“So th’one with fire and weapons did contend
To cut the ships from turning home againe
To Argos; th’other strove for to defend*
The force of Vulcane with his might and maine.
Thus th’one Aeacide did his fame extend: 525
But th’other ioy’d that, on the Phrygian playne
Having the blood of vanquisht Hector shedd,
He compast Troy thrice with his bodie dedd.
[* Defend, keep off.]
“Againe great dole on either partie grewe,
That him to death unfaithfull Paris sent; 530
And also him that false Ulysses slewe,
Drawne into danger through close ambushment;
Therefore from him Laërtes sonne his vewe
Doth turn aside, and boasts his good event
In working of Strymonian Rhaesus fall, 535
And efte* in Dolons slye surprÿsall.
[* Efte, again.]
“Againe the dreadfull Cycones him dismay,
And blacke Laestrigones, a people stout;
Then greedie Scilla, under whom there bay
Manie great bandogs, which her gird about; 540
Then doo the AEtnean Cyclops him affray,
And deep Charybdis gulphing in and out;
Lastly the squalid lakes of Tartarie,
And griesly feends of hell him terrifie.
“There also goodly Agamemnon bosts, 545
The glorie of the stock of Tantalus,
And famous light of all the Greekish hosts;
Under whose conduct most victorious,
The Dorick flames consum’d the Iliack posts.
Ah! but the Greekes themselves, more dolorous, 550
To thee, O Troy, paid penaunce for thy fall,
In th’Hellespont being nigh drowned all.
“Well may appeare by proofe of their mischaunce
The chaungfull turning of mens slipperie state,
That none whom fortune freely doth advaunce 555
Himselfe therefore to heaven should elevate:
For loftie type of honour through the glaunce
Of envies dart is downe in dust prostrate,
And all that vaunts in worldly vanitie
Shall fall through fortunes mutabilitie. 560
“Th’Argolicke power returning home againe,
Enricht with spoyles of th’Ericthonian towre,
Did happie winde and weather entertaine,
And with good speed the fomie billowes scowre:
No signe of storme, no feare of future paine, 565
Which soone ensued them with heavie stowre*:
Nereïs to the seas a token gave,
The whiles their crooked keeles the surges clave.
[* Stowre, turmoil, uproar.]
“Suddenly, whether through the gods decree,
Or haplesse rising of some froward starre, 570
The heavens on everie side enclowded bee:
Black stormes and fogs are blowen up from farre,
That now the pylote can no loadstarre see,
But skies and seas doo make most dreadfull warre;
The billowes striving to the heavens to reach, 575
And th’heavens striving them for to impeach*.
[* Impeach, hinder.]
“And, in avengement of their bold attempt,
Both sun and starres and all the heavenly powres
Conspire in one to wreake their rash contempt,
And downe on them to fall from highest towres: 580
The skie, in pieces seeming to be rent,
Throwes lightning forth, and haile, and harmful showres,
That death on everie side to them appeares,
In thousand formes, to worke more ghastly feares.
“Some in the greedie flouds are sunke and drent*; 585
Some on the rocks of Caphareus are throwne;
Some on th’Euboick cliffs in pieces rent;
Some scattred on the Hercaean** shores unknowne;
And manie lost, of whom no moniment
Remaines, nor memorie is to be showne: 590
Whilst all the purchase@ of the Phrigian pray,
Tost on salt billowes, round about doth stray.
[* Drent, drowned.]
[** Hercaean should probably be AEgean.]
[@ Purchase, booty.]
“Here manie other like heroës bee,
Equall in honour to the former crue,
Whom ye in goodly seates may placed see, 595
Descended all from Rome by linage due;
From Rome, that holds the world in sovereigntie,
And doth all nations unto her subdue:
Here Fabii and Decii doo dwell,
Horatii that in vertue did excell. 600