conquest hovers o'er th' Achaian bands; With such a tide superior virtue sway'd, And he that shakes the solid earth gave aid. But in the centre Hector fix'd remain'd, Where first the gates were forced, and bulwarks gain'd; There, on the margin of the hoary deep, (Their naval station where the Ajaces keep. And where low walls confine the beating tides, Whose humble barrier scarce the foe divides; Where late in fight both foot and horse engaged, And all the thunder of the battle raged,) There join'd, the whole Boeotian strength remains, The proud Iaonians with their sweeping trains, Locrians and Phthians, and th' Epaean force; But join'd, repel not Hector's fiery course. The flower of Athens, Stichius, Phidas, led; Bias and great Menestheus at their head: Meges the strong the Epaean bands controll'd, And Dracius prudent, and Amphion bold: The Phthians, Medon, famed for martial might, And brave Podarces, active in the fight. This drew from Phylacus his noble line; Iphiclus' son: and that (Oileus) thine: (Young Ajax' brother, by a stolen embrace; He dwelt far distant from his native place, By his fierce step-dame from his father's reign Expell'd and exiled for her brother slain:) These rule the Phthians, and their arms employ, Mix'd with Boeotians, on the shores of Troy. Now side by side, with like unwearied care, Each Ajax laboured through the field of war: So when two lordly bulls, with equal toil, Force the bright ploughshare through the fallow soil, Join'd to one yoke, the stubborn earth they tear, And trace large furrows with the shining share; O'er their huge limbs the foam descends in snow, And streams of sweat down their sour foreheads flow. A train of heroes followed through the field, Who bore by turns great Ajax' sevenfold shield; Whene'er he breathed, remissive of his might, Tired with the incessant slaughters of the fight. No following troops his brave associate grace: In