Odes 1.15 (Gladstone): Pastor Cum Traheret

When with his hostess Helen o'er the seas
In Idan ships the faithless shepherd sailed,
Nereus confined the winged winds, in ease
Reluctant, and the dreadful doom unveiled.

'Thou lead'st her to thy home, ill bodes beyond!
Whom Greece with mighty host will claim again,
Sworn man by man to burst thy nuptial bond
And hurl to ruin Priam's hoary reign.

'What sweat for men and horses in the war!
Alack, what slaughter for the Dardan line!
Pallas e'en now prepares her helm and car,
Her aegis grasps, and stirs her wrath divine.

'What, art thou bold, with Venus hovering near?
Comb out thy locks, and in unwarlike strain
Scan thou the lays, that ladies love to hear.
Within thy chamber walls go hide in vain

'From point of Gnossian dart, from spearman's thrust,
From din of war, from Ajax swift as light.
Foul, thine adulterous hair shall lie in dust.
But all too late. See, born thy race to smite,

'Ulysses; look on Nestor, Pylian king;
See Salaminian Teucer, Sthenelos,
Adept of war, and keen on car to spring;
That pair, who know not fear, thy path shall cross.

'Meriones to boot; him shalt thou know,
And more than him; with passion all on fire,
And rushing far and near to find thee, lo!
The child of Tydeus, mightier than his sire.

'And thou! As in the glen some deer that spies
The wolf descending from a mountain spur,
Away, his food forgot, loud baying flies,
So thou wilt fly, despite thy vows, to her!

'Achilles and his angered warriors may
Hold back for Ilion its predestined hour;
But the fixed tale of seasons brings the day
Achaian flames shall Trojan halls devour.'