And when his coursers whirl'd the car,85
And vessels waged the naval war,
Then had thine eye discern'd aright
The peril of that deadly fight;
And how that goddess' power endued
His warlike mind with fortitude,90
The terrors of the dire affray
And Mars' assaults to drive away. 88
But few by strength or prudent mind
From their own threaten'd ranks can find
Of present death to turn the cloud95
Backward upon the hostile crowd.
Hector's bright fame is said to glow
Near where Scamander's waters flow. 95
By steep Helorus' banks of stone,[1]
Where men Area's traject name,100
In his first youth with glory's flame
Agesidamus' offspring shone.
His labours wrought in other days,
Whether upon the dusty plain,
Or islands of the neighb'ring main,105
With due encomium will I praise.
Such as in fervid youth are wrought,
If justice sanctify the deed,
Through life with sweet enjoyment fraught,
- ↑ The Helorus was a very rapid river in the southeast of Sicily, mentioned by Virgil, (Æn., iii., 698,) on the banks of which the scholiast informs us that Gelon, with the assistance of Chromius, obtained a victory over the Carthaginians. Area's traject is not so clearly defined by geographers. The scholiast is of opinion that it was a name given to that part of the Fretum Siculum contiguous to Rhegium, in commemoration of the warlike events which took place on that coast, and tells us that it is a doubtful point whether the true reading be Αρειας, or Ρεας. One edition gives αρειας, from αραις, as denoting the traject of threats—(viz., of the Carthaginians.)
