Alone excluded from the prize I gained, And by your common suffrage have obtained. The slave without a ransom shall be sent, It rests for you to make the equivalent. To this the fierce Thessalian prince replied:-- O first in power, but passing all in pride, Griping, and still tenacious of thy hold, Would'st thou the Grecian chiefs, though largely souled, Should give the prizes they had gained before, And with their loss thy sacrilege restore? Whate'er by force of arms the soldier got, Is each his own, by dividend of lot; Which to resume were both unjust and base, Not to be borne but by a servile race. But this we can; if Saturn's son bestows The sack of Troy, which he by promise owes, Then shall the conquering Greeks thy loss restore, And with large interest make the advantage more. To this Atrides answered:--Though thy boast Assumes the foremost name of all our host, Pretend not, mighty man, that what is mine, Controuled by thee, I tamely should resign. Shall I release the prize I gained by right, In taken towns, and many a bloody fight, While thou detain'st Briseis in thy bands, By priestly glossing on the God's commands? Resolve on this, (a short alternative,) Quit mine, or, in exchange, another give; Else I, assure thy soul, by sovereign right Will seize thy captive in thy own despite; Or from stout Ajax, or Ulysses, bear What other prize my fancy shall prefer: Then softly murmur, or aloud complain, Rage as you please, you shall resist in vain. But more of this, in proper time and place; To things of greater moment let us pass. A ship to sail the sacred seas prepare, } Proud in her trim, and put on board the fair, } With sacrifice and gifts, and all the pomp of prayer. } The crew well chosen, the command shall be } In Ajax; or if other I decree, } In Creta's king, or Ithacus, or, if I please, in thee: } Most fit thyself to see performed the intent, } For which my prisoner from my sight is sent, } (Thanks to thy pious care,) that Phœbus may relent. } At this Achilles rolled his furious eyes, Fixed on the king askant, and thus replies:-- O, impudent, regardful of thy own, Whose thoughts are centered on thyself alone, Advanced to sovereign sway for better ends Than thus like abject slaves to treat thy friends! What Greek is he, that, urged by thy command, Against the Trojan troops will lift his hand? Not I; nor such enforced respect I owe, Nor Pergamus I hate, nor Priam is my foe. What wrong from Troy remote could I sustain, } To leave my fruitful soil and happy reign, } And plough the surges of the stormy main? } Thee, frontless man, we followed from afar,