He, thund'ring downward hurl'd his candent bolt
To the horse-feet of Diomede: dire fum'd
The flaming sulphur, and both horses drove
Under the axle.—
Cowper's Version, book viii.
Right o'er the hollow foes the coursers leap'd,
By the immortal gods to Peleus given.—
Cowper's Version, book xvi.
[730] Cowper here inverts the order of the names, and attributes to Teucer, what in the original is ascribed to Meriones.
At once Meriones withdrew the bow
From Teucer's hand, but held the shaft the while,
Already aim'd......
He ey'd the dove aloft beneath a cloud,
And struck her circling high in air; the shaft
Pass'd through her, and returning pierc'd the soil
Before the foot of brave Meriones.
She, perching on the mast again, her head
Reclin'd, and hung her wide-unfolded wing;
But, soon expiring, dropp'd and fell remote.
The concluding lines of this passage convey a beautiful and affecting image.
[731] A production of Fielding's.
[732] Hayley's Life of Milton.