Aeneis
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Original / primary: Perseus Eng2
7.1.1
One more immortal name thy death bequeathed,
7.1.2
Nurse of Aeneas, to Italian shores,
7.1.3
Caieta; there thy honor hath a home;
7.1.4
Thy bones a name: and on Hesperia's breast
7.1.5
Their proper glory.When Aeneas now
7.1.6
The tribute of sepulchral vows had paid
7.1.7
Beside the funeral mound, and o'er the seas
7.1.8
Stillness had fallen, he flung forth his sails,
7.1.9
And leaving port pursued his destined way.
7.1.10
Freshly the night-winds breathe; the cloudless moon
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Outpours upon his path unstinted beam,
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And with far-trembling glory smites the sea.
7.1.13
Close to the lands of Circe soon they fare,
7.1.14
Where the Sun's golden daughter in far groves
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Sounds forth her ceaseless song; her lofty hall
7.1.16
Is fragrant every night with flaring brands
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Of cedar, giving light the while she weaves
7.1.18
With shrill-voiced shuttle at her linens fine.
7.1.19
From hence are heard the loud lament and wrath
7.1.20
Of lions, rebels to their linked chains
7.1.21
And roaring all night long; great bristly boars
7.1.22
And herded bears, in pinfold closely kept,
7.1.23
Rage horribly, and monster-wolves make moan;
7.1.24
Whom the dread goddess with foul juices strong
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From forms of men drove forth, and bade to wear
7.1.26
the mouths and maws of beasts in Circe's thrall.
7.1.27
But lest the sacred Trojans should endure
7.1.28
such prodigy of doom, or anchor there
7.1.29
on that destroying shore, kind Neptune filled
7.1.30
their sails with winds of power, and sped them on
7.1.31
in safety past the perils of that sea.
7.25.32
Now morning flushed the wave, and saffron-garbed
7.25.33
Aurora from her rose-red chariot beamed
7.25.34
in highest heaven; the sea-winds ceased to stir;
7.25.35
a sudden calm possessed the air, and tides
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of marble smoothness met the laboring oar.
7.25.37
Then, gazing from the deep, Aeneas saw
7.25.38
a stretch of groves, whence Tiber's smiling stream,
7.25.39
its tumbling current rich with yellow sands,
7.25.40
burst seaward forth: around it and above
7.25.41
shore-haunting birds of varied voice and plume
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flattered the sky with song, and, circling far
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o'er river-bed and grove, took joyful wing.
7.25.44
Thither to landward now his ships he steered,
7.25.45
and sailed, high-hearted, up the shadowy stream.
7.37.46
Hail, Erato! while olden kings and thrones
7.37.47
and all their sequent story I unfold!
7.37.48
How Latium's honor stood, when alien ships
7.37.49
brought war to Italy, and from what cause
7.37.50
the primal conflict sprang, O goddess, breathe
7.37.51
upon thy bard in song. Dread wars I tell,
7.37.52
array of battle, and high-hearted kings
7.37.53
thrust forth to perish, when Etruria's host
7.37.54
and all Hesperia gathered to the fray.
7.37.55
Events of grander march impel my song,
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and loftier task I try. Latinus, then
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an aged king, held long-accepted sway
7.37.58
o'er tranquil vales and towns. He was the son
7.37.59
of Faunus, so the legend tells, who wed
7.37.60
the nymph Marica of Laurentian stem.
7.37.61
Picus was Faunus' father, whence the line
7.37.62
to Saturn's Ioins ascends. O heavenly sire,
7.37.63
from thee the stem began! But Fate had given
7.37.64
to King Latinus' body no heirs male:
7.37.65
for taken in the dawning of his day
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his only son had been; and now his home
7.37.67
and spacious palace one sole daughter kept,
7.37.68
who was grown ripe to wed and of full age
7.37.69
to take a husband. Many suitors tried
7.37.70
from all Ausonia and Latium's bounds;
7.37.71
but comeliest in all their princely throng
7.37.72
came Turnus, of a line of mighty sires.
7.37.73
Him the queen mother chiefly loved, and yearned
7.37.74
to call him soon her son. But omens dire
7.37.75
and menaces from Heaven withstood her will.
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A laurel-tree grew in the royal close,
7.37.77
of sacred leaf and venerated age,
7.37.78
which, when he builded there his wall and tower,
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Father Latinus found, and hallowed it
7.37.80
to Phoebus' grace and power, wherefrom the name
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Laurentian, which his realm and people bear.
7.37.82
Unto this tree-top, wonderful to tell,
7.37.83
came hosts of bees, with audible acclaim
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voyaging the stream of air, and seized a place
7.37.85
on the proud, pointing crest, where the swift swarm,
7.37.86
with interlacement of close-clinging feet,
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swung from the leafy bough. “Behold, there comes,”
7.37.88
the prophet cried, “a husband from afar!
7.37.89
To the same region by the self-same path
7.37.90
behold an arm'd host taking lordly sway
7.37.91
upon our city's crown!” Soon after this,
7.37.92
when, coming to the shrine with torches pure,
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Lavinia kindled at her father's side
7.37.94
the sacrifice, swift seemed the flame to burn
7.37.95
along her flowing hair—O sight of woe!
7.37.96
Over her broidered snood it sparkling flew,
7.37.97
lighting her queenly tresses and her crown
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of jewels rare: then, wrapt in flaming cloud,
7.37.99
from hall to hall the fire-god's gift she flung.
7.37.100
This omen dread and wonder terrible
7.37.101
was rumored far: for prophet-voices told
7.37.102
bright honors on the virgin's head to fall
7.37.103
by Fate's decree, but on her people, war.
7.81.104
The King, sore troubled by these portents, sought
7.81.105
oracular wisdom of his sacred sire,
7.81.106
Faunus, the fate-revealer, where the groves
7.81.107
stretch under high Albunea, and her stream
7.81.108
roars from its haunted well, exhaling through
7.81.109
vast, gloomful woods its pestilential air.
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Here all Oenotria's tribes ask oracles
7.81.111
in dark and doubtful days: here, when the priest
7.81.112
has brought his gifts, and in the night so still,
7.81.113
couched on spread fleeces of the offered flock,
7.81.114
awaiting slumber lies, then wondrously
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a host of flitting shapes he sees, and hears
7.81.116
voices that come and go: with gods he holds
7.81.117
high converse, or in deep Avernian gloom
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parleys with Acheron. Thither drew near
7.81.119
Father Latinus, seeking truth divine.
7.81.120
Obedient to the olden rite, he slew
7.81.121
a hundred fleecy sheep, and pillowed lay
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upon their outstretched skins. Straightway a voice
7.81.123
out of the lofty forest met his prayer.
7.81.124
“Seek not in wedlock with a Latin lord
7.81.125
to join thy daughter, O my son and seed!
7.81.126
Beware this purposed marriage! There shall come
7.81.127
sons from afar, whose blood shall bear our name
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starward; the children of their mighty loins,
7.81.129
as far as eve and morn enfold the seas,
7.81.130
shall see a subject world beneath their feet
7.81.131
submissive lie.” This admonition given
7.81.132
Latinus hid not. But on restless wing
7.81.133
rumor had spread it, when the men of Troy
7.81.134
along the river-bank of mounded green
7.81.135
their fleet made fast.Aeneas and his chiefs,
7.81.136
with fair Iulus, under spreading boughs
7.81.137
of one great tree made resting-place, and set
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the banquet on. Thin loaves of altar-bread
7.81.139
along the sward to bear their meats were laid
7.81.140
(such was the will of Jove), and wilding fruits
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rose heaping high, with Ceres' gift below.
7.81.142
Soon, all things else devoured, their hunger turned
7.81.143
to taste the scanty bread, which they attacked
7.81.144
with tooth and nail audacious, and consumed
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both round and square of that predestined leaven.
7.81.146
“Look, how we eat our tables even!” cried
7.81.147
Iulus, in a jest. Such was the word
7.81.148
which bade their burdens fall. From his boy's lip
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the father caught this utterance of Fate,
7.81.150
silent with wonder at the ways of Heaven;
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then swift he spoke: “Hail! O my destined shore,
7.81.152
protecting deities of Ilium, hail!
7.81.153
Here is our home, our country here! This day
7.81.154
I publish the mysterious prophecy
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by Sire Anchises given: ‘My son,’ said he,
7.81.156
‘When hunger in strange lands shall bid devour
7.81.157
the tables of thy banquet gone, then hope
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for home, though weary, and take thought to build
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a dwelling and a battlement.’ Behold!
7.81.160
This was our fated hunger! This last proof
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will end our evil days. Up, then! For now
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by morning's joyful beam we will explore
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what men, what cities, in this region be,
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and, leaving ship, our several errands ply.
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Your gift to Jove outpour! Make thankful prayer
7.81.166
unto Anchises' shade! To this our feast
7.81.167
bring back the flowing wine!” Thereat he bound
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his forehead with green garland, calling loud
7.81.169
upon the Genius of that place, and Earth,
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eldest of names divine; the Nymphs he called,
7.81.171
and river-gods unknown; his voice invoked
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the night, the omen-stars through night that roll.
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Jove, Ida's child, and Phrygia's fertile Queen:
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he called his mother from Olympian skies,
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and sire from Erebus. Lo, o'er his head
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three times unclouded Jove omnipotent
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in thunder spoke, and, with effulgent ray
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from his ethereal tract outreaching far,
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shook visibly the golden-gleaming air.
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Swift, through the concourse of the Trojans, spread
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news of the day at hand when they should build
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their destined walls. So, with rejoicing heart
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at such vast omen, they set forth a feast
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with zealous emulation, ranging well
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the wine-cups fair with many a garland crowned.
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Soon as the morrow with the lamp of dawn
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looked o'er the world, they took their separate ways,
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exploring shore and towns; here spread the pools
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and fountain of Numicius; here they see
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the river Tiber, where bold Latins dwell.
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Anchises' son chose out from his brave band
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a hundred envoys, bidding them depart
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to the King's sacred city, each enwreathed
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with Pallas' silver leaf; and gifts they bear
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to plead for peace and friendship at his throne.
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While on this errand their swift steps are sped,
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Aeneas, by a shallow moat and small,
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his future city shows, breaks ground, and girds
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with mound and breastwork like a camp of war
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the Trojans' first abode. Soon, making way
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to where the Latin citadel uprose,
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the envoys scanned the battlements, and paused
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beneath its wall. Outside the city gates
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fair youths and striplings in life's early bloom
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course with swift steeds, or steer through dusty cloud
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the whirling chariot, or stretch stout bows,
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or hurl the seasoned javelin, or strive
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in boxing-bout and foot-race: one of these
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made haste on horseback to the aged King,
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with tidings of a stranger company
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in foreign garb approaching. The good King
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bade call them to his house, and took his seat
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in mid-court on his high, ancestral throne.
7.170.214
Large and majestical the castle rose:
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a hundred columns lifted it in air
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upon the city's crown—the royal keep
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of Picus of Laurentum; round it lay
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deep, gloomy woods by olden worship blest.
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Here kings took sceptre and the fasces proud
7.170.220
with omens fair; the selfsame sacred place
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was senate-house and temple; here was found
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a hall for hallowed feasting, where a ram
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was offered up, and at long banquet-boards
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the nation's fathers sat in due array.
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Here ranged ancestral statues roughly hewn
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of ancient cedar-wood: King Italus;
7.170.227
Father Sabinus, planter of the vine,
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a curving sickle in his sculptured hand;
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gray-bearded Saturn; and the double brow
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of Janus' head; and other sires and kings
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were wardens of the door, with many a chief
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wounded in battle for his native land.
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Trophies of arms in goodly order hung
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along the columns: chariots of war
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from foeman taken, axes of round blade,
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plumed helmets, bolts and barriers of steel
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from city-gates, shields, spears, and beaks of bronze
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from captured galleys by the conqueror torn.
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Here, wielding his Quirinal augur-staff,
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girt in scant shift, and bearing on his left
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the sacred oval shield, appeared enthroned
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Picus, breaker of horses, whom his bride,
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enamoured Circe, smote with golden wand,
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and, raining o'er him potent poison-dew,
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changed to a bird of pied and dappled wings.
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In such a temple of his gods did Sire
7.192.247
Latinus, on hereditary throne,
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welcome the Trojans to his halls, and thus
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with brow serene gave greeting as they came:
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“O sons of Dardanus, think not unknown
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your lineage and city! Rumored far
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your venturous voyage has been. What seek ye here?
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What cause, what quest, has brought your barks and you
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o'er the blue waters to Ausonia's hills?
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What way uncharted, or wild stress of storm,
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or what that sailors suffer in mid-sea,
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unto this river bank and haven bore?
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Doubt not our welcome! We of Latin land
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are Saturn's sons, whose equitable minds,
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not chained by statute or compulsion, keep
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in freedom what the god's good custom gave.
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Now I bethink me our Ausonian seers
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have dark, dim lore that 't was this land gave birth
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to Dardanus, who after took his way
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through Phrygian Ida's towns and Samothrace.
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Once out of Tuscan Corythus he fared;
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but now in golden house among the stars
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he has a throne, and by his altars blest
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adds to the number of the gods we praise.”
7.212.270
He spoke; Ilioneus this answer made:
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“O King, great heir of Faunus! No dark storm
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impelled us o'er the flood thy realm to find.
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Nor star deceived, nor strange, bewildering shore
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threw out of our true course; but we are come
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by our free choice and with deliberate aim
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to this thy town, though exiled forth of realms
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once mightiest of all the sun-god sees
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when moving from his utmost eastern bound.
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From Jove our line began; the sons of Troy
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boast Jove to be their sire, and our true King
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is of Olympian seed. To thine abode
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Trojan Aeneas sent us. How there burst
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o'er Ida's vales from dread Mycenae's kings
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a tempest vast, and by what stroke of doom
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all Asia's world with Europe clashed in war,
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that lone wight hears whom earth's remotest isle
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has banished to the Ocean's rim, or he
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whose dwelling is the ample zone that burns
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betwixt the changeful sun-god's milder realms,
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far severed from the world. We are the men
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from war's destroying deluge safely borne
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over the waters wide. We only ask
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some low-roofed dwelling for our fathers' gods,
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some friendly shore, and, what to all is free,
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water and air. We bring no evil name
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upon thy people; thy renown will be
7.212.297
but wider spread; nor of a deed so fair
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can grateful memory die. Ye ne'er will rue
7.212.299
that to Ausonia's breast ye gathered Troy.
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I swear thee by the favored destinies
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of great Aeneas, by his strength of arm
7.212.302
in friendship or in war, that many a tribe
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(O, scorn us not, that, bearing olive green,
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with suppliant words we come), that many a throne
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has sued us to be friends. But Fate's decree
7.212.306
to this thy realm did guide. Here Dardanus
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was born; and with reiterate command
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this way Apollo pointed to the stream
7.212.309
of Tiber and Numicius' haunted spring.
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Lo, these poor tributes from his greatness gone
7.212.311
Aeneas sends, these relics snatched away
7.212.312
from Ilium burning: with this golden bowl
7.212.313
Anchises poured libation when he prayed;
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and these were Priam's splendor, when he gave
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laws to his gathered states; this sceptre his,
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this diadem revered, and beauteous pall,
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handwork of Asia's queens.” So ceased to speak
7.212.318
Ilioneus. But King Latinus gazed
7.212.319
unanswering on the ground, all motionless
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save for his musing eyes. The broidered pall
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of purple, and the sceptre Priam bore,
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moved little on his kingly heart, which now
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pondered of giving to the bridal bed
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his daughter dear. He argues in his mind
7.212.325
the oracle of Faunus:—might this be
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that destined bridegroom from an alien land,
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to share his throne, to get a progeny
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of glorious valor, which by mighty deeds
7.212.329
should win the world for kingdom? So at last
7.212.330
with joyful brow he spoke: “Now let the gods
7.212.331
our purpose and their own fair promise bless!
7.212.332
Thou hast, O Trojan, thy desire. Thy gifts
7.212.333
I have not scorned; nor while Latinus reigns
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shall ye lack riches in my plenteous land,
7.212.335
not less than Trojan store. But where is he,
7.212.336
Aeneas' self? If he our royal love
7.212.337
so much desire, and have such urgent mind
7.212.338
to be our guest and friend, let him draw near,
7.212.339
nor turn him from well-wishing looks away!
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My offering and pledge of peace shall be
7.212.341
to clasp your monarch's hand. Bear back, I pray,
7.212.342
this answer to your King: my dwelling holds
7.212.343
a daughter, whom with husband of her blood
7.212.344
great signs in heaven and from my father's tomb
7.212.345
forbid to wed. A son from alien shores
7.212.346
they prophesy for Latium's heir, whose seed
7.212.347
shall lift our glory to the stars divine.
7.212.348
I am persuaded this is none but he,
7.212.349
that man of destiny; and if my heart
7.212.350
be no false prophet, I desire it so.”
7.212.351
Thus having said, the sire took chosen steeds
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from his full herd, whereof, well-groomed and fair,
7.212.353
three hundred stood within his ample pale.
7.212.354
Of these to every Teucrian guest he gave
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a courser swift and strong, in purple clad
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and broidered housings gay; on every breast
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hung chains of gold; in golden robes arrayed,
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they champed the red gold curb their teeth between.
7.212.359
For offering to Aeneas, he bade send
7.212.360
a chariot, with chargers twain of seed
7.212.361
ethereal, their nostrils breathing fire:
7.212.362
the famous kind which guileful Circe bred,
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cheating her sire, and mixed the sun-god's team
7.212.364
with brood-mares earthly born. The sons of Troy,
7.212.365
such gifts and greetings from Latinus bearing,
7.212.366
rode back in pomp his words of peace to bring.
7.286.367
But lo! from Argos on her voyage of air
7.286.368
rides the dread spouse of Jove. She, sky-enthroned
7.286.369
above the far Sicilian promontory,
7.286.370
pachynus, sees Dardania's rescued fleet,
7.286.371
and all Aeneas' joy. The prospect shows
7.286.372
houses a-building, lands of safe abode,
7.286.373
and the abandoned ships. With bitter grief
7.286.374
she stands at gaze: then with storm-shaken brows,
7.286.375
thus from her heart lets loose the wrathful word:
7.286.376
“O hated race! O Phrygian destinies —
7.286.377
to mine forevermore (unhappy me!)
7.286.378
a scandal and offense! Did no one die
7.286.379
on Troy's embattled plain? Could captured slaves
7.286.380
not be enslaved again? Was Ilium's flame
7.286.381
no warrior's funeral pyre? Did they walk safe
7.286.382
through serried swords and congregated fires?
7.286.383
At last, methought, my godhead might repose,
7.286.384
and my full-fed revenge in slumber lie.
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But nay! Though flung forth from their native land,
7.286.386
I o'er the waves, with enmity unstayed,
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dared give them chase, and on that exiled few
7.286.388
hurled the whole sea. I smote the sons of Troy
7.286.389
with ocean's power and heaven's. But what availed
7.286.390
Syrtes, or Scylla, or Charybdis' waves?
7.286.391
The Trojans are in Tiber; and abide
7.286.392
within their prayed-for land delectable,
7.286.393
safe from the seas and me! Mars once had power
7.286.394
the monstrous Lapithae to slay; and Jove
7.286.395
to Dian's honor and revenge gave o'er
7.286.396
the land of Calydon. What crime so foul
7.286.397
was wrought by Lapithae or Calydon?
7.286.398
But I, Jove's wife and Queen, who in my woes
7.286.399
have ventured each bold stroke my power could find,
7.286.400
and every shift essayed,—behold me now
7.286.401
outdone by this Aeneas! If so weak
7.286.402
my own prerogative of godhead be,
7.286.403
let me seek strength in war, come whence it will!
7.286.404
If Heaven I may not move, on Hell I call.
7.286.405
To bar him from his Latin throne exceeds
7.286.406
my fated power. So be it! Fate has given
7.286.407
Lavinia for his bride. But long delays
7.286.408
I still can plot, and to the high event
7.286.409
deferment and obstruction. I can smite
7.286.410
the subjects of both kings. Let sire and son
7.286.411
buy with their people's blood this marriage-bond!
7.286.412
Let Teucrian and Rutulian slaughter be
7.286.413
thy virgin dower, and Bellona's blaze
7.286.414
light thee the bridal bed! Not only teemed
7.286.415
the womb of Hecuba with burning brand,
7.286.416
and brought forth nuptial fires; but Venus, too,
7.286.417
such offspring bore, a second Paris, who
7.286.418
to their new Troy shall fatal wedlock bring.”
7.323.419
So saying, with aspect terrible she sped
7.323.420
earthward her way; and called from gloom of hell
7.323.421
Alecto, woeful power, from cloudy throne
7.323.422
among the Furies, where her heart is fed
7.323.423
with horrid wars, wrath, vengeance, treason foul,
7.323.424
and fatal feuds. Her father Pluto loathes
7.323.425
the creature he engendered, and with hate
7.323.426
her hell-born sister-fiends the monster view.
7.323.427
A host of shapes she wears, and many a front
7.323.428
of frowning black brows viper-garlanded.
7.323.429
Juno to her this goading speech addressed:
7.323.430
“O daughter of dark Night, arouse for me
7.323.431
thy wonted powers and our task begin!
7.323.432
Lest now my glory fail, my royal name
7.323.433
be vanquished, while Aeneas and his crew
7.323.434
cheat with a wedlock bond the Latin King
7.323.435
and seize Italia's fields. Thou canst thrust on
7.323.436
two Ioving brothers to draw sword and slay,
7.323.437
and ruin homes with hatred, calling in
7.323.438
the scourge of Furies and avenging fires.
7.323.439
A thousand names thou bearest, and thy ways
7.323.440
of ruin multiply a thousand-fold.
7.323.441
Arouse thy fertile breast! Go, rend in twain
7.323.442
this plighted peace! Breed calumnies and sow
7.323.443
causes of battle, till yon warrior hosts
7.323.444
cry out for swords and leap to gird them on.”
7.341.445
Straightway Alecto, through whose body flows
7.341.446
the Gorgon poison, took her viewless way
7.341.447
to Latium and the lofty walls and towers
7.341.448
of the Laurentian King. Crouching she sate
7.341.449
in silence on the threshold of the bower
7.341.450
where Queen Amata in her fevered soul
7.341.451
pondered, with all a woman's wrath and fear,
7.341.452
upon the Trojans and the marriage-suit
7.341.453
of Turnus. From her Stygian hair the fiend
7.341.454
a single serpent flung, which stole its way
7.341.455
to the Queen's very heart, that, frenzy-driven,
7.341.456
she might on her whole house confusion pour.
7.341.457
Betwixt her smooth breast and her robe it wound
7.341.458
unfelt, unseen, and in her wrathful mind
7.341.459
instilled its viper soul. Like golden chain
7.341.460
around her neck it twined, or stretched along
7.341.461
the fillets on her brow, or with her hair
7.341.462
enwrithing coiled; then on from limb to limb
7.341.463
slipped tortuous. Yet though the venom strong
7.341.464
thrilled with its first infection every vein,
7.341.465
and touched her bones with fire, she knew it not,
7.341.466
nor yielded all her soul, but made her plea
7.341.467
in gentle accents such as mothers use;
7.341.468
and many a tear she shed, about her child,
7.341.469
her darling, destined for a Phrygian's bride:
7.341.470
“O father! can we give Lavinia's hand
7.341.471
to Trojan fugitives? why wilt thou show
7.341.472
no mercy on thy daughter, nor thyself;
7.341.473
nor unto me, whom at the first fair wind
7.341.474
that wretch will leave deserted, bearing far
7.341.475
upon his pirate ship my stolen child?
7.341.476
Was it not thus that Phrygian shepherd came
7.341.477
to Lacedaemon, ravishing away
7.341.478
Helen, the child of Leda, whom he bore
7.341.479
to those false Trojan lands? Hast thou forgot
7.341.480
thy plighted word? Where now thy boasted love
7.341.481
of kith and kin, and many a troth-plight given
7.341.482
unto our kinsman Turnus? If we need
7.341.483
an alien son, and Father Faunus' words
7.341.484
irrevocably o'er thy spirit brood,
7.341.485
I tell thee every land not linked with ours
7.341.486
under one sceptre, but distinct and free,
7.341.487
is alien; and 't is thus the gods intend.
7.341.488
Indeed, if Turnus' ancient race be told,
7.341.489
it sprang of Inachus, Acrisius,
7.341.490
and out of mid-Mycenae.” But she sees
7.341.491
her lord Latinus resolute, her words
7.341.492
an effort vain; and through her body spreads
7.341.493
the Fury's deeply venomed viper-sting.
7.341.494
Then, woe-begone, by dark dreams goaded on,
7.341.495
she wanders aimless, fevered and unstrung
7.341.496
along the public ways; as oft one sees
7.341.497
beneath the twisted whips a leaping top
7.341.498
sped in long spirals through a palace-close
7.341.499
by lads at play: obedient to the thong,
7.341.500
it weaves wide circles in the gaping view
7.341.501
of its small masters, who admiring see
7.341.502
the whirling boxwood made a living thing
7.341.503
under their lash. So fast and far she roved
7.341.504
from town to town among the clansmen wild.
7.341.505
Then to the wood she ran, feigning to feel
7.341.506
the madness Bacchus loves; for she essays
7.341.507
a fiercer crime, by fiercer frenzy moved.
7.341.508
Now in the leafy dark of mountain vales
7.341.509
she hides her daughter, ravished thus away
7.341.510
from Trojan bridegroom and the wedding-feast.
7.341.511
“Hail, Bacchus! Thou alone,” she shrieked and raved,
7.341.512
“art worthy such a maid. For thee she bears
7.341.513
the thyrsus with soft ivy-clusters crowned,
7.341.514
and trips ecstatic in thy beauteous choir.
7.341.515
For thee alone my daughter shall unbind
7.341.516
the glory of her virgin hair.” Swift runs
7.341.517
the rumor of her deed; and, frenzy-driven,
7.341.518
the wives of Latium to the forests fly,
7.341.519
enkindled with one rage. They leave behind
7.341.520
their desolated hearths, and let rude winds
7.341.521
o'er neck and tresses blow; their voices fill
7.341.522
the welkin with convulsive shriek and wail;
7.341.523
and, with fresh fawn-skins on their bodies bound,
7.341.524
they brandish vine-clad spears. The Queen herself
7.341.525
lifts high a blazing pine tree, while she sings
7.341.526
a wedding-song for Turnus and her child.
7.341.527
With bloodshot glance and anger wild, she cries:
7.341.528
“Ho! all ye Latin wives, if e'er ye knew
7.341.529
kindness for poor Amata, if ye care
7.341.530
for a wronged mother's woes, O, follow me!
7.341.531
Cast off the matron fillet from your brows,
7.341.532
and revel to our mad, voluptuous song.”
7.341.533
Thus, through the woodland haunt of creatures wild,
7.341.534
Alecto urges on the raging Queen
7.341.535
with Bacchus' cruel goad. But when she deemed
7.341.536
the edge of wrath well whetted, and the house
7.341.537
of wise Latinus of all reason reft,
7.341.538
then soared the black-winged goddess to the walls
7.341.539
of the bold Rutule, to the city built
7.341.540
(So runs the tale) by beauteous Danae
7.341.541
and her Acrisian people, shipwrecked there
7.341.542
by south wind strong. Its name was Ardea
7.341.543
in language of our sires, and that proud name
7.341.544
of Ardea still it wears, though proud no more.
7.341.545
Here Turnus in the gloom of midnight lay
7.341.546
half-sleeping in his regal hall. For him
7.341.547
Alecto her grim fury-guise put by,
7.341.548
and wore an old crone's face, her baleful brow
7.341.549
delved deep with wrinkled age, her hoary hair
7.341.550
in sacred fillet bound, and garlanded
7.341.551
with leaf of olive: Calybe she seemed,
7.341.552
an aged servitress ot Juno's shrine,
7.341.553
and in this seeming thus the prince addressed:—
7.341.554
“O Turnus, wilt thou tamely see thy toil
7.341.555
lavished in vain? and thy true throne consigned
7.341.556
to Trojan wanderers? The King repels
7.341.557
thy noble wooing and thy war-won dower.
7.341.558
He summons him a son of alien stem
7.341.559
to take his kingdom. Rouse thee now, and front,
7.341.560
scorned and without reward, these perilous days.
7.341.561
Tread down that Tuscan host! Protect the peace
7.341.562
of Latium from its foe! Such is the word
7.341.563
which, while in night and slumber thou wert laid,
7.341.564
Saturnia's godhead, visibly revealed,
7.341.565
bade me declare. Up, therefore, and array
7.341.566
thy warriors in arms! Swift sallying forth
7.341.567
from thy strong city-gates, on to the fray
7.341.568
exultant go! Assail the Phrygian chiefs
7.341.569
who tent them by thy beauteous river's marge,
7.341.570
and burn their painted galleys! 't is the will
7.341.571
of gods above that speaks. Yea, even the King
7.341.572
Latinus, if he will not heed thy plea,
7.341.573
or hear thy wooing, shall be taught too late
7.341.574
what Turnus is in panoply of war.”
7.435.575
In mocking answer to the prophetess
7.435.576
the warrior thus replied: “That stranger fleet
7.435.577
in Tiber moored, not, as thy folly prates,
7.435.578
of me unnoted lies. Vex me no more
7.435.579
with thy fantastic terror. Juno's power
7.435.580
is watchful of my cause. 'T is mere old age,
7.435.581
gone to decay and dotage, fills thy breast
7.435.582
with vain foreboding, and, while kings contend,
7.435.583
scares and deceives thy visionary eye.
7.435.584
Guard thou in yonder temple's holy shade
7.435.585
the images divine! Of peace and war
7.435.586
let men and warriors the burden bear!”
7.445.587
So kindled he Alecto's wrath to flame;
7.445.588
and even as he spoke a shudder thrilled
7.445.589
the warrior's body, and his eyeballs stood
7.445.590
stonily staring at the hydra hair
7.445.591
which hissed and writhed above the grisly head
7.445.592
of the large-looming fiend. With eyes of fire
7.445.593
horribly rolling, she repelled him far,
7.445.594
while he but faltered speechless. She upraised
7.445.595
two coiling snakes out of her tresses, cracked
7.445.596
the lashes of her scourge, and wrathfully,
7.445.597
with raving lips replied: “Look well on me,
7.445.598
gone to decay and dotage of old age!
7.445.599
And mocked with foolish fear while kings contend!
7.445.600
Wilt hearken now! Behold me, hither flown
7.445.601
from where my sister-furies dwell! My hands
7.445.602
bring bloody death and war.” She spoke, and hurled
7.445.603
her firebrand at the hero, thrusting deep
7.445.604
beneath his heart her darkly smouldering flame.
7.445.605
Then horror broke his sleep, and fearful sweat
7.445.606
dripped from his every limb. He shrieked aloud
7.445.607
for arms; and seized the ready arms that lay
7.445.608
around his couch and hall. Then o'er his soul
7.445.609
the lust of battle and wild curse of war
7.445.610
broke forth in angry power, as when the flames
7.445.611
of faggots round the bubbling cauldron sing,
7.445.612
and up the waters leap; the close-kept flood
7.445.613
brims over, streaming, foaming, breaking bound,
7.445.614
and flings thick clouds in air. He, summoning
7.445.615
his chieftains, bade them on Latinus move,
7.445.616
break peace, take arms, and, over Italy
7.445.617
their shields extending, to thrust forth her foe:
7.445.618
himself for Teucrian with Latin joined
7.445.619
was more than match. He called upon the gods
7.445.620
in witness of his vows: while, nothing loth,
7.445.621
Rutulia's warriors rushed into array;
7.445.622
some by his youth and noble beauty moved,
7.445.623
some by his kingly sires and fame in arms.
7.475.624
While Turnus stirred Rutulia's valiant souls,
7.475.625
Alecto on her Stygian pinions sped
7.475.626
to where the Teucrians lay. She scanned the ground
7.475.627
with eager guile, where by the river's marge
7.475.628
fair-browed Iulus with his nets and snares
7.475.629
rode fiercely to the chase. Then o'er his hounds
7.475.630
that hell-born virgin breathed a sudden rage,
7.475.631
and filled each cunning nostril with the scent
7.475.632
of stags, till forth in wild pursuit they flew.
7.475.633
Here all the woe began, and here awoke
7.475.634
in rustic souls the swift-enkindling war.
7.475.635
For a fair stag, tall-antlered, stolen away
7.475.636
even from its mother's milk, had long been kept
7.475.637
by Tyrrhus and his sons—the shepherd he
7.475.638
of all the royal flocks, and forester
7.475.639
of a wide region round. With fondest care
7.475.640
their sister Silvia entwined its horns
7.475.641
with soft, fresh garlands, tamed it to run close,
7.475.642
and combed the creature, or would bring to bathe
7.475.643
at a clear, crystal spring. It knew the hands
7.475.644
of all its gentle masters, and would feed
7.475.645
from their own dish; or wandering through the wood,
7.475.646
come back unguided to their friendly door,
7.475.647
though deep the evening shade. Iulus' dogs
7.475.648
now roused this wanderer in their ravening chase,
7.475.649
as, drifted down-stream far from home it lay,
7.475.650
on a green bank a-cooling. From bent bow
7.475.651
Ascanius, eager for a hunter's praise,
7.475.652
let go his shaft; nor did Alecto fail
7.475.653
his aim to guide: but, whistling through the air,
7.475.654
the light-winged reed pierced deep in flank and side.
7.475.655
Swift to its cover fled the wounded thing,
7.475.656
and crept loud-moaning to its wonted stall,
7.475.657
where, like a blood-stained suppliant, it seemed
7.475.658
to fill that shepherd's house with plaintive prayer.
7.475.659
Then Silvia the sister, smiting oft
7.475.660
on breast and arm, made cry for help, and called
7.475.661
the sturdy rustics forth in gathering throng.
7.475.662
These now (for in the silent forest couched
7.475.663
the cruel Fury) swift to battle flew.
7.475.664
One brandished a charred stake, another swung
7.475.665
a knotted cudgel, as rude anger shapes
7.475.666
its weapon of whate'er the searching eye
7.475.667
first haps to fall on. Tyrrhus roused his clans,
7.475.668
just when by chance he split with blows of wedge
7.475.669
an oak in four; and, panting giant breath,
7.475.670
shouldered his woodman's axe. Alecto then,
7.475.671
prompt to the stroke of mischief, soared aloft
7.475.672
from where she spying sate, to the steep roof
7.475.673
of a tall byre, and from its peak of straw
7.475.674
blew a wild signal on a shepherd's horn,
7.475.675
outflinging her infernal note so far
7.475.676
that all the forest shuddered, and the grove
7.475.677
throbbed to its deepest glen. Cold Trivia's lake
7.475.678
from end to end gave ear, and every wave
7.475.679
of the white stream of Nar, the lonely pools
7.475.680
of still Velinus heard: while at the sound
7.475.681
pale mothers to their breasts their children drew.
7.475.682
Swift to the signal of the dreadful horn,
7.475.683
snatching their weapons rude, the freeborn swains
7.475.684
assembled for the fray; the Trojan bands
7.475.685
poured from their bivouac with instant aid
7.475.686
for young Ascanius. In array of war
7.475.687
both stand confronting. Not mere rustic brawl
7.475.688
with charred oak-staff and cudgel is the fight,
7.475.689
but with the two-edged steel; the naked swords
7.475.690
wave like dark-bladed harvest-field, while far
7.475.691
the brazen arms flash in the smiting sun,
7.475.692
and skyward fling their beam: so some wide sea,
7.475.693
at first but whitened in the rising wind,
7.475.694
swells its slow-rolling mass and ever higher
7.475.695
its billows rears, until the utmost deep
7.475.696
lifts in one surge to heaven. The first to fall
7.475.697
was Almo, eldest-born of Tyrrhus' sons,
7.475.698
whom, striding in the van, a loud-winged shaft
7.475.699
laid low in death; deep in his throat it clung,
7.475.700
and silenced with his blood the dying cry
7.475.701
of his frail life. Around him fell the forms
7.475.702
of many a brave and strong; among them died
7.475.703
gray-haired Galaesus pleading for a truce:
7.475.704
righteous he was, and of Ausonian fields
7.475.705
a prosperous master; five full flocks had he
7.475.706
of bleating sheep, and from his pastures came
7.475.707
five herds of cattle home; his busy churls
7.475.708
turned with a hundred ploughs his fruitful glebe.
7.540.709
While o'er the battle-field thus doubtful swung
7.540.710
the scales of war, the Fury (to her task
7.540.711
now equal proven) having dyed the day
7.540.712
a deep-ensanguined hue, and opened fight
7.540.713
with death and slaughter, made no tarrying
7.540.714
within Hesperia, but skyward soared,
7.540.715
and, Ioud in triumph, insolently thus
7.540.716
to Juno called: “See, at thy will, their strife
7.540.717
full-blown to war and woe! Could even thyself
7.540.718
command them now to truce and amity?
7.540.719
But I, that with Ausonia's blood befoul
7.540.720
their Trojan hands, yet more can do, if thou
7.540.721
shift not thy purpose. For with dire alarms
7.540.722
I will awake the bordering states to war
7.540.723
enkindling in their souls the frenzied lust
7.540.724
the war-god breathes; till from th' horizon round
7.540.725
the reinforcement pours—I scattering seeds
7.540.726
of carnage through the land.” In answer spoke
7.540.727
juno: “Enough of artifice and fear!
7.540.728
Thy provocation works. Now have they joined
7.540.729
in close and deadly combat, and warm blood
7.540.730
those sudden-leaping swords incarnadines,
7.540.731
which chance put in their hands. Such nuptial joys,
7.540.732
such feast of wedlock, let the famous son
7.540.733
of Venus with the King Latinus share!
7.540.734
But yon Olympian Sire and King no more
7.540.735
permits thee freely in our skies to roam.
7.540.736
Go, quit the field! Myself will take control
7.540.737
of hazards and of labors yet to be.”
7.540.738
Thus Saturn's daughter spoke. Alecto then,
7.540.739
unfolding far her hissing, viperous wings,
7.540.740
turned toward her Stygian home, and took farewell
7.540.741
of upper air. Deep in Italia lies
7.540.742
a region mountain-girded, widely famed,
7.540.743
and known in olden songs from land to land:
7.540.744
the valley of Amsanctus; deep, dark shades
7.540.745
enclose it between forest-walls, whereby
7.540.746
through thunderous stony channel serpentines
7.540.747
a roaring fall. Here in a monstrous cave
7.540.748
are breathing-holes of hell, a vast abyss
7.540.749
where Acheron opes wide its noisome jaws:
7.540.750
in this Alecto plunged, concealing so
7.540.751
her execrable godhead, while the air
7.540.752
of earth and heaven felt the curse removed.
7.572.753
Forthwith the sovereign hands of Juno haste
7.572.754
to consummate the war. The shepherds bear
7.572.755
back from the field of battle to the town
7.572.756
the bodies of the slain: young Almo's corse
7.572.757
and gray Galaesus' bleeding head. They call
7.572.758
just gods in heaven to Iook upon their wrong,
7.572.759
and bid Latinus see it. Turnus comes,
7.572.760
and, while the angry mob surveys the slain,
7.572.761
adds fury to the hour. “Shall the land
7.572.762
have Trojan lords? Shall Phrygian marriages
7.572.763
debase our ancient, royal blood—and I
7.572.764
be spurned upon the threshold?” Then drew near
7.572.765
the men whose frenzied women-folk had held
7.572.766
bacchantic orgies in the pathless grove,
7.572.767
awed by Amata's name: these, gathering,
7.572.768
sued loud for war. Yea, all defied the signs
7.572.769
and venerable omens; all withstood
7.572.770
divine decrees, and clamored for revenge,
7.572.771
prompted by evil powers. They besieged
7.572.772
the house of King Latinus, shouting-loud
7.572.773
with emulous rage. But like a sea-girt rock
7.572.774
unmoved he stood; like sea-girt rock when surge
7.572.775
of waters o'er it sweeps, or howling waves
7.572.776
surround; it keeps a ponderous front of power,
7.572.777
though foaming cliffs around it vainly roar;
7.572.778
from its firm base the broken sea-weeds fall.
7.572.779
But when authority no whit could change
7.572.780
their counsels blind, and each event fulfilled
7.572.781
dread Juno's will, then with complaining prayer
7.572.782
the aged sire cried loud upon his gods
7.572.783
and on th' unheeding air: “Alas,” said he,
7.572.784
“My doom is shipwreck, and the tempest bears
7.572.785
my bark away! O wretches, your own blood
7.572.786
shall pay the forfeit for your impious crime.
7.572.787
O Turnus! O abominable deed!
7.572.788
Avenging woes pursue thee; to deaf gods
7.572.789
thy late and unavailing prayer shall rise.
7.572.790
Now was my time to rest. But as I come
7.572.791
close to my journey's end, thou spoilest me
7.572.792
of comfort in my death.” With this the King
7.572.793
fled to his house and ceased his realm to guide.
7.601.794
A sacred custom the Hesperian land
7.601.795
of Latium knew, by all the Alban hills
7.601.796
honored unbroken, which wide-ruling Rome
7.601.797
keeps to this day, when to new stroke she stirs
7.601.798
the might of Mars; if on the Danube's wave
7.601.799
resolved to fling the mournful doom of war,
7.601.800
or on the Caspian folk or Arabs wild;
7.601.801
or chase the morning far as India's verge,
7.601.802
ind from the Parthian despot wrest away
7.601.803
our banners Iost. Twin Gates of War there be,
7.601.804
of fearful name, to Mars' fierce godhead vowed:
7.601.805
a hundred brass bars shut them, and the strength
7.601.806
of uncorrupting steel; in sleepless watch
7.601.807
Janus the threshold keeps. 'T is here, what time
7.601.808
the senate's voice is war, the consul grave
7.601.809
in Gabine cincture and Quirinal shift
7.601.810
himself the griding hinges backward moves,
7.601.811
and bids the Romans arm; obedient then
7.601.812
the legionary host makes Ioud acclaim,
7.601.813
and hoarse consent the brazen trumpets blow.
7.601.814
Thus King Latinus on the sons of Troy
7.601.815
was urged to open war, and backward roll
7.601.816
those gates of sorrow: but the aged king
7.601.817
recoiled, refused the loathsome task, and fled
7.601.818
to solitary shades. Then from the skies
7.601.819
the Queen of gods stooped down, and her sole hand
7.601.820
the lingering portal moved; Saturnia
7.601.821
swung on their hinges the barred gates of war.
7.601.822
ausonia from its old tranquillity
7.601.823
bursts forth in flame. Foot-soldiers through the field
7.601.824
run to and fro; and mounted on tall steeds
7.601.825
the cavaliers in clouds of dust whirl by.
7.601.826
All arm in haste. Some oil the glittering shield
7.601.827
or javelin bright, or on the whetstone wear
7.601.828
good axes to an edge, while joyful bands
7.601.829
uplift the standards or the trumpets blow.
7.601.830
Five mighty cities to their anvils bring
7.601.831
new-tempered arms: Atina—martial name —
7.601.832
proud Tibur, Ardea, Crustumium,
7.601.833
and river-walled Antemnae, crowned with towers
7.601.834
strong hollow helmets on their brows they draw
7.601.835
and weave them willow-shields; or melt and mould
7.601.836
corselets of brass or shining silver greaves;
7.601.837
none now for pruning-hook or sacred plough
7.601.838
have love or care: but old, ancestral swords
7.601.839
for hardier tempering to the smith they bring.
7.601.840
Now peals the clarion; through the legions pass
7.601.841
the watchwords: the impatient yeoman takes
7.601.842
his helmet from the idle roof-tree hung;
7.601.843
while to his chariot the master yokes
7.601.844
the mettled war-horse, dons a shining shield
7.601.845
and golden mail, and buckles his good sword.
7.641.846
Virgins of Helicon, renew my song!
7.641.847
Instruct me what proud kings to battle flown
7.641.848
with following legions throng the serried plain.
7.641.849
Tell me what heroes and illustrious arms
7.641.850
Italia's bosom in her dawning day
7.641.851
benignant bore: for your celestial minds,
7.641.852
have memory of the past, but faint and low
7.641.853
steals glory's whisper on a mortal ear.
7.647.854
Foremost in fight, from shores Etrurian came
7.647.855
Mezentius, scornful rebel against Heaven,
7.647.856
his people all in arms; and at his side
7.647.857
Lausus his heir (no fairer youth than he,
7.647.858
save Turnus of Laurentum), Lausus, skilled
7.647.859
o break proud horses and wild beasts to quell;
7.647.860
who from Agylla's citadel in vain
7.647.861
led forth his thousand warriors: worthy he
7.647.862
to serve a nobler sire, and happier far
7.647.863
he had ne'er been born Mezentius' son.
7.655.864
Next after these, conspicuous o'er the plain,
7.655.865
with palm-crowned chariot and victorious steeds,
7.655.866
rode forth well-moulded Aventinus, sprung
7.655.867
from shapely Hercules; upon the shield
7.655.868
his blazon was a hundred snakes, and showed
7.655.869
his father's hydra-cincture serpentine;
7.655.870
him deep in Aventine's most secret grove
7.655.871
the priestess Rhea bore—a mortal maid
7.655.872
clasped in a god's embrace the wondrous day
7.655.873
when, flushed with conquest of huge Geryon,
7.655.874
the lord of Tiryns to Laurentum drove,
7.655.875
and washed in Tiber's wave th' Iberian kine.
7.655.876
His followers brandished pointed pikes and staves,
7.655.877
or smooth Sabellian bodkin tipped with steel;
7.655.878
but he, afoot, swung round him as he strode
7.655.879
a monstrous lion-skin, its bristling mane
7.655.880
and white teeth crowning his ferocious brow:
7.655.881
for garbed as Hercules he sought his King.
7.670.882
Then came twin brethren, leaving Tibur's keep
7.670.883
(named from Tiburtus, brother of them twain)
7.670.884
Catillus and impetuous Coras, youth
7.670.885
of Argive seed, who foremost in the van
7.670.886
pressed ever where the foemen densest throng:
7.670.887
as when two centaurs, children of the cloud,
7.670.888
from mountain-tops descend in swift career,
7.670.889
the snows of Homole and Othrys leaving,
7.670.890
while crashing thickets in their pathway fall.
7.678.891
Nor was Praeneste's founder absent there,
7.678.892
by Vulcan sired, among the herds and hinds,
7.678.893
and on a hearth-stone found (so runs the tale
7.678.894
each pious age repeats) King Caeculus
7.678.895
with rustic legions gathered from afar:
7.678.896
from steep Praeneste and the Gabian vale
7.678.897
to Juno dear, from Anio's cold stream,
7.678.898
from upland Hernic rocks and foaming rills,
7.678.899
from rich Anagnia's pastures, and the plain
7.678.900
whence Amasenus pours his worshipped wave.
7.678.901
Not all of armor boast, and seldom sound
7.678.902
the chariot and shield; but out of slings
7.678.903
they hurl blue balls of lead, or in one hand
7.678.904
a brace of javelins bear; pulled o'er their brows
7.678.905
are hoods of tawny wolf-skin; as they march
7.678.906
the left foot leaves a barefoot track behind,
7.678.907
a rawhide sandal on the right they wear.
7.691.908
Messapus came, steed-tamer, Neptune's son,
7.691.909
by sword and fire invincible: this day,
7.691.910
though mild his people and unschooled in war,
7.691.911
he calls them to embattled lines, and draws
7.691.912
no lingering sword. Fescennia musters there,
7.691.913
Aequi Falisci, and what clans possess
7.691.914
Soracte's heights, Flavinia's fruitful farms,
7.691.915
Ciminian lake and mountain, and the groves
7.691.916
about Capena. Rank on rank they move,
7.691.917
loud singing of their chieftain's praise: as when
7.691.918
a flock of snowy swans through clouded air
7.691.919
return from feeding, and make tuneful cry
7.691.920
from their long throats, while Asia's rivers hear,
7.691.921
and lone Cayster's startled moorland rings:
7.691.922
for hardly could the listening ear discern
7.691.923
the war-cry of a mail-clad host; the sound
7.691.924
was like shrill-calling birds, when home from sea
7.691.925
their soaring flock moves shoreward like a cloud.
7.706.926
Then, one of far-descended Sabine name,
7.706.927
Clausus advanced, the captain of a host,
7.706.928
and in himself an equal host he seemed;
7.706.929
from his proud loins the high-born Claudian stem
7.706.930
through Latium multiplies, since Roman power
7.706.931
with Sabine first was wed. A cohort came
7.706.932
from Amiternum and the olden wall
7.706.933
of Cures, called Quirites even then;
7.706.934
Eretum answered and Mutusca's hill
7.706.935
with olives clad, Velinus' flowery field,
7.706.936
nomentum's fortress, the grim precipice
7.706.937
of Tetrica, Severus' upland fair,
7.706.938
Casperia, Foruli, Himella's waves,
7.706.939
Tiber and Fabaris, and wintry streams
7.706.940
of Nursia; to the same proud muster sped
7.706.941
Tuscan with Latin tribes, and loyal towns
7.706.942
beside whose walls ill-omened Allia flows.
7.706.943
As numerous they moved as rolling waves
7.706.944
that stir smooth Libyan seas, when in cold floods
7.706.945
sinks grim Orion's star; or like the throng
7.706.946
of clustering wheat-tops in the summer sun,
7.706.947
near Hermus or on Lycia's yellowing plain:
7.706.948
shields clashed; their strong tramp smote the trembling ground.
7.723.949
Now Agamemnon's kinsman, cruel foe
7.723.950
to the mere name of Troy, Halaesus, yokes
7.723.951
the horses of his car and summons forth
7.723.952
a thousand savage clans at Turnus' call :
7.723.953
rude men whose mattocks to the Massic hills
7.723.954
bring Bacchus' bounty, or by graybeard sires
7.723.955
sent from Auruncan upland and the mead
7.723.956
of Sidicinum; out of Cales came
7.723.957
its simple folk; and dwellers by the stream
7.723.958
of many-shoaled Volturnus, close-allied
7.723.959
with bold Saticulan or Oscan swains.
7.723.960
Their arms are tapered javelins, which they wear
7.723.961
bound by a coiling thong; a shield conceals
7.723.962
the left side, and they fight with crooked swords.
7.733.963
Nor shalt thou, Oebalus, depart unsung,
7.733.964
whom minstrels say the nymph Sebethis bore
7.733.965
to Telon, who in Capri was a king
7.733.966
when old and gray; but that disdaining son
7.733.967
quitted so small a seat, and conquering sway
7.733.968
among Sarrastian folk and those wide plains
7.733.969
watered by Sarnus' wave, became a king
7.733.970
over Celenna, Rufrae, Batulum,
7.733.971
and where among her apple-orchards rise
7.733.972
Abella's walls. All these, as Teutons use,
7.733.973
hurl a light javelin; for helm they wear
7.733.974
stripped cork-tree bark; the crescent of their shields
7.733.975
is gleaming bronze, and gleaming bronze the sword.
7.744.976
Next Ufens, mountain-bred, from Nersae came
7.744.977
to join the war; of goodly fame was he
7.744.978
for prosperous arms: his Aequian people show
7.744.979
no gentle mien, but scour the woods for prey,
7.744.980
or, ever-armed, across the stubborn glebe
7.744.981
compel the plough; though their chief pride and joy
7.744.982
are rapine, violence, and plundered store.
7.750.983
Next after these, his brows and helmet bound
7.750.984
with noble olive, from Marruvium came
7.750.985
a priest, brave Umbro, ordered to the field
7.750.986
by King Archippus: o'er the viper's brood,
7.750.987
and venomed river-serpents he had power
7.750.988
to scatter slumber with wide-waving hands
7.750.989
and wizard-songs. His potent arts could soothe
7.750.990
their coiling rage and heal the mortal sting:
7.750.991
but 'gainst a Trojan sword no drug had he,
7.750.992
nor could his drowsy spells his flesh repair,
7.750.993
nor gathered simples from the Marsic hills.
7.750.994
Thee soon in wailing woods Anguitia mourned,
7.750.995
thee, Fucinus, the lake of crystal wave,
7.750.996
thee, many a mountain-tarn!
7.761.997
Next, Virbius in martial beauty rode,
7.761.998
son of Hippolytus, whose mother, proud
7.761.999
Aricia, sent him in his flower of fame
7.761.1000
out of Egeria's hills and cloudy groves
7.761.1001
where lies Diana's gracious, gifted fane.
7.761.1002
For legend whispers that Hippolytus,
7.761.1003
by step-dame's plot undone, his life-blood gave
7.761.1004
to sate his vengeful father, and was rent
7.761.1005
in sunder by wild horses; but the grave
7.761.1006
to air of heaven and prospect of the stars
7.761.1007
restored him;—for Diana's love and care
7.761.1008
poured out upon him Paeon's healing balm.
7.761.1009
But Jove, almighty Sire, brooked not to see
7.761.1010
a mortal out of death and dark reclimb
7.761.1011
to light of life, and with a thunderbolt
7.761.1012
hurled to the Stygian river Phoebus' son,
7.761.1013
who dared such good elixir to compound.
7.761.1014
But pitying Trivia hid Hippolytus
7.761.1015
in her most secret cave, and gave in ward
7.761.1016
to the wise nymph Egeria in her grove;
7.761.1017
where he lived on inglorious and alone,
7.761.1018
ranging the woods of Italy, and bore
7.761.1019
the name of Virbius. 'T is for this cause
7.761.1020
the hallowed woods to Trivia's temple vowed
7.761.1021
forbid loud-footed horses, such as spilled
7.761.1022
stripling and chariot on the fatal shore,
7.761.1023
scared by the monsters peering from the sea.
7.761.1024
Yet did the son o'er that tumultuous plain
7.761.1025
his battle-chariot guide and plunging team.
7.783.1026
Lo, Turnus strides conspicuous in the van,
7.783.1027
full armed, of mighty frame, his lordly head
7.783.1028
high o'er his peers emerging! His tall helm
7.783.1029
with flowing triple crest for ensign bears
7.783.1030
Chimaera, whose terrific lips outpour
7.783.1031
volcanic fires; where'er the menace moves
7.783.1032
of her infernal flames and wrathful frown,
7.783.1033
there wildest flows the purple flood of war.
7.783.1034
On his smooth shield deep graven in the gold
7.783.1035
is horned Io—wondrous the device!—
7.783.1036
a shaggy heifer-shape the maiden shows;
7.783.1037
Argus is watching her, while Inachus
7.783.1038
pours forth his river from the pictured urn.
7.783.1039
A storm of tramping troops, to Turnus sworn,
7.783.1040
throngs all the widespread plain with serried shields:
7.783.1041
warriors of Argos, and Auruncan bands,
7.783.1042
Sicani, Rutuli, Sacranian hosts,
7.783.1043
Labicum's painted shields; all who till
7.783.1044
thy woodland vales, O Tiber! or the shore
7.783.1045
Numicius hallows; all whose ploughs upturn
7.783.1046
Rutulia's hills, or that Circaean range
7.783.1047
where Jove of Anxur guards, and forests green
7.783.1048
make fair Feronia glad; where lie the fens
7.783.1049
of Satura, and Ufens' icy wave
7.783.1050
through lowland valleys seeks his seaward way.
7.803.1051
Last came Camilla, of the Volscians bred,
7.803.1052
leading her mail-clad, radiant chivalry;
7.803.1053
a warrior-virgin, of Minerva's craft
7.803.1054
of web and distaff, fit for woman's toil,
7.803.1055
no follower she; but bared her virgin breast
7.803.1056
to meet the brunt of battle, and her speed
7.803.1057
left even the winds behind; for she would skim
7.803.1058
an untouched harvest ere the sickle fell,
7.803.1059
nor graze the quivering wheat-tops as she ran;
7.803.1060
or o'er the mid-sea billows' swollen surge
7.803.1061
so swiftly race, she wet not in the wave
7.803.1062
her flying feet. For sight of her the youth
7.803.1063
from field and fortress sped, and matrons grave
7.803.1064
stood wondering as she passed, well-pleased to see
7.803.1065
her royal scarf in many a purple fold
7.803.1066
float off her shining shoulder, her dark hair
7.803.1067
in golden clasp caught fast, and how she bore
7.803.1068
for arms a quiver of the Lycian mode,
7.803.1069
and shepherd's shaft of myrtle tipped with steel.