Читать книгу A Burlesque Translation of Homer - Francis Grose - Страница 4

Jove, or by fame he much bely'd is,

Sends off a Dream to hum Atrides:

His conscience telling him it meet is

To make his promise good to Thetis;

Gave it commission as it went,

To tell the cull by whom 'twas sent;

And bid it fill his head top full,

Of taking Troy, and cock and bull.

The Vision goes as it was bid,

And fairly turns the poor man's head,

Who eagerly began to stare

At castles building in the air,

And fancy'd, as the work went on,

He heard Troy's walls come tumbling down.

But ere he starts, he has an eye

The metal of his rogues to try:

He tells the chiefs, when he proposes

That homeward all shall point their noses,

They must take care, when he had sped,

To come and knock it all o' th' head.

The plot succeeds; they're glad to go;

But sly Ulysses answer'd, No;

Then drove his broomstick with a thwack

Upon Thersites' huckle back;

Check'd other scoundrels with a frown,

And knock'd the sauciest rascals down;

Proving, that at improper times

To speak the truth's the worst of crimes.

Th' assembly met; old Nestor preaches,

And all the chiefs, like schoolboys, teaches

Orders each diff'rent shire to fix

A rendezvous, nor longer mix,

But with their own bluff captains stay,

Whether they fight or run away:

And whilst thus gather'd in a cluster,

They nick the time, and make a muster.