Classic Poem

Priam, to whom the Story was unknown,
As dead, deplor'd his Metamorphos'd Son:
A Cenotaph his Name and Title kept,
And Hector round the Tomb, with all his Brothers, wept.
This pious Office Paris did not share,
Absent alone; and Author of the War,
Which, for the Spartan Queen, the Grecians drew
T' avenge the Rape; and Asia to subdue.
A thousand Ships were mann'd, to sail the Sea:
Nor had their just Resentments found Delay,
Had not the Winds and Waves oppos'd their Way.
At Aulis , with United Pow'rs they meet,
But there, Cross-winds or Calms detain'd the Fleet
Now, while they raise an Altar on the Shore,
And Jove with solemn Sacrifice adore;
A boding Sign the Priests and People see:
A Snake of Size immense ascends a Tree,
And, in the leafie Summit, spy'd a Nest,
Which o'er her Callow Young, a Sparrow press'd.
Eight were the Birds unfledg'd; their Mother flew,
And hover'd round her Care; but still in view:
Till the fierce Reptile first devour'd the Brood;
Then seiz'd the flutt'ring Dam, and drunk her Blood.
This dire Ostent, the fearful People view;
Calchas alone, by Phaebus taught, foreknew
What Heav'n decreed; and with a smiling Glance,
Thus gratulates to Greece her happy Chance.
O Argives , we shall Conquer: Troy is ours,
But long Delays shall first afflict our Pow'rs:
Nine Years of Labour, the nine Birds portend;
The Tenth shall in the Town's Destruction end.
The Serpent, who his Maw obscene had fill'd,
The Branches in his curl'd Embraces held:
But, as in Spires he stood, he turn'd to Stone:
The stony Snake retain'd the Figure still his own.
Yet, not for this, the Wind-bound Navy weigh'd;
Slack were their Sails; and Neptune disobey'd
Some thought him loath the Town shou'd be destroy'd,
Whose Building had his Hands Divine employ'd:
Not so the Seer; who knew, and known foreshow'd,
The Virgin Phaebe , with a Virgin's Blood
Must first be reconcil'd: The common Cause
Prevail'd; and Pity yielding to the Laws,
Fair Iphigenia the devoted Maid
Was, by the weeping Priests, in Linnen-Robes array'd;
All mourn her Fate; but no Relief appear'd:
The Royal Victim bound, the Knife already rear'd:
When that offended Pow'r, who caus'd their Woe,
Relenting ceas'd her Wrath; and stop'd the coming Blow,
A Mist before the Ministers she cast,
And, in the Virgin's room, a Hind she plac'd.
Th' Oblation slain, and Phaebe reconcil'd,
The Storm was hush'd, and dimpled Ocean smil'd:
A favourable Gale arose from Shore,
Which to the Port desir'd, the Grecian Gallies bore.