Book XVII

JUPITER, surrounded by the celellial Deities, furveyed the slaughter of the allies from the fummit of Olympus: and, looking into futurity, he beheld the chiefs, whose thread of lifq was that day to be divided by the Fates. Every eye, in the divine aflembly, was fixed upon the countenance of Jupiter, to discover his will: but the Father of Gods and men thus addrefled them, with a voice, in which raajcfty was tempered with fwectncfs. " You see the distress of the allies, and the triumph of Adrailus; but the scene is deceitful: the profperiry and honour of the wicked, are Ihort; the victory of Adrallus, the impious and perfidous, shall not be compleat. The allies are puniihed by this misfortune, only that they may corred their faults, and learn better to conceal their counsels: Minerva is preparing new laurels for Telemachus, whom whom she delights to honour." Jupiter ceased to speak; and the Gods continued, in filencc, to behold the battle.

In the nvean time, Neftor and Philotftetes received an account, that one part of the camp was already burned, and that the wind was spreading the flames to the rest; that the troops were in disorder; and that Phalanthus, with his Lacedemonians, had given way. At this dreadful intelligence they ran to arms, allembled the leaders, and gave orders for the camp to be immediately abandoned, tliac. thc men might not perish in the conflagration.

Telemachus, who had been pining with inconfolable deje(51:ion, . forgot his anguish in a moment, and resumed his arms. His armswere the gift of Minerva, who, under the figure of Mentor, pretended to have received them from an excellent artificer of Salentum; but they were, indeed, the work of Vulcan, who, at, her request, had forged them in the fmoaking caverns of mount: JEtna.

These arms had' a polish like glass, and were effulgent as the rays of the sun. On the cuirafs, was the reprefcntation of Neptune and Pallas difputing, which of them should give name to a rising city. Neptune flruck the earth with his trident, and a hoiTe fprung out at the blow: his eyes had the appearance of living fire, and the foam of his mouth fparkled like light; his mane floated in the wind; and his legs, at once nervous and fupple, played under him with equal agility and vigour: his motion could not be reduced to any pace; but he seemed to bound along, with a fvviftnefs and elafticity that left no trace of his foot, and the fpe^lator could fcarce believe but that he heard him neigh. In another compartment, Minerva appeared to be giving the branch of an olive, a tree of her own planting, to the inhabitants of her new new city: the branch, with its fruit, represented that plenty and peace, which wisdom cannot fail to prefer before the disorders of war, of which the horse was an emblem. This limple and useful gift, decided the conteft in favour of the Goddefs; and Athens, the pride of Greece, was distinguished by her name*. Minerva was also represented as afTembling round her the liberal arts, under the fymbols of little children with wings: they appeared to fly to her for prote6lion, terrified at the brutal fury of Mars, who marks his way with desolation, as lambs gather round their dam at the fight of a hungry wolf, who has already opened his mouth to devour them. The Goddefs, with a look of difdain and anger, confoiuided, by the excellence of her works, the prefumptuous folly of Arachne, who vied with her in the labours of the loom: Arachne herself was also to be seen in the piece; her limbs attenuated arid diffigured, and her whole form changed into that of a fpider. At a little distance, Minerva was again represented as giving counsel to Jupiter, when the giants made war upon Heaven; and encouraging the inferiour Deities in their terror and confternation. She -was also represented, with her fpear and segis, upon the borders of Simois and Scamander, leading Ulysses by the. hand, animating the flying Greeks with new courage, and fufl:aining them against the heroes of Troy, and the prowefs even of Hector himself. She was lafl; represented, as introducing Ulysses into the fatal machine, by which, in one night, the whole empire of Priam was fubverted.

Another part of the fhield represented Ceres in the fruitful plains of Enna, the center of Sicily. The Goddefs appeared to be colleding together a scattered multitude, who were seeking fubfiftcncc by the chafe, or gathering up the wild fruit that fell from

• The Greek name of Minerva is 'A^nvn, Athene.

7 the r> o o K XVII. ,315 jhc trees. To thcfe ignorant barbarians, she fccmcd to reach the art of meliorating the cartli, and deriving fuftcnance from its fertility. She presented them a plough, and llaewed them how oxen were to be yoked: the earth was then R'cn to part in furrows under the share, and a golden harveil wavc<l upon the plain: the reaper put in his licklc, and was rewarded for all his labour. Steel, which in other places was devoted to works of deflruction, was here employed only to produce plenty, and provide for delight. The nymphs of the meadows, crowned with flowers, were dancing on the borders of a river, with a grove not far diflant: Pan gave the mtific of his pipe; and the fawns and fatyrs were fcen frolicking together, in a less conspicuous portion of the compartm.ent. Bacchus was atfo reprcfented crowned with ivy, lieaning with one hand on his thyrfis, and holding the branch of a, vine, laden with grapes, in the other. The beauty of the God was effeminate, but mingled with something noble, impaffioned, and languifhing, that cannot be exprcfled. He appeared upon th6 fhield, as he did to the unfortunate Ariadne, when he found her alone, forsaken, ami, overwhelmed with grief, a stranger uponra foreign shore.

Numbers of people were fcen crowding from all parts: old men carrying the first fruits of their labour as an offering to the Gods; young men returning, weary with the labour of the day, to their wives, who were come out to meet them, leading their children in their hands, and interrupting their walk with carefles. There were also fhepherds, some of whom appeared to be fmging, while ■others danced to the music of the reed. The whole was a representation of peace, plenty, and delight: every thing was fmiling and happy: wolves were fporting with the sleep, in the pafluresj •and the lion and tyger, quitting their ferocity, grazed peaceably with the lamb: a shepherd, that was still a child, led them, obe-

S f dienf dient to his crook, in one flock, and imagination recalled the pleasures of the golden age. - '

Telemachus, having put on this divine armour, took, inllead of his own fliield, the dreadful a;gis of Minerva, which had been sent him by h'is, the fpeedy mefTcnger of the Gods, h-is had, unperceived, taken away his Ihield; and had left, in its flead, this- 32gis,- at the fight of which the Gods themselves are impressed with dread.

When lie was thus armed, he ran out of the camp to avoid the flames; and calletl to him all the chiefs of the army: he called with a voice that restored the courage they had lofl, and his eye fparkled with a brightness that was more than Kuman. His aspect: was placid, and his manner easy and composed: he gave orders with the fame quiet attention, as that of an old man, who regulates his family, and inftrud:s his children j but, in action, he was sudden and impetuous: he refembled a torrent, which not only ^•olls on its own waves with irrefiflible rapidity, but carries with it the heavieft vefTel that floats upon its surface.

rhilo(5letes and Ncftor, the chiefs of the Mandurians, and the leaders of otlicr nations, felt themselves influenced by an irrefiflible autlioriiy; age appeared to be no longer conscious of experience; and every commander seemed to give up, implicitly, all pretenllons to counfcl and wisdom: even jealousy, a paflion fo natural to inan, Vv^as fufpendcd; every tongue was fllent, and every eye was fixed with admiration upon Telkmackus: all fland ready to obey him Vv'iihout reflection, as if they had always been under his command. Pie advanced to an eminence, from which ilie dirpoution of the enemy might be difcovercd; and, at the aril glance, he saw, that hot a moment w^as to be lofl; that the 3 burning