look’d at each other with a wild surmise— Silent, upon a peak in Darien."

"Troy swum in tears."

"Mourn not inevitable things; thy tears can spring no deeds To help thee, nor recall thy son; impatience ever breeds Ill upon ill, makes worst things worse."

"Nor was he Like any man that food could possibly Enhance so hugely, but, beheld alone, Show’d like a steep hill’s top, all overgrown With trees and brambles"

"He answer’d nothing, but rush’d in, and took Two of my fellows up from earth, and strook Their brains against it. Like two whelps they flew About his shoulders, and did all embrue The blushing earth. No mountain lion tore Two lambs so sternly, lapp’d up all their gore Gush’d from their torn-up bodies, limb by limb (Trembling with life yet) ravish’d into him. Both flesh and marrow-stufféd bones he eat, And ev’n th’ uncleanséd entrails made his meat."

"From his throat brake out My wine, with man’s-flesh gobbets, like a spout, When, loaded with his cups, he lay and snor’d."

"Thus many tales Ulysses told his wife, At most but painting, yet most like the life; Of which her heart such sense took through her ears, It made her weep as she would turn to tears. And as from off the mountains melts the snow, Which Zephyr’s breath conceal’d, but was made flow By hollow Eurus, which so fast pours down, That with their torrent floods have overflown; So down her fair cheeks her kind tears did glide, Her miss’d lord mourning set so near her side. Ulysses much was mov’d to see her mourn, Whose eyes yet stood as dry as iron or horn In his untroubled lids, which in his craft Of bridling passion he from issue saft."

"His eyes were furnaces."

"From whirlpits ev’ry way The whales exulted under him, and knew their king; the sea For joy did open; and, his horse so swift and lightly flew, The under axletree of brass no drop of water drew; And thus these deathless coursers brought their king to th’ Achive ships."

"The dreadful clamour rose To such a height, as not the sea, when up the North-spirit blows Her raging billows, bellows so against the beaten shore; Nor such a rustling keeps a fire, driven with violent blore Through woods that grow against a hill; nor so the fervent strokes Of almost-bursting winds resound against a grove of oaks; As did the clamour of these hosts, when both the battles clos’d."

"The Rainbow to her feet tied whirlwinds, and the place Reach’d instantly."

"He stoop’d Pieria, and thence Glid through the air, and Neptune’s confluence Kiss’d as he flew, and check’d the waves as light As any sea-mew in her fishing flight, Her thick wings sousing in the savory seas."

"They first slit both his nostrils, cropp’d each ear, His members tugg’d off, which the dogs did tear And chop up bleeding sweet; and, while red-hot The vice-abhorring blood was, off they smote His hands and feet; and there that work had end. Then wash’d they hands and feet that blood had stain’d, And took the house again."

"The cheerful Lady of the light, deck’d in her saffron robe, Dispers’d her beams through ev’ry part of this enflow’red globe."

"As far as white Aurora’s dews are sprinkled through the air, Fame will renown the hands of Greece, for this divine affair."

"This said, his brass-hoof’d wingéd horse he did to chariot bind, Whose crests were fring’d with manes of gold; and golden garments shin’d On his rich shoulders; in his hand he took a golden scourge, Divinely fashion’d, and with blows their willing speed did urge Mid way betwixt the earth and heav’n. To Ida: then he came, Abounding in delicious springs, and nurse of beasts untame, Where, on the mountain Gargarus, men did a fane erect To his high name, and altars sweet; and there his horse he check’d, Dissolv’d them from his chariot, and in a cloud of jet He cover’d them, and on the top took his triumphant seat, Beholding Priam’s famous town, and all the fleet of Greece."

"All had enough; but Telamon, the king fed past the rest With good large pieces of the chine."