In one great day, by one great arm achieved, Such wondrous deeds as Hector's hand has done, And we beheld, the last revolving sun What honours the beloved of Jove adorn! Sprung from no god, and of no goddess born; Yet such his acts, as Greeks unborn shall tell, And curse the battle where their fathers fell. "Now speed thy hasty course along the fleet, There call great Ajax, and the prince of Crete; Ourself to hoary Nestor will repair; To keep the guards on duty be his care, (For Nestor's influence best that quarter guides, Whose son with Merion, o'er the watch presides.") To whom the Spartan: "These thy orders borne, Say, shall I stay, or with despatch return?" "There shall thou stay, (the king of men replied,) Else may we miss to meet, without a guide, The paths so many, and the camp so wide. Still, with your voice the slothful soldiers raise, Urge by their fathers' fame their future praise. Forget we now our state and lofty birth; Not titles here, but works, must prove our worth. To labour is the lot of man below; And when Jove gave us life, he gave us woe." This said, each parted to his several cares: The king to Nestor's sable ship repairs; The sage protector of the Greeks he found Stretch'd in his bed with all his arms around The various-colour'd scarf, the shield he rears, The shining helmet, and the pointed spears; The dreadful weapons of the warrior's rage, That, old in arms, disdain'd the peace of age. Then, leaning on his hand his watchful head, The hoary monarch raised his eyes and said: "What art thou, speak, that on designs unknown, While others sleep, thus range the camp alone; Seek'st thou some friend or nightly sentinel? Stand off, approach not, but thy purpose tell." "O son of Neleus, (thus the king rejoin'd,) Pride of the Greeks, and glory of thy kind! Lo, here the wretched Agamemnon stands, The unhappy general of the Grecian bands, Whom Jove decrees with daily