Classic Poem

Now Front to Front the hostile Armies stand,
Eager of Fight, and only wait Command:
When, to the Van, before the Sons of Fame
Whom Troy sent forth, the beauteous Paris came:
In Form a God! the Panther's speckled Hyde
Flow'd o'er his Armour with an easy Pride,
His bended Bow a-cross his Shoulders flung,
His Sword beside him negligently hung,
Two pointed Spears he shook with gallant Grace,
And dar'd the Bravest of the Grecian Race.
As thus with glorious Air and proud Disdain,
He boldly stalk'd, the foremost on the Plain,
Him Menelaus, lov'd of Mars, espies,
With Heart elated, and with joyful Eyes:
So joys a Lion if the branching Deer
Or Mountain Goat, his bulky Prize, appear;
Eager he seizes, and devours the slain,
Prest by bold Youths and baying Dogs in vain.
Thus fond of Vengeance, with a furious Bound,
In clanging Arms he leaps upon the Ground
From his high Chariot: Him, approaching near,
The beauteous Champion views with Marks of Fear,
Smit with a conscious Sense, retires behind,
And shuns the Fate he well deserv'd to find.
As when some Shepherd from the rustling Trees
Shot forth to View, a scaly Serpent sees;
Trembling and pale, he starts with wild Affright,
And all confus'd, precipitates his Flight.
So from the King the shining Warrior flies,
And plung'd amid the thickest Trojans lies.